Kid Lit: Our Favorite Picture Books

I love books. I literally could go to the library every day and be inspired just the same as the day before. It won’t ever get old to me. Shelves and shelves of books with their perfect plastic book covers–the smell of printed paper. The worlds of every author and illustrator’s brains. My heart is fluttering just writing about it.

Sawyer and I just went through our bookshelves and pulled out some of our all time favorite books. . . some were his choices, and some were ones I grabbed that we either have recently grown to love, or ones we have been reading since Brayden was little and we still love them. Perhaps this will be a part 1–I hope to write another at some other point. There are just too many to mention in one post!

Honorable Mentions:

Journey by Aaron Becker. Brayden loves this kind of book. No words needed. Just beautiful illustrations that tell a story. If we owned books by David Wiesner, all of those ones would join Journey in the honorable mention list. Flotsam, Sector 7, Tuesday, The Three Pigs, and Art & Max are all some amazing ones illustrated by Wiesner that Brayden loves.

Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban. Pictures by Lillian Hoban. An oldie but goodie with a fun little message!

Don’t Push the Button! by Bill Cotter. One of Sawyer’s favorites, along with Press Here by Herve Tullet. They are cute little interactive stories with “jobs” for the reader to do.

Another Monster at the End of This Book written by Jon Stone and illustrated by Michael Smollin. Sawyer loves this one especially because he has this app.

 

 

Counting down to our favorite, from 9!

9. To Market, To Market by Anne Miranda, Illustrated by Janet Stevens. The illustrations in this book are amazing and intricate. We love the silly story about the poor woman who is just trying to make her meal!

8. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs  by Judi Barrett and Illustrated by Ron Barrett. Another classic! Such a fun story that we never get sick of–and it’s one hundred times better than the movie!

7. Any book by David Shannon!  The illustrations make the story come alive–they are whimsical and fun.

6. Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel, Illustrated by Blair Lent. This has been a favorite since Brayden was little, and the other two love it just as much. It’s very catchy, and fun to read, and you’ll be left chanting Tikki Tikki Tembo’s full name for days after you read the book.

5. The Day the Crayons Quit and The Day the Crayons Came Home by Drew Daywalt and Illustrated by Oliver Jeffers. The simple concept of these books are so adorable–they are letters from crayons to their owner explaining why they are quitting (and alternately why they are coming home). All three boys adore these books.

4. The Three Ninja Pigs by Corey Rosen Schwartz and illustrated by Dan Santat. This is a book that is probably not on any “well known” list of children’s books. The writing is so fun–the rhyme pattern of the entire story is so fun to read and leaves you wondering how the writer successfully wrote the entire book with the same tempo. 

3. The Adventures of Beekle, the Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat (the same illustrator as Three Ninja Pigs).  I get all warm and fuzzy reading this book to the boys, and they all love it for one simple reason–the illustrations are amazing. I often picture Brayden illustrating such a book when he’s older if he continues working hard with his drawing, and it so very much reminds me of my brother’s illustrations and hand writing that it’s hard not to imagine that he wrote it while I’m reading it. Do yourself a favor and get this out from your local library pronto. 

2. Who’s on First? by Abbott & Costello and illustrated by John Martz. This is Carter’s favorite picture book. It’s hilarious and everyone loves saying the parts along with me when we read it. As an added bonus, sometimes we watch the original Who’s on First clip by Abbot & Costello on youtube when we’re done reading it!

1. I Yam a Donkey! story, pictures and bad grammar by Cece Bell. This one was made a favorite by James who read the book using character voices that made it even that much better. His donkey sounds like the donkey from Shrek, and the Yam has a British accent. Seriously–try it yourself. Your kids will beg you to read it over and over again 🙂

There are loads more in our “favorites” arsenal. These are the ones that stood out today as we were searching through our shelves! What are some of your favorites?

 

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contact bethany

newborn, child and family photographer

rochester new york