<p>I realized last night that I forgot a set of books that my kids really loved (but I never quite did): Susan Cooper’s The Dark Is Rising quintology (?). The last book is just terrible, and the third no great shakes, but the first (Over Sea, Under Stone), second (The Dark Is Rising), and fourth (The Grey Wolf) are pretty compelling. Gothic mystery/suspense with vaguely religious themes.</p>
<p>And how could I forget The Yearling?</p>
<p>“My Side of The Mountain”, someone already said White Fang i think…what about “Silver Chief; Dog of the North!”.</p>
<p>Oh, yes, I was a fan of Pippi Longstocking, too.</p>
<p>And I just remembered more favorites, Misty of Chincoteague and sequels.</p>
<p>I also really liked Alice in Wonderland. I remember being a little kid (too short to reach it) and asking the librarian to get it off the high shelf for me. She said it was too hard for me and made me read a couple of pages aloud before she would let me check it out! It was such a fun book for me to read.</p>
<p>Owl Moon, Miss Rumphius, everything shel Silverstein, Tikki Tikki Tembo, I love you forever…I am looking forward to sharing these and others with grandkids someday.</p>
<p>One more I just remembered, and it deserves all the help it can get:</p>
<p>Clyde & Wendy Watson, Catch Me And Kiss Me And Say It Again – just a marvelous book of original nursery rhymes with lovely illustrations. Here’s one I remember:</p>
<p>Cockyolly Bumkin merry go bet
Fell in the duckpond and got all wet
A nickle for a nappy and a penny for a pin
To wrap my little Cockyolly Bumkin in</p>
<p>[Ahh, sigh. Not that I REALLY want grandchildren yet . . . .]</p>
<p>The great joy of being a grandmother: getting to do books all over again! I’m the “books grandmother;” just picked up another two for her today. She’s a little over 1, and her favorite books are *Goodnight Moon<a href=“she%20won’t%20go%20to%20bed%20without%20it”>/i</a>, *Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?<a href=“she%20turns%20the%20page%20looking%20for%20what%20the%20bear%20sees”>/i</a>, Five Little Monkeys which came with a hand puppet with monkey heads on each of the fingers (she runs and gets “the monkeys” when she wants to hear the book), and Snuggle Puppy by Sandra Boynton (she always says the Oooooooo at just the right spot before her parents can read it). I love the Boynton board books for toddlers, have sent her about 7 or 8 of them. Her other Boynton favorites: Barnyard Dance and Pajama Time.</p>
<p>I’ve bought many of the books mentioned on this thread for her like Jamberry and Pat the Bunny; also many of the Little Golden Books like Farmer Brown’s Birthday and The Poky Little Puppy, 3 or 4 of the Eric Carle books (including The Very Hungry Caterpillar), Ten Little Ladybugs and Ten Little Caterpillars, some board books with simple words and pictures of human babies–gosh, can’t remember them all. She has big hardcover anthologies of children’s poetry, nursery rhymes, and fables as well as the complete Beatrix Potter and AA Milne. </p>
<p>When she’s a bit older, I’ll get her Madeleine and Babar, Maurice Sendak, Strega Nona, Chris Van Allsburg, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, Very Bad Day, The Red Balloon, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, The Snowy Day–so many wonderful books for kids. (I’m the postal service’s best customer.)</p>
<p>Oh… just thought of another, newer favorite: The Dot.</p>
<p>I remember reading all those “colored” fairy books – the Red Fairy Book, The Blue Fairy Book, etc. LOVED Phantom Tollbooth; Nancy Drew; A Wrinkle in Time.</p>
<p>Also loved the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace; the Mary Poppins books by E.L. Travers; all the books by Eleanor Estes (especially the Witch Family), E.L. Konigsburg, and Zilpha Keatley Snyder. </p>
<p>More current favorites – Holes by Louis Sachar; The Tale of Desperaux and Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo; Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine; Frindle and other books by Andrew Clements; anything by Sharon Creech. </p>
<p>I’m sure more will come to me.</p>
<p>[Roxaboxen](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Roxaboxen-Alice-Mclerran/dp/0688075924”>http://www.amazon.com/Roxaboxen-Alice-Mclerran/dp/0688075924</a>)</p>
<p>younger D also liked Heckedy Peg over and over again</p>
<p>Oh, Mudder’s_Mudder, my kids and I all loved The Snowy Day - I had forgotten that one.</p>
<p>Mudder’s_Mudder, you sound as if are the youngest gm around, and a very wonderful one. I wish my mom had had the chance to re-share all those great books with my kids. </p>
<p>But hey, you don’t HAVE to be a grandmother just yet, to enjoy sharing the books all over again. You can be completely insane, like DH and me, and just add another kid! 
D is 19, S1 is 16 . . . and S2 is 5.</p>
<p>^^Yes, LIMOMOF2, that’s a beautiful book, isn’t it?</p>
<p>Dbwes, I’m a big fan of Sachar, too. I think his Sideways books have been mentioned on this thread, too. Those and Because of Winn-Dixie are especially popular with older kids.</p>
<p>Thank you, Harriet, you’re very sweet! But, in the words of Louise Jefferson (remember her?), “If DH wants another baby, he’ll have to call parcel post because I am through making deliveries!” :)</p>
<p>After conferring with my wife, some of our favorites;
Ano’s alphabet books
Arnold Loebel- Frog and Toad series
Eric Carle
Leo Leonni</p>
<p>and of course Pooh and Wind in the Willows.</p>
<p>For older children- Secret Garden
Overlooked and almost unknown-Girl of the Limberlost</p>
<p>dbwes: I LOVED the colored fairy books - I read them all! I like all of your current favorites too.</p>
<p>I also liked The Borrowers series.</p>
<p>I didn’t read Girl of the Limberlost until I was 40. I loved it, and I’m sure I would have loved it even more if I’d read it when I was young.</p>
<p>Mudder’s Mudder - I told my dh he can have all the babies he wants…with any other wife.</p>
<p>-Girl of the Limberlost</p>
<p>I think I found that recommendation thru Chinaberry books :)</p>
<p>Chinaberry!!! One of the best catalogs ever. Lord, I miss it. (I’m sure it still exists, but I haven’t looked at one in years. I used to read them cover-to-cover.) A whole bunch of our favorites were straight-up Chinaberry recommendations we never would have seen any other way.</p>
<p>More fond memories of the Chinaberry catalog here! This thread is reminding me of so many of our favorite books:</p>
<p>Blueberries for Sal and Make Way for Ducklings
Tikki Tikki Tembo
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Miss Rumphius and Roxaboxen
Jan Brett books
Eric Carle books
Frog and Toad series
The Moomintrolls
The Mennyms series
My Father’s Dragon series
Tuck Everlasting
Harold and the Purple Crayon series</p>
<p>I’m sure there are lots more. It’s funny how my husband and I read all the time to our two kids. Son turned out to be a bookworm, but daughter just doesn’t read, and we couldn’t figure out how to get her to want to. Disappointing for me, as reading gives me so much pleasure and I’m always reading a book.</p>
<p>Thinking about some of the relatively obscure titles that multiple people here seem to have loved, I suspect that running beneath the surface of this thread is a very moving tribute to Chinaberry Books.</p>