I have to make a concerted effort to read picture books to Beanie. We have entire bookcases full of good ones; I just don’t always remember to fit them into our day the way I did when her sisters were her age. Bean listens in on pretty much everything I’m reading to the older girls—I think it’s possible she is enjoying Great Expectations more than Jane is, at this point—but she deserves the chance to meet Frances the badger and Chrysanthemum the mouse every bit as much as Jane and Rose did. I just have to make a point of pulling out the books.
Today we had an overdue library book we hadn’t read yet, and I knew Scott would be making a library run later on. So I hollered for Beanie: quick, let’s read it before Daddy has to leave! We only got halfway through. And she was loving it, LOVING it. Scott said he’d try to renew it (late though it was), and sure enough, our obliging librarians let him bring it back home. Hooray. We have since read it twice more (all the way through, this time). She claims it is now her favorite book “and we need to renew it a hundred more times, Mommy.”
The book in question is Crictor
And it reminded Beanie and Rose of a number of other books they like. We had to go hunt them up, as many as we could find. The wild-animal-houseguest-foils-robbery-attempt plotline naturally called to mind Thomas McKean’s quirky book, Hooray for Grandma Jo
Rose went up to look for this old favorite, but she couldn’t find it. Instead, she came back with a book I hadn’t seen before. (I still don’t know where it came from. Kind Friend Who Gave It to Us, Whoever You Are, thank you, and forgive me.) The Tiger Who Came to Tea
The drawing of Sophie’s mummy staring at the ransacked kitchen in the tiger’s aftermath reminded both my girls of—what else—If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
Once we started looking for connections between Crictor and other books, the girls were finding them everywhere. Reptile moves into city apartment: Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile
Tags: children’s literature, kidlit, children’s books, books, picture books
by Vera B. Williams. In this Caldecott winner, a trio of toddlers get loved to pieces by the adults in their lives. A friend gave us this delightful picture book when Rose was born, and we literally read it to pieces. Even with the cover half gone and the pages in tatters, it’s a book that calls to us from the shelf…we can’t resist the fun of seeing these little ones get tickled, twirled, and smothered with kisses. “More, more, more!” shout the babies, and “Again!” cries Beanie. Be prepared to pounce on your own little one after you close the book: some merry wrestling or tossing in the air will be expected.
by Irene Haas. One of my favorite picture books ever. When Margaret sails away on a houseboat of her very own, she knows no adventure would be complete without her baby brother. They sail through sun and storm, and efficient Margaret whips up a sea stew so tantalizingly described you can almost smell it simmering on the page. This is a warm, merry book that celebrates the quiet joys I treasure, most especially that bond between the capable big sister and the baby she adores.
by Nola Buck. This little board book has been Wonderboy’s favorite for months. “These are the things that babies do: cry, wet, sleep, and coo. These are the things a baby sees: Mommy, Daddy, window, trees.” How well he relates to the key objects and events in these babies’ lives! He loves to snuggle in my lap and talk about all the small details on the page: the butterfly, the dandelion, the Cheerios on the floor beneath the highchair. And now, suddenly, he has a whole new connection to the book, with a real live crying, wetting, sleeping, cooing baby sharing my lap with him. I bet he has brought me this book ten times a day since his baby sister came home. 
by Lisa Kopper. A sweet and simple picture book about Daisy the dog’s penchant for playing baby: she likes to ride in the stroller, sleep in the crib, and sit in the highchair. Her disgruntled toddler companion does not find this amusing. But one day something changes, and Daisy can’t be a baby anymore, much to everyone’s delight. I hope your library has a copy of this charming book, which is, alas, no longer in print. The spare, repetitive text and funny colored-pencil illustrations make it a perfect choice for a toddler read-aloud, and my beginning-reader finds it just right for her emerging sounding-out skills.
by Jan Ormerod. A friend gave us this unique book when Rose was born. It follows a young girl, perhaps five or six years old, through the course of a day with her baby brother, listing all the many things there are to do together. From sharing a bit of egg to frothing up the soap bubbles in baby’s bath, the moments chronicled here are familiar, funny, and enchantingly real. Amazing illustrations. Every time we have a baby, the big sisters around here remember how much they love this book. (They are especially fond of the daddy’s red face during a family floor-time exercise session.)
by David Wiesner, author and illustrator of the enchanting 
. In this fresh take on the old tale, the wolf’s huffing and puffing blows the pigs right out of their book. They wander among rows of storybook pages, popping in and out of selected tales and gathering friends as they go. The stunning art (no surprise, since this is Wiesner, winner of multiple Caldecott Medals, including one for this book) is filled with intriguing details that kept my younguns poring over the page. 
, but it seems to be out of print. You can find a used copy, but that’s not so great for gift-giving, which was supposed to be the point of this series of posts. Well, track down a copy at your library for your own enjoyment. This is a really charming twist on the cumulative or round-robin tale like the old story about the old woman and the pig. Peter sets off in his new shoes to buy a loaf of bread, but he loses the money on the way to the bakery. Turns out the baker has lost the feather he uses to make his loaves light as a feather, and if Peter can replace the lost feather, the baker will give him the bread. Fortunately, Peter’s shoes used to belong to a farmer, so they know exactly where to go for a feather. But the farmer needs a button…and so it goes. Come to think of it, maybe this exactly the sort of book you ought to buy a used copy of…if your copy could talk, what marvels could it share about its previous owners?
by Linda Smith. A perfect picture book. I know, I know, I said no commentary. Humph.
by Linda Berkowitz. Ooh, a moon theme, looky there. While I’m at it, then, I must certainly mention Jane Yolen’s lyrical and haunting 
. 
by Linda Wikler. And (sigh) I see that it, too, is out of print. Hmm, I think these were all Dragonfly Books (a Knopf picture book imprint). I wonder if the imprint was scrapped after its editorial director moved to another publishing house. I’ll have to ask my pals at Knopf. JS, NH, are you reading?
, an I Can Read by Matt Novak. If it’s out of print too I really will scream. Except then I’ll wake up the rest of the house and since the bird clock is just now orioling six, that would be a really bad idea. Here goes, let’s pop over to Amazon to check…AAAAUUUUGGGGHHHH! I don’t believe it. HarperCollins, seriously, what were you thinking? Beginning readers don’t get any better than Newt. It’s of 
caliber, no kidding! Better art, in fact. Scott, who (with seven years of hiring and firing artists under his belt) knows a thing or two about illustrations, considers Matt Novak a storytelling genius. The expressions, the delicacy of detail so difficult to pull off in a comical, cartoonish style—and then to pair this charming art with text that manages to be both simple and nuanced at once, fresh and funny and lyrical without being heavy-handed—do you know how hard it is to pull that off? Beginning readers are reeeaaaalllly hard to write—even harder to write well—because the text is so spare, there’s no room for a single weak syllable. Well, I’ve said my piece. Snatch up a used copy of Newt while you can—too bad, small cousins, you’re getting something else for Christmas—and enjoy the gentle misadventures of this amiable salamander and the ugly bug he adopts. 
by Doreen Cronin, author of Beanie’s beloved 
. This quirky look at the life of a young worm never fails to crack me up. May 28. Last night I went to the school dance. You put your head in. You put your head out. You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself about. That’s all we could do. Hilarious details in the illustrations.
by Patricia MacLachlan. This breathtaking book was the first baby gift I ever received, and it has become a family treasure. We like to hear Scott read it because it always chokes him up. Everyone in the young narrator’s family has a place he loves best about the family farm: the blueberry hill, the river rocks, the barn. (“Where else,” muses his grandfather, “can the soft sound of cows chewing make all the difference in the world?”) The boy grows up rooted in this sense of personal connection to place, and when his baby sister is born, he is the one to share “all the places to love” with her.
by Natalie Babbitt. Like many new parents, the king and queen are obsessing over exactly what is “the very best thing” for their toddler son. They solicit advice from all corners of the castle, and everyone from the gardener to the court musician has an opinion. Turns out the young prince knew the answer all along: “Bub.” What’s “bub”? Your two-year-old can tell you… 
by Timothy Bush. Not much text in this book: the story is in the deliciously detailed artwork. When James visits his very proper Aunt Prudence, he tries to be on his best behavior. It’s not his fault the bearskin rug turns out to be a live bear…not to mention the arch enemy of the nasty Mouse King.
would make a lovely family gift, one destined to become part of a holiday tradition. It brings together in one volume these stories: The Mitten, The Wild Christmas Reindeer, Trouble with Trolls, The Twelve Days of Christmas, The Hat, The Night Before Christmas, and 
by Laura Kraus Melmed. Beautifully illustrated tale of an elderly couple whose yearning for a child is answered in a most unexpected manner. (Would make a extra-special gift in tandem with