Top 25 favorite picture books

22 September 2014

Let’s talk about books this week, friends! Ever since my Puffin in Bloom post kicked off a children’s literature discussion, I’ve been brainstorming my definitive list of favorites. Today, we’ll do picture books, later this week, chapter books, and I’ll finish it off with the twenty books I’ve read so far this year. I can’t wait to hear what you think!!

favorite-picture-books

In alphabetical order, my top 25 favorite picture books:

Barnyard Dance
A Bear Called Paddington
The Berenstein Bears series
Blueberries for Sal
Bread and Jam for Frances

Burt Dow, Deep-Water Man
The Butter Battle Book
Caps for Sale
Curious George
Frederick

The Giving Tree
Gregory the Terrible Eater
How My Parents Learned to Eat
The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear
Lobsterman

Madeline
Miss Rumphius
Mr. Pine’s Purple House
Olivia
One Morning in Maine

The Paper Bag Princess
The Sneetches
Time of Wonder
Where the Sidewalk Ends
Where the Wild Things Are

I know I left off a ton of fantastic books, but these are the ones I remember most fondly from my childhood. What would be on your list?? (For reference, here is Design Mom’s list of her top 50 picture books!)

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Hales
September 22, 2014 9:18 am

Love this! I’m an avid reader and am so excited about all the upcoming posts this week :)

September 22, 2014 9:23 am

I absolutely adore picture books. I think that’s one thing I’m looking forward to most about being a mom someday–reading my favorite books to my kids! One of my favorites is The Runaway Bunny. Anything Shel Silverstein is great too!

September 22, 2014 9:42 am

I love this post, as books are one of my all-time favorite things! I even work at a literacy non-profit for inner-city elementary students, so I’m surrounded by children’s books all day, every day. Miss Rumphius is such a treasure, and I wish more children knew about this gem!

Lindy
September 22, 2014 11:03 am

My daughter would put all of the Fancy Nancy books on the list! She LOVES them and I have to say that as a mom, I like them too! They are cute and teach her some good vocabulary because Fancy Nancy likes “fancy” (aka long) words!

September 22, 2014 12:41 pm

Angelina Ballerina was my favorite growing up, and I can’t wait to read it to my little one some day!

Laura M.
September 22, 2014 10:30 pm

Oh my goodness! I hadn’t thought about Miss Rumphius in years, and I just remembered how much I adore that book. It seems like a junior version of the Anne books in a lot of ways to me.

September 23, 2014 8:46 am

Hi Em, I loved a book about Bettie the cow. It was written in rhyme. Does anyone know it?

September 23, 2014 9:53 am

My girls love All The World by Liz Garton Scanlon and anything by Mo Willems. My oldest wont let me read The Giving Tree anymore since it always makes me teary-eyed (in a good way but, like most little girls, she is not down with mommy crying at all).

September 23, 2014 12:21 pm

I’m rediscovering all of my favorite books from reading to Jude lately. I think Madeline books will ALWAYS be my personal favorites though.

September 23, 2014 10:40 pm

‘I want my hat back’ by Jon Klassen is a new favourite of mine. There is a subtle hint of dark humour to it, (which makes it entertaining for adults to read), and the artwork is modern and beautiful.

Kate
September 24, 2014 9:19 am

Interesting – I would have thought our lists would be more similar! There are a lot on there that are my favorites as well (Burt Dow, Miss Rumphius, Mr. Pine) and some that I am familiar with (Frances, Caps for Sale, Time of Wonder) – but there are some I don’t know at all (Frederick, Butter Battle, Paper Bag Princess)! Weird!

Tegan will take all of them, though. (She already has Barnyard Dance and Olivia [thanks to you and J!])

Em
September 24, 2014 12:13 pm

@Kate I always read Frederick at Aunt Joy’s house, Butter Battle from the IOS library, and maybe Paper Bag Princess at school? So funny!

Rob
September 28, 2014 10:09 pm

So many great ones: Burt Dow, Gregory, How My Parents, Lobsterman, and all the Robert McCloskeys.

October 9, 2014 3:36 pm

Growing up, the favorites that you have on your list are Caps for Sale, Madeleine & The Paper Bag Princess! The ones not on your list include “Cloudy with a chance of meatballs” and “Silly Sally.” I liked the goofy books, obviously :) (Oh, and Corduroy!! I loved that set!)