Countdown of My Favourite Children's Books: Honourable Mentions

About a month and a half ago, I finished a countdown of my ten favourite children's books. Then I promised I would give you some that are good, but just missed the list. After a long wait, here they are (in no particular order):

Stephanie's Ponytail (Robert Munsch): a great story about individuality - and a really funny ending! Check out the link it has a cute story in it. Also, as a side note, I have a friend (maybe she reads my blog) who was given a copy of this book but someone replaced all the "Stephanie"s with her name.

Curious George Series (Maragaret and H.A. Rey): If you haven't heard of Curious George and the Man with the Yellow Hat, I suggest you go to the library. If you have heard of them, you know why this is here.

The King's Stilts (Dr. Seuss): Not one of his better known books, but one that was read to me a lot in childhood. Moral of the story: if you're going to work hard, make sure you take some relaxation time (and don't build your city where the only thing holding back the ocean is a bunch of trees that birds like to eat).

Babar Series (Jean de Brunhoff): Originally from France, Babar is an elephant who has wonderful adventures. How can you not like that? Well, though the stories are great, check out the section "Criticism" in the Wikipedia article I linked to above. Apparently Babar is about more than just elephants...

Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel (Virginia Lee Burton): I only put this here because I remember this book from my childhood. Reading this as an adult, this seems to promote development of the land (without any concern for the animals, environment, etc.). But the story does redeem itself with it's ending (sort of).

That's all I could really think of off the top of my head. Does anyone out there have any other great children's books they want to share? If so please do...

Countdown of My Favourite Children's Books: #1

We've finally reached number one on my list after 4 long weeks, you finall get to know what my all-time favourite children's book is. Before we begin, here is a recap of the last four posts I've done: week 1, week 2, week 3, and week 4.

A quick recap of the first nine:

10. The Berenstain Bears Series
9. Where the Wild Things Are
8. Matthew's Midnight Adventures
7. Princess Smartypants
6. Love You Forever
5. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs
4. Oh, The Places You'll Go!
3. The Paper Bag Princess
2. The Lorax

1. The Eleventh Hour (Graeme Base): I said last week that it was my analytical mind that this is the number one book and anyone who has read this will understand why. The Eleventh Hour (note: this link contains a spolier!) is about Horace (an Elephant) who plans his 11th Birthday Party (on November the 11th no less). Eleven guests are invited to eat eleven dishes of food and play eleven games. The story focuses on this party but with a twist. At the end of the story, the big feast is stolen. No one knows who it is, but the book goes on to tell you that there are clues hidden throughout the book (and boy are there clues!). The first time I read this book I was in grade 5 and our class tried feverishly to figure out who did it (don't worry I won't spoil the fun). Recently I bought a copy of the book so that I could look through the pictures for the clues. Even as an adult (and I knew who did it) I had fun looking through the pages.

The pictures are amazing (as anyone who has seen Graeme Base's work - including Animalia, The Sign of the Seahorse, and many others - will know). I have fond memories of this book and it is one of the few I actually remember vividly reading when I was younger (though no doubt there are many I read over and over). For more information on Greame Base, check his website.

I hope this list has been enjoyable. Feel free to comment on your favourite books from your childhood. I will be adding some honourable mentions next week of books I enjoy and had a hard time not adding to this list.

Countdown of My Favourite Children's Books: #2

We're still on our way to number one in my countdown of my favourite children's books. Check here for week 1, week 2 and week 3.

Here's a quicker recap of the first 8 books:

10. The Berenstain Bears Series
9. Where the Wild Things Are
8. Matthew's Midnight Adventures
7. Princess Smartypants
6. Love You Forever
5. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs
4. Oh, The Places You'll Go!
3. The Paper Bag Princess

2. The Lorax (Dr. Seuss): Another Dr. Seuss book that I didn't read until I was much older (I was actually reminded of one that I read a lot when I was young, but unfortunately that did not make the list), and a book that I read to my class just yesterday. I think this is more than a good book; it's an important book. First published in 1971, this book rings true today. For those of you who have not read the book, I suggest you do (I can't imagine a public library that does not have this book), and so I will not explain the plot, other than to say it is about our treatment of the planet. I have used it twice already to teach students about the environment and I plan on using it many times in the future. This book would have been number one on my list were it not for my analytical mind (a clue! (which itself is a clue!)) and some fond childhood memories. The Lorax is probably the only book on this list that I think ALL children should be read. It's message is too important to be forgotten or ignored.

Tune in next week to find out what the #1 book on my list is (and if you know what it is, please don't post it, as I know many of my readers are waiting in anticipation!).

Countdown of My Favourite Children's Books: #'s 4 & 3

Here is the next installment in my countdown of my favourite children's books which I started two weeks ago and continued last week. Here is a recap of the books I have already counted down:

10. The Berenstain Bears Series
9. Where the Wild Things Are
8. Matthew and the Midnight Tow Truck
7. Princess Smartypants
6. Love you Forever
5. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs

4. Oh, The Places You'll Go! (Dr. Seuss): Believe it or not, I had never read this (at least to my knowledge) until the end of my very first practicum in Toronto in 2003. A fellow student teacher brought it in to read to our class on the last day we were there and I read it to one of our classes (we were in a SK class, with a morning and an afternoon class). I absolutely loved the story. Every time I read it I have to hold back the tears. I think this book is such a classic for so many because it is honest. It's not one of those books that says everyone is great and that nothing bad will happen. It instills a message of working hard but still encourages children - and adults - to dream big dreams and to not be discouraged by setbacks. Lately this book has become a cliched gift to graduates of every level of school. I'm not really into that, but I think the book is great for people who appreciate good children's literature. I could not find much information out there about the book, except that it is Dr. Seuss's last book. Find more info at Wikipedia and at the Dr. Seuss website.

3. The Paper Bag Princess (Robert Munsch): Ok, so those who know me, may be surprised that this is "only" number three - but I assure you, I have two good ones at the top and you'll understand why. This book is somewhat similar to Princess Smartypants in that it is about an atypical princess. I like this book more for the fact that it spits in the face of conventional fairy tales that tell girls they are the ones that need saving. As a character Elizabeth is a great role model. She fights for what she wants, uses her brains to beat a foe, and then stands up for herself at the end. The humor present in this book also adds to it's appeal. If I were doing a list of which books I like to read, I imagine this would be a bit higher (Dr. Seuss is hard to beat for readability though). A few years ago, they released a new version of the book which has background information on the book which is rather interesting if you are a fan (or for children who like that kind of thing). There is lots of information about this book at Wikipedia, Robert Munsch's Website, and a random site I found.

Stay tuned for # 2 next week (that's right, I'm going to make you wait two whole weeks until I reveal #1!).

Countdown of My Favourite Children's Books: #'s 7, 6 & 5

This is the continuation of the countdown I started last week. A recap of the first three:

10. The Berenstain Bears Series

9. Where the Wild Things Are

8. Matthew's Midnight Adventures

7. Princess Smartypants (Babette Cole): In the same vein as the Paper Bag Princess this is a book about a Princess who doesn't fit the stereotype. Babette Cole is definitely an author worth reading and has produced many other storybooks (which may or may not all be suitable for children). This particular story is about a Princess who everyone wants to marry. She makes each potential suitor complete some very difficult tasks. Definitely one that will make students laugh.

6. Love You Forever (Robert Munsch): If this story doesn't make you cry, the story behind the story will. A few years ago I had a music class where we talked about this book. It originally started as a song which was written by Munsch after he and his wife had two babies born dead. The song was written to those two babies. Astute fans of Robert Munsch will notice that his regular illustrator (Michael Martchenko). This is because the book was seen as a book for adults and not a book for children (though many children do enjoy it). More information about the book can be found here.

5. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs (Jon Scieszka): Another great author who has written several great children's books. I choose this particular book of his to highlight because it was the first one of his I read and it absolutely blew me away (no pun intended). This is the classic story of the Three Little Pigs as told by the wolf. So simple yet such a great idea. Similar to Princess Smartypants in that it is a fractured fairy tale (my how many of those made my top 10) but very different. This can be used in so many ways in a classroom.

Tune in next week to find out what books 4 and 3 are!

Countdown of My Favourite Children's Books

A few weeks ago I sent out an email to all the teachers and librarians (and people who would know about this stuff) to send me their top 10 favourite children's storybooks and their top 10 favourite children's novels. I got responses from three people, so I figured those results would be slightly skewed. I'm going to hold off on this and hope that maybe I'll get a few more responses to this survey. In the meantime I will count down my top 10 favourite children's storybooks. We'll start with three today:

10. The Berenstain Bears Series (Stan & Jan Berenstain): Who out there has never read one of these books. The books dealt with such things as candy, tv, homework, and on and on. Though not necessarily the best books to read to children, they sure are enjoyable

9. Where the Wild Things Are (Maurice Sendak): This one is a favourite of many and although the basic plot has been done over and over (for those of you in my program at UVic you may remember when we looked at all the stories similar to this (Someone leaves home, finds it dangerous, then returns – I can't remember the name of it, but perhaps a classmate could post the name). Apparently, I have heard there is a movie in the works. Hmmm.

8. Matthew's Midnight Adventures (Allen Morgan): Specifically Matthew and the Midnight Tow Truck, but also the Midnight Turkeys and the Midnight Money Van. The idea of the magic car wash that could shrink regular cars into “dinky cars” (ahh... the good old days when I played with those) is kinda cool if you're younger. Very much in the vein of Robert Munch books (part of that is probably that they have the same illustrator).

Tune in next week to hear about #'s 7, 6 and 5!