favorite reads

Please note this hasn’t been updated in a while! Many titles to add. Aaaaand I haven’t updated in a while … Soon …

I could spend all day, and many all days, making book recommendations. Below are just a “few.” I’ll start with children’s books. Please check back for more lists!

fiction children’s readers, picture books and board books

• Ada Twist, Scientist, by Andrea Beaty, ill. by David Roberts
• All the World, by Liz Garton Scanlon, ill. by Marla Frazee
• Also an Octopus, by Maggie Tokuda-Hall, ill. by Benji Davies
• Bear on a Bike, and more Bear books, by Stella Blackstone, ill. by Debbie Harter
• Bony-Legs, by Joanna Cole, ill. by Dirk Zimmer
• Claymates, by Dev Petty, ill. by Lauren Eldridge
• Cleonardo, the Little Inventor, by Mary GrandPré
• Dark Night, by Dorothée de Monfreid
• Doll-E 1.0, by Shanda McCloskey
• Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl’s Courage Changed, by Margarita Engle, ill. by Rafael López
• Extra Yarn, by Mac Barnett, ill. by Jon Klassen
• Flashlight Night, by Matt Forrest Esenwine, ill. by Fred Koehler
• Frog and Toad Are Friends, and anything, by Arnold Lobel
• Grumpy Cat and Before I Wake Up, by Britta Teckentrup
• Hank Finds an Egg, by Rebecca Dudley
• Hush Little Baby and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, by Sylvia Long
• I Don’t Want to Be a Frog, by Dev Petty, ill. by Mike Boldt
• Last Stop on Market Street, by Matt de la Pena, ill. by Christian Robinson
• Leo: A Ghost Story, by Mac Barnett, ill. by Christian Robinson
• Love Monster, Love Monster and the Scary Something, by Rachel Bright
• Max the Brave and Max at Night, and more, by Ed Vere
• Moon, by Alison Oliver
• Maybe Something Beautiful: How Art Transformed a Neighborhood, by F. Isabel Campoy and Theresa Howell, ill. by Rafael López
• Mother Bruce, and sequels, and Wilfred, by Ryan T. Higgins
• Anything Nate the Great, by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat, ill. by Marc Simont
• Not a Box and Not a Stick, by Antoinette Portis
• Oh, No!, by Candace Fleming, ill. by Eric Rohmann
• Once Upon a Twice and The Pomegranate Witch, by Denise Doyen
• Psssst! It’s Me … the Bogeyman, by Barbara Park, ill. by Stephen Kroninger
• Pup and Bear, by Kate Banks, ill. by Naoko Stoop
• Seaver the Weaver, by Paul Czajak, ill. by Ben Hilts
• Shh! We Have a Plan, by Chris Haughton
• Slinky Malinki, and more, by Lynley Dodd
• Sparkle Boy, by Lesléa Newman, ill. by Maria Mola
• Ten Little Ninjas, by Miranda Paul, ill. by Nate Wragg
• The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend, by Dan Santat
• The Berenstain Bears and the Spooky Old Tree, by Stan and Jan Berenstain
• The Big Box, by Toni Morrison, ill. by Slade Morrison
• The Big Pets, by Lane Smith
• The Butter Battle Book, by Dr. Seuss
• The Curious Garden and Mr. Tiger Goes Wild, by Peter Brown
• The Dark, by Lemony Snicket
• The Dot and Ish, and anything, by Peter H. Reynolds
• The Gift of Nothing, and more, by Patrick McDonnell
• The Field, by Baptiste Paul, ill. by Jacqueline Alcantara
• The Itsy Bitsy Spider, by Iza Trapani
• The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything, by Linda Williams, ill. by Meghan Lloyd
• The Little Red Fort, by Brenda Maier, ill. by Sonia Sanchez
• The Lost Boy and the Monster, by Craig Kee Strete, ill. by Lou Fancher and Steve Johnson
• The Mitten, and more, by Jan Brett
• The Moon Jumpers, by Janice May Udry, ill. by Maurice Sendak
• The Night Gardener, by Terry Fan and Eric Fan
• The Night World, by Mordicai Gerstein
• The Peace Book, and really anything, by Todd Parr
• The Quilt, by Ann Jonas
• The Snowy Day and Whistle for Willie, by Ezra Jack Keats
• The Tin Forest, by Helen Ward and Wayne Anderson
• The Too-Scary Story, by Bethanie Deeney Murguia
• The Very Busy Spider, The Very Quiet Cricket, The Very Lonely Firefly, “Slowly, Slowly, Slowly,” said the Sloth, and more, by Eric Carle
• The Water Princess, by Susan Verde, ill. by Peter Reynolds
• This Is My Rock, by David Lucas
• We All Went on Safari, and many more, by Laurie Krebs
• We Found a Hat, and more, by Jon Klassen
• Where the Wild Things Are and Outside Over There, by Maurice Sendak
• Won-Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku, by Lee Wardlaw, ill. by Eugene Yelchin

nonfiction children’s readers, picture books and board books

• Before John Was a Jazz Giant: A Song of John Coltrane, by Carole Boston Weatherford, ill. by Sean Qualls
• Biblioburro: A True Story from Colombia, by Jeanette Winter
• Charles Darwin’s Around-the-World Adventure, by Jennifer Thermes
• Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave, by Laban Carrick Hill, ill. by Bryan Collier
• Emmanuel’s Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah, by Laurie Ann Thompson, ill.by Sean Qualls
• For the Right to Learn: Malala Yousafzai’s Story, by Rebecca Langston-George, ill. by Janna Bock
• Frida, by Jonah Winter, ill. by Ana Juan
• Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos, by Monica Brown, ill. by John Parra
• Grandma Gatewood Hikes the Appalachian Trail, by Jennifer Thermes
• Henry Builds a Cabin, and other Henry books, by D.B. Johnson
• Malala, a Brave Girl from Pakistan/Iqbal, a Brave Boy from Pakistan: Two Stories of Bravery, by Jeanette Winter
• Manjhi Moves a Mountain, by Nancy Churnin, ill. by Danny Popovici
• Me … Jane, by Patrick McDonnell
• One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia,
  by Miranda Paul, ill. by Elizabeth Zunon
• Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation, by Duncan Tonatiuh
• Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean’s Most Fearless Scientist, by Jess Keating, ill. by Marta Álvarez Miguéns
• She Made a Monster: How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein, by Lynn Fulton, ill. by Felicita Sala
• Star Stuff: Carl Sagan and the Mysteries of the Cosmos, by Stephanie Roth Sisson
• The Girl Who Thought in Pictures: The Story of Dr. Temple Grandin,
  by Julia Finley Mosca, ill. by Daniel Rieley
• The House That Jane Built: A Story About Jane Addams, by Tanya Lee Stone, ill. by Kathryn Brown
• The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq, by Jeanette Winter
• The Noisy Paint Box: The Colors and Sounds of Kandinsky’s Abstract Art, by Barb Rosenstock, ill. by Mary GrandPre
• The Watcher: Jane Goodall’s Life with the Chimps, by Jeanette Winter
• Trombone Shorty, by Troy Andrews, ill. by Bryan Collier
• Vincent Can’t Sleep: Van Gogh Paints the Night Sky, by Barb Rosenstock, ill. by Mary GrandPre
• Waiting for the Biblioburro, by Monica Brown, ill. by John Parra
• Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa, by Jeanette Winter

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