Top Ten All Time Favorite Children's Books

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

Hello, again! This week's Top Ten Tuesday theme is "top ten all time favorite books in x genre." Something you may or may not know about me is that despite the fact that I've always enjoyed reading, it hasn't always been something I spent a lot of my time doing. In fact, I've only recently really started reading heavily. That being said, I didn't feel like I had enough history in any particular genre to create an "all time favorites" list so I had to get a little more creative. I've decided to compile a list of the ten(ish) children's books that I loved the most as a child or that have effected me the most in my life. Did that all make sense? Probably not. Let's get started anyway.

1. Any and all books by Kevin Henkes - Specifically Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, Chrysanthemum, and Julius, the baby of the world. When I was in first and second grade I have VIVID memories of "going to library" (AKA; The 30 minute period where our class would walk down to the library and pick out our two books to check out for the week.) I would venture to guess that I checked out a Kevin Henkes book literally every single week. These books are probably the number one, all time favorites that stand out to me from my childhood. I loved those little mice.
2. Go, Dog. Go! by P.D. Eastman - First things first, I didn't realize that this book wasn't written by Dr. Seuss himself until probably, like, a month ago. My mind was blown. Anyways, this book stands out to me because it's another one that I know I've read 5billion times in my life. My sister and I read this book (or, were read this book, rather) so much as children that my family, to this day, quotes it on a semi-weekly basis just as a running joke. "Do you like my hat?" "I do not. Good-by."
3. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault - I seriously do not know where I'm pulling all these titles from. They're flying back into my brain like I'm 6 years old again. Anyways, if you don't know this book, you probably live under a rock or had a lacking childhood. It's basically an alphabet learning book and it was possibly one of my favorite things ever as a kid.
4. The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka - This book is ridiculous. But, I totally remember loving it. This may have been the very start of my thing for weird fairy tales and stories that were taken a little off track. This book is honestly just really cool and I wish I still had it. If you see it at the store just take a look at it for fun. I swear, it's great.
5. The Amelia Bedelia Series by Peggy Parish - Alright, I think everyone knows how great Amelia Bedelia is. If you didn't read these books as a kid, the premise is basically that Amelia is a maid who works for a rich couple, but Amelia is terrible at interpreting figures of speech and always takes things literally. She'll do things like "putting the lights out" by hanging the light bulbs on a clothes line. These books are just silly and I have fond memories of reading them when I was little.
6. The Junie B. Jones Series by Barbara Park - Junie B. Jones was my girl, oh my gosh. As far as I can remember, Junie B Jones books were probably the first chapter books I ever read when I was young. I loved this series and I always remember feeling so super accomplished when I finished one. It's so odd to think that I could now finish one of these books in a matter of minutes.
7. The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn - This book and the next one are two of the cutest books ever written. And, I owned both of them. The Kissing Hand features a mommy and baby raccoon. The mother raccoon kisses the baby raccoon's hand so that he will be brave enough to go to school. Wikipedia tells me that this book is often used to "reassure children upset by separation anxiety." That makes A LOT of sense looking back on my childhood.
8. Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney - This book goes right along with The Kissing Hand in my mind. This is literally just a picture book depicting a parent rabbit and a baby rabbit. The baby rabbit asks the adult rabbit to "Guess how much I love you" and they spend the book using larger and larger measurements to show how much they love one another. Cute, I know.
9. Bony Legs by Joanna Cole - On a VERY different note, we have this great little book. Bony Legs is scary. This is your warning if you're thinking about using this list to pick out books for your child (not that I think anyone's doing that because really.. my blog gets like 2 views a day), this book is a little bit terrifying. What I didn't realize until literally right now is that this book is about the Russian Mythical witch creature, Baba Yaga. So.. yeah. Scary. Despite the fact that this book is kind of freaky, it was one of my favorite, favorite, favorite books as a child and I used to read it all the time. It's about young Sasha who narrowly escapes Bony Legs, the witch. Goodreads' summary says "When a terrible witch vows to eat her for supper, a little girl escapes with the help of a mirror and a comb given to her by the witch's cat and dog." ... Charming.
10. The Three Little Kittens in the Enchanted Forest: A Pop-Up Adventure by Hilary Aaron and Jonathan Langley - Finally, we have this FANTASTIC BOOK. When we moved into the house I currently live in about 6 years ago, this book totally disappeared along with tons of other things. It was super unfortunate because ever since then I've thought about this book, like, roughly once a year. I couldn't for the life of me remember the name of it or find it anywhere online. Until TODAY! I tried really, really hard and with the help of my mom I figured out what it was called and actually found proof of it's existence. This is an extremely cool pop-up book. The pop-ups are so in depth and just.. phenomenal. It's essentially the story of the kittens who lost their mittens, but it also integrates a bunch of fairy tales and mystery. There's also a bird named rainbow and some awesome fantastical stuff. To put it simply, if you're a mother (or anyone really) and you take anything away from this Top Ten Tuesday, it's that you should find this book somewhere and buy it for your children because it's potentially my favorite children's book of. all. time.

And, there you have it. That Top Ten Tuesday was actually much more fun than I thought it would be to make. Here are some questions for you; If you do happen to be a mother, do you kids have any of these books? Do they love them as much as I did? And, for everyone, did you read any of these books as a child? I really would love to discuss all of this with some people, so don't hesitate to comment to tweet me @okletsread!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss

Everyone knows the name Dr. Seuss. It's a household name worldwide. His books are consistently praised to this day. Why is this one man such a legend and what makes Dr. Seuss so special to me?  

All my life, as long as I can remember, I've known about Dr. Seuss books. He's been with me since the days I slept in a crib and I owe a lot of who I am today to this man, as I'm sure many of you do as well. To me, the stigma around Dr. Seuss is a lot like The Harry Potter Series. Everyone knows and loves his books because they're just amazing. They're timeless and wonderful and the messages carried out in Dr. Seuss' books are ones that have stuck with me forever.

When I was three years old, I dressed up as The Cat in the Hat for Halloween. I had the cat outfit and the hat and the bow tie and a drawn on nose and whiskers. Let's just say I was pretty damn adorable. The Cat in the Hat is probably (as far as I know) the most famous, well-known Dr. Seuss book and with good reason. This book was created in order to give children a more entertaining reading primer than the classic Dick and Jane books. The Cat in the Hat is a mischievous creature and, along with Thing 1 and Thing 2, he makes a mess of the children's house. But, that was the fun part about the story! It gave children an introduction to reading. I feel like The Cat in the Hat taught, and still teaches, kids that reading is an escape. They could have fun and get the satisfaction of making a giant mess without actually making a giant mess!

I definitely remember owning almost every Dr. Seuss book as a child and I'm sure they unknowingly contributed to the love of reading I have today. I have vivid memories of reading Green Eggs and Ham, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, Fox in Socks, Hop on Pop, The Foot Book, I Wish That I Had Duck Feet, and In a People House. I don't remember owning Horton Hears a Who, but that book and many others became important in 2010 when Dr. Seuss entered my life once more. I was cast in a musical at the theater I'd took classes at my entire life. It was Seussical; The Musical. Being in that show holds some of my greatest memories and it's all thanks to Dr. Seuss.

Something that I find endlessly interesting about Seuss' abundance of books is looking back on them at the age I am now. First off, it's fascinating to think about how I received these books as a child and what they mean to me now. But, another intriguing thought is to learn that Dr. Seuss created characters and plot lines in some of his books based on certain people and actual events that were happening in the world at the time they were written. I think it's amazing to study those parallels. For example, let's study The Cat in the Hat. Wikipedia connects The Cat's personality and character to those of typical American con-artists. This theme was popular at the time. Do you see how it's similar to The Wizard of Oz? The fish in the story is often analyzed as connected to Christian beliefs since that's what fish sometimes symbolize in literature. Dr. Seuss himself once compared the fish to Cotton Mather, the Puritan moralist who advised prosecutors in the Salem Witch Trials. Isn't that so cool?! Okay, maybe I'm just weird for finding analyzing things like this interesting, but I just can't help it.

Now, all the morals and hidden meanings are fine and dandy, but what I think really connects me to Dr. Seuss' books and draws me in is the whimsy of his stories. What I really love about these books, the thing that truly makes Dr. Seuss a favorite of mine, is that fantastical feeling you get when reading his works. It's utterly unmatched. The only comparisons I can really think of are two of my other favorite old authors and creators; Roald Dahl and Walt Disney, himself. The book I find the most whimsical and magical also holds the title of my all-time favorite Dr. Seuss book. And, that would be Oh, the Places You'll Go!.

Oh, the Places You'll Go!, to me, is the ultimate Dr. Seuss book. It's the epitome of what makes him such a great author. Published in 1990 (only 4 years before I was born), Oh, the Places You'll Go! was the very last Dr. Seuss book published before his death in September 1991. I think part of this book's magic is the way it's written. Unlike most of Dr. Seuss' works, Oh, the Places You'll Go! is written in second person and uses future tense. It makes the reader feel like Dr. Seuss is talking right to them. When reading this book, you can't help but leave with a sense of motivation and empowerment. I think that this book is the most relate-able book for adults and an AMAZING lesson to teach young children. It's never too early to be motivated and learn that your possibilities are endless. And, on that note, I think I'll end with a quote.

"You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself

any direction you choose.

You're on your own. And you know what you know.

And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go."

-Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss. May your legacy live on for years to come.