I've found a few ABSOLUTE WINNERS in some (relatively) recent publications, and I just have to share them with somebody. Or a few somebodies. Consider yourself lucky.
Room on the Broom, by Julia Donaldson
There's a children's playroom in our apartment building, and they recently remodeled, adding (among other things) a bookshelf full of books! Most of them are pretty average (bear goes to sleep and all that). But this one is great! It has a fun rhythm and rhyme that make it so fun to read aloud. The story is funny, and the kids like it almost as much as I do!
Now that I've established myself as an over-analyzer, I just want to mention that it's kind of a retelling of the Bremen Town Musicians. Okay, nerd note over.
One Ted Falls out of Bed, also by Julia Donaldson
It's a counting book, but barely noticeably so. It's a little story of a bear who falls out of bed, and all the little toys work together to put him back in. In its small, simple way, it's pretty funny. Penny likes the part where (spoiler alert) the balloons pop.
This is another one from our playroom. I think I might just like everything Julia Donaldson has written.
Fancy Nancy, by Jane O'Connor
I didn't think I'd be a fan of a big, pink book with a girl who likes to wear sparkles and accessories. But it's not about dressing up as much as it's about a family loving their little girl, loving her sparkles and frill obsession, and loving her without them as well.
There's a whole series of these books, but I've been more impressed by the first one than the sequels.
Little Babaji, by Helen Bannerman
One of our favorite stories my dad used to tell us growing up was called "Little Black Sambo." It's a story of a little boy who lived in India and had some fun dealings with tigers. And eventually pancakes. I loved hearing it best of all at Grandma and Grandpa's farm, where there was jungle tiger wallpaper in the room where we slept. But you can't have a story called "Little Black Sambo."
Helen Bannerman wrote this story in 1899, but more recently it has been republished with more polite, more India-accurate names. The rest of the story is delightful, and I'm happy to have found it!
Stellaluna, by Janell Cannon
When I was doing my student teaching, there was one day when I was just observing the other teacher. And the students were taking a test or something. So I just sat in the back and read some of her books. This was one of them. I haven't read it with Penny yet; I think she'll enjoy it more when she's a bit older. But it's really cute and really funny. The pictures are beautiful, and so realistic that it makes it even funnier when the birds try to be bats and the bats try to be birds. The story's great, and the moral of the story is great. You can't go wrong with that!
I wish these had been published when I was a child! What new books have you found and loved?
4 comments:
After your other post, I was hoping you'd do something like this!! Thanks for the recommendations. I agree that I wish we'd had such great books when we were kids!
Thanks for the Julia Donaldson recommendations -- they are now both our hold list! The author's name rang a bell; we've checked out The Fish Who Cried Wolf and really loved the rhythm and rhyme to it (if I remember right).
You already know our feelings on Fancy Nancy at this house. I just read "purple fancy-fancy" to Abby fifteen minutes ago for the second time today, in fact. :-) My nieces (Alex's girls) were the ones who introduced me to Fancy Nancy; they love her, too. I agree that "pink fancy fancy" is the best of the series, though.
Some of our favorites are Mo Willems books (Elephant and Piggie are mine and Josh's favorites; Abby prefers the Pigeon); Sandra Boynton's board books (Going to Bed Book, Barnyard Dance, Doggies, and SnugglePuppy); and Jennifer Adams' board book adaptations of Pride and Prejudice and Romeo and Juliet (fun!). And then plenty of other books I feature on my blog, too. :-) (I've got to get a new post up!)
Haha; I wrote my own book in your comments. Obviously I can't resist chiming in when people talk books!!
Through various sources, I've been introduced to some new favorites, including: Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney, Press Here by Hervé Tullet (I love several of his other books as well!), A Cache of Jewels (and other books) by Ruth Heller, Emma Kate by Patricia Polacco, The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds, both Snowmen at Night and Snowmen at Christmas by Caralyn Buehner, Eric Carle's books, and Sandra Boynton's books just to name a few :) When I was little, I loved the Babar books by Jean de Brunhoff, Dr. Seuss, and the illustrations in Kate Greenaway's Nursery Rhymes.
I haven't found any new favorites, but I keep collecting recommendations for when I have kids. A blog that has lots of great recommendations (and not just about kids books) is http://www.everyday-reading.com/.
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