Recommended Books for kids

We love books at our home.  Dan and I both have a love of reading that I feel we are passing onto our kids. Although there are many many wonderful children's books out there, these are our some of our families favorites.

1. Books by Pat Hutchins Found The Wind Blew, The Doorbell Rang, The Surprise Party and What Game Shall We Play at a garage sale a few summers ago and they quickly became the girls' favorites.  We have read these over and over and over.
2. Books by Robert McCloskey Our absolute favorite is Blueberries for Sal, but we also enjoy Make Way for Ducklings.
3. Pinkalicious by Victoria Kann 100% girly and pink.  A little over the top OCD for me, but the girls seem to overlook that and just see the fun in the books.  Needless to say, this is not one of Henry's favorites..haha.  They also like Purplicious, Silverlicious and Goldalicious.
4. The Further Tales of Peter Rabbit by Emma Thompson This was a Christmas present just this past Christmas that the girls immediately loved.  Very cute book.  One of my favorites too.  A new classic.
5. Books by Virginia Lee Burton Wonderful books for boys especially, but we all enjoy reading them together.  Books like Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, Choo Choo, The Little House, Maybelle, Katy and the Big Snow.  These books have been enjoyed by kids for generations.
6. My Friends by Taro Gomi A wonderfully simple book about a child learning from her animal friends.  Obvious reasons why this book is loved by Boothe.
7. Charlie the Ranch Dog by Ree Drummond Henry's first favorite book.  He knows exactly what I'm talking about when I say "bring me your doggy book".  Boothe also likes this one and I'll hear her "reading" through the book making up her own story as she goes.
8. Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans I love Madeline.  Simply a classic.  All girls should know Madeline!
9. I Know a Lady by Charlotte Zolotow This one ranks up there with my all time favorite kids books.  Gets me every time!  It's about a old lady who lives alone in a house on the narrator's (a little girl) street.  Ok, get the tissues.
10. Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Connor Cute and very girly books about a young girl who wants everything to be over-the-top and fancy.  We've enjoyed these for awhile and are great for introducing new longer words that then have the definition of the new word right there in the book.
11. We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen Another new one for Christmas that has become a hit.  All the kids like this one because it reads like a song and is repetitive.  A really fun book!
12. Books by Margaret Wise Brown We love so many books by Margaret Wise Brown...Goodnight Moon, My World, Runaway Bunny, The Fathers are Coming Home.  These were my kids' first favorites.
13. Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow Another favorite from when the girls were much younger and a favorite of Henry's now.  Henry will put his hand on his head when the monkey's bump their heads and shake his hand when the doctor says "no more monkey's jumping on the bed".  It's so cute...love my Henry!
14. The Growing Up Feet by Beverly Cleary We also like The Real Hole and Two Dog Biscuits.  I didn't even know Beverly Cleary wrote any younger kids books.  All of her books that I knew were chapter books.
15. Eloise by Kay Thompson Who doesn't love obnoxious little Eloise?  Although sometimes I just want her to shut up...she talks too fast...or am I just reading too fast?