The books Riley wants us to read over and over are Good Night Moon, Curious George Visits a Toy Store, and any of the Dr. Seuss tongue-twisters. As children’s books go, I figure it could be much worse—at least he likes the classics. He’s got more than one book in his collection that would have to find its way to the recycle bin if he wanted to hear it every day, such as the odious/preachy I Love You Mommy.
I’m sure most of us are up to our ears in kids’ reading material and don’t need a whole lot of suggestions in that arena, but I wanted to share a few of the title that have a special place on Riley’s bookshelf. A couple of them are many years old, from when I was a little kid, and I hope that Riley one day enjoys them as much as I used to—and maybe even passes them down to his own kids. If they survive his childhood, that is, which given the state of some of his much-loved tomes seems doubtful.
Birger’s Birds. I suppose this book has been out of print for years and years, but on the off chance you stumble across it in someone’s yard sale, grab it. It’s a simple, charming little collection of illustrations; each drawing is a humorous interpretation of a real bird’s name. The Cedar Waxwing who is pictured diligently waxing his outstretched wing, for instance, or the stretched-out-flat Belted Kingfisher. My favorite is the bird featured on the cover: the Little Bittern.
Custard and Company. Here’s another one that appears to be out of print, but there are lots of options for used copies on Amazon. Custard and Company is a collection of poems by Ogden Nash, and the particular version I have has wonderful illustrations by Quentin Blake. I remember having this read to me, and eventually reading it on my own.
Tell me, O Octopus, I begs
Is those things arms, or is they legs?
I marvel at thee, Octopus
If I were thou, I’d call me Us
Flawed Dogs: The Year End Leftovers at the Piddleton “Last Chance” Dog Pound. This one’s for any Bloom County fans—it’s a beautifully, hilariously illustrated book by Berkeley Breathed, who we will simply have to forgive for his ongoing lametastic Sunday cartoon Opus. The book depicts a series of ‘unwanted dogs’, an accompanying poetic description on each page. Riley and I both love Pete the farting dog, drawn with flames shooting from his rear end, and the following text:
The Bibbles found
They could no longer quibble
The problem with Pete
Went past iffy kibble
Do you have any offbeat or older books that both the adults and kids in your family love? Or any family books passed on from generation to generation? I’d love to hear about them.
Linda, I second the “Flawed Dogs” vote. We received that from one of my ex-husband’s slightly, ahem, unique cousins, and I threw it in the bookcase with the thought that “Dude, that weirdo gave us a weirdo book and I shall never expose my kids to it. Tainted!”
They found it, of course, and I was won over with the charm and illustrations. Some of the dogs and their stories are a little hard to explain to my peanutheads, but they still like it.
Also, gotta admit that I still well up on the last page that explains that “some dogs live without love, and that’s how they’re flawed.” Sniff…
Michelle | March 29th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Despite being a grown-up without children, I collect really good children’s books and I tell you, it doesn’t get any better than Harold and the Purple Crayon, which I *adore* to this day.
I also have an enviable collection of Mercer Mayar books — the dude who does Little Critter — which is my favorite children’s series. They’re not super offbeat, per se, but I loved them as a kid and my mom loved reading them to me, for the subtext is that they’re written from the perspective of the adult. And oh, the illustrations are so great!
jonniker | March 31st, 2008 at 12:34 am
I love Tikki Tikki Tembo- the one about the little Chinese brothers. My girls LOVE to say that great long name!
I also love Children Just Like Me- a DK book with real kids from all over the world. My kids can pour over that book for hours!
My Father’s Dragon was fun to revisit, as well as the Ramona Quimby books and the Little House books.
Also, I love Blueberries for Sal.
Marie Green | March 31st, 2008 at 1:15 am
Payton totally geeks out over Curious George and the Toy Store, too. I always loved the Richard Scarry books as a kid because I love the really detailed illustrations. Some of them were almost like a Where’s Waldo…everytime you looked at it, you saw something you didn’t see before.
I was looking through a box at my parents’ house of my books from when i was a kid to see if there were any I wanted to take home for my kids. I came across a copy of , “Little Black Sambo”…..yeah, I don’t think I’ll be passing THAT little literary gem onto my kids. Sometimes the mid-70’s were scary.
Cara | March 31st, 2008 at 6:02 am
Okay, I have three to contribute, the first two I love and the last, well, my husband reads her that one. (My daughter is 3.5 yo)
The best one is “Sluggy Slug” by Chris Raschka. It is part of the Thingy Thing series (Moosey Moose, Whaley Whale, etc) which is cute, but we found this when I was pregnant and bought it for everyone I knew because of the illustrations. It’s very short, and my daughter has cracked up at the climactic “Sluggy Slug!” page since she was about 8 months old.
“The Mole Sisters and the Blue Egg” is another strange favorite of ours. It’s one of another series, by Roslyn Schwartz. It’s very fanciful (again quite short) and delights in the sound and feel of exhilerated language. I think my daughter liked that she knew the words very quickly and could sort of cheer them on.
The last is a book we found at the SFMOMA ages ago, and I figured my daughter would be 18 before she would look at it without nightmares. But despite the fact that she has just gotten over a mortal fear of snowmen (cheerful happy snowmen), she is delighted by “Odd Numbers” by Michael Gagne. It is a counting book of monsters — 1 horn, 2 tails, etc — and the illustrations are quite graphic and sinister. It bugs me a little that they include even and odd numbers, but that’s just me. She thinks it’s a riot, even the snake-like creature for “28 spikes.” but we can’t watch horton hears a who because she’s terrified of jane kangaroo… go figure.
Jennifer | March 31st, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Cloudy with a chance of meatballs! Anything by Bill Peet! The Blueberry Pie Elf! Books for older kids: Mrs. Piggle Wiggle series, Last of the Really Great Wangdoodles
spacegeek | April 1st, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Flawed Dogs is awesome; owned it for years.
claire | April 1st, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Miss Rumphius was a favorite of my cousins who then passed it along to my son when he was about 6. It’s a very sweet book about how one girl/old woman makes the world a more beautiful place. It’s for sale on Amazon for less than a buck+shipping in case anyone’s interested:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0140505393/ref=dp_olp_2
amber | April 4th, 2008 at 12:04 am
Any of the Julia Donaldson books are fabulous! “The Gruffalo” and “The Gruffalo’s Child” were our first faves, “The Smartest Giant in Town” is another great one - they are ALL good, really! We also love Usborne’s cautionary tales, like “Give That Back, Jack” and “Don’t Tell Lies, Lucy”; they teach morals and manners with a bit of a dark twist at the end.
Michelle | April 6th, 2008 at 2:58 am
I teach first grade and my kiddos LOVE the books “I Stink!” and “I’m Dirty” by Kate & Jim McMullan. These books were not ones that I might have picked up on my own, but when they were donated to our classroom, I decided to read it to the kids and…OH, MY!! They think it’s hilarious!! “I Stink!” is about a garbage truck and all of the yucky things that he “eats” (A to Z, including dirty diapers!). “I’m Dirty!” is about a dump truck. These books are really fun and have lots of great sound effects/noises to make along with it! They also talk about the vehicle parts, which I could see your kiddos loving!
They also adore the David Shannon books, “No, David!” “David Gets In Trouble,” and “David Goes to School!” These books have great illustrations (In one, David runs naked down the street with his little bare butt showing–the class roars EVERY time!), easy words (so, once it’s been read to them a couple of times, they can “read” it to each other), and funny story lines.
Lastly, “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” (& the rest of the books in that series) always make them giggle. They’re cute and fun to read.
Jamie :) | April 6th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Linda,
We also have ‘Flawed Dogs’ as my husband is a big fan, and we have ‘Goodnight Opus’ - have you seen that? It’s pretty cute!
Sarah | April 7th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
I must say the SkippyJon Johns collection really gives my 7 year old the giggles.
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Vaine Loera | April 11th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Good grief. Does Vaine Loera post the same comment on every entry?
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