Our 50 Favorite Children's Books!

Since this is my first blog post, I decided to make it a good one.  On Facebook, I had started a discussion on favorite children's books, and it inspired me to make a blog post about my family's favorites.  I originally wanted to choose 25 favorites, but as my children and I began looking through books, I quickly decided 25 just wasn't a large enough number.  We have SO MANY favorites!  After we had sorted through our books and pulled out the favorites, I had about 80 books in hand.  Very carefully, I've narrowed it down to 50 MUST HAVE books!  These are books that get read on a nearly-every-day basis, and we just couldn't live without them. These books are in no particular order because I couldn't decide which ones were the very best. They are all that good! Warning- the pictures aren't high quality! I'm not a photographer (yet).

 

1. Mary Engelbreit's Nursery Tales-  This is a collection of your favorite nursery tales illustrated by the amazing Mary Engelbreit!  All of her books are fabulous, by the way!

2.  Pete the Cat Rockin in my School Shoes by Eric Litman-  My son LOVES Pete the Cat.  I only put one on here, but we have them all.

3. Press Here by Herve Tullet - This book gets read over and over again.  It is an interactive book where you push dots, shake the book, etc to make the pictures change.  It is so much fun!

4. The Napping House by Audrey Wood- This is a funny bedtime story! We read this book nearly every night.

5. The Little Red Hen by Jerry Pinkney- You can't go wrong with any Jerry Pinkney books.  His illustrations are beautiful!

6. Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney-  The Llama books are adorable rhyming books that teach little lessons! My daughter goes crazy for these!

7. If You Give A Moose A Muffin by Laura Numeroff- Most people have read at least one book in the "If You Give" series.  This one is our favorite!

8. The Monster at the End of this Book by Jon Stone- This is by far my son's favorite book.  We read it every day, multiple times a day.  BUY THIS BOOK FOR YOUR KIDS! Seriously, you won't regret it! It is too adorable!

9. Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey- This was one of my favorite books growing up, and I love that my kids enjoy it as well!

10. The Empty Pot by Demi- My son originally checked this out from the library, but it taught such a great lesson on working hard and telling the truth, that I had to buy it for our collection.

11. We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen- My children love the little "sound effects" in this book! Such a fun one!

12. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst- This was another one of my childhood favorites, and my kids love it as well!

13. Grover Sleeps Over by Elizabeth Winthrop- This was my absolute favorite book growing up, and my children love it as well! I'm not even sure you can buy this book anymore, but it is so good!

14. Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson- This is a fun book that shows how to use your imagination!

15. A Baby Sister for Herry by Emily Perl Kingsley- This is another childhood favorite of mine, and my son read this every night while I was pregnant with his baby sister.  He still loves to read it even though baby sister is 3!

16.-20. These are all books I have pulled from different series.  I would recommend any and all Amelia Bedelia, Berenstain Bears, Frog and Toad, Clifford, or Little Critter books!

21. & 22.- Most Mo Williams books are adorable.  We especially love Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and Knuffle Bunny

23. I Love You Stinky Face by Lisa Mccourt- This is a sweet book in which the mother shows how she would love her baby even if he was a monster or an alien. 

24. I Love You the Purplest by Barbara Joose- This is a great book for parents who have more than one child.  This shows that you love both of your children equally even though they are completely different people.

25. Splat the Cat Fishy Tales by Rob Scotton- My son loves all of the Splat the Cat books!

26. Franklin books by Paulette Bourgeois- This series of books is great for teaching little lessons. Plus, all kids love Franklin the Turtle!

27. What are You so Grumpy About? by Tom Lichtenheld- This is a silly book that I read when my kids are grumpy.  They are always laughing by the end!

28. The Pout Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen- This is my daughter's favorite book. It is one that we read multiple times a day.

29. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle-  This is a classic, and I feel as if every child should have this book.  I love it! I recommend all Eric Carle books!

30. The Mitten by Jan Brett- We love Jan Brett! I'm pretty sure we have every book she's ever written.

31. Hippopposites by Janik Coat- I stumbled across this book by accident while surfing Amazon.com, and bought it on a whim. Let me tell you, this is the BEST book for teaching opposites to small children. Buy it! Seriously.  Stop reading now and buy it! Especially if you have a toddler in the house!

32. Pantone Colors- This is another one of my "stumbled upon" finds from Amazon.com. It is a fantastic book for teaching colors to little ones.  I especially love it because it shows many different shades of each color instead of the generic primary or secondary color.  

33. I Love You Through and Through by Bernadette Rossetti-Shustak-  This is a sweet book to read to your little one to let them know you love them no matter what.  This is my go-to book to buy for baby showers!

34. Ten Little Ladybugs by Melanie Gerth- This is a cute rhyming book that teaches basic counting. My kids love it!

35. What makes a Rainbow? by Betty Schwartz- This is another color teaching book. My daughter loves this because each page has a ribbon in one color of the rainbow that pulls through, and you end up with a rainbow of ribbons!

36. Corduroy by Don Freeman- Every child should read Corduroy. End of story. 

37. The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle- Again, another Eric Carle book. You can't go wrong with Eric Carle!

38. The Wheels on the Bus by Jane Cabrera- This isn't the traditional Wheels on the Bus book. This one is all about the animals on the bus! My daughter goes crazy over this book!

39. The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf- This is another one of my favorites from my childhood, and it has become a favorite of my children as well.

40. Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina- Another classic and a favorite of our entire family.

41. Falling Up by Shel Silverstein- I love all of Shel Silverstein's books.  His rhymes are hilarious and we could read his books for hours!

42. The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg- If your family celebrates Christmas, this book is a must have!

43. Bear, Your Manners are Showing by Kathleen Allan-Meyer- I'm not sure if you can buy this book anymore either, but its a good one for teaching basic manners. I loved it as a child!

44. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown- This is THE Bedtime story. I read it every night as a child, and I read it everynight to my children.

45. But No Elephants by Jerry Smath- My kids love all books by Jerry Smath! They were some of my favorites as a little girl.

46. Time for Bed by Mem Fox- This is one of my more recent book finds. Such a sweet bedtime story! My daughter loves it.

47. The Wheels on the Bus by Paul O. Zelinsky- This is the traditional Wheels on the Bus book, but with movable parts! My children love pulling the little tabs to make the actions come to life!

48. The Jolly Postman and Other People's Letters by Allan Ahlberg- My kids love to read the "mail" in this book! So cute!

49. I just grabbed one of the Dr Seuss books off the shelf for this. We have nearly every book he's ever written. Love them all!

50. Cookie Monster and the Cookie Tree by David Korr- This is a cute book that teaches about sharing.  This was also one of my childhood favorites, and my children love it as well!

Well there's my list of our 50 favorite children's books!  If you have any books you would add to the list, be sure to comment below! Our children's library is huge, so there were many books I had to leave off that, but these are our absolute favorites!