Comments on: The Best Children’s Books

By: Ron Cutsinger

Ron Cutsinger — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 18:28:11 +0000

The Chronicals of Narnia. I read a chapter to my boys every night before bed…sometimes it was so exciting we’d read the next chapter just to see what was going to happen. It’s a memory none of us will ever forget.

By: Rebecca Cannon-Torres

Rebecca Cannon-Torres — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:24:25 +0000

I think they should’ve chosen someone else to write this list. He’s got a few nice ones, but this list is seriously dated.

By: Kristin

Kristin — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 07:17:06 +0000

Ha! My husband is currently reading Treasure Island to our two eldest and my son has run around the house calling out, “pieces of eight!”

By: Stefanni L.

Stefanni L. — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:32:10 +0000

Anything by Cynthia Rylant makes a great read-aloud to elementary school children. My favorite by Cynthia is a Christmas story titled Silver Packages. Another delightful author is Patricia Polacco. Almost all of her stories are about someone she knew growing up, and she illustrates all her work herself. Try Chicken Sunday or Mrs. Katz and Tush as good samples of her work.

By: Deiga

Deiga — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:45:17 +0000

Being a girl, instead of The Hardy Boys, I read Nancy Drew. Little House on the Prairie, and the Black Beauty books. To my grandchildren, our favorites are The Napping House, How I Became a Pirate, The Almost Bedtime Story, and Peter Pan. They are now old enough for ‘chapter’ books and have enjoyed the Harry Potter books, which their Dad reads to them at bedtime. Now, if I could just get my stepchildren to read…thanks for bringing back some great memories thinking about favorite childhood stories.

By: linus

linus — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:24:34 +0000

My children’s favorite was “Marvin K. Mooney, will you please go?” by Dr. Suess.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:57:41 +0000

At the right age, it’s hard to think of anything better than Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. “Pieces of Eight! Pieces of Eight!”

By: Jeanna

Jeanna — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:20:27 +0000

The BFG by Roald Dahl
Junie B. Jones books (esp. to read aloud in character)

For younger kids I like the Bear Snores On series, If You Take A Mouse to School series and Magic Treehouse books.

My son loves the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series too!

By: Kristin

Kristin — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 02:37:26 +0000

Some of my childhood favorites, gradually being introduced to my kids as appropriate:
The Enormous Crocodile (Roald Dahl)
William Steig’s books (Sylvester and the Magic Pebble; Dr. DeSoto; Roland the Minstrel Pig)
Children’s story books written and illustrated by Bill Peete
The Little House books
Caddie Woodlawn
The Ramona books
Shel Silverstein
E.B. White’s books (esp. Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little)
The Wizard of Oz books
Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew/Trixie Belden
Louisa May Alcott’s books

This is a small sampling…and how pleasant to recall the joy of first reading each of these!

By: ben

ben — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:18:09 +0000

Mike,

Have you seen this youtube clip from a country music singer whose guitar was broken by United Airlines over a year ago? They have refused to help in any way. It’s a pretty brilliant way to log a complaint.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

By: Dee

Dee — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 02:22:51 +0000

I remember one of my favorite books was published when I was a pre-schooler…Bible A B Cs…and it had short poems for each letter of the alphabet such as

A is for Abraham
Put to the test
That proved he was faithful
And loved God the best!

The book was colorful…I had it memorized when I was 4…I read it to my children…and now I’ve had copies made for each of my grandchildren. That book opened the door for lots of other Bible stories told by my parents and grandparents, and that time spent listening to them share their faith was important.

There were other books as I grew older, and I’ve been able to obtain some of them for my grandchildren (Toodles, Scuffy the Tugboat, etc.)

My Bobbsey Twin and Nancy Drew books were read by my nieces (born 1983 and 1988)…and they shared with me some of their favorites (Laura Engles Wilder, Anne of Green Gables.)

My grandchildren (still pre-schoolers) love the timeless Dr. Seuss and Berenstein Bears. It’s going to be fun as they get older to continue reading with them and talking about what they read.

By: Buzz Ball

Buzz Ball — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 01:08:03 +0000

My two favorite books were Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (and the original movie, not the so-called remake) and Where the Red Fern Grows. I would climb the big maple tree in our front yard and sit in a special place and read all day. My mom would send lunch up with a pulley system I devised.

By: Frank

Frank — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:04:47 +0000

Spent a good part of a summer in Brazil (Belo, Itu, and Manaus) and loved it.

By: Ken Hines

Ken Hines — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:43:29 +0000

Say hello to your amigo the rooster. And if they have chicken soup on the menu tomorrow, maybe you’ll be able to give him your final respects!

May God bless your ministry to church leaders in Brazil.

Ken Hines

By: Canada Jim

Canada Jim — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:00:22 +0000

I love that you put Captain Underpants on there… It would be on my list, my son’s list, my youngest daughter’s list… not my wife’s though. Enough said. Before I get in trouble with the purists and children’s librarians and my wife.