Oldies but Goodies
6+ Classic Children's Books
These books are all roughly 50 years old and ones we have read and re-read over and over. From the introduction of Anita Silvey's 100 Best Books for Children:
"Because children are young for such a short time, we need to give them their literary heritage during these brief years. Just as every literate adult knows certain books, every child should know specific children's books. If we fail to present these books to children, they reach adulthood without a basic literary heritage. The canon of children's books remains the best gift we could ever give our children. The titles motivate children to read: they include the best stories, the most compelling characters, and the most imaginative language. And they have stood the test of time, having attracted a wide and diverse audience of both children and adults."
1. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst. Illustrated by Ray Cruz. Aladdin Paperbacks. Copyright 1972. Ages 3-8.
The author wrote this book about her son, Alexander, to help cheer him up after observing him having a series of bad events in one day. The other boys in the book are her other two sons, Anthony and Nick. The book has won awards and merits and has been mentioned on the Reading Rainbow Show, and it has sold over 4 million copies. The book resonates with all of our lives; we all have our ups and our downs, "even in Australia".
We brought this paperback with us to San Diego, two Christmases ago when our daughter was 2 1/2. I remember reading the book over and over to her. She still talks about how you should not go to bed with gum because you might end up with gum in your hair because of this book. The books starts with "I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there's gum in my hair... I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day." The repetition of "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day" makes it more accessible to our daughter and all children at such a young age.
It's such a classic that in 2014, Disney created a movie based off of the book with the same title.
2. Big Dog...Little Dog A Bedtime Story by P.D. Eastman. Random House New York. Copyright 1973. Ages 3-7. Also, Go Dog Go! and Are You My Mother, by the same author
I remember reading these books as a kid. My favorite line is, "Why make big problems out of little problems?" P.D. Eastman was a colleague of Dr. Seuss and wrote under the same Beginner Books series through Random House, Inc. We love the reading success that our daughter has with these books, with the pictures that help a beginning reader use the cues shown in the pictures to read the words. In Big Dog, Little Dog, we love the opposites throughout the story, the consistent rhyming words of Fred and Ted, and, of course, we also love books about dogs and animals. Our daughter earned the Go, Dog. Go! book from the public library when she was 16 months old when we reached reading 200 books in the "1,000 Books Before Kindergarten" challenge. We continue to read these books over and over.
3. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. Pictures by Eric Carle. Henry Holt and Company Copyright 1967. Ages 0- 4. Board Book.
Lately, our daughter has been quoting this book all over the place. She was using its pattern today during lunch: "orange juice, orange juice what do you see? I see broccoli looking at me." When she was an infant, I used this book for our daughter for tummy time as it has big, bright pictures over a white background.
Eric Carle's books have stood the test of time. The Very Hungry Caterpillar is the iconic #1 bestseller selling over 60 million copies!
65 weeks old, loving one of Eric Carle's books: The Very Hungry Caterpillar
5. Jamberry by Bruce Degen. Copyright 1983. Harper Festival. Board Book. Ages: Birth - 3 years.
Our daughter loves stories about bears and she loves to eat any kind of berry. As such, this book was a hit and we have read it over and over. The book has great illustrations to explore and it is a great story with lots of rhyming words. I was surprised with how simple it was and then with how much she enjoyed it. I heard about it through the Read Aloud Revival, a podcast I have started binge-listening to.
6. Disney's The Story of the Little Red Hen. Fisher-Price. 1968. Ages 2-5
We happen to own this version but there are many other versions of this classic story. Paul Galdone illustrates another version with cake instead of bread and with different animals. This story is about doing the hard work to enjoy the reward. Those who don't do the hard work don't get the reward.
As well as the books listed, you can see some of my previous blogposts for other classic children book recommendations. I wrote about Goodnight Moon in my blogpost about bedtime books. Did you know that there are forever postage stamps out right now featuring the Goodnight Moon room? If you want to know more about about Green Eggs and Ham or Harold and the Purple Crayon, you can see my blogpost about Reading the Rainbow. Want to learn about Dear Zoo? Check out the blogpost about 6 Spring Books. Want more Eric Carle? Check out my discussion on Have you Seen My Cat? in my first blogpost!
What's your all-time favorite classic children's book? What books do you remember from your childhood? What books helped you learn to read? What books helped, or are currently helping, your child learn to read? Thank you for reading! I hope you found some inspiration and/or some book suggestions that you and your littles can enjoy. Happy reading!
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