My Favorite Picture Books

It’s been a couple weeks since my last entry. It is amazing how the time flies. The last few weeks of summer vacation (my kid’s not mine) have been pretty crazy and I have been chomping at the bit to get back to business and back to a work routine. At any rate I am glad to be back with a list of blog topics.


Last week I went to a regional meeting for SCBWI. We were supposed to pick our favorite children’s book and bring it to the meeting. I found it very hard to pick just one and in fact I picked 8 and that was after only one of my boxes-o-books. I still have two large crates to go through. This is what I brought:

Where the Wild Things Are, Maruice Sendak
One Hundred Hungry Ants, Elinor Pinczes/ill. Bonnie MacKain
Big Black Bear, Wong Herbert Yee
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Mo Willems
Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon, Patty Lovel/ill. David Catrow
My Friend Rabbit, Eric Rohmann
Counting Crocodiles, Judy Sierra/ill. Will Hillenbrand
Knuffle Bunny, Mo Willems

That list got me thinking about the other books that didn’t make it on the list just because they were in the other two crates. It took a while (I should have been doing other things I am sure) but I pulled my other favorites out and started my first official Favorites List. Remember that this is purely subjective and some of the books listed represent a significant period in my life and that is why they belong on MY list. If you disagree with any of MY picks then do so quietly. If you agree with my picks then by all means shout it out from the top of the nearest hill or facebook. My lists aren’t static and will be changing, especially if any of my books get published. I will mention any additions here so you can stay on top of any changes to this very important list. I will start with the books listed and categorize them as I see fit, it is my blog after all!

Picture Books: (in no specific order)
Where the Wild Things Are, Maruice Sendak
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Mo Willems
Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon, Patty Lovel/ill. David Catrow
My Friend Rabbit, Eric Rohmann
Knuffle Bunny, Mo Willems
No David, David Shannon
Buz, Richard Egielski
The Spider and the Fly, Tony DiTerlizzi
The Greedy Python, Richard Buckley/ill. Eric Carle
Piggie Pie!, Margie Palatini/ill. Woward Fine
Wet Dog !, Elise Broac/ill. David Catrow
I Wanna Iguana, Karen Kaufman Orloff/ill. David Catrow
Officer Buckle and Gloria, Peggy Rathmann
Max’s Dragon Shirt, Rosemary Wells
Hey, Al, Arthur Yorinks/ill. Richard Egielski
Parts, Ted Arnold
That’s Good! That’s Bad, Margery Cuyler/ill. David Catrow
Double Trouble in Walla Walla, Andrew Clements/ill. Salvatore Murdocca
The Boy Who Lived With the Seals, Rave Martin/ill. David Shannon
Miss Nelson is Missing!, Harry Allard/ill. James Marshall
A Bad Case of Stripes, David Shannon
Verdi, Janell Cannon
The Tenth Good Thing About Barney, Judith Viorst/ill. Erik Blegvad
The Paper Bag Princess, Robert Munsch/ill. Michael Martchenko
The Stupids Die, Harry Allard/ill. James Marshall
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Judith Viorst/ill. Ray Cruz
The Dumb Bunnies, Sue Denim;-)/ill. Dav Pilkey
Cars and Trucks and Things That Go, Richard Scarry
The Hallo-Wiener, Dav Pilkey

Rhyming Picture Books: (in no specific order)

Big Black Bear, Wong Herbert Yee
Counting Crocodiles, Judy Sierra/ill. Will Hillenbrand

Wordless/Nearly Wordless Picture Books: (in no specific order)
Time Flies, Eric Rohmann
Hiccup, Mercer Mayer
Deep in the Forest, Brinton Turkle

Teaching (ABC, Counting, Time, etc.) Picture Books: (in no specific order)
The Grouchy Ladybug, Eric Carle
Teeth, Tails, & Tentacles An Animal Counting Book, Christopher Wormell
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault/ill. Lois Ehlert
My Little Sister Ate One Hare, Bill Grossman/ill. Kevin Hawkes
One Hundred Hungry Ants, Elinor Pinczes/ill. Bonnie MacKain