When I was searching for an old post on the blog recently I found this list from 4 years ago of books I wanted to read to Blake before kindergarten. It’s funny to remember myself as a first-time parent trying to find all these books. I know that I didn’t, but it was a fun goal at the time.
Now, 4 years later, I’m more of a seasoned parent with 2 children already in school and I know that it doesn’t really matter. But I still am trying to read as much as I can with Isaac this year before he starts kindergarten in the fall.
Indiana does full-day kindergarten and I’ve finally resigned myself to putting Isaac in it, instead of fighting for half-day or something. So he’s not going to get home each day until 4pm. That makes me very sad. But Blake and Clark both took naps until kindergarten, so I am using this year without naps to spend time reading books with him, playing games, and doing little lessons.
It was hard to give up that nap-time break at first, since I’ve always had nappers in the afternoon. He does do quiet time for an hour each day, but somehow he slowly wanders into whatever room I’m in (usually my office or bedroom) and talks to me half the time. 🙂
So instead of trying to read all the picture books on those other lists I’m going to share a list of some of our favorites. It was fun to see that some of the ones I hadn’t heard of 4 years ago are now in our personal collection and some of our favorites.
Top 65 Books We Own:
1. Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard
2. Happy Birthday, Moon by Frank Asch
3. Ten, Nine, Eight by Molly Bang
4. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett
5. Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
6. Berenstain Bear Books by Stan & Jan Berenstain
7. Arthur books by Marc Brown
8. Goodnight, Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
9. Mr. Gumpy’s Outing by John Burningham
10. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
11. Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin
12. Bullies Never Win by Margery Cuyler
13. Jamberry by Bruce Degen
14. Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney
15. Are You My Mother? by P. D. Eastman
16. Go, Dog, Go! by P.D. Eastman
17. Corduroy by Don Freeman
18. Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag
19. Miss Smith’s Incredible Storybook by Michael Garland
20. Is Your Mama a Llama? by Deborah Guarino
21. Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes
22. Owen by Kevin Henkes
23. Where’s Spot? by Eric Hill
24. Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban
25. Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
26. My Lucky Day by Keiko Kasza
27. The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
28. Leo the Late Bloomer by Robert Kraus
29. A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni
30. Frog and Toad books by Arnold Lobel
31. George and Martha books by James Marshall
32. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? by Bill Martin
33. Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom by Bill Martin
34. All By Myself by Mercer Mayer
35. Pig Pig Grows Up by David McPhail
36. Martha Speaks by Susan Meddaugh
37. The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch
38. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff
39. Gossie & Gertie books by Dunrea Olivier
40. Dragon Tales by Dav Pilkey
41. The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
42. The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
43. Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann
44. Curious George by H. A. Rey
45. We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen
46. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs By A. Wolf by John Scieszka
47. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
48. The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
49. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
50. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
51. Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina
52. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
53. Dinosaur Roar! by Paul and Henrietta Stickland
54. Big Smelly Bear by Britta Teckentrup
55. Duck at the Door by Jackie Urbanovic
56. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
57. Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh
58. Noisy Nora by Rosemary Wells
59. Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems
60. Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems
61. The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams
62. Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson
63. The Mouse, Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don & Audrey Wood
64. The Napping House by Audrey Wood
65. Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
And some other books we would love to own:
66. Where’s My Teddy? by Jez Alborough
67. Loveykins by Quentin Blake
68. Bink & Gollie books by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee
69. The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson
70. Go Away, Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberley
71. Olivia by Ian Falconer
72. Bark, George by Jules Feiffer
73. Beady Bear by Don Freeman
74. Let’s Do Nothing by Tony Fucile
75. The Incredible Book Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers
76. Little Bunny Foo Foo by Paul Brett Johnson
77. The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss
78. Hooway for Wodney Wat by Helen Lester
79. Pete the Cat by Eric Litwin
80. Froggy Gets Dressed by Jonathan London
81. I Need My Monster by Amanda Noll
82. Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish
83. Kermit the Hermit by Bill Peet
84. The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
85. The Big Bad Wolf and Me by Delphine Perret
86. Not a Box by Antoinette Portis
87. Brownie & Pearl books by Cynthia Rylant
88. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
89. A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon
90. Lyle, Lyle Crocodile by Bernard Waber
91. Piggy & Gerald Books by Mo Willems
92. A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams
93. Elbert’s Bad Word by Audrey Wood
94. Harry, the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion
In case you can’t tell, I’m kind of a picture book addict. I just bought 10 new ones tonight at the library for 25 cents each. Can’t beat that!
Since I’m so close to 100 I’d love to think of a few more. What are some books you would add to my list?