Children's Books

Sometimes we go to the library. The library is a wonderful, glorious place. The library has an incredible selection of children's books. When we first started checking books out for Lincoln, I would just walk along the rows and select books at random to check out. But man oh man, I can't even count the numerous amounts of times that I would start reading the books to Lincoln and think, "This has got to be the STUPIDEST book ever written". One specific book is coming to mind. It was called Night Rabbits. I got it because Lincoln has been really in to rabbits lately and I thought he'd like to listen to a story about one (other than the two stories we currently own about rabbits that we've read 8 billion times).

Well... if you haven't read Night Rabbits, don't. And if you haven't heard of Night Rabbits, there is a very good reason. If you were to take a group of 13 year olds and teach them about similes and metaphors for the first time and let them loose on their own to practice writing some, Night Rabbits is what you would get for a result. The book is full of metaphors, which isn't a bad thing, except the metaphors are all something like, "As her father mowed the lawn, sweat dripped off of his body like water from a sprinkler." I mean let's analyze that for just a second. What if sweat really came out of your body the way water comes out of a sprinkler? Yuck! Don't get me wrong, sweating is gross, but it's not that gross. The book is full of good ones like that. Not to mention that is has no story line whatsoever, and it really isn't even about rabbits at all. AND the art work isn't that great either. Why someone paid money to have this thing published, I'll never know. Why someone thought this would entertain a small child, I'll never know.

But that's not the point of this post. The point is, that I thought since I struggle to find good kids' books, that maybe some of you do too. So I thought I would make a list of the kids' books that Lincoln and I love, and hopefully it will be helpful for you guys. I also hope you'll share with us the kids' books you and your kids love so that we have some ideas for the next time we hit the library.

FAVORITE CHILDREN'S' BOOKS (in no particular order)
One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr Seuss
Jamberry by Bruce Degen
Pajama Time by Sandra Boynton
Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton
Snuggle Puppy by Sandra Boynton
Olivia by Ian Falconer
Thumper Counts to Ten by Kitty Richards
Is Your Mama a Lama? by Deborah Guarino
The Going to Bed Book by Sandra Boynton
Swing! by Rufus Butler Seder
Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy Shaw
Goodnight Moon by Margret Wise Brown
Quiet Loud by Leslie Patricelli
My Little Book About Jesus by Val Chadwick Bagley
Green Eggs and Ham by Dr Seuss
If You Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Joffe Numeroff
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak