What's your favorite children's book?

8 points by sova ↗ HN
Some books that are aimed at kids are actually full of really good information. Do you have any favorites? My friend and I are looking for inspiration.

23 comments

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Oh The Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss
I read so many books as a child it is impossible to recommend any. I did read a book recently titled 'Absolute Zero Gravity' (Betsy Devine & Joel Cohen) Science Jokes, Quotes and Anecdotes. It is informative, historical, educational, and truly fascinating to read. For a child this can really awaken their cognitive imagination. Fiction-wise I would leave to the child to decide as that list is truly endless. The Witcher series by Sapkowski I couldn't hardly put down (the movie is a complete FAIL). One other I rather liked is titled 'The Eerie Adventures of the Lycanthrope Robinson Crusoe' by Defoe, Lovecrart, & Clines.
Come Over To My House - Dr. Seuss
The Frog and Toad series had some great life lessons.
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (illustrations by Jules Feiffer)
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Rosie Revere Engineer. https://www.amazon.com/Rosie-Revere-Engineer-Andrea-Beaty/dp...

Also, I wrote a 900 word review of Brown Bear, Brown Bear analyzing it's subverisve warning about today's surveillance state. Pretty proud of that one.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/cr/0805092447

talking about the surveillance state? interesting...
Bravo! Easily the best review of a children's book I have read. I would love to read your review of the subsequent Polar Bear, Polar Bear - are the children now actors for the state since they are the ones making noises or are they subversives?

My contribution to the discussion would be The Bear Snores On. Some great phrases in there that keep it interesting enough that I don't mind reading it 3 times a day, yet fun enough the little guy still enjoys it.

Thomas the Tank Engine - teaches you to know your place

I think it depends on age - my wife and her friends are teachers, and they think the most important thing is to learn the structure of language, and rhyming is an important part of that. They always recommend Julia Donaldsons books like the Grufalo, and Jack and The Flum Flum Tree for younger ones

Grimm brothers

Anything by Verne

Tom Poes (but you'd need to read dutch for that)

Master of the black mill (Krabat) (Harry Potter, but different and much older)

This is for older children, twelve and above I'd say, but I think the Alice books (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There) are great. Then they (and you) can read The Annotated Alice by Martin Gardner, which opened up entirely new levels of the stories to me.

For younger children, I'd say The Wind in the Willows.

Inspiration as in for writing one?

If it's a book for young children (the kind that parents are going to read to them, and therefore have to read over and over), you need to make it not a bore for the parents. Maybe the best example I've seen is "The Bravest Ever Bear".

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle