Miss M here. Did you know that I am 2 and 1/2 today? Mom's gift to me was the chance to guest post. I thought that some of the other 2 and 3 -year-olds out there just might be interested in what I've been reading since I turned two.* In fact, the Mayor recently emailed me wonderin' what books were in my beach bag. Besides, with all those Moms and Dads holed up with Harry Potter, a kid's gotta have something to while away the time. Without further ado, I give you:
The 100 Best Books I Read in the Last Six Months: 2-2.5
Legend:
* Canadian
+ poetry collection
bold my top 20
- Madeline by Ludwig Bemelans
- Madeline's Rescue by Ludwig Bemelans
- Birthday Monsters by Sandra Boynton
- The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown
- Little Fur Family by Margaret Wise Brown
- Hand Rhymes by collected and illustrated by Marc Brown +
- Silly Billy by Anthony Browne
- One Gray Mouse by Katherine Burton *
- Ella Sarah Gets Dressed by Margaret Chodos-Irvine
- Sometimes I Like to Curl up in a Ball by Vicki Churchill
- Tatty Ratty by Helen Cooper
--little Miss Smartie Pants Mommy keeps meaning to write a review of this book and Cooper's other book, Pumpkin Soup that made my toddler list. Can I just say that I want Helen Cooper to adopt me? That's how much I loved these books. The cadence of the prose, the illustrations, the subtle humour... ah! perfection. Mom is always grouching about how we need more Cooper at the library and then sighing heavily each time she gets her Visa statement. - Mrs. Wishy Washy by Joy Cowley
- Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type by Doreen Cronin
- Diary of a Spider by Doreen Cronin
- The Little Dog Laughed and other Nursery Rhymes illustrated by Lucy Cousins
- Ella the Elephant by Carmela and Stephen D'Amico
- The Classic Treasury of Best-Loved Children's Poems illustrated by Penny Dann +
- A Child's Treasury of Nursery Rhymes compiled and illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton * +
- Mud Muddelicious Mud: Verse for the Very Young by Shirley Downie * +
- Olivia by Ian Falconer
- Olivia Saves the Circus by Ian Falconer
- Olivia forms a Band by Ian Falconer
- Bee Gets a Sweater by Keith Faulkener
- Tap, Tap, Tap: What can it be? by Keith Faulkener
- A-tisket, a-tasket by Ella Fitzgerald; illustrated by Ora Eitan
- Beast Feast by Douglas Florian
- A Pocket for Corduroy by Don Freeman
- Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French
- The Three Little Pigs illustrated by Marie Louise Gay
- Grandma and the Pirates by Phoebe Gilman *
- Jillian Jiggs and the Secret Surprise by Phoebe Gilman *
- The Wonderful Pigs of Jillian Jiggs by Phoebe Gilman *
- Jillian Jiggs to the Rescue by Phoebe Gilman *
- Something from Nothing by Phoebe Gilman *
- Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
- Jessica by Kevin Henkes
- Lily's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes
- Lily's Big Day by Kevin Henkes
- Once Around the Block by Kevin Henkes
- Owen by Kevin Henkes
- Shiela Rae the Brave by Kevin Henkes
- Corduroy Lost and Found by B. Hennessy based on the Freeman books
- Sea, Sand, Me by Patricia Hubbell
- Hiding by Shirley Hughes
- Colours by Shirley Hughes +
- Songs for Annie Rose by Shirley Hughes +
- Toot and Puddle: Charming Opal by Hollie Hobbie
- The Llama Who had No Pajama by Maryann Hoberman +
- Our Day at the Seashore by Amy and Richard Hutchings
- Katie's Babbling Brother by Hazel Hutchins *
- Rollie Pollie Ollie by William Joyce
- Take Me Out to the Ball Game by MaryAnn Kovalski *
- Lavender's Blue: A Book of nursery Rhymes compiled by Kathleen Lines +
- Yummer's Too: the Second Course by James Marshall
- Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault
- Chicka Chicka 123 by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault
- Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What do you See? by Bill Martin Jr.
- Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What do you see? by Bill Martin Jr.
- Piggy and Dad Go Fishing by David Martin
- Dahlia by Barbara McClintock
- The Oxford 123 Book of Number Rhymes by Robert McGough +
- The Real Mother Goose Book of Christmas Carols
- All in One Piece by Jill Murphy
- Peg and the Yeti by Kenneth Oppel *
- The Oxenbury Nursery Story Book compiled and illustrated by Helen Oxenbury +
- A Bit of Dancing by Helen Oxenbury
- The Ocean Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallota
- The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
- A day of rhymes compiled by Sarah Pooley +
- Beneath a Blue Umbrella by Jack Prelutsky +
- For Laughing Out Loud: Poems to Tickle Your Funny Bone selected by Jack Prelutsky +
- 10 Minutes 'Til Bedtime by Peggy Rathmann
- The Gift by Barbara Reid *
- My Friend Rabbit by Eric Rohmann
- Beach Day by Karen Roosa
- Tales from Parc La Fontaine by Roslyn Schwartz *
- Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
- In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
- The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
- My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss
- Duck on a Bike by David Shannon
- Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
- Casey at the Bat by Ernest Thayer
- Mama Loves Me by Mara Van Fleet
- So Say the Little Monkeys by Nancy Van Laan
- Frog in Love by Max Velthius
- Super-Completely and Totally the Messiest by Judith Viorst
- Farmer Duck by Martin Waddell
- Noisy Nora by Rosemary Wells
- I Spy Little Christmas by Walter Wick
- "More more more" said the baby : 3 love stories by Vera B. Williams
- The King of Capri by Jeanette Winterson
- The Napping House by Don and Audrey Wood
- Piggies by Audrey and Don Wood
- Here's a Little Poem edited by Jane Yolen +
- How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? by Jane Yolen
- any one of a number of cheap peg puzzle board books
- any one of a number of Thomas the Tank Engine cheapo board books
- any one of a number of magnetic counting, alphabet, or rudimentary spelling books
- any one of a number of cheapo electronic music, sing-a-long books
*And ya, some of these books are meant for 4 and 5-year olds. It's also true that I still read baby books. Why must they put such limited age ranges on children's books. It's soooo totally oppressive.
I hope you like my list. You know what, though?. My silly mother decided to re-read all the Harry Potter books before finishing off the series. She made this decision in June. Like, duh! This means that she is only finishing up #5 now. Please help me! Can you ask your pre-schoolers to recommend some good books to tide me over until Mom is done? Thanks. I knew I could count on you.
______________
A note from the editor, compiler and chief amanuesnis aka Mad: Miss M puts quite a bit of work into drawing up these lists. She does it because she hopes that they will make helpful library cheat sheets for all her sphere-y friends. Please feel free to tell as many people as you like about them so that her work won't be in vain.
Oh and Miss M insists on writing these posts herself because she doesn't trust my adult editorializing. Not that I would ever do that. She really wants you to know about the books SHE loves regardless of whether her children's lit crit and librarian mother agrees. Little does she know that her mother plans revenge by posting a list of 26 wonderful alphabet books and 10 counting books without consulting her daughter whatsoever. Soon. I promise.
OK, I'm off now to help Miss M put links to this list and to her toddler list on the sidebar. Miss M finds Blogger a bother sometimes. I can't imagine why.
__________
Because I'm not posting as much these days, I thought I would give you all an early heads up about the upcoming Just Posts. You know the drill: if you have read or written a post or posts dealing with social justice in the month of July, drop me or Jen a line. You've got until August 7th. We'll put the linky love list up on Aug 10th. I'm madhattermommyAThotmailDOTcom.
37 comments:
Miss M.,
You might also like:
Custard the Dragon (Ogden Nash)
The Seven Silly Eaters (Mary Ann Hoberman)
The Caboose Who Got Loose (Bill Peet)
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus (Mo Willems)
Let me know what you think, OK?
Love, Jack
Hey Jack,
Isn't Hoberman great? I'll track some of these down--small town libraries and all, ya know. As for the Pigeon book? I read it and Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late in time for my toddler list. Gotta love that Pigeon!
ooops, I meant to sign off "Love Miss M." Silly me. You probably thought I was my mom or something...
Fiona here.
Look out, Miss M. My mom is making me write down the titles of all the books I read. I told her this morning, "Writing is not playing!" but she was unfazed.
Anyway, I dare not recommend anything, in case your mom makes you write about it. IM me later.
I am supposed to be packing for the cottage, but could not resist. I will add to the list when I am back.
That is awesome though and both my girls love the Pigeon books.
What a great list to print and keep handy for visits to the library.
Thanks Miss M! Rosebud and Papoosie Girl will most definitely love this.
I don't think I realized before the Pie and Miss M are exactly six months apart, to the day.
I see some of our favourites on there - Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and One Grey Mouse, for instance. I'll have to keep my eye out for the others.
With these lists I'm always a little sad that most of them are not translated in to German. While I enjoy reading in English, my son not as much. I loved Olivia joined the circus and my son too for about a day and then he never wanted to look at it again. Sigh.
ut I have nothing to complain since we just read (or in my case re-read) the two Jim Button-books by Michael Ende. Real books! It took about a month to read each of them.
There is something to be said for having a four-year-old...
Happy Half-Birthday! The Boy's was on July 14, so he and Miss M are very close in age.
As soon as I saw your post, I was going to recommend #96. I bought it originally for the dinosaurs, but the story is great!
The Boy is also hooked on "A House is a House for Me". I didn't realize it was Hoberman. I will have to look for others by her. I've already written down the Llama one. The Boy loves llamas.
I love booklists. Most of the favorites have been packed away with our moves and I wish I had a list to refer to.
I would have put Where the Wild Things are higher than 77 on my list.
Dear Miss M,
We have read fewer than 10 of the books on your list, so I have told my mother to take me to the library immediately. Well, as soon as my brother stops puking.
I really like the Boynton dinosaur books, like O My O My O Dinosaurs! Some others:
* Chickens Aren't the Only Ones by Ruth Heller
* The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear by Don & Audrey Wood
* Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell
Love, Sasha
GREAT list.
I'm currently going for Mom of the Year by reading the Harry Potter series for the FIRST time this summer. It's all I've done for the past week and a half and I'm halfway through Year 5. I'm so engrossed in it now, I'm starting to just want to be DONE! :-)
Thanks for the list anyway, that age range would be great for books that both my kids would like - since it falls right between them.
Happy half-birthday, Miss M!
Great list - a few of Bee's favourites are featured, but there are lots of others that we'll have to check out. She will be especially pleased to know that there are Bill Martin, Jr. books that we haven't read yet. (when did baby bear come into the picture?)
Fantastic list.
It's funny the differences in same-aged children's attention spans, isn't it? The Baby is 27 months old, and she couldn't sit through most of these - although she is passionate about books. She made me read her Old Hat, New Hate TWENTY TIMES TODAY. Ick!
motherpie: the list in in alphabetical order by author--not ranked.
sasha: the Hoberman collection has the perfect poem for you and your bro' in it. It goes like this:
My sister saw a dinosaur
At least she said she saw one.
I said that dinosaurs are dead.
She said she saw it in her head.
A dinosaur inside your head?
"Remarkable!" my mother said.
Beck: Miss M is a book-reading freak. What other 2-yr-old will demand to sit on the potty for 45 minutes because it means even MORE stories? The girl will sit and listen to all of Where the Sidewalk Ends in a single sitting and then demand a Mother Goose collection as a chaser.
Ah.
The Phoebe Gilman and Lavenders Blue brought a rush of memory.
Just wait until she is whatever, between 7 and 10, and walking around everwhere with a book in her hand.
You will love it, as I do mine.
But Miss M. Any Shakespeare for children you can recommend?
Totally wonderful list!
A couple of new favorites of my Miss M: Let's Go Pegasus, and There's a Monster in my Backpack.
And yesterday I got her a new Puff the Magic Dragon - the text is just the song lyrics, and there are sweet illustrations, and the sad ending is finessed by the introduction of a new girl to take Jackie Paper's place in Puff's life.
I am a terrible, terrible mother.
The book list is fantastic. But, although MF has lots of books, he won't let us read to him too much. He 'reads' to us regularly; we're 'not allowed' to read to him.... so I suspect after reading this list we have failed him somehow. Sigh.
Oscar wanted to contribute something, i could tell, but he just said "MMMM" and banged his copy of "Personal Penguin" on the floor. so pass that on to Miss M, will you, as a recommendation?
Happy 2 1/2 from Little Puppy who has finely started to enjoy sitting long enough to read...now we have a great list - Thanks Miss M, hope you had half a cake, too! - LP
ewe: NOOOOOOO!!!!!!! That is simply not true. It is no more true than my being responsible for my daughter being socially awkward or physically timid. Our kids are our kids and we can guide them but we cannot change their who they are. Miss M came out of the womb a reader AND a scaredy cat. I cannot take credit for the former nor responsibility for the latter. This is partly why I write these posts in her voice even though I feel awkward about doing so. You see, I really don't think I can pat myself on the back for creating her love of books.
mmmm, let me state that last comment a little differently. Miss M is a reader despite me. Even though I am a children's lit librarian I know that feeling of blind panic when you walk into the library with a kid and you have no idea how you will find a few good books that are age-appropriate and that your kid may like. With the help of my daughter, we have stumbled across lots over the last year and so I simply want to share our findings with others in case it makes those library visits easier. It's also why I ask for suggestions back b/c Miss M is outsrtripping my knowledge-base with her sheer voraciousness.
Thank you for responding to my comment as you have. It does make me feel better.
I think what really gets me particularly, is that I was Miss M when I was little. I read every thing I could get my hands on. Everything. I adored the library. And I guess I just kind of assumed MF would be the same way, and haven't quite known what to do with him in regards to books as he isn't... except keep buying them. He does like them an awful lot, we just don't 'read' them from front to back.
Miss M,
Thank-a you! I love-a da books. My Tissy isn't too keen but I love-a dem. Mom says this soothes her soul.
I like Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and The Napping House too.
But Georgie* is my favorite. I sleep with all of my Georgie books. Do you like Georgie?
I also like
Is Your Mama A Llama
Itsy Bitsy Spider
Wheels on the Bus
The last two because you can sing them, too, and Itsy Bitsy Spider has pretty pictures.
Your friend, Persistence
* Georgie = Curious George, Persistence's Patron Saint.
P.S. I am just a little bit older than you! Persistence
Persistence:
I haven't read any Georgie yet. I don't know what mom was waiting for. I'll make her bring some home this week. I hear he gets high on ether. Waa-hoo.
Dear Ms. M,
Thanks for sharing these. I am excited!
xo,
The Mayor
p.s. I'm in momz blogr accnt usn hr id!
Miss M, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is one of our favourites over here. Good choice!
Little Fur Family! I loved this as a child. I had an edition where the book was actually furry. *sigh* Memories.
Miss M allows you to read these to her? I can make it through 1-2 pages of a story with KayTar and then she grabs it from me and begins labeling objects. She isn't too much about the actual stories yet.
#35--Chrysanthemum --my nick name!!!!
loved the list and we'll be coming back to it for ideas over and over!
Alison's Zinnia is a nice one at any age.. Looking forward to the alphabet books. Hmm.. with ABZ make the list?
Nice tip on the Ella and all the rest we will check them out.. when the libraries open again...
Now for Miss M. Girl Friday says this.. Don't miss.
Noises at Night
Orange Pear Apple Bear
Perfect Man
The Giving Tree
Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes by Zita Newcombe
Clever Katya by Mary Hoffman
Liliput 5357*
Mabel the Tooth Fairy
My Truck is Stuck
Penguin
Tom and Pippo Read a Story
Baby Brains
Lovely Day for Amelia Goose (this makes a nice parting gift for caregivers)
Noisy Nora (of course ;> )
ps.. If you do make to the West Coast and want to read half your favorites they are all in Girl Friday's Room.
And of course Knufflebunny!
Some of my favorites and my kids' favorites are on that list! But I'm going to check out some of the others. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom was one of their favorites from a very early age. Even my 19 month old can recite parts of it.
Miss M,
I don't know about you, but when I'm on the potty, I settle in only for the incomparable Veggie Soup by Dorothy Donohue.
I know that the fact that it's always the same book makes my parents want to tear out their eyeballs, but they can't complain because it has an uplifting ending wherein Miss Bun opens a soup kitchen...and there's the delightfully disgusting yuck factor.
We should hang out sometime.
Mme L
Hey, if we love wombats so much, did I just miss Wombat Divine?
Too many things to comment on in this list. Suffice it to say, I love much of it. (And Nancy van Laan's Little Fish Lost is fab, too, though sadly OOP. sigh.)
Love that dinosaur poem, it made me laugh!
Thanks for your lists. I am literally begging for books this Christmas. Your lists have helped me post a great wish list to friends and family
ps.. and I'll be springing for the DVD Jumbo Box of Classics this year, sheesh.
-- thanks for the support today. means a lot coming from you.
also -- we do a Miss Fancy book club each Christmas.. this year the pick is The Day the Babies Crawled Away -- thanks to you!
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