If you could only pick “five brilliantly written and illustrated children’s books” to keep on your bookshelf, what would you choose?
That's the question put to us by yesterday's post at ylcf.org, and I thought I'd answer. :) Plus, they're giving away a $10 Amazon gift card as an incentive, and I already know what I would spend it on . . . you have to read on to find out. :)
As a novice Mom, I feel a bit inadequate to make an all-time list of all children's books. I'm picking five that we own and love, and, truly, if we could only keep five, we'd keep these!
1. My Little Word Book by Roger Priddy. This is Gemma's favorite book to "read" in the car. It's all simple pictures accompanied by their words, and she loves it! She once stayed happy flipping through this book for an entire hour on a car trip! Her cousin has the same book, and is actually on his second copy because the first one fell apart. :)
2. Eloise Wilkin Stories by Golden Books. Oh. oh. This is my favorite of Gemma's books, and it's also her favorite one to read together. Actually, it may be tied with My Little Word Book for Gemma's favorite to read independently, but with its rippable pages, I don't usually let her have it to herself. When we're sitting in her rocking chair with this book nearby, she will often whine and reach for it until I start reading!
When my mom-in-law gave me this book before Gemma was born, I was ecstatic. It has We Help Mommy and Baby Dear! I grew up hearing my mother read Little Golden Books to me, and this collection contains nine, including some of my favorites. Now, this is one of my favorite baby gifts to give. :) (And you can often find it at Marshalls, by the by!)
Gemma Grace has loved this book ever since I started reading to her when she was four months old, and I think it's because of the pictures. Eloise Wilkin's illustrations are equal to none. She simply knows how to draw babies, with their chubby little arms and wispy bangs. The stories themselves are sweet and family-oriented, as you might expect stories written in the 1950s and 60s to be. And in spite of my trying to protect it from damage, we are already on our second copy. :)
One of the books included is the My Little Golden Book about God, and though in some ways it is sweet and true, in other ways its theology is lacking, which brings me to book #3 . . .
3. The Big Picture Story Bible by David Helm and Gail Schoonmaker. It's a children's Bible with big pictures, right? Yes, but that's not entirely where its title comes from. As I first read through this book with Gemma over the course of several weeks, I was surprised by a few things. The prophet Daniel is mentioned, but not the story of the lion's den . . . ? That seemed strange, until I realized that this book was the children's version of what we were learning in my adult Sunday School class: God's salvation plan throughout the Scriptures. Following the fall of Adam and Eve, the entire history of the world is the giant story of God preparing His special people for His special place where they will be ruled by Jesus, His forever King.
In the interest of following this theme of God's covenantal dealings with His people throughout history, this book leaves out some of the more popular Bible stories told to children, like the account of Daniel in the lion's den. But I believe that it seeks to compensate for the common misunderstanding that the Bible's primary purpose is to provide children with character role-models. To view the Bible as simply a collection of moral tales is tragically wrong.
The illustrations are brilliant and fresh--for one, Adam and Eve come alive as real people instead of just the naked version of the famous farmer couple, with long hair instead of a bun and bushes instead of a pitch fork. You can even see some family resemblances between Abraham and the Israelites generations later. :)
4. Read Aloud Bible Stories by Ella K. Lindvall and H. Kent Puckett. This series of books fills in some of the story gaps left by The Big Picture Story Bible, and it does so with simple, captivating pictures and vocabulary which even toddlers can understand. We actually only have volume 2, but we certainly would be happy to add to our collection (*cough, cough*). :)
[edit: Oh, I wanted to add that one thing we really like about this series is how they treat pictures of Jesus. Puckett gives the reader a visual of Jesus in a white robe to make Him stand out from the crowd without ever showing His face. I truly appreciate the illustrator's mindfulness about the 2nd commandment in this respect! The Big Picture Story Bible is not as careful.]
5. The Olivia books by Ian Falconer. Sometimes I think these books are just for Mom. :) My little one is too young to smile at the antics of Olivia the pig, who is such a precocious version of an ordinary little girl in such a funny looking pig-body. :) Someday she will appreciate them, though . . . I hope. For now, we read the board book version of the original Olivia book together along with Olivia Counts, which is a sweet and fun way to learn the numbers 1-10 with illustrations which are very easy on the eyes.
So . . . what are some of your favorite children's books?
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