IBBBT: What's the best Children's Book You have Ever Read?

[bananda]

baby-sitters club series
nancy drew series
the rainbow fish

 

[dreamer17555]

Top Picture Books

1. The Giving Tree
2. Love You Forever (this one makes DH teary)
3. The Lorax
4. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
5. Oh, The Places You'll Go


Chapter Books
1. Anne of Green Gables
2. The Giver
3. Little House Series
4. The Harry Potter Series
5. To Tell The Truth


-Becca-

 

[suejai]

I was an avid reader, and still am, but can't remember most of the books I read. I would read anything, but these are the ones that stand out:

The Black Stallion Series
A Wrinkle in Time
Trixie Belden series
Call of the Wild
Never Cry Wolf
Black Beauty - I remember balling my eyes out when Ginger dies
Chronicles of Narnia

My favourite books that I read to my son as a toddler are the Little Bear books by Martin Waddell (not to be confused with the Little Bear series that's on tv) they were so sweet - actually anything by him is wonderful. If you have toddlers I highly recommend them.

DS has turned into an avid reader (yay!) and some of the books he is reading are very good, I wish they had them when I was a kid. His favourite is the Pendragon series. But also enjoyed the Silverwing series by Kenneth Oppel.

 

[BeachGirlFLA]

Anne of Green Gables (the whole series...don't really have a favorite of the series) and the Emily of New Moon series as well
Diary of Anne Frank
Little House (again the whole series and I had a very strange dream last night that all of a sudden there were several more in the series...like undiscovered books or something)
Most of the Louisa May Alcott books (Little Women, Rose In Bloom, Eight Cousins, Little Men, Jo's Boys, and An Old-Fashioned Girl)

 

[BeachGirlFLA]

My favorite book when I was little was Goodnight Moon. My four year old will still pick it for me to read to him and say, "This one is for you, Mommy." So sweet!

My favorites that I read myself were:
Beverly Cleary books
Boxcar Children
Encyclopedia Brown books
Little House books

But my absolute favorite:
Anne of Green Gables

Goodnight Moon was my mom's and my favorite when I was really little, too...I remember that one and Pat The Bunny the most.

 

[BeachGirlFLA]

Ballet Shoes
The Phantom Tollbooth
The House with a Clock in Its Walls
Nancy Drew
Trixie Belden
The Boxcar Children
Anne of Green Gables
Little House on the Prairie
The Chronicles of Narnia
The Bobbsey Twins
Little Women
Baby Island
Candy Stripers
Caddie Woodlawn
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
Pippi Longstocking
Roald Dahl books

for younger kids:

Old Witch and the Polka Dot Ribbon
Amelia Bedelia
Make Way for Ducklings
Harold and the Purple Crayon
Madeline
Blueberries for Sal
The Maggie B
Curious George

So many wonderful books. Reading saved me as a child.

I forgot Ballet Shoes (and all the Shoes books...I just saw the movie that the BBC made out of Ballet Shoes and loved it), Trixie Belden, the Bobbsey Twins, and Caddie Woodlawn. I also LOVED biographies when I was young, but I can't remember most of the titles. AND I haven't seen anyone say The Velveteen Rabbit (I remember crying over that one.) Reading was definitely my favorite thing to do as a kid.

 

[apirateslifeforme]

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsberg
Behind the Attic Wall by Sylvia Cassedy
Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer (I think I like it because of the song by The Cure, though!)
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
The All-of-a-Kind Family series by Sydney Taylor
The Encyclopedia Brown series by Donald J. Sobol
The Bruno & Boots MacDonald Hall books by Gordon Korman

For young teenagers (maybe), the Sunfire historic romances.

 

[Kathi OD]

Favorite picture books:

If You Give A Mouse A Cookie
Love You Forever
Where The Wild Things Are


Favorite Children's books:

Anne of Green Gables
Little Women
Wizard of Oz (the entire series)
Alice in Wonderland
Cheaper by the Dozen
Heidi
The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Tom Sawyer
Huckleberry Finn
Chronicles of Narnia

 

[daughtersrus]

I would have to say

You Are My Wish Come True by Marianne Richmond

The first time that I read it I was in the children's section at Von Maur. My eyes filled up and I had to walk around awhile before I could bring it to the counter to pay for it.

 

[cjb1879]

I was a kid who LOOOVED to read and I can't bear to give books away, so I still have all of my childhood books. In fact, I occasionally re-read them since in really good books, there are many nuanaces that a child just will not grasp! I loved:

-ALL the Chronicles of Narnia (The Magician's Nephew; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; Prince Caspian; Voyage of the Dawn Treader (I'm actually reading this for the 100th time right now!); The Silver Chair; The Horse and His Boy and The Final Battle)
-Just about everything L.M. Montgomery ever did including the Anne of Green Gables series, the Emily series and her collections of short stories.
-Of course, everything Harry Potter!
-Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens and Peter and Wendy (which we now think of as "Peter Pan"). These were J.M. Barrie's original Peter Pan books and though they are nothing like the Disney version, they are completely charming and funny and IMHO, much better than any film adaption that has been made. Though Barrie wrote this as a play (primarily for children), I think both books have a special resonance for mothers (unfortunately, I'm not one yet!)
-ANYTHING by E. Nesbit (she is my favorite!)- an unconventional English author who does not often get mentioned in these kinds of lists, though many of the classic authors we do mention (specifically, C.S. Lewis and J.K. Rowling) acknowledge their debt to her. She wrote around the late 1800's-early 1900's and most of her children's books focused on the adventures (sometimes magical, sometimes not) of different groups of children, often a group of siblings. If you're going to check her out, I suggest the books that deal with the Bastable children including "The Would-be-goods", "The Treasure-Seekers" and "The New Treasure-Seekers". I also like "Five Children and It" and "The Phoenix and the Carpet", but really, any of her books are good. Though her books are nearly 100 years old, they have a wit and humor which makes them seem as if they were written yesterday!

Sorry I got a little carried away, I just graduated from UPenn with an English B.A. and literature is my passion! I just noticed that most of the authors I mentioned are British and none are American! I have to say, though we have some good ones too- English children's literature blows American children's literature out of the water. I wonder why

But if you're looking for a fairly recent American children's book, I'd recommend "Changeling" by Delia Sherman. Really imaginative book and very funny. I actually had a chance to meet the author in one of my classes and she was just as entertaining as her book!

 

[TheBigBadWolf]

I was a horse lover as a child (still am). I lived and breathed horses. So most of my favorite childhood books involved horses.

The Black Stallion series - my very favorite of these was The Island Stallion
All of Mary O'Hara books:
My Friend Flicka
Thunderhead
Green Grass of Wyoming
also Marguerite Henry's horse books:
Misty of Chincoteague
Sea Star: Orphan of Chicoteague
Stormy, Misty's Foal
I also had every Nancy Drew book and loved mysteries.

 

[WDWBarb]

Oh, I so can't believe that I forgot "The Borrowers" series!! I so adored those books as a child.

This thread is bringing back some INCREDIBLE memories!!!

 

[xoprincessmomxo]

So many good books. I'll mention some of my favorites that might not have been mentioned yet.

A Dog Called Kitty
Old Yeller and Savage Sam
The Spooky Old Tree (Berenstein Bears Book)
The Tub People (I discovered this when it was in a collection of books my 1st DD got at her baby shower. It makes me weep by the end.)

 

[GirTheGecko]

Black Stallion series
Little House series
Trixie Belden series
Black Beauty-my parents gave me a wonder edition of this and Little Women, and I have no idea where they are now


I mentioned getting the 'Little House' series for my niece (who is due Friday) and my boyfriend looked at me like I was nuts. It was one of my favorite series when I was younger, and I would love to share it with her in a few years.

 

[OceanAnnie]

Books I loved that I had to buy my kids:
Cloudy with a chance of meatballs
The Giant Jam Sandwich

My dad loved and bought for my siblings and I and again for our kids Ricki, Ticki Timbo.

I also read and loved every (original series) Nancy Drew, Hardy Boy, Bobbsey Twins and Trixie Beldon book at least 3 times each.

For my kids I really enjoy Sandra Boynton's books with my favorite being Barnyard Dance. My boys also loved a book called The Jungle Baseball game.

That's a favorite at our house too! I have loved reading it to our kid's classes. I always get the children to say the, "Ricki, Ticki, Timbo, ..." part.

Big Chickens, is a fun book to read aloud. There is another, Big Chickens Fly the Coop, or something like that. They are funny and fun to read aloud.

I see a lot of favorites and some I we haven't read. I'm taking notes! So many good books!
Thanks for sharing everyone!

 

[DawnCt1]

The Wind in the Willows book and all of the smaller books based on those characters by Kenneth Grahame. Of course, this should be a favorite of Disney fans. Mr. Toad, of the famed Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, is a Kenneth Roberts character. I remember when I was in grade school walking to the library and checking out all of the Kenneth Grahame's Wind and the Willow character books.

 

[Pigeon]

Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass are still my two favorite books.

We loved the Kevin Henkes mouse books (Lilly and the Purple Plastic Purse, Chrysanthemum, Wemberley Worries) and anything by Cynthia Rylant.

 

[bookgirl]

Scruffy the Tugboat (Little Golden Book)

Alexander and the horible no good very bad day (Judith Vorist)

One fish, Two fish, Red fish, Blue fish (Dr Suess)

Harriet the Spy (Louise Fitzhugh)

The great brain (Fitzgerald)

Tales of Narnia (C.S. Lewis)

Harry Potter (J. K. Rowling)

A Wrinkle in time (Madeline Le'Engle)

To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)

Are you There God it's me Margret (Judy Blume)


Don't forget Banned Books Week is Sept 26, go to www.ala.org to see the list of books with the most frequent attempts to be censored or banned. You'd be surprised how many of the books listed have had attempts to ban placed on them.

 

[wdwgirl03]

The Magic Tree House books are fun.

I'm a teacher and subbed last year...a lot of the classrooms had a book called Osbert the Penguin so I had to go and buy it for my future classroom. It's adorable! I also love the If You Give series, like If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and If You Give a Pig a Pancake. Those are fun too.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

I have loved many, if not all, of these books, but the one I cannot imagine not stocking on my bookshelves before having kids:

The Phantom Tollbooth

As an adult, I still look back and laugh at the brillance of this simple little children's book.