My Favorite Picture Books for Children

I worked in our city library's Children's Dept. for four years. This coincided with my daughter's early childhood. Both factors introduced me to many wonderful picture books for children. My criteria for books was that they contained words that would build my daughter's vocabulary, they had great illustrations (beautiful or fun), and that they showed her different worlds. I always pre-read them, avoiding books with words like hate, stupid, or dumb and books that seemed "angry". The books on this list were ones that we read over and over again, and still read occasionally just for fun! I didn't include some of the classics, like Dr. Seuss because most people are aware of them.

1. Dahlia, Barbara McClintock
2. Henry David's House, Henry David Thoreau
3. Good Night, Good Knight, Shelley Thomas
4. Brambly Hedge Seasons series, Jill Barklem
5. Pirate Girl, Cornelia Funke
6. Mrs. Armitage and the Big Wave, Quentin Blake
7. Toot and Puddle series, Holly Hobbie
8. One Morning in Maine, Robert McCloskey
9. Blueberries for Sal, Robert McCloskey
10. My Hippie Grandmother, Reeve Lindbergh
11. The Ox-Cart Man, Donald Hall
12. The Philharmonic Gets Dressed, Karla Kuskin
13. Anna the Bookbinder, Andrea Cheng
14. Mei-Mei Loves the Morning, Margaret Tsubakiyama
15. The Snowy Day, Ezra Keats
16. The Twelve Days of Kindergarten: A Counting Book, Deborah Rose
17. Ms. MacDonald has a Class, Jan Omerod
18. Counting Crocodiles, Judy Sierra
19. I Could Do That!: Esther Morris gets Women the Vote, Linda White
20. Prince Cinders, Babette Cole
21. Princess Smartypants, Babette Cole
22. Leon & Bob, Simon James
23. Peter Spier's Rain, Peter Spier
24. Madlenka, Peter Sis
25. Chidi Only Likes Blue: An African book of Colours, Ifeoma Onyefulu
26. Olivia, Ian Falconer
27. Fantastic Daisy Artichoke, Quentin Blake
28. Lousia May & Mr. Thoreau's Flute, Julie Dunlap
29. Chester's Way, Kevin Henkes
30. Yoko's Paper Cranes, Rosemary Wells
31. Roberto the Insect Architect, Nina Laden
32. All Aboard, Mary Lyn Ray
33. Click, Clack, Moo Cows that Type, Doreen Cronin
34. The Gardener, Sarah Stewart
35. The Library, Sarah Stewart
36. Are we there yet?, Alison Lester
37. Stand tall Molly Lou Mellon, Patty Lovell
38. Ten Minutes till Bedtime, Peggy Rathmann
39. Diary of a Worm, Diary of a Spider, and Diary of a Fly, Doreen Cronin
40. The Way We Do It in Japan, Geneva Cobb Iijima