Children's Books
RAJ
tenacious local 7,783 Posts
Having kids is awesome right now because I get to relive all these books I grew up on. Here are some of my faves: 
RAJ
tenacious local 7,783 Posts
Comments
the dude with cow head and human feet
that book is from 1964, still fresh today....
This book is the bomb. I of course ride for the Very Hungry Caterpillar as well.
When they're old enough, the Nate the Great books are really good. They've always been big in my family since I was little because my name is Nate, but they're actually well done. Like Encyclopedia Brown for the Kindergarten/1st grade set.
also check for hosie's alphabet and any kids book by Leonard Baskin
couldnt find the title....but this was my joint!
and of course of course
I got into the Tintin books at that age and I'm sure they're still entertaining, but looking back:
I've got him some Edward Gorey things which he seemed to like okay, but I feel like some of his books fall more into the category of things adults wish kids would like rather than what they actually like.
and
Every single one of those was on my shelf as a kid. I totally forgot about "Why Mosquitos Buzz in Peoples' Ears", though. Damn.
here's my Private Mind Garden entry:
This is book is mad old? I came to my wife's classroom to read to her pre-schoolers. I didn't have a book, so she handed me this one. It was really cool, but I didn't even find out about it until that day, like last year.
The Great Brain books were my jam as a kid. All about a brilliant young man who runs every angle imaginable to make a little cash and impress his friends. They'll teach your child to be clever, but be careful???they might also teach him/her to be a young hustler.
roald dahl, without a doubt
maybe even The Hobbit, Narnia and CSLewis The book of Three if he's got his reading skills sharp and isnt afeard of the dark
Those were (along with the Hardy Boys) my favorite books as a kid. I started buying them for my nephew and found out that there were a couple I never knew about.
First up:
The Invention Of Hugo Cabret
http://www.theinventionofhugocabret.com/index.htm
Not for little kids. Not a graphic novel. A totally original novel with a few pages of text followed by many pages of drawings. Winner of this years Caldicott award.
Mo Willems:
The guy is a genius. These books are for the little ones, and they are great.
http://www.mowillems.com/
David Shannon:
A whole series of David books, that are my favorites. There are Diper David books for the babies, and No David books for the preschool and up. For slightly older (or more sophisticated) kids A Bad Case Of Stripes great. Also Good Boy Fergus and Alice The Fairy.
http://www.scholastic.com/titles/nodavid/nodavidindex.htm
Doreen Cronin:
2 great series with different illustrators. Click Clack Moo, Giggle Giggle Quack Quack and Duck For President are great books. In the first the cows get hold of a typewriter and demand electric blankets to keep warm. When Farmer Brown refuses the cows go on strike. "Duck being a neutral party takes the ultimatum to Farmer Brown." In duck for president duck runs for president, plays sax on tv and finds lost votes. The other series are Diary Of A Worm, Diary Or A Spider and DOA Fly.
http://www.doreencronin.com/
I've been getting into children's poetry, that is poetry for children. There is a series that has illustrated poems for young people. In the series is a nice collection of Langston Hughes poems. The other cool thing is people are making picture books out of a single song or poem. I just got the Jabberwocky illustrated as a playground basketball court showdown.
I think 2 of the best poetry books for children are AA Milne's Now We Are Six and When We Were Very Young. No Disney.
Dear lord, that right there was one of my favourite children's books but had totally forgotten it's existence till now. I'm going to have to go round my dad's and dig that out of the attic I think.
Another one for me would be Botternsikes & Gumbles but google is failing me when it comes to useful images.
Oh, hells yes! I read every single Hardy Boys book from the library, then bought all of the modern-day series as they came out. As I got older, I realized how many classic stories they ripped off. The rework of The Most Dangerous Game was particularly blatant, as I believe it was actually titled "The Most Dangerous Game."
There are tons of series chapter books. Magic Tree House are formulaic but good. Marvin Redposts are good and it's by the same guy who wrote Holes for slighty older kids. Holes is one of the best. Bruce Coville is great. He has tons of books with titles like My Teacher Is An Alien and Jeremy Thatcher Dragon Hatcher. They are funny and easy to read with great storys and well written.
Christopher Paul Curtis. Sit down and read Bud Not Buddy and Watsons Go To Birmingham, 1963 with you kids. Perhaps the best writer in America today.
Kate DiCamillo. She wrote Because Of Winn Dixie and even better The Tale Of Desperaux.
Dan Gutman's Jackie And Me series.
one of my favorites
wORD! In my above post I meant to ask if these still held up well. They were definitely faves of mine circa 3rd, 4th grade.
Also remember loving:
and of course "where the sidewalk ends"
I loved these as well, but I remember at some point they got really, really lazy. As in, w/ later books you'd turn to the back to find our who was guilty and why, and the explanations were like "Well, Scooter was guilty because why else would he have been looking so shifty?"
Remember that book about the fishes, where one school keeps getting eaten by a bigger school and on and on and on? I loved that one!
Also, I think he gets mentioned in every children's book thread, but I can't speak highly enough of Daniel Pinkwater's books for both young children and young adults.
Real heads know the deal.