Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann

Goodnight Gorilla uses the power of pictures to tell the story of  how one gorilla unlocks the cages of zoo animals, following the zoo keeper on his rounds. 

My small daughter will sit with this book across her lap and turn the pages back and forth, saying "Good night hyena, good night lion, good night gorilla."

Using the element of surprise and knowing children love the fantastic, Rathmann has the zoo animals follow the zoo keeper home and into bed with him.

My Truck is Stuck! by Kevin Lewis and Daniel Kirk

Little boys and trucks.

Write a children's book about anything on four (or more) wheels that can dig, pull, dump or lift and you've got a sure-fire winner. However, when it is well-illustrated and written in lilting rhyme, its even better.

This was my introduction to illustrator Daniel Kirk, of whom I've become a fan.  He cleverly weaves a subplot of conniving prairie dogs into the pictures, as Lewis tells the woeful tale of how a truck is stuck and all sorts of passing vehicles are unable to help.

When I first brought this book home, my youngest son had just turned 2 years old and for days afterward, this was the only book he wanted read out of stack of library books. "Duck is duck" he'd say, dumping it into my lap. Each time we'd get to that refrain, he'd pipe up and say it, nodding his head.

What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page

As science books go, I have found very few that are really appropriate for young children. By this I mean that they aren't watered down, ultra-cartoony and vague. Excellent nonfiction, whether it is science or otherwise, should contain factual information in preschool-sized bites with realistic pictures that invite questions. Parents should be ready to explain and answer whatever they can--and get excited when they are challenged to find out more for their child.

What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? is fantastic, as is everything Jenkins and Page have collaborated to create.  The guessing game format is ideal for children who loved the lift-the-flap books when they were smaller. On one page you see tails sticking out of a desert scene, inviting readers to guess to which animal each tail must belong; readers turn the page to see the animals revealed, named, and learn exactly what each of their amazing tails can do.

My 3-yr old enjoyed guessing what animals were hiding.  The factual information and conversational qualities embodied here are perfect for children who love animals.

Amy Hest - Sam series

       

Kiss Good Night was the first in a series of books written by Amy Hest about a little bear, Sam, and his mother.

I appreciated the spirit of love and trust she conveys between the two bears in each of the stories, addressing issues of fear, sickness and the power of relationship. Anita Jeram gives life to Sam and his mother with her colorful illustrations - the initial reason these books ended up in my library bag.

Children connect with Sam and his young feelings, empathizing when he needs a little extra love.

Ten in the Bed by Jane Cabrera

"There were ten in the bed and the little one said, roll over, roll over..."

I first heard this song on a cd full of all the old classic kids songs. However, it wasn't one I sang to my children until this book. If you're not familiar with this song, it follows the pattern of other songs such as monkeys on the bed and five little ducks where you start with so many and keep reducing it down to nothing.  Cabrera puts her own spin on the song by making the bed a new place with each loss, from castles to a stage to a pirate ship.

While I was tired of singing the repetitive verse (but children love it!) this book makes the list not only for the sing-song quality of its words, but for its colorful, imaginative pages. 

Ian Falconer - Olivia books

Olivia is not your ordinary pig of children's literature. She dreams big and loves to wear red. Her mother tells her, "You know, you really wear me out. But I love you anyway," to which Olivia replies, "I love you anyway, too."

Precocious and quite possibly a foreshadowing of what my own daughter will be like in a few years given her current 2-yr old personality. I would be afraid except Falconer has made Olivia see her world in such large terms, which I adore as a general world-view.











After her stellar introduction to the world, Olivia has gone on in other books to do many things:

Olivia Saves the Circus

Olivia Counts

Olivia and the Missing Toy

Olivia Forms a Band

Olivia Helps with Christmas

Olivia Goes to Venice

Olivia and the Fairy Princess


If you haven't introduced your children to Olivia, you should.

I Ain't Gonna Paint No More by Karen Beaumont

Get ready for crazy.

I Ain't Gonna Paint No More takes on the cadence of the old song "Ain't gonna rain no more, no more" and throws propriety out the window as a child paints himself, part by part. When he gets some red to paint his head, you know he's not holding to the promise he gave to his mama that he would not paint anymore.

Illustrator David Catrow, with his distinctive, chaotic style, was the perfect choice to give life to this lively tale. Children with a good sense of humor will enjoy each new page of body painting madness--and adults will hope that their children know better than to try it for themselves.

The Stray Dog by Marc Simont

This was another Caldecott winner that won my kids' hearts for its storyline. As the title and cover art show, it follows a family who encounters and falls in love with a stray dog. My kids have been begging for a puppy and this story embodied the sort of perfect situation for them.  A delightful little dog needs someone to love it, but the parents initially say no; In the end, however, they realize they love it, too.

I have boys, so I'm always reading books about monsters and dragon and pirates and skeletons; it's sometimes nice to read a true-to-life, feel-good book.

We still don't have a dog.

Jez Alborough

These three books--Hug, Yes and Tall-- require nothing more than the title word to read, but each tell a whole story. Like a toddler learning a new word, Bobo the monkey uses one idea to express a variety of moods in each of these books. Alborough connects with very small children by using simplicity of theme and wonderful illustrations of Bobo's jungle friends.

Wild About Books by Judy Sierra

I have checked this book out of library numerous times. I just can't get enough of the literary allusions. (You can blame that on being a life-long reader and English major, I suppose.)

(What that? Yes, I know this book is for children).

The Springfield Zoo is wild about books. I don't want to ruin her delightful, rhymed allusions, but here's one: the tree kangaroo adores Nancy Drew. You get the picture.

Marc Brown, of Arthur fame, provides the illustrations depicting an entire zoo reading, writing and learning how to treat books (baby bunnies mucked up Goodnight Moon. See?Cleverness!). I almost need to sit down alone with the book to spot all the ingenious allusions in the pictures (I spotted a raccoon reading A River Runs Through It the other day).

Bravo, Judy Sierra and Marc Brown.

A Monkey Among Us by David Horowitz

This is a book you might hate me for suggesting.

Each new page makes a rhyming leap that seems to make no sense. Halfway through my first reading I thought, this is weird.

"A monkey among us...a monkey among a fungus".

What? A monkey among a fungus? Is this a stretch to increase vocabulary? I continued on, meeting a hippo and a giraffe and a monster. Soon, I began to see a storyline develop among the seemingly inane rhymes and more than that, I was laughing!

Horowitz created a clever little story using Lewis Carroll-like nonsense rhymes. My 3 yr-old loved this one and would ask for it to be read again, even before I'd finished the last words.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

The Invention of Hugo Cabret is the 2008 Caldecott winner, usually assigned to a 29 page book with colorful illustrations and geared toward an elementary student.  Selznick rocked the world with this novel in words and pencil drawings--over 500 pages of them.

So why include it here? I had a mother tell me she read this aloud to her son at bedtime over the course of a couple weeks and he LOVED it.

Rife with mystery and amazing pictures, it is a wonderful choice for introducing a young child to the art of a well-written novel:

  





My rating:

Tails by Matthew Van Fleet

    As books go, I generally stay away from anything that has tabs to pull, wheels to turn or other 'interactive' gadgetry simply because such books are easily destroyed. However, Tails is constructed with heavy-duty board and has lasted through all three of my children without the usual amount if tape necessary for such books. I enjoyed the unusual combination of animals Van Fleet chose, i.e.  pangolins and golden tamarins. My kids liked making the monkeys jump and the pig tails swat; Fingering the soft and bumpy materials used to illustrate the variety of tails in nature. I'll admit it: even I like touching the cleverly constructed porcupine quills.

Jane Yolen - How Do Disnosaurs... series

        

Jane Yolen has taken one of many childhood delights - dinosaurs - and created a whole line of books that teach appropriate behavior.

I know, it seems like an oxymoron. Dinosaurs and good behavior?

Mark Teague provides the illustrations that children and parents will both find humorous. I especially appreciated How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? when my oldest son decided it would be a good idea to throw unwanted food to the floor.  With Yolen and Teague's help I was able to  show him that dinosaurs don't eat that way and neither should he.

Hey, whatever works, right?







Other Books in the Series:

How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food?

How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon?

How Do Dinosaurs Go to School?

How Do Dinosaurs Clean Their Rooms?

How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You?

How Do Dinosaurs Count to Ten?

How Do Dinosaurs Stay Safe?

How Do Dinosaurs Play with Their Friends?

How Do Dinosaurs Learn the Colors?

How Do Dinosaurs Say Merry Christmas?

How Do Dinosaurs Learn to Read?

How Do Dinosaurs Stay Friends? 

How Do Dinosaurs Love Their Cats?

How Do Dinosaurs Love Their Dogs?

How Do Dinosaurs Choose Their Pets?

How Do Dinosaurs Eat Cookies? 

How Do Dinosaurs Laugh out Loud?

How Do Dinosaurs Go Up and Down?

How Do Dinosaurs Play All Day?

The Three Pigs by David Weisner

This book won the Caldecott in 2002 and I'm always reviewing the list of past winners to see if my children are ready for them. Amazingly enough, though the award is given for illustrations, sometimes the amount of words accompanying them makes them unpalatable for young ears.

However, The Three Pigs is not only well-drawn, but has a great storyline within the pictures. The pigs rescue familiar nursery rhyme characters as they 'jump' out of their own story to avoid the wolf. As with many books that rely on the pictures to tell the story, it many require some adult explanation for younger children to understand. But therein lies another beautiful thing about this book: there is an invitation for the adult to participate in the creative process of storytelling.

Edward in the Jungle by David McPhail

I'm a huge fan of books that take children on an adventure they'd really want to live out. Edward in the Jungle is just such a book.

What little boy wouldn't want to suddenly find himself swooped from the trees by Tarzan himself?  Each page offers a new danger to avoid and opportunities for Edward to prove just how brave he is.  Much like Baum's beloved stories set in Oz, Edward finds all of this in his own backyard.

Chimps Don't Wear Glasses by Laura Numeroff

Laura Numeroff is known by kindergarten teachers everywhere for her series of books that began with If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (1985).

However, I found Chimps Don't Wear Glasses a year or so ago and fell in love with the crazy pictures illustrated by Joe Mathieu.

Numeroff has written simple lines like, "Zebras can't cook," and Mathieu has given us a picture (literally) of what that might look like.

My boys love reading this and filled our living room with shouts and snorts at the ridiculous idea of horses hang-gliding and camels singing opera.

Lynley Dodd- Hairy Mclary series

Here is another author that I enjoy.  Lynley Dodd has written a number of books featuring a scruffy dog, Hairy Maclary.

My favorite one in particular - Hairy Maclary and Zachary Quack -gets center stage because when I first read it to my then 3-year old, he looked up at me with big eyes after it was finished and said, "That was wonderful."

SOLD!

Hairy Maclary wants to avoid pesky little Zachary Quack, a duckling who follows him from hiding place to hiding place. In the end, Hairy finds perhaps Zachary isn't so pesky after all.




Other Hairy MacLary Books:

Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy 

Hairy Maclary's Bone

Hairy Maclary Scattercat

Hairy Maclary's Caterwaul Caper

Hairy Maclary's Rumpus at the Vet

Hairy MacLary's Showbusiness

Hairy Maclary Sit

Hairy Maclary's Hat tricks

Where is Hairy Maclary? 

Once Upon a Time by John Prater

It took me and the children several readings of Once Upon a Time to discover all the small delights found in the pictures of this book.

Using characters from age-old nursery rhymes, Prater has woven the experience of a child's 'boring' afternoon into the stories of the three bears, Humpty Dumpty and more.  A quatrain per set of pages highlights one of the many storylines told through the pictures of this book.






Several weeks later, we discovered Prater had written a sequel, Once Upon a Picnic:

 

It brings back familiar characters from Once Upon a Time, as well as introducing other nursery rhyme faces.  Both books demand multiple readings, and invite younger children to make up their own stories based on what they see.

Sandra Boynton books

         

Pick any one of Sandra Boynton's books and you will find yourself in love with them.

Boynton's big-eyed animals with the best expressions are narrated with words that have become songs in my household. All I have to do is start with "Stomp your feet..." and my 2-yr old will run to the bookshelf to get Barnyard Dance.

Even though my boys have moved on to bigger and deeper stories, they still love the jig that Boynton's books brings out in you. Who else can legitimately ask you to "stand with the donkey, slide with the sheep"?

 But be careful--these are addictive. Unless you want these books recited off-key from the backseat while you're driving to the store, stay away! You'll even find my husband crooning the refrain from Snuggle Puppy.



Other Books by Sandra Boynton:

Snuggle Puppy

Moo, Baa, La La La!

The Going to Bed Book

But Not the Hippopotamus

Pajama Time!

Blue Hat, Green Hat

Belly Button Book

Hippos Go Bezerk

Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs!

Horns to Toes and in Between

Hey! Wake up!

Birthday Monsters!

Happy Hippo, Angry Duck

Your Personal Penguin

Tumble, Bumble by Felicia Bond

Any book with the line, "We open doors and check for bears" has to be good.

In Tumble, Bumble, Bond weaves a story about friendship based on connection as one tiny bug takes a walk and ends up bumping into a cat. From there the two 'tumble bumble' their way through the street meeting up with an assortment of animals in simply written rhyme. Light-hearted and cheerful in tone, I've been asked to read this over and over in one sitting.

I Know a Rhino by Charles Fuge

I could recommend any book by Charles Fuge, but I start with I Know a Rhino because it was my introduction to the author and might remain my favorite of his.

Even for a small child who doesn't understand the darling ending to this well-illustrated book, the playful pictures of a little girl living out adventures with various wild animals are captivating.  Each of my children have a page that they want to return to for just one more look.

John Butler- illustrator

As I've mentioned before, the pictures found in children's books account for most of its appeal--especially for younger children.

When I find an illustrator I appreciate, I hop on our library's online catalog and reserve everything I can by that artist. Such was the case when I read my first book written and drawn by John Butler, Can You Cuddle Like a Koala. He uses soft, realistic images of animals, not cartoony variations. I have found his works in board bindings, as well as in large, beautiful hardback versions. This is the sort of art I would want to use in a nursery, but more than that, I understand when my daughter pets the pages on her lap.

*Note: Butler has also illustrated books that are intended for older children like Bashi, Elephant Baby  and Shadow, the Deer, both by Theresa Radcliffe.

The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson

My usual way of choosing a book is initially by its cover (yes, I'll admit it). For a toddler, 80% of a book's appeal is its pictures. If a book passes the cover test, I'll flip through it. If it has too many words for a toddler, I'll re-shelve it for a future date. 

The Gruffalo passed this test.  The Gruffalo has a fair amount of words, but it follows a sing-song rhyme scheme that toddlers love. And it's about animals: #1 appeal for my crew.  #2 is anything that deals with monsters, dinosaurs, pirates, cowboys (see a theme?)

Here we have a story about animals and a monster: perfect. As I was reading it, I thought I had it all figured out. But I was taken by surprise by this delightful, clever little story.

Not A Stick and Not A Box by Antoinette Portis

I got Not A Box from our local library first and it quickly became a "read again and again" book for my 3-year old, even though the words I had to read were pretty much limited to "not a box". The pictures Portis uses to bring to life the many imagintive uses for a box resonated with my boys (ages 3 and 4).







When I brought home Not A Stick,  my 4-year old immediately said, "It looks like Not A Box. Is this Not A Stick?" Talk about a great pre-reading clue!

Both books hit a soft spot with me as a mother because I love it when my kids take something ordinary and make it extraordinary. These books shine a light on the ability in every child to do just that.

Uno's Garden by Graeme Base

With Uno's Garden, I was able to relay to my 4-year old why we shouldn't destroy the world's natural habitats.

Using fantastic creatures (and one ordinary snortlepig), Base has created a world where people, in trying to be create something wonderful, end up destroying what they had.

Don't worry! This book is not completely depressing. Base shows how one morning the people wake up, look outside and say, "Why do we live in a place with no trees?" and leave. Thus begins a journey back to a perfectly balanced earth.

** BONUS ** Base also plays number games throughout which interested my 4-year old.