England has different classic and well known picture books than the US

[conuly]

Hm.

Y'know what? I wanna list classic picture books in the US, see how my list compares to the lists of other people. I'll get on that later if youse start commenting.

Edit: On that note, Ana has gotten quite interested in "Guess How Much I Love You". I'm impressed, it's really a bit wordy for a two year old. I started just reading it when she was nearly asleep during nap time, but last time I was there she requested it. Twice. I'm so happy :) I mean, I love toddler-ranged books as much as anybody else, but I think the kid should have a *chance* to move outside of rhyming text once in a while, y'know?

Edit again (well, not really): That said, let me say *again* how addictive Sandra Boynton is. Her books are insanely memorable. *nods* Love that author - hey, I can love picture books!

Edit the third (or second): Ana has very nearly more books than her parents. This is my fault.

1. Dr. Seuss
2. Curious George! I need to airlift some Curious George for my poor, George-less friends :P
3. Spot. Spot is beyond classic into cultish. Don't know why, exactly - the books are good, sure, but they're not books that have reading value past toddlerhood, unlike, say, Seuss.
4. Beatrix Potter - though, like classic Winnie the Pooh, people don't actually *read* these, they just know of them.
5. Where the Wild Things Are is the classic Sendak book. Depending on how you were raised, you may also remember Chicken Soup with Rice or In the Night Kitchen.
6. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? is a classic Eric Carle book, as is The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
7. The Little Engine that Could
8. Tikki-tikki-tembo. I still can recite "Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo" at top speed.
9. Goodnight, Moon. I have no idea *why* that author is only remembered for this rather insipid book when she wrote so much more, and better, but. Classic, it surely is.
10. Amelia Bedelia! Love her truly.
11. Berenstain Bears.
12. Arthur, who really was an aardvark at one point.
13. Corduroy
14. Clifford

More to come when I'm less bored.

Comments

[eofs.livejournal.com]

I can't honestly say I'm surprised. If nothing else, then for the language/spelling/grammar differences (the first in particular.) But also just because naturally there will be more American authors being read in America and British authors being read in Britainland. I wouldn't expect an American kid to have read most of the stuff I had and am generally surprised when I find books that are common to the two countries. Tony Ross, Shirley Hughes, Michael Morpurgo, Michael Rosen... Heard of any of them? Oh, and have you heard of Brambly Hedge? I much prefered it to Beatrix Potter's books (for the beautifully detailed illustrations which I would study intently) although it's possibly a bit old for the babies just now.

Many of the books I see you and others list as classics I've never even heard of. Curious George for example. I hadn't heard of Dr Seuss until I was 8 or so and reading Judy Blume's Peter Whatshisname books in which his little brother gets Dr Seuss books. Even then I didn't actually know what they were until a few years later.

Out of curiousity, have you looked at any other Ahlberg books? They cover everything from picture books up to read-alones (The Bear Nobody Wanted is a beautiful story that's perhaps a bit above a read-alone actually.) Janet's work was so detailed and absolutely beautiful. I think I recommended Peep-o to you in the past (although it might have bottles in it, but I couldn't tell you for certain.) In fact I would basically say get your hands on anything they ever did together (and I presume Alan's writing is still as good, it's just sad to no longer have the beautiful illustrations.)

[conuly]

You never heard of Curious George? Oh, man, he was my favorite when I was little! Well, after Amelia Bedelia, of course.

The list of authors isn't ringing any bells, though I might still know specific titles - or they might have been translated, as spelling and grammar "mistakes" often are in kids books. I know that Peep-o was eventually published here as Peek-a-boo!, for example.

[ser-kai.livejournal.com]

My older two kids absolutely loved Moo, Baa, La La La by Sandra Boynton.
Ken & I can still recite bits 7 years later.
It's a pity I can't find a copy to read to Quinn.
(I don't care enough to chase it up- he has his own favourites.)

[conuly]

You can always order off of amazon.com

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

First time I ever read Spot was in French class.

And as a child, I had an album of Vivian Leigh reading Beatrix Potter stories. Still have it, actually. I should hook everything up and burn it to CD.

[its-what-we-are.livejournal.com]

Tuesday by David Wiesner. Best picture book ever.

[phibby.livejournal.com]

Ah! That's a great list. Amelia Bedelia! Those are some of my favorites from childhood, though I had never heard of "Tikki-Tikki-Tembo" before. Also, I've just got to add that I *have* read Winnie the Pooh and A House on Pooh Corner before (I even did a report on A. A. Milne in seventh grade), though you're right in that I can't think of anyone else I know who has. They're such great books, too.

A few of my childhood classics you didn't list are Corduroy and Clifford. I remember in first grade how one of my closest friends had never heard of Corduroy, and the whole class was shocked when she told us. He's right up there with Goodnight, Moon and Where the Wild Things Are mihi. As for Clifford, that was another very popular series when I was younger, sort of like Berenstain Bears and Arthur.

I always thought Chicka Chicka Boom Boom was a classic as well, though maybe I'm just imagining its popularity.

[conuly]

It's very popular, but it's really only very recent.

[rachelkachel]

I love posts like this, they bring back so many memories :) I remember Corduroy, but I hadn't realized it was a classic. I'm not familiar with Spot, though.

I've read Beatrix Potter! We had about a dozen of her stories, in little books. Besides Peter Rabbit I think the favorite at our house was the Tale of Squirrel Nutkin.

[luvsrimmer.livejournal.com]

The B Book. That was my all time fave as a kid. Impossible to find now, but I believe it was by the same author as the Berenstein Bears. It's all about these different crazy things that start with B and in the end it "broke baby bird's balloon".

Oh! And There's a Monster At The End of This Book! starring Grover

Plus the usual assortment of Little Golden Books (think the Grover one was) and Dr Seuss.

[bgirlswinger20.livejournal.com]

omg...
wtf... me too.. here's how much of a loser i am,... ready

big brown bear, blue bull, beautiful baboon, blowing bubble, biking backward, bug black beatles banna boxes,...there was a bunny in ther eand a basw call team and all of it was responsible for popping baby birds ballon... there's more but that's all i can actually rememeber off of my pathetic little head.

lol
ember

[missfahrenheit.livejournal.com]

Princess Smartypants (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0698115554/103-1421444-5333444) was my favourite picture book, or at least the only one I can remember owning...

[eofs.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I meant to say Babette Cole but forgot.

[shenya.livejournal.com]

We had banana books. Um...others ... "What a mess", arrgh... it's been so long since I sat down to read picture books :(

Two of the authors for the slightly older books that I'd bet most of you guys haven't heard of (but who are brillient) are Roal Dahl and Margaret Mahey. *grin*

[eofs.livejournal.com]

I can't even imagine a childhood without a good healthy dose of Roald Dahl. In fact I'm currently wanting to read more of his adult stuff (having only read a few compilations.)

[lakidaa.livejournal.com]

Roald Dahl! I remember this book...it had a pelican and a giraffe and a monkey...and a boy...they had a windowcleaning service. There were songs!

There was an awesome candy store involved.

Chika Chika Boom Boom! :D!

And Animalia. @_@! Its pictures are so nice and detailed with hidden things! With color EVERYWHERE.

Animalia is basically an Alphabet book, with an animal and an action attached to each letter. On each page is a smallish poem-thing. We had it in First Grade. I wanted to steal it. *covets*

[eofs.livejournal.com]

That'd be The Giraffe, the Pelly and Me.

[wakasplat.livejournal.com]

I oddly don't remember reading Where the Wild Things Are or In The Night Kitchen, and only got to Chicken Soup with Rice when I was older. What I remember were One Was Johnny and Pierre, possibly others, along with some not by him but in books of similar size, which were Springfellow's Parade and The Silver Dandelion (by Robert Kraus I guess).

There's also the Barbapapa series but I don't know how popular those were.

[marveen.livejournal.com]

Who, or what, is Corduroy? (Implication: can't be too much of a classic if I never heard of him/her/it...) I'll note here that I haven't read Goodnight, Moon or the Spot books either, but I'm not quibbling over their classic status.

I would add also the Velveteen Rabbit, the Raggedy Ann and Andy series, Little Black Sambo (you can still get copies, even though they made it an Unbook--from what I remember of it, I don't understand what the fuss is about), and the Babar series (I loved the illustrations, even though I didn't learn to read cursive script until third grade).

[conuly]

Corduroy? Cute little teddy bear whom nobody wanted because he had a button falling off? So he sewed the button back on, and then somebody took him home?

[eofs.livejournal.com]

I can't honestly say I'm surprised. If nothing else, then for the language/spelling/grammar differences (the first in particular.) But also just because naturally there will be more American authors being read in America and British authors being read in Britainland. I wouldn't expect an American kid to have read most of the stuff I had and am generally surprised when I find books that are common to the two countries. Tony Ross, Shirley Hughes, Michael Morpurgo, Michael Rosen... Heard of any of them? Oh, and have you heard of Brambly Hedge? I much prefered it to Beatrix Potter's books (for the beautifully detailed illustrations which I would study intently) although it's possibly a bit old for the babies just now.

Many of the books I see you and others list as classics I've never even heard of. Curious George for example. I hadn't heard of Dr Seuss until I was 8 or so and reading Judy Blume's Peter Whatshisname books in which his little brother gets Dr Seuss books. Even then I didn't actually know what they were until a few years later.

Out of curiousity, have you looked at any other Ahlberg books? They cover everything from picture books up to read-alones (The Bear Nobody Wanted is a beautiful story that's perhaps a bit above a read-alone actually.) Janet's work was so detailed and absolutely beautiful. I think I recommended Peep-o to you in the past (although it might have bottles in it, but I couldn't tell you for certain.) In fact I would basically say get your hands on anything they ever did together (and I presume Alan's writing is still as good, it's just sad to no longer have the beautiful illustrations.)

[conuly]

You never heard of Curious George? Oh, man, he was my favorite when I was little! Well, after Amelia Bedelia, of course.

The list of authors isn't ringing any bells, though I might still know specific titles - or they might have been translated, as spelling and grammar "mistakes" often are in kids books. I know that Peep-o was eventually published here as Peek-a-boo!, for example.

[ser-kai.livejournal.com]

My older two kids absolutely loved Moo, Baa, La La La by Sandra Boynton.
Ken & I can still recite bits 7 years later.
It's a pity I can't find a copy to read to Quinn.
(I don't care enough to chase it up- he has his own favourites.)

[conuly]

You can always order off of amazon.com

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

First time I ever read Spot was in French class.

And as a child, I had an album of Vivian Leigh reading Beatrix Potter stories. Still have it, actually. I should hook everything up and burn it to CD.

[its-what-we-are.livejournal.com]

Tuesday by David Wiesner. Best picture book ever.

[phibby.livejournal.com]

Ah! That's a great list. Amelia Bedelia! Those are some of my favorites from childhood, though I had never heard of "Tikki-Tikki-Tembo" before. Also, I've just got to add that I *have* read Winnie the Pooh and A House on Pooh Corner before (I even did a report on A. A. Milne in seventh grade), though you're right in that I can't think of anyone else I know who has. They're such great books, too.

A few of my childhood classics you didn't list are Corduroy and Clifford. I remember in first grade how one of my closest friends had never heard of Corduroy, and the whole class was shocked when she told us. He's right up there with Goodnight, Moon and Where the Wild Things Are mihi. As for Clifford, that was another very popular series when I was younger, sort of like Berenstain Bears and Arthur.

I always thought Chicka Chicka Boom Boom was a classic as well, though maybe I'm just imagining its popularity.

[conuly]

It's very popular, but it's really only very recent.

[rachelkachel]

I love posts like this, they bring back so many memories :) I remember Corduroy, but I hadn't realized it was a classic. I'm not familiar with Spot, though.

I've read Beatrix Potter! We had about a dozen of her stories, in little books. Besides Peter Rabbit I think the favorite at our house was the Tale of Squirrel Nutkin.

[luvsrimmer.livejournal.com]

The B Book. That was my all time fave as a kid. Impossible to find now, but I believe it was by the same author as the Berenstein Bears. It's all about these different crazy things that start with B and in the end it "broke baby bird's balloon".

Oh! And There's a Monster At The End of This Book! starring Grover

Plus the usual assortment of Little Golden Books (think the Grover one was) and Dr Seuss.

[bgirlswinger20.livejournal.com]

omg...
wtf... me too.. here's how much of a loser i am,... ready

big brown bear, blue bull, beautiful baboon, blowing bubble, biking backward, bug black beatles banna boxes,...there was a bunny in ther eand a basw call team and all of it was responsible for popping baby birds ballon... there's more but that's all i can actually rememeber off of my pathetic little head.

lol
ember

[missfahrenheit.livejournal.com]

Princess Smartypants (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0698115554/103-1421444-5333444) was my favourite picture book, or at least the only one I can remember owning...

[eofs.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I meant to say Babette Cole but forgot.

[shenya.livejournal.com]

We had banana books. Um...others ... "What a mess", arrgh... it's been so long since I sat down to read picture books :(

Two of the authors for the slightly older books that I'd bet most of you guys haven't heard of (but who are brillient) are Roal Dahl and Margaret Mahey. *grin*

[eofs.livejournal.com]

I can't even imagine a childhood without a good healthy dose of Roald Dahl. In fact I'm currently wanting to read more of his adult stuff (having only read a few compilations.)

[lakidaa.livejournal.com]

Roald Dahl! I remember this book...it had a pelican and a giraffe and a monkey...and a boy...they had a windowcleaning service. There were songs!

There was an awesome candy store involved.

Chika Chika Boom Boom! :D!

And Animalia. @_@! Its pictures are so nice and detailed with hidden things! With color EVERYWHERE.

Animalia is basically an Alphabet book, with an animal and an action attached to each letter. On each page is a smallish poem-thing. We had it in First Grade. I wanted to steal it. *covets*

[eofs.livejournal.com]

That'd be The Giraffe, the Pelly and Me.

[wakasplat.livejournal.com]

I oddly don't remember reading Where the Wild Things Are or In The Night Kitchen, and only got to Chicken Soup with Rice when I was older. What I remember were One Was Johnny and Pierre, possibly others, along with some not by him but in books of similar size, which were Springfellow's Parade and The Silver Dandelion (by Robert Kraus I guess).

There's also the Barbapapa series but I don't know how popular those were.

[marveen.livejournal.com]

Who, or what, is Corduroy? (Implication: can't be too much of a classic if I never heard of him/her/it...) I'll note here that I haven't read Goodnight, Moon or the Spot books either, but I'm not quibbling over their classic status.

I would add also the Velveteen Rabbit, the Raggedy Ann and Andy series, Little Black Sambo (you can still get copies, even though they made it an Unbook--from what I remember of it, I don't understand what the fuss is about), and the Babar series (I loved the illustrations, even though I didn't learn to read cursive script until third grade).

[conuly]

Corduroy? Cute little teddy bear whom nobody wanted because he had a button falling off? So he sewed the button back on, and then somebody took him home?