Books Your Kid Should Read

Olivia
by Ian Falconer
2001

The Olivia books have quickly become such classics that they hardly need reviewing on this site, but since they are currently among our favorite books, I had to talk about them. Firmly in the Eloise tradition of miniature heroines, Olivia is a confident, imaginative, strong-minded little piglet, who reluctantly puts up with her younger siblings (most of the time) and keeps her parents on their toes with her antics. In the first book, we follow Olivia to the fine art museum and witness her love of Degas and her disdain for Pollock (she does a quite credible pollock-esque mural on the wall when she gets home, just to show that she can. A time-out understandably ensues). We enjoy her wardrobe variations; her love of playing dress-up, her amazing skills at sand-castle building, and the way she turns a lovely pinky color after a day at the beach. This is one of those delightful picture books where the text and the illustrations are equally well crafted, and work in tandem to create Olivia's vivid worlds. Kids will see Olivia as a kindred spirit, and parents will instantly recognize the tired-but-affectionate look on Olivia's mother's face as she tucks her exhausting daughter into bed. "You wear me out, but I love you anyway," she tells Olivia. "I love you anyway, too," Olivia responds. Truer words were never spoke.

This year's Newbery and Caldecott award winners have been announced - always worth checking out. The Newbery went to Neil Gaiman for The Graveyard Book (ages 8-12). You can read his cute blog post about finding out here. The Caldecott went to The House in the Night (ages 4-7), illus. by Beth Krommes.

Also, I have smart friends with kids, and some of them have recently recommended some good reads:

Shan recommends Our Nest (for the 0-3 set).

Mom and Kiddo recommend Keats's Neighborhood: An Ezra Jack Keats Treasury (ages 4-7).

Ellen recommends Ellen's Lion: Twelve Stories by Crockett Johnson (ages 4-7).

You can get 'em all in the bookstore (for keeps) or at your local library (for temps). Enjoy!

Frog and Toad series
by Arnold Lobel
Illus. Arnold Lobel
1970-1979

My little sister and I used to act out the Frog and Toad stories sometimes. I was always Frog and she was always Toad. We practically had all the stories memorized from hearing them so often, and they're the perfect length for performing to grandparents and other favorable audiences. They're such simple tales, it's hard to put your finger on just what makes them so memorable. Part of it is the perfection of the illustrations, certainly. Another part of the attraction is the inimitable personalities of the two amphibian friends: Frog, amiable and easy-going; Toad, more serious and easily ruffled. Like real friends, they don't always agree with one another, but they always find a way to work things out in the end. The woodland setting of Frog and Toad's world evokes a gentle serenity that's balm to the parental soul, and the antics they get into will entertain kids from preschool into second grade. Great for beginning readers, but also wonderful for reading aloud.

In The Night Kitchen
by Maurice Sendak
Illus. Maurice Sendak
1970

A young boy, perhaps three years old, is in bed one night when he hears loud noises downstairs. Falling from his bed and out of his clothes, he mysteriously ends up in a surreal kitchen environment, peopled by three large chefs who bear a striking resemblance to Oliver Hardy. The chefs try to bake the boy into their cake batter, apparently mistaking him for the milk. The boy escapes, creates a plane from bread dough, and flies off to a ginormous milk bottle to get the requisite fluid. He pours the milk into the batter; the bakers finish making the cake; and the boy mysteriously finds himself back in his bed, back in his pajamas, with only the lingering memory of his night's adventure.

If In The Night Kitchen sounds like an extremely weird book, that's because, um, IT IS. Weird and wonderful in that way that only Maurice Sendak can completely pull off. The vivid dreamlike illustrations fill the page, with the text appearing in almost comic-book form, as part of the image rather than separate from it. And kids just EAT IT UP. The book has a history of controversy because Mickey (the boy) is naked in large parts of the book, and sometimes (gasp!) you can actually see his penis. It's a completely innocent and childlike representation, but apparently some people can't get over it, because it's consistently in the top 50 most challenged books. If you're easily offended by accurate (if cartoonish) representations of three-year-old anatomy, then this book maybe isn't for you. But for the rest of us, it's a weird, wonderful trip to the land of dreams.

Tuesday
by David Wiesner
Illus. by David Wiesner
1991

Oooh, I love this book. I first found it when I was working at a wonderful local bookstore in Columbus, OH while attending grad school (anyone remember Nickelby's?). I was straightening out the children's section and surreptitiously checking out the picture books. The Caldecott sticker on the front of this one made me take a second look, and boy, I was hooked. Wiesner is an absolute genius at telling a story with few or no words; he simply doesn't need them, so rich and detailed - and hilarious! - are his pictures. Tuesday chronicles an unusual evening in the lives of some pond frogs, whose lily pads mysteriously rise into the air one night ("around 8 pm") and take them on a wild adventure. They encounter confused dogs, sleeping grandmas, paranoid insomniacs, and baffled police officers, before settling back down into their swampy homes ... only to pave the way for next Tuesday's odd happening. Now I will admit that I have a slightly obsessed love of things froggy, so I was predisposed to like this book for that reason alone. But trust me, you don't have to be fond of amphibian life to love Tuesday, any day of the week.