Pajiba

Walter The Farting Dog

Mr. Pines Purple House pre-5, then Heidi.

[pretentious douchebag]
I read The Hunt for Red October, Lord of the Rings, and The Stand when I was nine. Do those count?
[/pretentious douchbag]

And, 3000? Are you exaggerating? I thought I was nuts at 1500 books and Lil Pajiba is already smacking me down 2 to 1?

"I'm in the milk and the milk's in me! God bless milk and God bless me!" I love love love In The Night Kitchen!

And my hands down Favorite Dr. Suess is The Birthday Bird which I can recite from memory. My mother read it to us every single year...yes even through college and beyond. I read it to myself now :)

I will always have a soft spot for anything Seuss related, particularly Fox in Sox. My competetive streak takes over every time I read it, so Will probably thinks it's all one word. "whenthebeetlesbattlebeetlesinabottlepaddlebattleandthebottlesonapoodleandthepoodleseatingnoodles"

ooh! and Green Eggs and Ham and all the Frances books...

'The Giving Tree'. Shel Silverstein was my hero when I was younger.

I was a reading fiend as a child (still am) so I had quite a few books always lying around.
One of my favorites was a beautifully illustrated book that was my Dad's. It had some of the tales from 1,001 Nights in it and I adored it. I have no clue where it's gone or how to find another copy, since I don't know when it was published or by who. But if I saw the pictures again, I would cry from sheer delight.
The other, and I don't remember the name of it AT ALL, was about some ogres or something, one had a pet frog, he was scared of children, ate gruel, and had some weird dance with his parents that involved toes. It's the book that prompted me to ask, upon eating some stuffing one Thanksgiving, age 5, if that was gruel.
Of course, I was a Seuss girl, through and through. And my girlfriend LOVED Silverstein, and still recites at random "There's Too Many Kids in This Tub."

I remember loving books that had a lot of illustrations that you could imagine your own story to. I loved Tuesday by David Wiesner. It's mostly an illustrated book about some really bizarre happenings one random Tuesday (I think pigs fly at some point). Also, Richard Scarry books, where you'd search for the little worm guy in the midst of the town's crazy happenings. Scarry's have a bit more text if I remember.

Early elementary, I was big on series. The Baby-sitter's Club was a big deal as well as the American Girl books.

The Fire Cat by Esther Averill was a big fave of mine.

I loved the Bunnicula series. The Celery Stalks at Midnight! The family pets were convinced that the new pet bunny was turning the vegetables into vampires when the family wasn't looking. Even now, it's a pretty funny idea.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Strega Nona
Anything by Eric Carle
Blueberries for Sal
Make Way for Ducklings
Curious George (my absolute favorite)

I could sit for hours looking at the array of activity happening in those Richard Scarry books. But as far as books whose stories I loved, I was totally a Where the Wild Things Are kid, and Jumanji. Hopefully the film adaptation of WWTWTA will go better than Jumanji did, a film I still pretend never happened (although I did catch a few minutes on TV recently and damn, early CGI was horrible.)

But my favorite favorite of all was The BFG.

I actually collect and love children's picture books. One of my absolute favorites, hands down, is If You're Afraid of the Dark, Remember the Night Rainbow, by Cooper Edens.

There was also one old version of The Velveteen Rabbit that I loved--I can't be sure which one, though, and my copy is currently in storage.

I loved, loved, loved The Pokey Little Puppy when I was little.
When it comes to reading to Monkey, I hate Dora the Explorer books. I like reading Dr. Seuss to her, complete with different voices for all of the characters. I especially like The Sneetches & Other Stories. A book that Monkey likes is one that I had when I was younger called The Little Worm Book by Janet & Allan Ahlberg. It has captions in it like 'Worms in peril no. 14' and chapters like 'You and Your Worm'.

Read Anne of Green Gables 535798465 times.

All the Laura Ingalls Wilder books...

And I read "I Love You Forever", by Robert Munsch to my own kids 69486745 times as well. And cried. Every fucking time.

If you're going to go for children's novels, I still harbor a ridiculous love for the Bunnicula novels (The Celery Stalks at Midnight for sure), and The Fairy Rebel, by Lynne Reid Banks.

Also, I'm sure I've gone off about my adoration for Patricia C Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles: Dealing with Dragons, Searching for Dragons, Calling on Dragons, and Talking to Dragons. Likewise Garth Nix's Abhorsen series, Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen.

If you even start reciting Good Night Moon around my 14 year old daughter, she'll start yawning and get really still. It's such nice poetry and she fell asleep hearing it for a couple of years of her life.

I love Guess How Much I Love You (the two rabbits). Dr. Seuss. All that.

I read a Lot of books; some of them I have managed to hang onto. . . The Velveteen Rabbit is one. The Beatrix Potter stories, The Boxcar Children, Louisa May Alcott's stories, Laura Ingalls Wilder's stories. A lot of them I can still read and enjoy at 34. I hope that means that they are timeless classics, and not that I am simple-minded!

Oh! And I can't believe I forgot "I Love You Forever"

Ulysses, by James Joyce.

OK, fine.

James and the Giant Peach. Always and forever. Still re-read it once or twice a year.

Everyone here's listing the good standbys like Seuss and Silverstein so I thought I'd list a few other lost classics for little ones- I'll list four rather than rattle off the whole library.

"Never Tease a Weasel" by Jean Conder Soule.
A cute book about being kind and having manners to one another, complete with the warning...

But never tease a weasel;
This is very good advice.
A weasel will not like it–
And teasing isn’t nice!
(and no the warning didn't say that the agitated weasel would bite your nose off)

"The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast" by Alan Aldridge and William Plomer.
A very beautifully illustrated book based on an early 19th century poem. I always took the book to be an allegory for every creed of people (in the guise of animals) being able to celebrate together.

"A Bagful of Nothing" by Jay Williams
A story about a father and son spending the day together and finding all sorts of fun with an empty paper bag (or is it?)

"Moses the Kitten" by James Herriot
The vet who wrote "All Creatures Great & Small" wrote a true story about a kitten he rescued, and who is adopted by the most unlikely of farm animals.

And lastly, I'm from New England so this one has to be mentioned...

"Make Way For Ducklings!" by Robert McCloskey.
A cute story of a family of ducks and their attempt to assimilate into 1940's Boston. The story proved so popular, the city made statues of the duck family in Boston Public Garden.

I seem to recall going straight from illiteracy to reading Spider-Man, though that seems impossible. Most of my memories of kids books come from my mother reading to my baby brother, who's 12 years younger than me. They both loved the Bunnicula series.

Oh, and The Five Chinese Brothers. I loved that book. One brother could drink the sea, one had an iron neck, one could stretch his legs to fantastic lengths, one couldn't be smothered and goddammit, what could the fifth one do? Wikipedia says he could hold his breath forever. In retrospect, it's no surprise I started reading comics.

Oh! I forgot about the Little House series.

OOOO, OOOO,
Roald Dahl! How could I forget him!
I should be punished.

Anything by Margaret Wise Brown - her writing is so beautiful. I actually prefer "Big Red Barn" to "Goodnight, Moon", now that I'm a parent. I was obsessed with the Berenstain Bears as a child. I was really into their tree house. I also liked Paddington Bear, though the part where he takes a bath and the water seeps through the ceiling freaked me out. As for contemporary books I read my daughter, I love "Olivia" (the ending always makes me tear up) and my daughter adores "Knuffle Bunny".

Young adult books: oh, I could go on and on. I love the depressing seventies books: Judy Blume, Paul Zindel, Paula Danziger and, the master, Robert Cormier.

Greedie Greenie.

It was about a monster child named Greenie who ate the family's dinner watermelon and then he had a dream that he turned into a watermelon and his family ate him. Hand to God. I loved that book. I am so fucked up.

Roald Dahl, especially The BFG (which I now always read as The Big Fucking Giant) and Matilda. I really really thought if I concentrated hard enough, I could also move things with my mind.

And I was right.

One of the owners of my summer camp would read us a story every Sunday night, and every year he read Velveteen Rabbit, and even as a jaded little kid, I would tear up every time. Same thing, to a lesser extent, with The Giving Tree.

My favorite Shel Silverstein poem was the one where it turns out the bully is female. I have not changed much.

How has nobody mentioned Lang's Color Fairy Books yet? I had the red and blue ones passed down from my grandmother and newer versions of pink and brown. And I'd borrow the others from the library. They are absolutely impossible to find in stores, but the salespeople always know exactly what you're talking about, which is really frustrating. They are available online at least.
Also second the love for The Ordinary Princess and Patricia C. Wrede's Dragon series.

For any adult who is also a godparent the Max Lucado books are wonderful stories with a dash of godtopus in them. Apparently there is some rift with Mr Lucado and his (prior?) church that they aren't godtopussy enough, but they are wonderful stories that I only know about now.

As a child, I would read ANYTHING. My dad owned a beach house until I was 18 and every summer I would pick up what was left behind by our renters - including Children in the Attic at age 9. Thanks VC Andrews for years of therapy bills. At age 10, I found The World According to Garp, which my mom made me throw out after asking her what the F-word meant.

For more age-appropriate reading, I second (or third plus) add love to Shel Silverstein, Beatrix Potter, Maurice Sendak, and Roald Dahl.

I'm going to break down a little old school for the kidlets....

The Mouse and the Motorcycle and Runaway Ralph

Superfudge and Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

Flat Stanley

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

and The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles, written by Ms. Julie Andrews her own self.

I don't know much about the new books for children, even when I buy them I walk in to the children's section and grab a Seuss or something quick so people don't think I'm just some pervert hanging out next to the pop up books waiting to show their kid my pop-up. I feel like I should slip on a trenchcoat and hold onto a lollypop when I'm in there, like I'm Skitz or something.

Besides, I hang near the Twilight table, that's where the action is at. I sit there with a current ID book and a flask of peach schnapps and wait for the excitement to happen.

I feel dirty for even writing that as a joke.

I love The Nightingale too, figgy - and anything Hans Christian Anderson.

I'm also a huge fan of the Pippi Longstocking series by Astrid Lindgren.

And a discovery I made not too long ago, searching for my daughter - the Moomin series by Tove Janssen.

my all time favorite is "alice in wonderland" and own almost 20 different versions of it. (i'm a big collector of illustrators!!)

also...
-richard scarry books (my sisters and i would spend hours looking for and counting the mice)
-winnie the pooh (the original books, not any disney adaptation)
-dr. seuss was a big component of my upbringing also. i have most all of them, but 'horton hears a who' and 'the lorax' are my faves.
-'where the wild things are' has always been close to my heart as it was one of my baby shower gifts...way back in 1965.
-i love 'the little golden books' with 'pantaloon' and 'puss in boots' being some of my favorites.
-'babar' was a huge influence on my life (i would cry and cry every time the hunter kills his mother).
-'harry the dirty dog' series is awesome.
-'the lonely doll' (by dare wright) series were both bizarre and endearing.
-another book that used to fascinate me in its bizarreness: 'the five chinese brothers' by bishop and wiese.
-the mercer mayer books 'a boy, a dog and a frog' are fantastic and i highly recommend for any young reader, as they are all pictures, no words.

most of my collection is composed of older books, but some new ones that are just fabulous are 'goldie locks has chicken pox' and 'little bo beep can't get to sleep' by dealey/wakiyama.

this was fun. thanks. i basically grew up in the library and have worked in bookstores my whole life and was always in charge of the childrens section. in college, while getting my teaching degree and credential, children's lit was always a major focus in my education.

i asked my 5 year old, which was her favorite book and she said "wow, that's a tough question--there's just too many."
good answer viv.

Whoa, there are a lot of books I've forgotten about. I also loved the D'Aulaires Book of Greek Mythology. It was sad, I was the only one who ever checked that book out of the school library. That was back in the day when the librarian penciled in the student's name and due date on the card in front of the book. My name was the only one on there. And it was on there eight times.

I also loved the Laura Ingall's Wilder books. Still own them all. Both my mother and I loved Anne of Green Gables.

I can't believe you like Harriet the Spy, SaBrina! Ole Golly was one of my favorite childhood characters.

The James Harriott books used to make me cry for the poor animals that he had to put down, but I firmly believe his books are the reason I am such an animal lover today. Hm, next time I bring home a stray animal I should tell my husband that it's really James Harriott's fault.

Say, did anyone else besides me like Anastasia Krupnick? The chapter where she styled her hair a la Kid N Play cracked my shit up!

Abiyoyo by pete Seeger

Did anyone else read "The Mysteries of Harris Burdick"? I read that one in elementary school and we did our own interpretations on the images and stories in the book. It's fascinating and mysterious, so it has to be a favorite of mine.
I always did like this one called Big David, Little David, about a boy who thinks another kid in his class is his father, because they bear an uncanny resemblance to each other. It's cute, really.

Omigod, I can't believe I forgot Sideways Stories. To this day I insult people by calling them mugworm griblicks and waiting for the day someone gets it. and I have truly, seriously considered getting a potato tattoo.

I don't have kids, but I definitely want to read them my favourite picture books as a child:

Robert the Rose Horse (Joan Heilbroner)
Don and Donna Go to Bat (Al Perkins)
Tubby and the Lantern (Al Perkins)
The Fire Cat (Esther Averill)

and especially Harold and the Purple Crayon (Crockett Johnson)

Julie Andrews wrote The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles? I read that in lower school and looooooved it. So imaginative. Way to go, J-Dazzle.

OK, last ones. The Secret Garden and The Chronic(WHAT)cles of Narnia. And Bridge to Terabithia. Something I learned just now was that the name Terabithia was subconsciously stolen from Narnia. And that it was banned partly because it promotes secular humanism. Now that's the real threat that our government has been denying. Secular humanism is ruining our country's youth!

Amelia Bedelia! I still own those too. I loved those books.

Encyclopedia Brown series. Fan-fucking-tastic.
Nancy Drew can kiss his ass.

Madelene L'Engel : A Wrinkle in Time etc... Still have the whole series.

OK, True confession: I was Obsessed with Peirs Anthony. All of it. Particularly the Xanth books, but also the Apprentice Adept and ultimately the Incarnations of Immortality.
I await mockery.

Anything by Roald Dahl and Robert Munsch. I also loved "The Divine Saga" by Bette Midler. It was written in verse and had fantastic colourful illustrations (although some of them were rather terrifying to my six-year old self). Oh, and I second the Amelia Bedelia love.

wooky: I have read that and I had forgotten about it until this moment. I think there may have been a made-for-tv movie about it too...

I love this comment diversion! I just finished a children's lit class last Thursday. In terms of more recent children's lit, I love David Shannon's books ("No, David!", "David Goes to School", "Alice the Fairy", and "Good Boy, Fergus") He is just so clever and his illustrations are fun and bright. Kids love his books too. When I taught pre-school, they wanted to read David Goes to School (about an unruly little boy who gets in trouble all day, based on a book Shannon wrote as a child) everyday.

My personal favorite children's books from my own childhood, though, are: "The BFG", "The Napping House", "King Bidgoods in the Bathtub", "Cricket in Times Square", "Ginger Pye" and "Catherine, called Birdy." (I know books are not supposed to be in quotation marks, but HTML tags are not included in my skill set)

Now, just to prep for my future job, I take about twenty or so kids books home every week from the library. It is amazing how much truly wonderful, entertaining, beautiful literature there is out there for children.

Ooooh, the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books. I really liked those, they were absurd and funny.
I still cringe if I pour too much cream into my oatmeal, thanks to a pig she sends over to some kid's house to teach him manners.

I'm gonna take the politically incorrect rout and go with:

The Story About Ping, the yellow Chinese duck, and Little Black Sambo.

Now that's some good ghee.

I adore loads of these!

No love yet for Enid Blyton? The Naughtiest Girl in the School books were great.

In the end I will always love Roald Dahl for his work. I think Fantastic Mr Fox was the first book I ever read that didn’t have a picture on every page.

Also the Jungle Book.

I submit "Harriet the Spy".

OMG, Mulva! I freakin' LOOOOOOOVE Bunnicula! Best books ever!!! They are seriously hilarious.

I, oddly enough, spent much of my pre-adolescent years reading Jacqueline Susann books, like "Valley of the Dolls" and "Once is Not Enough" which involved lots of drugs and orgies in the 70's.

Love You Forever - Robert Munsch
Tales of The 4th Grade Nothing - Judy Bloom
Baby Sitters Club - Ann M. Martin
Sweet Valley Twins - Francine Pascal (I wanted to be in The Unicorn Club)
Goosebumps - R.L. Stine

And I'm not sure if I read this when I was 9 or a little older (maybe 10 or 11) but I loved The Giver and Number The Stars by Lois Lowry

oh wow, someone mentioned tear-water tea!
i love owl! he taught me how to cry on que. i got away with so much shit...

I can still probably quote the entire story of Mr. Willoughby's Christmas Tree. My grandma would read it to me all year long.

I also loved the classics. I must've read Black Beauty 30 times. And Little Women. I think I might re-read it right now. I wonder what my mom did with all those books.

After reading everyone's comments I'm so excited to go out and buy books for my future nephew. It's been 18 years since we've had a baby in our family so I'm out of the loop as to what kids are reading. I can't wait to buy his first copy of The Velveteen Rabbit.

i have the velveteen rabbit on audiobook read by meryl streep.

"there was a woman called nana who Ruled the nursery..."

The Giving Tree and Thumbelina

Richard Scarry for picture books, Gus Was a Friendly Ghost when I was old enough to follow a story line, and anything I could get my hands one once I could read, although I always loved it when our teacher read Shel Silverstein. I suppose some of my early favorites were Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Amelia Bedelia, and Encyclopedia Brown. After that I really did pick up anything and everything in the library.

I can't believe I forgot the American Girl series. Shame on me. Samantha was my favorite, with Addy as a close second. In all seriousness, it's amazing the stuff I learned from reading those books.

Unfortunately, once Mattel bought the franchise, it lost all the meaning for me, churning out a new "now" doll every year. Sigh. Knew it couldn't last forever.

The old ones are always good bets. I remember really liking Make Way For Ducklings, Stuart Little, any of the Boxcar Children books (the original is by far the best, though.

RikkiTikkiTemboNoSaRemboChariBariRuchiPipPeriPembo
The Paper Bag Princess
Ahhh...the classics...

I'm so glad I'm not the only one that cut his teeth on adult fiction. I read The Bourne Identity at 10, the same year I started on Tolkein. I blame my mother for reading me The Talisman as a bedtime story, before I cut out the middleman.

favorite childhood books... where do I start??
Some of my fondest (wait, the only fond) memories of my dad are of him reading us The Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, All Creatures Great and Small, and many other books probably not geared towards a 4 year old.
Otherwise, I loved loved loved The Paperbag Princess, Angela's Airplane, anything else Robert Munsch, Scuffy the Tugboat, and Ordinary Amos and the Amazing Fish. Luckily, my 2 year old has inherited the love for these books as well, so I'm going to get to read them for years to come without looking like complete loser :)

Harold and the Purple Crayon - so awesome.

Who Put that Hair in my toothbrush? - by Jerry Spinelli - one of the first books that made me LAUGH out loud in the middle of the night while I was reading.

I loved the Encyclopedia Brown series, Shel Silverstein's Where The Sidewalk Ends and Light In The Attic, and Ed Emberley's art books (which are responsible for my chronic doodling on any and every piece of paper within arm's reach).

Frog & Toad was my favorite as a kid, and my daughter loves them now. I never get tired of reading that series to her.

I also like Robert McCloskey, particularly Make Way For Ducklings and Blueberries For Sal. I'm not all that fond of Lentil though.

We recently picked up The Giving Tree. It makes the Mr. well up when he reads it. I think it's nice too.

I love the Beatrix Potter books, and my daughter will soon be old enough for me to start reading them to her. Yay!

I was a voracious reader as a child, and my school librarian loved picking out books for me to devour on a nightly basis. I most vividly remember going through a "sad" phase where I only wanted to read books like "Where the Red Fern Grows," "Charlotte's Web," and all those angsty Judy Blume books. As a younger child, I loved Amelia Bedelia, Beverly Cleary, "How to Eat Fried Worms," and an really weird story, "The Five Chinese Brothers." As an adolescent, I went back to Judy Blume, only to discover the dirtiest children's book ever written, "Then Again Maybe I Won't." Needless to say, my 5th grade teacher was a little put out when I asked what a "wet dream" was.

As an adult, I always give "Goodnight Moon" as a gift, but I have to admit that I find it hard to read myself without evoking memories of Playing By Heart.

the very hungry caterpillar, of course.
ramona quimby (still think of her everytime i use a crockpot)
babysitters club, goosebumps, anne of green gables

but robert munsch is king

I was a real young kid myself not to long ago. But I do have to say, there's a big difference between the years 2 through 9. On the early end of those years, it was probably "Moo, Baa, La La La," which I can still quote easily: "Three singing pigs say La La La." And also, "The Grouchy Ladybug," which I learned by heart so well at age 2, to the untrained eye, it looked like I was reading.

On the later end of those years, I'd have to say "Captain Underpants." I know, it sounds repulsive, but the books were actually hilarious, and looking over years later, many factors more intelligent than you would think.

On a completely unrelated matter, I would like to give a shout out to Tracer, Maxpurr9, A. Marie, and The Pink Hulk for mentioning "The Five Chinese Brothers," which I completely forgot about until just now.

On a related matter, which of your parents did you prefer reading to you. With me, the whole family loved it when mom read, so much so that despite beginning the Harry Potter series at age 9, at age 15, when the last book came out, despite reading it myself on the side, we all insisted she read it aloud, and not one of us missed a second of it.

Hell, she even has the voices down perfectly, and pronounced Hermione right without any prior knowledge. She even did unique voices for the characters, and hell yes she does it better than the movie voices.

I'm glad I love my parents.

My Dad actually tape recorded (this was the 70's) himself reading fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and singing the alphabet, so my brother and I would be able to to hear him read to us while he was at work during the day. I remember sitting in his lap when I was 4 while he read fairy tales into the tape recorder.

I try to remember that when he does something assholish. He was a very good daddy.

Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH is my absolute favourite.

After that, everything by Roald Dahl or Astrid Lindgren.

A Story A Story, by Gail E. Haley

Oh dear. I'm one of those people who can't decide and then writes a really boring chapter on the subject. The thing is, I got thinking about picture books that I read with my twin sister and our parents, and then about the joy of reading on my own when I got a bit older, and so I had to do a list of ten for each.

Picture Books:
1. The Tiger Who Came To Tea, by Judith Kerr
2. Dogger, by Shirley Hughes
3. Where The Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak
4. Alfie Gets Home First, by Shirley Hughes
5. Little Black Sambo, by Helen Bannerman (I'm ashamed to say)
6. Peter Rabbit, by Beatrix Potter
7. The Little Fire Engine, by Graham Greene
8. Captain Pugwash and the Fancy Dress Party, by John Ryan
9. Mog and the Baby, by Judith Kerr
10. Jeremy Fisher, by Beatrix Potter

Books:

1. Tom's Midnight Garden, by Philippa Pearce
2. Matilda, by Roald Dahl
3. Goodnight Mister Tom, by Michelle Magorian
4. The Iron Man, by Ted Hughes
5. Danny the Champion of the World, by Roald Dahl
6. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by CS Lewis
7. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, by Joan Aiken
8. Stig of the Dump, by Clive King
9. The House at Pooh Corner, by A. A. Milne
10. Carrie's War, by Nina Bawden

Special mentions for The Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier, When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr, and the Machine Gunners by Robert Westall. I was big into WW2.

I sort of want to mention slightly older novels now, when I would have been about ten or eleven. Gah, leave it.

This is so great! I think I'm going to steal Austin's idea and buy some of these books for my nephews. I'm tired of buying them the latest and most trendy (read: impossible to fucking find) toys). Next time I'm visiting them, I'm going to take inventory of their books and start giving them books off this list for every holiday. They have a toy store's worth of toys. It's time for some damn literature.

"My dad owned a beach house until I was 18 and every summer I would pick up what was left behind by our renters - including Children in the Attic at age 9. Thanks VC Andrews for years of therapy bills. At age 10, I found The World According to Garp, which my mom made me throw out after asking her what the F-word meant."

Oh, my God - are we the same person? I got all of my adult reads from the house we rented at the beach, including V.C. Andrews! My mother caught me with "The Exorcist" and took it away, knowing full well that would lead to a summer of my crawling into bed with her and my father.

Does anybody remember that fabulous children's story where the nice teacher who the kids act up with is "out sick" for a week and her replacement is some mean teacher? The kids are so grateful to get the nice teacher back that they behave and it turns out (spoiler) that the "mean" teacher was the nice one in disguise. I loved that book.

I forgot about Addie Mills (House Without a Christmas Tree) and Trixie Belden.

I enjoyed John Bellairs later in childhood, but remember REALLY enjoying any Dr. Seuss. I know. Boring.

I love reading Biscuit's First Sleepover to my daughter because I bought a really plush dog hand puppet that reads to her and tickles her like crazy whenever Biscuit barks. She also likes the Disney series of books about their movies, especially Toy Story and Lion King. Buzz always gets her when he falls down the stairs. "He's bwoken! Oh no!"

But my daughter's toddler-crack is the recent movie version of Horton Hears a Who (Carrey and Carrell).

"Do you want to watch a show?"

"Haw-tin!"

Every. Damn. Time.

I love Love You Forever by Robert Munsch and I too cry every time. I also make sure to give it as a gift at every baby shower I go to. That is required reading.

Also, Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss. The kids love it because the get to yell "And an elephant's faithfull 100%" everytime!

Poinsettia and Her Family. It's a book about a saucy little piglet named Poinsettia who loves her large, unruly family, but sometimes wishes they'd just piss off already and leave her to lounge around in peace. When her family decides to leave their cramped house for a larger abode, Poinsettia stays behind so she can enjoy - in solitary quiet - all of those things she can't when her brothers and sisters are around (like lounging on the sun warmed rock in her front yard or floating in the tub for two hours.) It's all fun and games until she realizes that home just isn't home without a large, occasionally annoying family, and she bursts into tears. Her family discovers that she's missing and returns to their house - you know, where the heart is - and decide to live out their lives there, overbearing siblings and all.

It's so, so charming. I can't for the life of me remember the author's name, but I was recently shocked to discover that Poinsettia and Her Family is running at about $130 on Amazon for a used copy (which mine certainly is - piglet doodles in the margins and everything.)

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein.

Where the Wild Things Are. I had my dad read me this book every night, so I am especially nervous and excited about the upcoming Spike Jones treatment. I loved this book so much I had every fraternity pledge memorize a page and recite it to me upon demand (that was the extent of the hazing at my house). Nobody complained.

Alexander and the Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.. Now that I am a dad, I think this is my favorite children's book to read to my kids. It just rolls off the tongue. I think anyone can feel like Morgan Freeman when they read this.

Man, you've all basically said everything I've ever loved.

That being said, I loved Romona Quimby so much that I still have the VHS tapes of the tv show. And I've watched them. At least three times. Each.

I don't remember what the book was called, but it was about the Big Bad Wolf on trial for eating the 3 little pigs. He was just asking for some sugar or something, and they were very mean to him and he had a cold and he sneazed so badly that they died, so he thought that would be such a waste, and ate them. Innocent enough.

Beegeek: THANK YOU. That story is so clever and funny. Totally operates on an adult/child level. Love it.

Old: Are You My Mother?

New: Charlie and Lola series by Lauren Child

Nnother new picture book (no words) is Flotsam by David Wiesner. It's about an antique, underwater camera that is washed up on shore and found by a child. That camera has taken pictures of many wonders under the sea. It's a truly beautifully illustrated book, and it won the Caldecott Medal for a reason.

Peter and Caroline, A Child's Guide to Sex.

Hey, when you're 7 and your mom brings home porn for you, you read it, over and over and over again.

well my favorite kids book was the sequel to cat in the hat called the cat in the hat comes back.
also liked the grinch story. and if you look at the cat and the grinch you notice similarities between them.they are almost exact opposites.

i forgot another favorite and it doesn't look like it's been mentioned yet.....
else holmelund and maurice sendak's 'little bear' books.
also, just because...
'a fish out of water' and 'i wish that i had duck feet'

The Witches, without a shadow of a doubt :)

I come out of lurking to mention my favorites.

Heckedy Peg by Audrey Wood, which I can thank my first grade teacher for.

The Nate the Great Books

Babysitter's Club, I think I owned every one of those books thanks to one of those Scholastic Book Clubs

Megan's Island by Willow Davis Roberts. In elementary school I borrowed this book from the library at least once a month.

Did anyone ever read the Dorrie the Witch books as a kid? Her socks never matched and she had a cat named Gink...I loved those. Especially Dorrie and the Blue Witch.

anything richard scarry!

Also loved "The Black Stallion".

All ya's Canadians are on notice for missing out one of our own - seriously, no love for Gordon Korman?? I Want to Go Home, Bruno & Boots... are tops among any kids books I've seen. For younger ones I'd definitely recommend Robert Munsch (especially Murmel Murmel Murmel, & 40 Below Zero) and older ones will appreciate the wit and violence of the Asterix books for sure. Roald Dahl is always outstanding, and the serial books like Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and Enid Blyton's work start out as a good novelty but quickly lose their shine as the formula wears thin. Little House books and Anne of Green Gables are good, but serve to stretch attention spans and should be led into gently, lest the young'un give up on reading completely due to the slow pace and such.

And if your kid happens to be a bookworm, do yourself a favour and supply good enough reading lights, even for after-hours reading, because the eyestrain from reading by nightlight ain't fun, and neither are the glasses that come along.

Mo Willems rules! When kids are learning to read, he has a nice easy reading series called "Elephant and Piggie"

Kipling:

Rikki Tikki Tavi
Just So Stories
Kim

annoyingmouse, that was The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, by A. Wolf, as told to Jon Scieszka. Man, those pigs were such a-holes.

sunset&camden, good for you - I've got most of his classics and won't be giving them up without a fight. That said, have I missed a name change, or is it really so easy to misspell "lordhelmet"?? First it was Judge Figomayor, and now you? Better not be contagious...I can be rather particular about spelling, especially when it's personal..

My favorite, besides "The Little Prince", was a book about a bear and a mouse trying to decide if they should become friends. One played the drums, the other played the flute, so they couldn't be friends. One did something, the other did something else, so they couldn't be friends. It goes on and on like that for pages & pages until at the end they both discover they like to eat ice cream at 4:00 every day. I cannot remember the name, and am hoping against all hope that someone here knows which book I'm talking about.

My absolute favorite was the illustrated children's version of The Wind in the
Willows. My dad would read it to me every night before I went to sleep--he did
voices too. One time he went on a business trip to Canada and tape-recorded it
for me so I would still have my story.

I keep the novel version of it on my nightstand for the occasional bout of
insomnia. Good stuff.

Read alot as a kid and i still have all my childhood books. I can't help it; i'm that sentlemental.

Anyway my favourite books as a child were the Tasseltip Tale books by Dorothy Richards.

Here's a link with info (if anyone's interested:

http://www.ladybirdbookcollector.co.uk/Series%20Breakdown/474/tasseltip_page1.htm