My Favorite Kid's Books

Teaching elementary I collected kid books. I had a small group of them that were my all time favorites. Some were new to me and some were from my own childhood. I don’t have them listed in any special order; just, who came to mind first.




1. My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

2. The Enormous Egg by Oliver Butterworth

3. Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens

4. The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka

5. I Love You Forever by Robert Munsch

6. Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney

7. Everything by Beatrix Potter.

8. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

9. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff

10. Soft Rain : A Story of the Cherokee Trail of Tears by Cornelia Cornelissen



My Side of the Mountain had me digging a hole under a big oak tree in my back yard.  I wanted an escape from my own world and the emotional strains of my parents divorcing when I was in fourth grade.



My second grade teacher, Mrs. Sheriff, read The Enormous Egg to our class. I learned how genetics play a role in our makeup. To this day the triceratops is my favorite dinosaur.



There are some children’s book that I bought just because I loved the artwork. Tops and Bottoms was one of those books. Once I got it home I found that I loved the story too. A lazy bear and a tricky rabbit makes for a cute funny story.



My all time favorite children’s book is The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs. I have read this to children of all ages and they like it. It is best enjoyed by fourth graders who can pick up on all the sarcasm and hyperboles. Perfect for teachers to do a comparative lesson between it and the original.



I Love You Forever and Guess How Much I Love You are my favorites to read to my son. I tell him every night when I tuck him in that, “I love you to the moon and back.” He then ask me, “How many times?” I tell him, “50 million zillion times.” He then tells me that he loves me even more.



Anyone who knows the story of Beatrix Potter’s life can’t help but to appreciate her stories and artwork even more. Jeremy Fisher is most likely my favorite but that is a close call.



The Wind in the Willows was one of my favorite stories when I was a child. I use to love watching the movie too.



If You Give a Mouse a Cookie was given to me by my sister and her son one year for Christmas while I was still in college. I fell in love with it and soon owned several of the others in the collection.



Soft Rain : A Story of the Cherokee Trail of Tears was a book one of my best students had brought to school one day and asked if I would read it to the class. I was teaching fourth grade at the time and was able to work it into our social studies lessons. It was a heartbreaking tale of one of the saddest times in American history. I personally have two great grandparents who were Cherokee. It reminded me of some of the horrors their families had to endure. Most kids are very egocentricity. This is a good story to introduce some empathy into their world.