FTF: Children's Picture Books

Favorite Things Friday:

Children's Picture Books

I feel like I've been to Barnes and Noble several times, looking for children's books, and I leave a little bit disappointed.  I'm a total snob when it comes to picture books, because I love to rhyme all the time.  If I'm going to read a book forty eleven times, I want it to rhyme. 

SO, here are my favorites, in no particular order:

Goodnight Aggieland is written by my friend Cimbrey Brannan.  We went to church and cheered together in high school and (obviously) both went to A&M together.  That aside, I love this book.  I love beginning the brain washing early.  

"The wrecking crew wears maroon and white, and yell leaders holler fight, fight, fight.  When Reveille barks, students get out of class, and folks say Gig 'em and Howdy as they pass."

Madeline and Madeline's Rescue and all the Madeline books are amazing.  The artwork is not particularly detailed, but the Parisian monuments and the sheer number of illustrations make up for it.  These are the two books we own, and we love them both.  I'm not theatrical, at all, but even I can put on a voice for certain characters.  A recurring line is, "In the middle of the night, Miss Clavel turned on her light and said, 'Something is not right.'"  Anna Belle pokes her sweet finger in the air to quote Miss Clavel every time.  

 

When Taylor and I went to New York City for the first time, we went to FAO Schwartz, accompanied by every other tourist in the very rainy NYC.  They have a special little room dedicated to Barefoot Books, and the lady there helped us pick a few new favorites.  They only have 3 stores (worldwide) where you can touch and feel the books, so there's a really good chance that your friends / family don't have these books (hint: this makes them great gifts).

We keep Ruby's Sleepover and Shopping with Dad in Brady's Room and The Prince's Bedtime and The Kite Princess in Anna Belle's room.

Prince's Bedtime is about a prince who won't go to sleep.  The whole kingdom entertains him and brings gifts, but it's not until an old lady comes to read him a book and the Prince says, "'Where are the pictures,' he says with surprise.  'You'll see them my dear, if you just close your eyes.'  So that's what he did, he shut his eyes tight, and soon after that, fell asleep for the night."  <insert kissing beloved child on the head and leaving the room>

Ruby is a very imaginative girl who brings "magical" things like beans and a flashlight to her tent to ward off the dragons, giants, pirates and such.  It encourages bravery and imagination and it rhymes, what's not to love?  

      

       

 Shopping with Dad is a funny book where one sneeze leads to a series of mishaps that knock over a huge stack of cans in the grocery store.  Everyone tries to pass blame and point fingers, but in the end, the dad says, 

"Accidents happen, it's always a shame, 

But when push comes to shove, there's no one to blame."  

Then my Dad, he got down on his knees in the store,

And he started to pick all the cans off the floor.

The woman knelt too.

She said, "Right. You're not wrong."

Then everyone joined us.  It didn't take long.

I probably read the Kite Princess most, of the Barefoot Books.  

There once was a princess called Cinnamon Stitch,

Her parents were stuffy and terribly rich.

They liked to parade her around their fine land,

With Cinnamon looking exceedingly grand

But Cinnamon longed to be wild and free,

so she begins sowing a kite, which enables her to fly.  Her parents see her flying and (after fainting) they decide they long to be free too, so they have kites made for themselves and everyone lives happily ever after.

Caps for Sale is a very rhythmic book of a man who sells caps.  He doesn't sell any caps one day, so he naps under a tree (with all of his caps on his head).  He wakes up, finds the caps missing and discovers a tree full of monkeys wearing his caps.  He tells them to return the caps (repeatedly) and the monkeys keep mimicking him (this is the part that the kids TOTALLY get into) until he throws his own cap on the ground and walks away, and every monkey throws his/her own cap to the ground.  I remember my 5th grade teacher reading this to the class; I loved it then and I love it now.  This comes in a board book; indestructible books are supported by moms nationwide.

Little Blue Truck came down the road, "Beep" said Blue to a big green toad.  

As if that's not cute enough, it goes on to show how kind the little blue truck is to everyone.  A mean dump truck is rude and gets stuck in the mud.  No one comes to his rescue, except Blue.  When Blue gets stuck too, all of his animal friends come to the rescue, and they talk about the importance of friends.  Love this book; buy the board book version.

We love other classics too like Curious George, The Lorax and The Very Hungry Caterpillar, but I feel like those are more widely loved / circulated books already.

On a side note, if you don't have Amazon Prime - get it!  You get free 1 or 2 day shipping on TONS OF STUFF.  It's the cheapest way to buy books, movies, Otterbox iPhone / iPad covers, trendy necklaces, fertilizer stakes and vitamins (random, right?).  I figured out it pays for itself annually from my air filter orders alone!  Before making in store purchases, I frequently check the Amazon price first and end up ordering on line.  It makes shopping in the stores seem like a total waste of time (though sometimes I still want to touch and feel before ordering the same product online).