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!

My Penguin Osbert
by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel
illus. H. B. Lewis

Oh, my, this is a cute book. A classic be-careful-what-you-wish-for tale, this is the story of young Joe, who has a history of being a little disappointed in his Santa gifts. It's not that he doesn't get what he asks for (e.g. a red fire engine), it's just that they aren't quite what he meant (only 3 inches long). So this year, he decides to be really specific with his list, and sure enough - waiting for him under the tree Christmas morning is the pet penguin he asked Santa to bring him. At first Joe is overjoyed ... but then the realities of penguin ownership kick in, and Joe slowly realizes that he maybe didn't think this wish through. Funny all year long, with wonderful illustrations that add to both the humor and the cute factor (which is considerable).

Interested in this book? Get more details or make a purchase at the bookstore.

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.

Little Bear
by Else Holmelund Minarik
Illus. Maurice Sendak
1957

Ah, Little Bear. I think these were the first books I ever read to myself, when I finally learned to read at age 6. But I'd fallen for their charm quite a bit earlier. Minarik's simple stories of a bear, his family and his friends are enduring because of their classic themes of friendship, family, and imagination. The books are now a popular animated series on Noggin, but I hope it goes without saying that there's no comparison to the books. Minarik's lifelike rendering of Little Bear as a determined, inventive, outgoing young child will ring true to both parents and toddlers, and if the stories are old fashioned, it's only in the best sense of the word. Sendak's illustrations delightfully capture the ambiguously late-Victorian era of the tales (I believe the technical term for the setting would be "long ago" or "in olden times"), and overall the books are the kid's lit equivalent of snuggling up in a comfy chair with a nice cup of tea.

Also recommended: Father Bear Comes Home (1959), Little Bear's Friend (1960), Little Bear's Visit (1961), A Kiss For Little Bear (1968)

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.

Come Play With Me
by Margaret Hiller
Illus. Kinuko Craft
1975

As you may have noticed from previous entries, I'm a total sucker for good illustrations, and Kinuko Craft is one of my favorite illustrators. I first saw her work as a little kid in the book Come Play With Me, which features simple rhymes for beginning readers. The poems are perfectly nice, but it's the pictures that really make the language come alive. A verse about a ball going up and down is much more interesting when it's being bounced by an elf at twilight; a poem about a boy playing with his father is made magical when you see that the father and son are centaurs; a game of hide-and-seek is positively idyllic when set in an arcadian landscape. New readers will take pride in reading the simple words, and pre-readers (and parents!) will have their imaginations sparked by the beautiful images. May be difficult to find, but it's worth the look.

Pet of the Met
by Don and Lydia Freeman
Illus. Don and Lydia Freeman
1953

This was one of my favorite childhood books, and only recently came back into print; my mom brought it as a gift for my daughter and it was like travelling back in time 30-some years - it had been that long since I'd even *thought* about this book. I'm so glad it's easily available again, though, because it really is wonderful. Pet of the Met tells the story of Maestro Petrini, the mouse whose job it is to turn pages for the prompter at the Metropolitan Opera house. A true devotee of opera, the only blot on Petrini's existence is the constant presence of his arch-enemy, Mefisto the cat. The two manage to co-exist peacefully until one day Petrini is carried away by a production of The Magic Flute and ends up giving the performance of his life. The story introduces kids to all kinds of great theatre and opera terms, and gives a magical window into backstage activities. And the pictures are simply marvellous, as you'd expect from the illustrator of the Corduroy stories. An excellent book to read aloud, over and over again.

Sandra Boynton Board Books
by Sandra Boynton
Illus. by Sandra Boynton
1977-present

OK, I know it's cheating a little to have just one entry for ALL of Boyton's board books, but they're all so flippin' good I couldn't choose an individual one to feature. Boynton's signature goofy animals and irreverent prose fulfill my top requirement for board books: they're good enough to read over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-OVER again without making you want to stab your eyes out with a fork. These were hands down my daughter's favorites from 0-2 years, and they're still in the top 10. I honestly think we own 95% of what Boynton's written, and we love them all, but the creme de la creme in our household are: The Belly Button Book; Blue Hat, Green Hat; What's Wrong, Little Pookie? (for real, so cute it could injure someone); But Not the Hippopotamus; Hippos Go Berserk; and Hey! Wake Up!

Goodnight Moon
by Margaret Wise Brown
Illus. Clement Hurd
1947

Simple verse, lulling rhythm, and beautiful, cozy pictures detail a young bunny's bedtime routine.
The all-time, best-ever bedtime book. If you don't like Goodnight Moon, you may be dead inside.