How to Get Your Kids to Fall in Love with Literature

The Baxter Top 100 Picture Books List

During the day, I’m a college professor who writes books on what the arts are and why they matter more than ever in our technology-obsessed age; but at night, I’m a father and husband who, together with my wife, Jodi, has now amassed nineteen years of experience in helping six children fall in love with literature. Over the years, many of my students and readers have asked me and Jodi for practical advice on how to do this, and now I’m excited to say that this is the first time we’ve co-authored an article together! Over the past two weeks, we’ve combed, collated, reminisced, and argued through our children’s library in order to create our Top 100 Picture Books (or, pretty close, at least). A second list of ennobling chapter books for kids who can read on their own will be published next month.

Three Stories about Stories

1) A couple of years ago two of my children—a boy and a girl—had entered a period of life in which they quarreled and bickered and fought every single day. I want you to know, and I hope you will believe, that I bore all of this with magnanimous patience. But one day, the thirteen-year-old girl said something really nasty to her younger brother—which I have either forgotten or repressed—and at that moment I felt, rising from deep within, the paternal desire to give a lecture of length and power, a lecture of encyclopedic scope. In fact, I had already begun to wind up into what would surely have been a grandiloquent discourse, when, at the last second, to my own surprise, I heard myself say: “Evie… can I tell you a story?” My daughter was as surprised as I was. She let out a short, disdainful breath of exhalation from her nostrils, in a way only teenage girls can do properly; and said “O.K?” But I kept my patience and pushed on and told her the following story (readers of Dostoevsky will note that I was teaching through Brothers K. at the time…):

When I finished the story, my daughter said to me: “You’re right, Dad. I’ll apologize to Johnny.” For me this was a profound moment: I hadn’t told her what to do. I hadn’t even told her she was in the wrong. And what is more, this story, borrowed from Dostoevsky, narrated in under two minutes, accomplished something I would not have been able to accomplish even after hours of eloquent dad lectures.

After that incident, I began to reflect, with a little sadness, on how impoverished my imagination was. How many stories beyond “The Onion” did I know well enough to tell without adequate time for preparation? Two or three? But what if I had not just two or three but stories for all occasions stored away and ready for a time of need?

It is at moments like this when you are made to wonder if our whole culture is missing out on some crucial feature of education itself. As a culture, we tend to think of education as job training, in which we are given skills that will enable us to participate within a world-wide economy. Bill Gates once said that the Common Core was merely “a technocratic issue,” akin to making sure all states use the same gauge of electrical outlet.

We do need skills and crafts, of course. But what if the most important part of education is less like plugging electrical prongs into sockets and more like tuning a piano? All of our pianos—the pianos of our souls—come to us, by birth, badly out of tune, and we have to tune them, one note at a time. In this way, the story would be like a tuning fork, in which one single string of the piano could be brought to the right tension. And what if I had, say, eighty-eight stories, as many stories as they are strings on a piano? When my friends or children or students came to me in times of need, then I’d have something of depth to share, and something memorable. This is very close to how Lewis in The Abolition of Man described the ancient goal of education: the ability to instill within hearts “just sentiments,” not just facts.

2) In January of 2026, we launched a big reading campaign for another boy and girl, now aged six and nine. Over the course of the year, we’re going to try to read Winnie-the-Pooh, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, Bilbo’s Last Song (with Pauline Baynes’s illustrations), Watership Down, Farmer Boy, Little House in the Big Woods, Little House on the Prairie, Anne of Green Gables, Hilda Van Stockum’s Ireland trilogy (The Cottage at Bantry Bay, Francie on the Run, and Pegeen), Pinocchio, Charlotte’s Web, Little Women, Little Britches, Aesop’s Fables (with Milo Winter’s illustrations), The Pied Piper of Hamelin (with Kate Greenaway’s beautiful illustrations), and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (with Doré’s illustrations). We’ve been making steady progress, reading every night before bed, for somewhere between thirty minutes and one hour, and we’re now onto Lord of the Rings, having just finished The Hobbit. I’ll let you know how we do! (We might need next year, too…)

At the beginning of our reading campaign, I did have my doubts: was the then five-year-old ready for this? Could he follow the plot? Would Tolkien’s style and Lewis’s vocabulary be too much for him? And yet, every single night, he, along with his sister, begged for more pages. They would get angry with me if I had not read at least two chapters, and the characters from the books were starting to make their way into his make-believe games. But whatever lingering doubts I had were put to rest when we were finishing The Hobbit. When we got through the “Battle of Five Armies,” which my son listened to in nervous excitement, standing up and jumping on the bed as I read the chapter, we came to Thorin’s funeral, of course. And there poor Jude at last learned that this grumpy but lovable dwarf—his literary companion every evening for two months—had died. Jude wept. He couldn’t express it, of course, but at this moment he was present to the reality of our world in all its complicated mixture of good and evil: Thorin was flawed but just; stern but loyal and brave. Temporarily intoxicated by greed and anger, he had spoken devastating words of hatred to a friend and ally, but at the end of his life, he repented them and made a good end and finished his life with a noble death.

3) My last story about stories comes from last month, when we all jumped into the car on a tranquil Sunday afternoon to make a one-hour drive to get to a family reunion. As I ran out of the house to join the kids, already in the car, I grabbed at the last minute whatever books of poetry happened to be to hand, carrying a stack of about ten volumes out to the car. Without warning I opened the car door and started to pass them around to the kids: “Ok, who wants a volume of Blake?” “I do!” said the eight-year-old. “I’ve also got a volume of Milton’s lyric poems, a Norton Anthology, a Donne… oh, here’s an Auden…” After everyone had found a poem, each read their poem aloud. We were all a bit surprised when my eight-year-old asked: “Where can I find ‘Auguries of Innocence’”? But, on the other hand, her older sister had been memorizing it.

From “Auguries of Innocence,” by William Blake:

To see a world in a grain of sand

And a heaven in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand

And eternity in an hour.

A robin redbreast in a cage

Puts all Heaven in a rage.

A dove house fill’d with doves and pigeons

Shudders Hell thro’ all its regions.

A dog starv’d at his master’s gate

Predicts the ruin of the state.

A horse misus’d upon the road

Calls to Heaven for human blood.

Each outcry of the hunted hare

A fibre from the brain does tear.

A skylark wounded in the wing,

A Cherubim does cease to sing.

The game cock clipp’d and arm’d for fight

Does the rising Sun affright.

Every wolf’s and lion’s howl

Raises from Hell a human soul.

She read it, and then I asked a simple question: “Which image is the most memorable for all of you?” Some thought the “wolf’s howl” was haunting; others said they pitied “the horse misused.”

I then asked Alma to read “The Smile”:

There is a Smile of Love

And there is a Smile of Deceit

And there is a Smile of Smiles

In which these two Smiles meet

And there is a Frown of Hate

And there is a Frown of disdain

And there is a Frown of Frowns

Which you strive to forget in vain

For it sticks in the Hearts deep Core

And it sticks in the deep Back bone

And no Smile that ever was smild

But only one Smile alone

That betwixt the Cradle & Grave

It only once Smild can be

But when it once is Smild

Theres an end to all Misery

After her reading, I asked: “Out of curiosity, have any of you experienced that painful ‘smile of smiles’ which Blake describes as a mixture of love and deceit?” This led to a surprisingly deep and honest conversation about their lives and experiences, and what it feels like to be snubbed or shunned, or to notice that some group of little girls your age, clustered together, had left you out and were laughing at you. Apparently, such experiences “stick in the deep backbone.” Surprised again. After two hundred years, William Blake’s unforgettable images still had the vitality to empower grade school, junior high, and high school children to describe experiences for which they had had a hard time finding words previously. Or as the German philosopher Walter Benjamin put it: “The value of information does not survive the moment in which it was new... A story is different. It does not expend itself. It preserves and concentrates its strength and is capable of releasing it even after a long time… [they] are still capable after thousands of years of arousing astonishment and thoughtfulness. [They resemble] the seeds of grain which have lain for centuries in the chambers of the pyramids shut up airtight and have retained their germinative power to this day…”

Voice, Song, Image: Getting Life into your Words

In each of these stories about stories, or anecdotes about literature, there was, in a way, very little preparation required. They were unexpected moments in which literature was simply allowed to work its magic, and what it inspired were moments of depth, compassion, understanding, admiration, and the laying away of images and rhythms and unforgettable words into the living storehouse of memory.

I say little preparation, but in some ways it’s also fair to say that, paradoxically, it also took decades of assiduous preparation to make these moments of spontaneous depth possible. Why? Because before you can read Lord of the Rings, you have to read Hobbit, but before that, you should go through the Chronicles of Narnia, but before that you need to have read hundreds of quality picture books, picture books with beautiful illustrations, which you enjoy as much as your children. Otherwise the magic won’t work.

Over the past fifteen years of teaching, we’ve had a lot of idealistic, good-hearted students over for dinner, who were already convinced that these things matter. But what they longed to know, and to talk about with us over tea, is how do you get these things into the lived reality of home on a practical level? They often want to know, particularly, how we were able to establish the literary culture that we have within our family’s life. And when they ask, we recommend to them to think of screens like candy: if you give your kids a pack of Sour Patch Kids before dinner, they won’t eat meat and vegetables; similarly, if you give your kids screens, they won’t have an appetite for non-glowing pages. Can you give your kids corn syrup sometimes? Sure. But what proportion, ideally, should that make with other more nourishing forms of food? More than five percent of their diet?

We also like to tell our students that you shouldn’t think of what you do as a reading but rather as a performance. You don’t have to be a professional actor to practice and get better at reading well: slow down, articulate, do just a little bit of voice acting. For instance, for even a simple book like Ten Apples Up on Top, I find myself giving the animals distinct accents (otherwise, the book would bore me): the tiger gets a Southern accent (he reminds me of a Clemson Tiger, and I think readers of Falling Inward know how I feel about Clemson Tigers); the lion gets a snooty RP British accent (with apologies to my international readers); the dog gets a French accent. The best thing to do is just start trying. You’ll get better, although some professional training does help. I always refer my students to the brilliant Jeannette Nelson, a British voice coach for the National Theatre in the UK. And the truth is that such practices of articulation and enunciation once did—and probably should still— make up a part of elementary education (as the author of Peter Piper’s Practical Principles to Plain and Perfect Pronunciation playfully explains: the author “Prays Parents to Purchase this Playful Performance, Partly to Pay him for his Patience and Pains… but Principally to Prevent the Pernicious Prevalence of Perverse Pronunciation”).

After you’ve worked on your enunciation and articulation and pacing, you can also be on the lookout for moments in which song can be included. Just think of all those moments in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings in which Tolkien tells us that some poem or song was sung, although we’re not given the tune. Can you make one up? My overly generous nine-year-old daughter, Alma, tells me that her favorite tune which I’ve made up for Lord of the Rings is the one I give Tom Bombadil:

I also have songs for the Dwarves’ “washing up song,” their song about the Misty Mountains, Bilbo’s insulting song sung to enrage the spiders, as well as the chanting of the elves at night. And I’ve also got little tunes for Leo Politi’s songs in Song of the Swallows, and although ABC Bunny has music on the first page, I prefer my own:

I know, I know: it’s not Taylor Swift. And yet, what are the practical results? The kids walk around the house singing about the “jaunty Jay.” You might not be good enough to win a reality television contest, but your heartfelt effort will delight your children.

Thirdly, we think that beautiful illustrations are just as important as the stories. Here’s Jodi’s (feisty) advice: “When you’re first building your library, start with great illustrators, like Barbara Cooney, Peter Spier, Robert McCloskey, Paul O. Zelinsky, Chris Van Dusen, Don Freeman, Virginia Lee Burton, K. Y. Craft, Bill Peet, Gyo Fujikawa, Tomie dePaola, Anita Lobel, Ingri and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire, Eric Carle, and Beatrix Potter. A quick search will reveal that this list represents a fairly diverse set of artistic styles. And, while I know that tastes differ (de gustibus non disputandum est), there are some books which all reasonable people can agree are too ugly, garish, cartoonish, or bizarre to even bother with.”

And most importantly, we like to point out to those who ask that your children get what you love for free. Which is to say: the best way to transmit to your children real love for ennobling things is not just to assign them as homework, but to do them yourself, with zeal, dedication, and enjoyment. If it’s tedious for you, it will be tiresome for them.

And how do you that? We need to put down our stupid screens, turn off the devices at night, and be seen reading poetry again, or for the first time (I’ve made a list for those who don’t know how to begin: “Help! Where do I go from here?”). This is part of the reason that I offer my internet-based classes in collaboration with House of Humane Letters. My students are not only passionate young people but also hard-working moms and committed dads, who make real sacrifices to build into their lives meaningful time for her own intellectual formation. The fact that their toddlers and preschoolers climb up onto their parents’ laps to see “Professor Baxter” on the Zoom screen means that they are implicitly imbibing the opinion: “Wow. Literature matters. Dad’s exhausted after work, but he reads. Mom’s about to pull her hair out because of the state of the house, but she thinks Yeats is important.” Anyway, that’s what “blur background” is for. Likewise, if you are a musician, your kids pick up the chords and chordal inversions while sitting on your lap. If you are a chess player, your child will learn the Sicilian Defense without having to study it. If you are a writer, your kids will sit around with little notebooks, making up fantastic worlds. If you say to your spouse over the dinner table, “Hey, honey, listen to this…. I came across this extraordinary poem today, but I’m quite sure what the second stanza means…” and then read it out loud, your kids will love poetry.

With that in mind, here’s our “starter pack” of children’s books.

Please tell us what you think we’ve missed!

Picture Book List

Toddler and Preschool

1. Jamberry by Bruce Degen

   — A rhyming adventure featuring a berry-picking boy and his bear guide who romp through fields and brambles, making friends along the way. The illustrations are fun and the rhythm keeps kids’ attention. There’s nothing more fun than reading this book to toddlers during the summer, after getting back from the farmer’s market!

2. Ten Little Babies by Gyo Fujikawa

   — A counting-down rhyme featuring babies eating, sleeping, getting into mischief, and having fun. Fujikawa’s groundbreaking illustrations challenged the social conventions of her day by featuring children of different races and ethnicities. There are many books available by this author-illustrator; also look for Babies, Baby Animals, and Puppies, Pussycats & Other Friends.

3. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

   — Follow a caterpillar as he goes from egg to butterfly, eating his way through a wide variety of delicious (and occasionally indigestible) foods. Carle’s text has a gentle, lilting rhythm and repetitive words that delight small children. Other favorites by Carle (there are many, many to choose from) include The Very Busy Spider and From Head to Toe.

4. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd

   — Another rhythmic, rhyming text with engaging illustrations featuring a small bunny who says “goodnight” to all of the items in his room. Brown and Hurd also collaborated on The Runaway Bunny, another charming story about a mother’s constant love for her child. Brown was a prolific author, so fans will find many other titles to add to their libraries, like The Big Red Barn and The Little Fir Tree.

5. The Wheels on the Bus by Raffi

   — The classic song was turned into a board book with enchanting illustrations set in a Québécois village. Also look for his illustrated board book of Baby Beluga. These books are fun to either read aloud or sing along with your child.

6. More, More, More Said the Baby by Vera B. Williams

   — Williams presents three vignettes of dad, grandma, and mom, respectively, showering physical affection upon their children, with the babies begging for “more, more, more.” Kids love the colorful, hand-lettered drawings and repetitive text.

7. Time for Bed by Mem Fox

   — In this is gorgeously illustrated bedtime book, baby animals are told by their parents that it’s “time for bed.” The rhymes culminate with a mother tucking in her little child and wishing him a good night. This one helps set the mood for an easy transition to bedtime.

8. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr., illustrated by Eric Carle

   — Each colorful animal looks toward another, eventually leading to a classroom full of children. A fun book introducing colors and animals with rhyme and repetition. Martin Jr. and Carle also teamed up for Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? and Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?

9. Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton

   Boynton’s book features rhyming text and hilarious animals who dance across the page in a traditional square dance. You might just want to put on some fiddle music and dance along! Other notable titles include Blue Hat, Green Hat; But Not the Hippopotamus; Moo, Baa, La La La!; and The Going to Bed Book.

10. Shoes by Elizabeth Winthrop

    — A rhyming romp featuring two brothers and two sisters trying on various types of shoes. The book ends with a revelation of the best kind of shoes for kids. Fans of “grounding” will love the conclusion.

11. The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood

    — What is a little mouse to do with the freshly picked red ripe strawberry that will inevitably attract the big hungry bear? Hide it? Guard it? Maybe just eat it! Kids will love the suspense and adults will chuckle at the ingenious narratorial sleight of hand. Also look for the Woods’ sequel Merry Christmas, Big Hungry Bear!

12. Good Dog, Carl by Alexandra Day

    — This book tells a story in pictures of a loyal family dog who “looks after the baby” while Mom runs errands. An eye-opening look at what happens when the kids have a babysitter. Day wrote and illustrated many other Carl adventures; some favorites are: Carl Goes to Daycare, Carl’s Afternoon in the Park, Carl’s Summer Vacation, and Carl’s Christmas.

13. Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet and Allan Ahlberg

    — One part nursery rhyme, one part seek-and-find, this delightful story brings together beloved characters for a plum pie picnic in Mother Hubbard’s orchard. The Ahlbergs have many fun “Easter eggs” hidden throughout the illustrations, so kids and adults will delight in poring over the pages together. The Ahlbergs also created The Jolly Postman and its sequels, which are also full of classic children’s book characters and amusing wordplay.

14. Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle, illustrated by Jill McElmurry

    — A friendly little truck drives through the country exchanging greetings with farm animals along the road until a self-important dump truck finds himself in need of a helping hand. A story about kindness and the importance of friendship told in rhyming verse. Schertle and McElmurry have several other books about Little Blue, but our other favorite is Little Blue Truck Leads the Way.

15. Corduroy by Don Freeman

    — This is the story of a stuffed bear hoping for a friend and the little girl who sees in him “the very bear I’ve always wanted,” despite his missing button. Other Freeman books we love are: A Pocket for Corduroy, Flash the Dash, Pet of the Met, Norman the Doorman, Bearymore, and Dandelion.

16. Noisy Nora by Rosemary Wells

    — This one is for all the middle children out there! Nora is stuck between an accomplished older sister and a needy baby brother. What else can she do but make some noise to get the attention she needs? Wells uses rhyming text and delightful illustrations to bring about the funny surprise ending. N.B. In an effort to avoid adding unkind epithets to my kids’ vocabulary, we’ve always substituted “glum” for “dumb” when reading the book aloud.

17. The Circus Ship by Chris Van Dusen

    — A ship full of circus animals sinks, causing the animals to seek shelter on a nearby island. Although at first the island inhabitants aren’t thrilled with the new residents, by the end of the story they have found a peaceful coexistence. Van Dusen’s beautiful illustrations add humor to the rhyming text, and he includes a search-and-find page in the middle of the story, so kids can try to spot all fifteen hidden animals.

18. The Seven Silly Eaters by Mary Ann Hoberman, illustrated by Marla Frazee

    — We love this funny story of a mom’s heroic efforts to feed seven children who each want something different to eat. Parents of many children will appreciate Frazee’s depiction of the messy but beautiful life of a large family, while all parents will relate to the struggle of figuring out what to feed the kids for dinner.

19. Millions of Cats by Wanda Gág

    — This original folk tale reads like a cross between a Grim’s tale and an American tall tale, featuring a lonely old couple in search of the perfect pet cat. Gág’s books feature woodcut illustrations and hand-lettered text. Other books we love include The ABC Bunny and Nothing At All.

20. Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion, illustrated by Margaret Bloy Graham

    — The family dog runs away from home to have some fun in various dirty places around town, until he’s so filthy that his family doesn’t recognize him. How will Harry convince his family that he truly is their dog? Zion and Graham collaborated on other Harry books as well, including Harry by the Sea and No Roses for Harry.

21. Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson

    — An imaginative adventure of a little boy whose purple crayon brings his drawings to life. Johnson wrote several other Harold books, which have been gathered into an anthology. For older kids, look for Johnson’s ironic and funny Ellen’s Lion.

22. Curious George by H. A. Rey

    — From the jungles of Africa, across the ocean, and straight to jail for fooling the fire department, George the monkey has a knack for getting into—and back out of—trouble. H. A. and Margaret Rey worked on several other George titles together: Curious George Takes a Job, Curious George Rides a Bike, Curious George Gets a Medal, Curious George Flies a Kite, Curious George Learns the Alphabet, and Curious George Goes to the Hospital. Beware of other books about this little monkey! Like other lovable children’s book characters, poor George has been turned into a film and television franchise and publishers have churned out dozens of “Curious George” books that amount to little more than twaddle. Also look for other Rey works like Cecily G. and the Nine Monkeys and Pretzel.

Early Elementary

1. Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney

   — The story of a woman’s quest to fulfill her grandfather’s challenge that she “make the world more beautiful.” Everything that Cooney illustrated is gorgeous, but some stand-out titles are: Island Boy; Hattie and the Wild Waves; Chanticleer and the Fox by Geoffrey Chaucer; retellings of the Grim Brothers’ Snow White and Rose Red and Little Brother, Little Sister; The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree by Gloria Houston; and Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall

2. Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey

   — Little Sal goes blueberry picking with her mother to get berries to can for winter and gets mixed up with Little Bear and his mother, who are eating berries to store up fat for winter. The hungry baby bear and curious little girl are eventually reunited with their mothers and everything resolves happily. This is another great book for summertime, especially if there are u-pick (or wild) blueberry farms nearby. Other classic McCloskey picture books include: One Morning in Maine, Make Way for Ducklings, Lentil, and Burt Dow: Deep-Water Man.

3. Rapunzel by Paul O. Zelinsky

   — Zelinsky went through a phase of illustrating fairytales in a Renaissance-inspired style. Along with Rapunzel, look for his retelling of Rumpelstiltskin as well as his work on Hansel and Gretel, retold by Rika Lesser. Another title Zelinsky illustrated in a similar style is Swamp Angel by Anne Isaacs.

4. St. George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman

   —Hodges retells part of Spencer’s Faerie Queene, making this story accessible for young readers. Hyman’s illustrations draw inspiration from illuminated manuscripts to lend a medieval atmosphere to the book. Other Hodges and Hyman collaborations we love include Comus, The Kitchen Knight, The Water of Life, and Merlin and the Making of the King. Hodges is a phenomenal storyteller, so also look for The Legend of Saint Christopher, Saint Patrick and the Peddler, and Saint Jerome and the Lion.

5. The Sleeping Beauty by Trina Schart Hyman

   — A retelling of the classic fairy tale with Hyman’s luscious illustrations. Also look for her work in Rapunzel by Barbara Rogasky.

6. The Clown of God by Tomie dePaola

   — dePaola retells a medieval legend of a traveling juggler who performs for a statue of the Christ child and His mother. It is a story about giving back to God our talents, even when others may not approve. Tomie dePaola wrote and/or illustrated almost two hundred children’s books, and his work can be found in nearly every library and bookstore in the country. Other titles we love are: Strega Nona (and its many sequels), The Art Lesson, The Legend of the Poinsettia, The Lady of Guadalupe, The Legend of Old Befana, Nana Upstairs & Nana Downstairs, and Pascual and the Kitchen Angels.

7. Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina

   — A peddler who sells caps finds himself at the mercy of some silly monkeys, not knowing how to get his merchandise back. This book features the repetition that young children love as well as an amusing resolution to the peddler’s dilemma. Slobodkina also wrote a second book about the peddler called Circus Caps for Sale.

8. Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel

   — Classic stories of two friends who experience life’s joys and sorrows together. Although presented as easy-reader vignettes, these deceptively simple tales explore such themes as fear, courage, perseverance, disappointment, forgiveness, and self-sacrifice. Lobel wrote three other books about this delightful pair: Frog and Toad Together, Frog and Toad All Year, and Days with Frog and Toad. Other books by Arnold Lobel that we love: Fables, Owl at Home, Mouse Soup, Uncle Elephant, and Mouse Tales.

9. Potatoes, Potatoes by Anita Lobel

   — A mother bravely shelters her two sons from the civil war that rages outside the walls of her garden, providing food for the family by growing potatoes. But when the brothers grow up and take sides, only a mother’s love—and her nourishing food—can heal the divisions and bring reconciliation. Anita Lobel is both an engaging storyteller and a talented artist. Look for The Straw Maid, Sven’s Bridge, and A New Coat for Anna by Harriet Ziefert. Anita also collaborated with her husband Arnold for the delightful illustrated poem On Market Street.

10. The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, illustrated by Robert Lawson

    — A mild-mannered bull is chosen for the Spanish bull fights, but his debut performance brings the brave bullfighters to tears. The clear story-telling and simple pen-and-ink drawings make this book a classic. Leaf and Lawson also collaborated on the delightful Wee Gillis.

11. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

    — Max gets so caught up in his imaginary game that he insults his mother and gets sent to bed without supper. But when he finds himself in the land where the wild things are and becomes their king, Max longs to go home, where somebody loves him best of all. Also look for Sendak’s Chicken Soup with Rice and In the Night Kitchen. Sendak also illustrated Dear Mili by Wilhelm Grim, as well as What Do You Say Dear? and What Do You Do Dear? by Sesyle Joslin.

12. Peter Spier’s Circus by Peter Spier

    — Spier goes behind the scenes at a traveling big top circus, showing not just what we see in the ring but how circus performers and the circus manager live: practicing acts, training animals, housekeeping, homeschooling, and balancing the budget. Everything Spier illustrated is great. Look for: Crash, Bang, Boom; The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night; Noah’s Ark; Oh, Were They Ever Happy!; The Erie Canal; Father, May I Come?; London Bridge Is Falling Down; The Book of Jonah; Bored, Nothing to Do!; Peter Spier’s Rain; We the People; and The Legend of New Amsterdam.

13. D’Aulaire’s Book of Norse Myths by Ingri and Edgar Parin D’Aulaire

    — Lovely illustrations accompany a child-friendly retelling of classic Norse myths. The D’Aulaires wrote other wonderful collections of myths and historical tales including D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths; East of the Sun, West of the Moon; Leif the Lucky; George Washington; Abraham Lincoln; and Columbus.

14. The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter

    — A naughty little bunny encounters many hazards in Mr. McGregor’s garden before finally making his way home. Potter wrote and illustrated more than twenty books featuring such memorable characters as Peter Rabbit and his cousin Benjamin Bunny, Squirrel Nutkin, Timmy Tiptoes, Mr. Tod, and Tom Kitten. Look for the “World of Peter Rabbit” collection, which includes all twenty-three titles in their small format. This is how Potter originally intended for the books to be read.

15. The Biggest Bear by Lynd Ward

    — A lonely pioneer boy adopts a bear cub for a pet, but when the growing bear begins to cause trouble with the neighbors, the boy must find a new home for his always-hungry pet. Ward’s woodcuts are intricately detailed, adding depth and humor to the story. Also look for The Silver Pony and Nic of the Woods.

16. Ella by Bill Peet

    — Ella is a conceited circus elephant whose petulance lands her in a difficult situation as an indentured servant for a mean old farmer. Will Ella ever escape back to her pampered circus life? Peet’s rhyming text and animation-inspired illustrations are hilarious. Other enjoyable titles include Encore for Eleanor, Pamela Camel, and How Drufus the Dragon Lost His Head. Peet worked as an illustrator for Disney before becoming an author-illustrator; you can find out more in his autobiography Bill Peet.

17. The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton

    — A solidly built country house weathers changes over the years as the city grows up around her and her owners move way. Will she ever experience the peace of the country and the love and care of a family again? Our well-loved Burton anthology also includes Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, Katy and the Big Snow, and Maybelle the Cable Car.

18. Bedtime for Frances by Russell Hoban, illustrated by Garth Williams

    — Parents will identify with the endless bedtime rituals and late-night awakenings of a little badger who struggles to fall asleep. Other Frances titles include Bread and Jam for Frances and A Bargain for Frances, illustrated by Lillian Hoban. Also unmissable is Russell and Lillian Hoban’s The Sorely Trying Day.

19. Titus Loses His Temper by Martha Martinez

    — A gentle and humorous exploration of the consequences of losing your temper and some practical strategies for getting a grip when you get angry. Martinez imagines the Temper as a sort of pet that you can’t just give away, so you need to find a way to tame its passions. Titus also appears in an inspiring story about accepting the detours in life: Titus and the Red Line. Other Martinez titles we love include A Square Is Square, The Tortoise and the Worm, and What Is This?

20. King Midas and the Golden Touch by Charlotte Craft, illustrated by K. Y. Craft

    — A beautifully illustrated retelling of the classic story of greed versus love. Also look for K. Y. Craft’s gorgeously illustrated Cupid and Psyche, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, and The Twelve Dancing Princesses.

21. Bearskin by Howard Pyle, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman

    — Pyle wrote this original fairy tale about a boy raised by a bear who becomes the unlikely hero for a princess sacrificed to a dragon. Hyman’s illustrations add humor and charm to Pyle’s wry storytelling. Also look for Pyle’s The Wonder Clock and Pepper and Salt.

22. Little Bear by Elsa Holmelund Minarik, illustrated by Maurice Sendak

    — In this collection of short stories, a lovable little bear discovers the warmth of a fur coat, makes his own birthday soup, takes a trip to the moon, and has a little wish come true. Minarik and Sendak produced other Little Bear titles including Father Bear Comes Home and Little Bear’s Friend.

23. What Do People Do All Day? by Richard Scarry

    — Children will love exploring all the different ways that people work in Richard Scarry’s Busytown. Also look for Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever; Cars and Trucks and Things That Go; Busy, Busy World, and Funniest Storybook Ever.

24. Flicka, Ricka, Dicka and the Strawberries by Maj Lindman

    — Three triplet sisters from Sweden go out to pick wild strawberries for jam and get lost on the way home. They receive help from a kind mother and her children and return this kindness later in the book. Lindman wrote ten stories about these sisters including Flicka, Ricka, Dicka and Bake a Cake; Flicka, Ricka, Dicka and the New Dotted Dresses; and Flicka, Ricka, Dicka and the Little Dog. Equally delightful are the tales Lindman wrote of three Swedish boy triplets and their many misadventures, including Snipp, Snapp, Snurr and the Gingerbread.

25. Man and Horse by Piero Ventura

    — A non-fiction historical account of the relationship between men and horses from the stone age to the present. Ventura’s drawings are intricately detailed. Look for other historical titles such as Great Painters, Great Composers, There Once Was a Time, Venice: Birth of a City, Clothing: Garments, Styles, and Uses, and 1492: The Year of the New World.

26. Philipok by Leo Tolstoy, illustrated by Gennady Spirin

    — Spirin brings to life Tolstoy’s short story of a little boy who who desperately wants to go to school like his big brother. Spirin has retold and illustrated many other lovely tales from Russia including The Tale of the Firebird, The Fool and the Fish, The Enchanter’s Spell, and The Tale of Tsar Saltan. Also look for his illustrated biblical retellings like The Story of Noah and the Ark, The Lord Is My Shepherd, Creation, and Jesus: His Life in Verses from the King James Holy Bible.

27. Brother William’s Year: A Monk at Westminster Abbey by Jan Pancheri

    — The month-by-month life of a gardener monk in a fourteenth-century English monastery. A beautifully illustrated look at monastic life and faith in the Middle Ages.

28. The Cow Who Fell Into the Canal by Phyllis Krasilovsky, illustrated by Peter Spier

    — Set in Holland, this book follows the adventures of a milk cow who accidentally finds herself in a Dutch town on market day. Also look for The Man Who Didn’t Wash His Dishes, illustrated by Barbara Cooney.

29. Stone Soup by Marcia Brown

    — A lovely retelling of the old fable about three hungry soldiers who teach some peasants how to make something out of nothing. Other beloved titles by Marcia Brown include Once a Mouse, Cinderella, Dick Whittington and His Cat, and The Three Billy Goats Gruff.

30. The Story of Babar by Jean de Brunhoff

    — An orphaned elephant makes his way to the city and is befriended and educated by a rich Old Lady before returning to his family in Africa. Other Babar titles written and illustrated by Jean de Brunhoff are: The Travels of Babar, Babar the King, Babar and Zephir, Babar and His Children, Babar and Father Christmas. Years after Jean died, his son Laurent continued the series, but the original books are still the best.

31. The King of the Golden River by John Ruskin

    — An original tale of three brothers who seek a wealth and find the reward that their heart desires. A fairy tale about the power of goodness to overcome all obstacles.

32. The Monk Who Grew Prayer by Claire Brandenburg

    — Half story, half hymn about the life of an Orthodox hermit monk who spends his life praying the liturgical hours. This beautifully illustrated book expertly connects the old Christian traditions with the contemporary world leaving readers with the conviction that liturgical prayer is a relevant and powerful today as in ages past.

33. Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving, illustrated by Thomas Locker

    — Locker brings lush landscape illustrations to Irving classic tall tale of the man who slept for twenty years. Also look for Locker’s illustrated edition of The Boy Who Held Back the Sea, retold by Lenny Hort.

34. Song of the Swallows by Leo Politi

    — A young boy waits and watches anxiously for the return of the swallows to Capistrano in the spring. A celebration of these amazing birds and the Spanish mission they call home. In addition to his lush illustrations, Politi includes music for the songs that the children sing to the swallows. Also look for Pedro: The Angel of Olvera Street.

Poetry and Story Collections

1. Tomie’s Little Mother Goose, illustrated by Tomie dePaola

   — Perfect for toddlers: a board book format offering a selection of best-loved nursery rhymes accompanied by dePaola’s delightful illustrations. There is a second board book with additional rhymes called Tomie’s Mother Goose Flies Again. Or, for school-age kids, you might look for his complete Mother Goose collection: Tomie dePaola’s Mother Goose.

2. The Golden Treasury of Poetry, selected and with a commentary by Louis Untermeyer

   — A wide variety of poems for all ages, divided into thematic categories and enhanced by Joan Walsh Anglund’s whimsical illustrations.

3. A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Gyo Fujikawa

   — Stevenson’s classic collection reimagined in Fujikawa’s delightful style. Also look for Fujikawa’s illustrated editions of Fairy Tales and Fables, A Child’s Book of Poems, and Oh, What a Busy Day.

4. The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Robert Browning, illustrated by Kate Greenaway

   — Browning’s ballad about the consequences of not paying the piper is delightfully pictured by Greenaway’s Victorian illustrations. Also look for Greenaway’s A Apple Pie, Marigold Garden, and Mother Goose.

5. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, illustrated by Gustave Doré

   — Doré’s engravings bring to life Coleridge’s Romantic poem about the sailor who kills the albatross and finds himself becalmed in an endless sea.

6. The Tall Book of Nursery Tales, illustrated by Fyodor Rojankovsky

   — Short retellings of classic children’s tales and fables, perfect for a quick story before nap time or a bonus story before bedtime.

7. Aesop’s Fables, illustrated by Milo Winter

   — All of Aesop’s animal fables along with morals. Many of the stories feature a single illustration by Milo Winter, adding to the perennial charm of these ancient stories.

8. The Children’s Book of Heroes, edited by William J. Bennett

   — A collection of stories and poems that present various forms of heroism as models for children, from fictional tales of Theseus or the young knight who stays to guard the castle to real-life heroes like Honest Abe and Annie Sullivan.

9. Randolph Caldecott’s Picture Books

   — If you’ve ever wondered how the American children’s book award got its name, you will enjoy this treasury of some of Caldecott’s most popular children’s stories including The House That Jack Built, The Diverting History of John Gilpin, The Three Jovial Huntsmen, and The Milkmaid.

10. James Herriot’s Treasury for Children by James Herriot

    — A collection of true stories that English veterinarian James Herriot wrote specifically for children, featuring cats, dogs, lambs, and horses and the people who love them.

11. The World’s Great Stories by Louis Untermeyer

    — A collection of ancient and traditional stories that are pleasurable in their own right but that also give readers knowledge of such cultural references as “the sword of Damocles” and “Pyrrhic victories.”