That’s right… we’ve already begun building the library. Who’s surprised, really? In truth, we started building this library when Borders was going out of business and we were able to snatch up some cheap Dr. Seuss books. Then, with the addition of some children’s books we’ve had laying around and books we bought at a recent trip to Babies’R'Us, we helped it grow. And, like our own library, it won’t ever stop growing. In fact, my mom has recently been up in the attic, sifting through old stuff and will likely be putting together a box of my old books and books from her old second grade classroom which will also add to this. And, of course, this is the library for Baby Lewis #1, but God willing we have more babies than that, it will be a shared resource of books for all of them.
So what do we have so far? Let’s just see now…
A quick photo of the beginning of Baby Lewis’s library
Books from Borders while closing:
Falling Up, by Shel Silverstein
Green Eggs & Ham, by Dr. Seuss (Sam I Am… and so I love this book too)
The Butter Battle Book, by Dr. Seuss (A book I read on Steve’s very first movie night at 17 Cummings)
The Sneetches, by Dr. Seuss
How the Grinch Stole Christmas, by Dr. Seuss
Love You Forever, by Robert Munsch (My very favorite book from my childhood)
Children’s Books I Had On Hand:
The Story of Ferdinand, by Munro Leaf (one of Pearson’s Read for the Record books)
Corduroy, by Don Freeman (another of Pearson’s Read for the Record books)
Max Goes to Mars, by Jeffrey Bennett (one of our Pearson astronomy authors, given to me as a rep as a gift)
Max Goes to the Moon, by Jeffrey Bennett (same as above)
Children’s Books Steve Had On Hand (most from his Grandma):
Frankenstein Takes the Cake, by Adam Rex
Mudball, by Matt Tavares
Oh, the Places You’ll Go, by Dr. Seuss
Math Curse, by Jon Scieszka & Lane Smith
How Are You Peeling?, by Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers
Books from Our Trips to Hawai’i:
Hilo Legends, by Frances Reed
Polihale & other Kaua’i Legends, by Frederick B. Wichman
Kaua’i Tales, by Frederick B. Wichman
Humu: The Little Fish Who Wished Away His Colors, by Kimberly A. Jackson
Amazing “Choose Your Own Adventure” Finds from a Used Bookstore:
Your Are a Genius, by Edward Packard (CYOA #95)
Invaders of the Planet Earth, by Richard Brightfield (CYOA #70)
Inside UFO 54-40, by Edward Packard (CYOA #12)
The Abombinable Snowman, by R.A. Montgomery (COYA #1)
Babies’R'Us Purchases, Made with Baby Lewis in Mind:
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, by Bill Martin Jr/Eric Carle (I really remember this one from my childhood)
I Love You, Stinky Face, by Lisa McCourt
Pat the Bunny, by Dorothy Kunhardt (Steve’s favorite book as a kid)
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, by Bill Martin Jr & John Archambault
And that’s where we’ve started, but as I said, this is only just the beginning. I’ll update with more when we get them. Especially when we get the big batch from my mom’s house, although I’m not sure when that’ll happen. We’ll see.
Other suggestions that you loved from your own childhood? We’d love to hear!! Please leave a comment to let us know!
I always liked Where the sidewalk ends by Shel Silverstein. And when I was a little older it was Encyclopedia Brown. I’ll try to find some of those for wee baby Lewis.
We bought a ton of Sandra Boynton books when I was pregnant with Cora and they are some of her favorites. She also just recently started to love The Berenstain Bears. My personal favorites are If You Give a Cat a Cupcake and If You Give a Moose a Muffin.
I’m surprised you guys don’t have Make Way For Ducklings yet! I’m so happy that you guys have this blog so I don’t have to call and big you about everything =]
So happy I’m gonna be an auntie!
You have to have something from the Berenstain Bears. Also, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, The Velveteen Rabbit, James and the Giant Peach, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Charolette’s Web… There are just so many great children’s books. (http://childrensbooksguide.com/top-100 and http://www.scholastic.com/100books/)
I have always loved Mister Dog by Margaret Wise Brown. She is best known for Goodnight Moon, but she wrote many, many books, a lot of them for Little Golden Books. Once you start reading to kids, you will appreciate that no matter what the plot, her stories always end with everyone going to sleep. Even her version of the Christmas story ends with baby Jesus out cold in the manger. Perfect bedtime reading.
Oh man, I love buying kids books for people, you need goodnight moon, cloudy with a chance of meatballs, blueberries for Sam and Make way for ducklings!
love you guys!!
becca
Samantha and Steve, Oh, the Places You’ll Go, by Dr. Seuss, is a great book. Our dean buys copies of that book for the graduates. Each department has all of its faculty sign the books that will go to their specific students. It’s a fun book at any age.
Off the top of my head
* “The Little Engine That Could” by Watty Piper
* “Because a Little Bug Went Ka-Choo!” by Rosetta Stone and Michael Frith
* this one not till later but “Maniac Magee” by Jerry Spinelli
Some of my recent favorites are:
Duck at the Door by Jackie Urbanovic
How Do Dinosaurs …? by Jane Yolen (there’s a how series of these about going to bed, going to school, say I Love You, they’re really good)
Press Here by Herve Tullet
I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen
And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson (how could you not love a book about penguins?)
Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein
And Gabriel loves
Pete the Cat by James Dean and Eric Litwin
Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds and Peter Brown
Also, don’t forget the classic, There’s a Monster at the End of this Book! And anything by Eric Carle
Yesssss Shel Silverstein. My favorite growing up
The first book I learned to read was Green Eggs and Ham, so go, you, that it is on the shelf already. My very favorite book from childhood is The Velveteen Rabbit. I just bought a new version from Kohl’s Cares, but I still have my original upstairs in the attic. Also, who could forget A Fly Went By from my boys’ childhoods? “I sat by the lake, I looked at the sky, and as I looked, a fly went by.” I could go on, but I will refrain. Best wishes and happy reading.
Yay for Pat the Bunny! However, you really need to get Goodnight Moon, one of my favorites.
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and I love you, Stinky face!! yay!! As mom said, Goodnight Moon for reals (though to be funny, you can also get Goodnight iPad
) and CLEARLY Where the Wild Things Are. <3 Love that there's already a library!!