Goodnight Moon

[filkertom]

Today's the birthday of Margaret Wise Brown.

What five books would you present to a child and his or her parents? You can "cheat" and name collections -- for instance, my five would include Six By Seuss and The Complete Winnie-the-Pooh, along with The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, and The Hobbit (for later).

Comments

For newborns

[cogitationitis.livejournal.com]

Jane Yolen, Owl Moon
A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh (not the collection)
Robert Louis Stevenson, A Child's Garden of Verse
Any decently nice Mother Goose collection (there are many)
Goodnight Moon as a board book. (With a nod to Brown.)

Other excellent books for newborns include Sandra Boynton's various books, such as The Bedtime Book, Horns to Toes, and But Not the Hippopotamus.

Re: For newborns

[drzarron.livejournal.com]

I was going to list five Sandra Boynton books, especially "Not The Hippopotamus". Wonderful, literate, cleaver, nicely drawn and NOT NAUSEATING! All her books are delightful!

[technocracygirl.livejournal.com]

I know you put it in the title, but I love giving copies of Goodnight Moon to small children. Also titles in the Harold and the Purple Crayon series.

[janet-coburn.livejournal.com]

I once had a new-mother friend of mine request Everyone Poops, but left to my own devices, I go for Silverstein's "Uncle Shelby's ABZ Book."

[wormquartet.livejournal.com]

Steve's current favorites are "Mommy Loves Me" (it's got photos and little doors you can open to reveal other photos,) "Hop On Pop" (the only book he asks for by name,) and a great animal-noise book called "Moo, Baa, La La La" which has become a call-and-response with him - he fills in the noises.

-=ShoEboX=-

[suburbfabulous.livejournal.com]

Uncle Shelby's ABZ Book
Where The Wild Things Are
500 Palabras Nuevas Para Ti (even if the kid doesn't learn the Spanish words, the pictures are GREAT for teaching the English ones...) by Harry McNaught
The Monster At The End of This Book (ghostwritten by Grover, noted Fulbright scholar and political consultant for The Sesame Group, possible Rukeyser successor)
Coraline by Neil Gaiman (for a little later, but not much!)

[alymid.livejournal.com]

Okay I'll list my 5 first - but then I am going to rant on one of your choices for a minute.

People by Peter Spier - great book showing people from all over the world and the things they do, and their languages with tons of fiddly little illustrations and nice color, sort of a mature richard scary - I used to just look at the pictures over and over again.

Harold and the Purple Crayon - cause what is cooler, that creating your own world out of your imagination.

The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear - Audrey and Don Wood- because the story plays on a lot of levels, starting as something simple for a young child and having a bit of engaging mystery for an older child, and the illustrations are *ing adorable.

Beneath a Blue Umbrella & To Ride a Purple Pelican (set) - Two great poetry books for little children. Very rhythmic and rhyming poetry with bright and pretty illustrations.

What Is God? by Etan Boritzer and Robbie Marantz - THE best book about religion for kids that I have ever seen. Incredibly open minded, and discuses a wide array of views on god and religion. One of my friends said it was a whole religious education in one little paperback picturebook.

I love almost all of the books that you picked, but after selling kids books for almost 8 years, and running the kids department at one of the big books store chains, I generally tried to give books that were a little more off the beaten path - everyone buys Goodnight Moon etc.

Now to my rant - The Giving Tree . . . - I really really dislike this book, I have *been* that tree, it doesn't feel good. I am quite sure that it feels fabulous to be that boy, and have your friend/lover/parent give and give and give - but it absolutely sucks to be the tree. The boy uses, and uses and uses the tree, and never gives anything back, except for the promise of returning and using the tree again. I don't really think that its a beautiful story of friendship/love/devotion I think its pretty sick, and I think its fairly sick that people think that its a beautiful love story.

But I also know that few people think of it that way until it is pointed out to them. I knew someone who knew Shel - she told me that the Giving Tree was a good example of how he treated his girlfriends.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I thought about that before I put it up there. On one fairly obvious level, yeah, it's practically a handbook for codependancy. On another level, though, it's a tale about unconditional love, and about learning to appreciate what you have.

I have been that tree; I have been that boy. Although I at least try to give back as much as I can, and perhaps that's the lesson to be learned from it.

[alymid.livejournal.com]

There is that lesson to be learned from it. But trust me when I tell you that *isn't* the lesson being learned from it. I spent WAY too many years in the kids book business, having people young and old tell me what the love about that book - and it isn't that they are learning about apprectating what you have, or about giving back. They are learning it as a model of how to expect to be loved.

[signy1.livejournal.com]

I was given a copy of that book by a very dear grandmother-surrogate when I was about five, and her dedication on the flyleaf is about the only reason the book never made a pilgrimage to the garbage can. I hated it from the moment I turned the last page-- I *never* saw the love in that book. I saw betrayal, and I saw cruelty, and I saw the tree commit suicide for an ingrate, and even as a kid I cried for her.

[sydb42.livejournal.com]

The first time I read the Giving Tree as an adult, I felt so bad for the tree. :( I don't remember reading it as a child, or having it read to me, so if I did, it apparently didn't make much of an impression on me (hmm, wait, maybe I should ask my husband if it did...). ;)

Not 5 but

[capplor.livejournal.com]

Books I've given to kids (mine & others)

Struwelpeter (in translation, of course)

The story of the little mole who went in search of who dunnit

Hope for the flowers

Any of Shel Silverstein's Poetry books (Light in the Attic, Where the Sidewalk Ends)

[celticmom1967.livejournal.com]

Tom, those are GREAT selections. I love the Complete Winnie-the-Pooh and the others as well. I did not know you were such a children's literature connoisseur.

[sydb42.livejournal.com]

--Anything by Sandra Boynton, but my favorites are Moo, Baa, La La La and Pajama Time.

--All the Little Bear books by Else Holmelund Minarik (illustrated by Maurice Sendak)

--Anything by Dr. Seuss, although my favorites are Cat in the Hat, Cat in the Hat Comes Back, and Green Eggs and Ham

--One Duck Stuck by Phyllis Root (that book has been read so much the first got destroyed and we had to get another so our younger daughter could enjoy it too)

--Baby Faces by DK Publishing (one that MIGHT survive through the second child, but we'll see how it goes)

We ended up with THREE copies of Goodnight Moon. I can't stand that book. I think the only reason it's popular is that it's so mind-numbingly dull that it puts kids to sleep (that'd be its only redeeming quality if only it would work on my kids). Scout likes it ok, but she rarely picks it on her own, which means it doesn't get read much around here.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Books already mentioned:

Six by Seuss (or, better, a complete Seuss library)
Pooh (though I might include the poetry books here, too)
Shel Silverstein - poetry
Goodnight Moon (and also The Runaway Bunny)
Where the Wild Things Are
Harold and the Purple Crayon
The Monster at the End of This Book

Other books:

On the Day You Were Born by Debra Frasier

Jane Yolen's Dinosaur books (How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?, How Do Dinosaurs Clean Their Rooms?, How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food?, How Do Dinosaurs Count to Ten, How Do Dinosaurs Play With Their Friends, How Do Dinosaurs Learn Their Colors, How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon?, How Do Dinosaurs Learn to Read, and Dinosaur Dances)

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White (for later)

The Dark Is Rising series by Susan Cooper (for a bit later)

and, finally, also for later, The Once and Future King by T.H. White

[ladyskada.livejournal.com]

Goodnight, Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst

Books and stuff

[markiv1111.livejournal.com]

I want to start with a book I actually did give my goddaughter, alierajean: *The Discordian Coloring Book* by Laramie Sasseville. I'll follow that with a book I bought for myself: *Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type." Also, though, I wanted to make sure to stand up and be counted: I think *The Giving Tree* is flatly horrible. *Uncle Shelby's ABZ Book," though, I think would make a wonderful present for a child. You'd have to be on pretty good terms with the parents, though.

Nate

[ludzu-alus.livejournal.com]

Here's an kid's author (really, artist) that I absolutely adore: Chris Van Allsburg. Yes, he did Polar Express, but that one is down at the bottom of the list, personally. He has the most exquisite drawings and very few (in some books, no!) words. Kids can make up their own stories. My favorite is the portfolio edition of The Mysteries of Harris Burdick - several loose pages, each one a piece of b&w art, each with a title that make wonderful beginnings of stories. I'm all for letting the kids imagination run free and encouraging them to think for themselves.

That said, I'd also include these books in any 5-book package to a young'un:

Verdi by Janell Cannon

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

Not One Damsel in Distress (for the girls) or Mightier Than the Sword (for the boys) by Jane Yolen

Old Turtle by Douglas Wood

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

Goodnight, Moon
The Very Hungry Caterpiller
Tell Me Something Happy Before I Go To Sleep (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/015201795X/qid=1148397999/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-2201981-9864110?s=books&v=glance&n=283155)
You Read to Me, I'll Read to You (anthology) (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0375810838/qid=1148398047/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/102-2201981-9864110?s=books&v=glance&n=283155)
James and the Giant Peach

Well, these were my daughter's favorites, anyway.

[catmcroy.livejournal.com]

"The Complete Winnie the Pooh"
"Something From Nothing" by Phoebe Gilman (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0590472801/sr=8-1/qid=1148407974/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-9978788-1083253?%5Fencoding=UTF8)
"Goodnight Moon"
"Guess How Much I Love You"
"Love You Forever" by Robert Munch

Oh gods, as the parent of a small child i could go on

[oceansedge.livejournal.com]

I tend to think of "Love You Forever" is written more to make parents feel good, kids tend to find it boring.... now Munsch's other books... ANY and ALL of them are the kinda over the top nonsense that have kids laughing from beginning to end.

[catmcroy.livejournal.com]

My offspring loves "Love You Forever" :) Not quite as much as Stephanie's Ponytail but then again I have a little girl named Stephanie ;)

[oceansedge.livejournal.com]

lemme see... some oldies but goodies...

The Velveteen Rabbit
Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carrol
Just So Stories AND/OR The Jungle Book - Rudyard Kipling
The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis
any and all
Shel Silverstien books

Although limiting me to 5 isn't fair - I could go on all day. And when it came to my own kids... I did. No matter how broke I was I always had money for books for them.

[sifractusfortis.livejournal.com]

Susan Cooper's "The Dark Is Rising" sequence, for later.
"Goodnight Moon".
Caitlin Matthews' retelling of the Creation myth, whose title I cannot remember to save my life.
The collected works of Shel Silverstein.
"Mickey And The Night Kitchen".

[danceswithlife]

A package I would put together to the child into junior high:

1. Harold and the Purple Crayon

2. Green Eggs and Ham

3. "The Illustrated Treasury of Children't Literature" published by Grosset & Dunlap. Us 4 older kids wore that book out in about 7 years. It has excerpts from *everything*, most with the most famous illustrations that go with the poem or story. It was standard in-the-car-reading by my mother. When I saw it as an adult in a bookstore, I grabbed a copy for myself, and one to send to my then baby sister, who now proudly has it on her adult bookshelves.

4. A good children's encyclopedia. Someone gave my family two volumes from one, and *I* wore them out. Thinking back on it they were probably the genesis of my becoming a history major--I wanted to learn more about all those people and all that stuff! I always wished we had more volumes.

5. Charlotte's Webb. That one *is* about giving!

6. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle. It was the first book I ever read where I sat back and said to myself, "I didn't know you could write books like this!"

7. Have Space Suit will Travel, by Robert Heinlein.

[signy1.livejournal.com]

I buy 'Eloise' (or, preferably, the omnibus edition of all four books,) for any little girl who'll stand still long enough to accept a present; it was my all-time favorite book as a kid, and I can't help but consider her a role model.

I also like giving Dr. Seuss's 'ABC Book' to the littler ones-- a Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuz is a far more interesting way of learning the letter Z than the more usual zebra.

'Caps For Sale.' Every kid needs that book. Everything really is better with monkeys.

And books of Greek mythology, Robin Hood, and King Arthur. Kids' versions, which will be replaced with Malory and Hesiod when they're old enough.

Well, lets see..

[james-rayner.livejournal.com]

Well let's see, there are a lot of good ones here, but I would add...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0689707495/sr=8-1/qid=1148448856/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-4273634-2098326?%5fencoding=utf8

Cloudy, with a Chance of Meatballs, And..

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0689839294/ref=pd_sim_b_3/104-4273634-2098326?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155

Pickles to Pittsburgh by Judy and Ron barrett (Two of my favorite little-boy books...)

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (Another of my favorite-when-I-was-five books.)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0375810617/qid=1148449150/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-4273634-2098326?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

Your Favorite Seuss : A Baker's Dozen by the One and Only Dr. Seuss- Which includes "And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, Horton Hears a Who!, McElligot’s Pool, If I Ran the Zoo, Happy Birthday to You!, Dr. Seuss’s Sleep Book, Yertle the Turtle, The Cat in the Hat, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Green Eggs and Ham, The Lorax, The Sneetches, and Oh, the Places You’ll Go!" thereby covering all the Seussense any kid ought to be subjected to...*grin*

And finally, the one book ANY kid ought to have to ruin their sight by age eight...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0763603104/qid=1148449262/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-4273634-2098326?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

Where's Waldo? Which is one book I dont think I'da been able to survive fourth grade without.

[loosecanon.livejournal.com]

I would have to suggest
Magicians of Caprona ( Diana Wynn Jones )

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court ( Clemens/Twain )

Prydain Chronicles ( Alexander )

The Jungle Book ( Kipling )

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe ( Lewis )

I think any of these can be judiciously read to any bright small child, if the parent edits well.

This might also cover my "desert island" list.