Favorite children books?

I also like kids' nonfiction books for quick, easily-digestible facts on a variety of subjects. I'm especially partial to the Franklin Watts "First Books" series.

The lost thing by shaun tan is kickass.

It also inspired me to search through all the books I have around to find some good children books.

Where the Wild Things Are
lots of Dr. Seuss
Mrs. Frisby & the rats of nim
The Princess and the Goblins
Phantom Tollbooth

Were some I came across. What about moomin? I haven't read any of those. I want to read more that incorperate lots of pictures almost like comics.

(Also is it too creepy for a grown man to be hanging out in the children's section of a library for like half a day? maybe sitting in one of the bean bag chairs.)

http://www.bloomsbury.com/Images/Books/Batch1/0862649943.JPG

(thats Ralph Steadmans "Little.com")

Woah, that's some orgasm.

xpost not heard of that one Adam? heh.

I know it Adam. We always used to make my mum read this one.

http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/assets/product/0395070627.gif

http://www.tomie.com/images/spotlight_on/strega/strega_nona.jpg

(the last one is possibly the best book EVER, any genre)

-the entire Peanuts line of reprints that Mattel put out
-bunnicula(and the series)

even as a juvenile I was always more fascinated by nonfiction when I could get it. Small wonder that I grew up to be addicted to techno music and ended up in a graduate engineering program. God dammit.

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, Robert C. O'Brien
Bridge to Terabithia, Katherine Patterson
Dear Mr. Henshaw, Beverly Cleary
Sarah, Plain and Tall, Patricia MacLachlan

Other Books I Loved:

The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
Charlotte's Web, E.B. White
A Light in the Attic, Shel Silverstein
The classic Dr. Seuss books (I mean, come on, what child DIDN'T like Dr. Seuss whilst growing up?)
Anything at all by Robert Cormier

And, um, The Nuclear Age by Tim O'Brien. Which I first read when I was, no kidding, either nine or ten years old. Quality children's literature... ? (Oh yeah, and I loved to read a lot of nonfiction too. One of my favorite books as a child, something I really, really miss to this day, is an old science textbook a neighbor let me have when I was four. I have no idea where it is. Aw.)

The book describes networking in terms even a child could understand, choosing to anthropomorphize the underlying packet structure. The ping packet is described as a duck, who, with other packets (more ducks), spends a certain period of time on the host machine (the wise-eyed boat). At the same time each day (I suspect this is scheduled under cron), the little packets (ducks) exit the host (boat) by way of a bridge (a bridge). From the bridge, the packets travel onto the internet (here embodied by the Yangtze River).

God Im a nerd.

You did? I was terrified by the Faraway Tree books - they were horribly scary, like bad nightmares.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett...the ultimate horror/fantasy. This book was my equivalent to sex back then, I loved it more than life itself.

My favourite part from the Slashdot book review was

If you need a good, high-level overview of the ping utility, this is the book. I can't recommend it for most managers, as the technical aspects may be too overwhelming and the basic concepts too daunting.

And when I was little my parents bought a set of Collier's Encyclopedias, which came with a ten volume set called the Junior Classics. Awesome. Nursery rhymes, fables, animal stories, poetry, myths and legends, you name it. I'll never give those up... except for grandkids, I reckon.

This apparently is the gift to the new Danish royal baby what has the Aussie mum (specifically a first edition of same). I should also say that is the TWEEST BOOK NAME EVER.

(Wonder why I wasn't on this thread before? TOMBOT's choices are genius and most accurate.)

Getting ready for school, so I bought an armful of books for my 8-year old daughter, who's about to begin 3rd grade tomorrow. One book, which wasn't on the suggested reading list but caught my attention, is Letters From Rifka, by Karen Hesse. We're reading it now, and it's . . . heavy. It's the story of a Jewish family that flees Russia during the Pogrom of 1919. Very sad, but I think it's time for my daughter to begin reading more serious books (her summer reading list suggests as much).

Anyone read this book? If so, any thoughts on it are appreciated, including what age group you think it's suitable for?

Actually, Russia's pogroms may not have been in 1919. They may have been a few years earlier. What the book describes, however, sure sounds like a pogrom.

"The Everything Kids' Mazes Book" is pretty awesome. I picked it up at random for my 5-year-old because he was demonstrating some aptitude with mazes and it was so much better than I had imagined. Each maze has a theme (like you're a palentologist and have to "dig" your way down to some dinosaur bones) as well as a little educational blurb that relates to the theme. The blurbs are really well written for their audience. I don't know if every kid could do the mazes though. Some of them are a little advanced, but there are different levels sprinkled throughout the book.

Another thing that we're really impressed with is the LeapFrog Tag Reader, which is basically the modern version of those "SEE the Pictures/HEAR the Story/READ the Book" readalongs that were around when I was a kid. Each book (which is usually some popular kids story like Kung Fu Panda or Star Wars the Clone Wars) also has a bunch of reading games in the back that the kids can earn printable "rewards" for. Only downside is that you have to buy AAA batteries in bulk.

We also read lots of great actual books too, maybe I'll post a list of our favorites later.

Letters from Rifka is a sweet little book. Mostly themes of loneliness, abandonment -- so if you think that might touch a nerve, maybe think about how to address? Don't recall any outright violence or major struggle, it's more about Rifka's personal challenges in a new country, and apart from her family. Appropriate for middle-grade reading, which is roughly ages 7-11.

And that's all I can remember from 5 years ago, when I read it. :)

Thanks, Laurel. Yeah, it's turning out to be a great book for my 8-year old daughter. We're on page 120 (of 145 pages). It is a fairly unrelenting and sad story, but it's becoming a turning-point for my daughter in terms of reading. She is a very strong reader, but up until now, she's preferred to read books like the Junie B. Jones and Katie Kazoo series. Rifka, by contrast, has no pictures, has very difficult words (for an 8-year old), and very serious themes. But she's devouring it. From here, I can introduce her to other advanced, more serious works.

Buying it was a total shot-in-the-dark, but it's becoming one of the best book purchases I've made for her.

http://thevigoroussuck.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/jam2.jpg

Wow!!!! I haven't thought about that book for years!!! Loved this when I was a kid.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51MPS924SGL._SS400_.jpg

My brother and I loved The Giant Jam Sandwich and The Runaway Rollerskate as kids - great bedtime reading. I just had a look on Amazon and it seems that TRR is out of print and goes for mad loot on the Marketplace.

Can't spot a mention elsewhere on the thread, but Tove Jansson's series of Moomin books are probably my favourites from all childhood reading. Beautifully illustrated and written and with a tone and melancholy feel that's unique - highly recommended.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_QPvnqn1X53U/RkP8T1Pa1KI/AAAAAAAAALc/0UdQMUyuv6U/s400/mcelligots-pool.jpg

^^ this was my favorite Seuss, along w/ The Sneetches - esp. the green ghost pants story - that scared the hell out of me (in a good way).

whoops..

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_QPvnqn1X53U/RkP8T1Pa1KI/AAAAAAAAALc/0UdQMUyuv6U/s400/mcelligots-pool.jpg

this book had the coolest illustrations.

Does anyone else find that a lot of contemporary children's picture books have awkward, tin-eared writing? So many of K's books read like poems written BY children instead of for them. When the text is written in rhymes, the rhythm and meter are all over the place. Colloquialisms and formal language are jarringly smushed together, etc. I got particularly annoyed one day with a line in a book about baby animals that, in order to force a rhyme, ended with "...he eats a tiger snack." The stupidest, faux-cutesiest thing I've ever heard. Similarly, a book called "The Way I Feel" ends a stanza about feeling "silly" with a line about wearing a hat "that takes up lots of space."

Another book, Little Pea, which is a good concept and has nice illustrations, contains the sentence "Little Pea liked to do lots of things, like rolling down hills, for example, super fast." ARGH, the "for example" is so awkwardly wedged in there. When you read books like "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," the lines stay with you. "In the light of the moon, a little egg lay on a leaf." So beautiful and simple and musical.

tt has just bought the first Mr Gum book by Andy Stanton (2006)

it's properly hilarious, this is the stuff that 7 year-olds should be reading instead of all that wimpy kid shit

bought it for her own/our delectation. never too old

for a long time I was convinced that the first chapter book I ever read was about an ogre who worked as a master pizza chef but was forbidden from showing his face in public. I read it in first grade circa 1994, and it resurfaced as a decoration in my school cafeteria a few years later. an underwhelmingly easy google search reveals that it was The Top of the Pizzas (1977) by Bill Basso. it's a picture book rather than a chapter book, but I got most of the details right, and it holds up pretty well! the illustrations are amazingly chill with kind of a Mad Magazine flair and Old Weird New York atmospherics; the text strikes a balance between the maudlin and the goofy as it wends its way toward the obvious lesson about accepting people for who they are. this is the only children's book Basso wrote (though he illustrated others) but he's still active as a gothic/surrealist multimedia artist. the book is long OOP, and I feel like it would have made a bigger splash in the '80s or '90s when pizza loomed larger in pop culture

https://i.imgur.com/VZHuDlj.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/7zozWVx.png

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pushcart_War

i'm a sucker for the simplicity of this one

https://pictures.abebooks.com/isbn/9780061140198-us.jpg

Any recommendations for children's books from this year? Looking specifically for something for a 6 and 8 year old.

(Or websites that are good at suggesting what age books are probably intended for?)

These are pretty good and very silly, albeit v British

https://www.simonandschuster.com/series/Grimwood

Cheers, Chuck_

Favourite book to read to other people's small people is this: https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/B-J-Novak/The-Book-With-No-Pictures/18306762 - so silly and joyful.

Should say the question related to an attempt to introduce the Icelandic "Jólabókaflóð" to a group of friends and their children - translates as Xmas Book Flood, apparently and involves giving books and chocolate on Xmas Eve.

https://images.bwbcovers.com/161/Go-the-Fuck-to-Sleep-Mansbach-Adam-9781617750250.jpg

At some point my kid picked up a book called Owl At Home by Arnold Lobel, the Frog and Toad guy.

I started reading it to her and it's so good. I took it with me when I said goodnight and read it to my older daughter (14) who loved it. I took it with me when I said goodnight and read it to my wife who loved it. It's bizarre and sweet and lovely.

I always liked Grasshopper on the Road. What an odd book.

Any recommendations for children's books from this year? Looking specifically for something for a 6 and 8 year old.

(Or websites that are good at suggesting what age books are probably intended for?)

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Updating the question for two nine year olds and a seven year old ...

Reckon Hannah Peck's "The River Thief" would fit the bill (for the 9 year old)??

Katherine Rundell's Rooftoppers and Skysteppers - I read them to my 8 year old but I think a 9 year old might manage them. We've read three others of hers but they are aimed at slightly older kids.

Also for slightly older kids but I loved Eva Ibbotson's Journey to the River Sea. Set in the early 20th century it really felt like a classic from that time, like The Secret Garden. Today's kids may prefer something more cutting edge obv (though my daughter enjoyed it).

Moomins? Stig of the Dump? (I can confirm it's still a classic.)

Not necessarily useful for djh but I'd recommend these for anyone of woman born and especially teenagers: the Borrible trilogy by Michael de Larrabeiti. Magnificent books.

Thanks all.