The Mad Woman’s Must Reads for Little Ones (and Their Discerning Parents)

The Mad Woman writes it like she sees it. She’s got sass and heart and fantastic taste in children’s books. Her tweets are funny and saucy and endearing. She’s a wonderful person and a joy to know, and I’m finally going to meet her in July!

It’s a pleasure to host her here, especially when she’s got such great suggestions for reading with kids. It’s a good thing Felix has most of these titles already…

If I’m not peeking at back issues of Playboy or scanning US Weekly headlines, I’m probably reading something to my kids. Long before I met Adonis, I started a library of books I knew that I wanted to share with the children I hoped to have. There are the usual suspects, Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree, Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, The Monster at the End of this Book.

I started reading to Maddy when she was in the womb (I have my earth mother moments, shut up) but even my new mommy brain knew that Anne Lamont was not meant for infants. Friends joined the book-collecting efforts and I’ve since compiled quite a collection. And since we all know how book friendly Cameron is, I thought I’d share my list with you.

For the littlest of bibliophiles, board books are a must. There are tons out there and really, if I left a bunch on the floor, the Dude would mouth the closest most colorful one.

Well THAT’s helpful.

Oops. Sorry. My favorites are by Sandra Boynton: What’s Wrong, Little Pookie?, Snuggle Puppy, and The Going-To-Bed Book. Boynton writes in rhyme, with a fun choice of words and rhythm and highly entertaining illustrations.  Maddy at almost 4 still loves her books.

And of course, I’ve come to love Guess How Much I Love You and Goodnight Moon and I Love You This Much. These three are an ABSOLUTE MUST in any child’s collection.

About the time Maddy turned 2, her interest in the board books had waned and I dug deep into hidden away boxes to find books that were age-appropriate and yet didn’t kill me to read. Some of my favorites from my childhood (and that are still in print) are from Mercer Mayer. His illustrations are adorable and appealing to both boys and girls. Come on, how cute is this one:

We have tons of his books and Maddy loves them.

And now that she’s almost four and we’re starting to read books with fewer pictures and longer stories, I’ve found a great resource right here on Cameron’s blog: Barefoot Books. We’ve grabbed up The Story Tree (Adonis’ favorite), Over in the Meadow (sadly, Maddy doesn’t let me sing this one to her) and Maddy’s most recent fave, The Barefoot Book of Princesses.

I’m currently eyeing the Barefoot Book of Pirates and the Barefoot Book of Mother and Daughter tales.

But I’m always on the look out for more books that aren’t a product of Nick Jr marketing or I haven’t read a million times already. Do you have favorites for your early readers?