Children's Book Requests

[glynndah]

My grant was approved so I have money to buy children's books for my school library. I'm interested mainly in your selections for early readers, first through third grade. Any suggestions?

 

[lisa123414]

Anything and everything by Shel Silverstein. Also, check out the Caldecot winners and the Newberry Award winners. For that age group, Harold and the Purple Crayon.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

My son's favorite when he was six was The Bear at the Hunter's Ball but it is long out of print. In fact, it took me years to locate a personal copy but if you find it, the children will howl with laughter. Their parents will likely not approve!

 

[glynndah]

My son's favorite when he was six was The Bear at the Hunter's Ball but it is long out of print. In fact, it took me years to locate a personal copy but if you find it, the children will howl with laughter. Their parents will likely not approve!

Oh, those are the best ones!

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Hacks, Peter. The Bear at the Hunters' Ball, Addison-Wesley 1976. ISBN 0-201-02694-5. I got a ex-library copy.

A bear drinks too much honey-brandy brandy and sets out for a costume party dressed as a hunter. He meets a real hunter who mistakes him for The Great Bear Hunter and takes him off to the Hunters' Ball where they all drink entirely too much beer and go out trying to find the bear. Eventually they end up back at the party and decide that one of them must be the bear in disguise. Just as they decide that it might be The Bear, his wife stomps in. "You should be ashamed," she scolded the Bear, "hanging around with a bunch like this." She bites him on the neck and drags him home. The illustrations are priceless!

 

[Weird Harold]

My grant was approved so I have money to buy children's books for my school library. I'm interested mainly in your selections for early readers, first through third grade. Any suggestions?

If you don't already have them every Curious George is a must have for any beginning readers collection -- especially considering the PBS series tie-in.

My younger daughter was fond of the Babysitters' Club series' younger "little sister" series when the older daughter was engrossed in the main series -- Both series are good books to keep girls interested in reading; boys aren't much fond of them I understand.

The Wizard of Oz and first 13 sequels are still available in paperback, I believe. I'm not sure about hardcover/library eidtions, though.

 

[3113]

Phantom Tollbooth might be a little up there, but it's still an awesome read.

 

[Boxlicker101]

There are some great stories by Laura Numeroff:

http://www.lauranumeroff.com/books/index.htm

I find Shel silverstein hilarious, but some of his stories might not be all that suitable for elementary school students.

 

[ishtat]

"The adventures of Nanny Piggins" by RA Spratt. To be published in USA in August 2010 by Little Brown.

Three books in the series have sold well outside the US. Aimed more at 7 8 perhaps 9 year olds. Kids like because it is funny.

A very famous American grandmother recommends it on the cover.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Here are some of the books from my collection for young readers, most of them are pretty old. Most of them have extraordinary illustrations as well as excellent writing.

each peach pear plum

The giant jam sandwich

The story of Ferdinand

The noisy book and the indoor noisy bookand most other things by Margaret Wise Brown

Marcella and the moon (about the powers of observation)

 

[sereneone4u]

Miss Piggly Wiggly Stories. My kids always enjoyed them.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Anything but Dick and Jane!

 

[driphoney]

Here are some of the books from my collection for young readers, most of them are pretty old. Most of them have extraordinary illustrations as well as excellent writing.

each peach pear plum

The giant jam sandwich

The story of Ferdinand

The noisy book and the indoor noisy bookand most other things by Margaret Wise Brown

Marcella and the moon (about the powers of observation)

Goodnight cow jumping over the moon.

 

[THROBBS]

I loved the Ramona series. "Romona the pest", "Ramona and BEezus"....by Beverly Cleary.

I agree about Shel Silverstein. "where the sidewalk ends", "a light in the attic" and one of MY first books as a child "Lafcadio, The Lion Who Shot Back"






I have one book that I am very fond of, because I wrote it and illustrated it.
It has won several awards for independent publishers.

 

[lisa123414]

The Giggler Treatment by Roddy Doyle - I asked my 13-year-old son and this is the one he remembered. I remember, reading it to him about a hundred times. Along the lines of V_Ms book, the subject is not entirely PC, well I mean to say, the book is about elves who look out for children, and they treat adults who are mean to certain mishaps. Because of a misunderstanding, the childrens' father has been set up by the gigglers to step in a rather large pile of doggy poo. The entire book is a cliffhanger as the gigglers collect the poo - the dog is delightfully human, a grumpy uncle of sorts - and set up their practical joke on dad - then find out that dad does not deserve his fate - will Mom get there in time to save him?

I also liked the fact that this book is British English, and explains to us yanks that biscuits are cookies, and other differences.

The next older boy of mine could not get enough of the Magic School Bus series. He devoured every one he could get his hands on and received lots of these books for birthdays, etc. He is now 16 and has his sights set on MIT. If they don't take him it is their loss.

 

[Weird Harold]

Anything but Dick and Jane!

The Dick And Jane series were textbooks, not library books.

Still, as someone who actually learned to read with Dick And Jane, I fail to see what the problem of including them in a library collection would be. At age six, I found them engrossing and looked forward to reading period each day.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

My school tried to teach me to read on Dick and Jane. Hmpf! Much too slow, I thought. I learned to read on Uncle Scrooge comics. Ah, Scrooge McDuck, a miser after my own heart!

 

[glynndah]

Thank you for your comments and suggestions.

If you don't already have them every Curious George is a must have for any beginning readers collection -- especially considering the PBS series tie-in.

My younger daughter was fond of the Babysitters' Club series' younger "little sister" series when the older daughter was engrossed in the main series -- Both series are good books to keep girls interested in reading; boys aren't much fond of them I understand.

The Wizard of Oz and first 13 sequels are still available in paperback, I believe. I'm not sure about hardcover/library eidtions, though.

I have a pretty good collection of the Babysitter's Club ones. They didn't read them too much this year, but next year could be different.

Phantom Tollbooth might be a little up there, but it's still an awesome read.

An excerpt of that is in the sixth grade reading book. I have a couple of kids who read the book because they wanted to find out what happened next.

There are some great stories by Laura Numeroff:

http://www.lauranumeroff.com/books/index.htm

I find Shel silverstein hilarious, but some of his stories might not be all that suitable for elementary school students.

Oh, they love the "If you give a mouse..." books! Not suitable for elementary school children books are usually the ones they like best!

"The adventures of Nanny Piggins" by RA Spratt. To be published in USA in August 2010 by Little Brown.

Three books in the series have sold well outside the US. Aimed more at 7 8 perhaps 9 year olds. Kids like because it is funny.

A very famous American grandmother recommends it on the cover.

I'll have to look for this one.

Here are some of the books from my collection for young readers, most of them are pretty old. Most of them have extraordinary illustrations as well as excellent writing.

each peach pear plum

The giant jam sandwich

The story of Ferdinand

The noisy book and the indoor noisy bookand most other things by Margaret Wise Brown

Marcella and the moon (about the powers of observation)

Miss Piggly Wiggly Stories. My kids always enjoyed them.

Margaret Wise Brown books are always winners! I'll look into some of your suggestions. Thank you.

Anything but Dick and Jane!

I loved the Ramona series. "Romona the pest", "Ramona and BEezus"....by Beverly Cleary.

I agree about Shel Silverstein. "where the sidewalk ends", "a light in the attic" and one of MY first books as a child "Lafcadio, The Lion Who Shot Back"






I have one book that I am very fond of, because I wrote it and illustrated it.
It has won several awards for independent publishers.

The Ramona books are always very popular.

The Giggler Treatment by Roddy Doyle - I asked my 13-year-old son and this is the one he remembered. I remember, reading it to him about a hundred times. Along the lines of V_Ms book, the subject is not entirely PC, well I mean to say, the book is about elves who look out for children, and they treat adults who are mean to certain mishaps. Because of a misunderstanding, the childrens' father has been set up by the gigglers to step in a rather large pile of doggy poo. The entire book is a cliffhanger as the gigglers collect the poo - the dog is delightfully human, a grumpy uncle of sorts - and set up their practical joke on dad - then find out that dad does not deserve his fate - will Mom get there in time to save him?

I also liked the fact that this book is British English, and explains to us yanks that biscuits are cookies, and other differences.

The next older boy of mine could not get enough of the Magic School Bus series. He devoured every one he could get his hands on and received lots of these books for birthdays, etc. He is now 16 and has his sights set on MIT. If they don't take him it is their loss.

Yes, they read the Magic School Bus ones. I'll have to see if I'm missing any of the series. They have chapter books now, too.

The Dick And Jane series were textbooks, not library books.

Still, as someone who actually learned to read with Dick And Jane, I fail to see what the problem of including them in a library collection would be. At age six, I found them engrossing and looked forward to reading period each day.

I'm also of the Dick and Jane generation. I also loved reading time.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Zeb_Carter
Anything but Dick and Jane!

The Dick And Jane series were textbooks, not library books.

Still, as someone who actually learned to read with Dick And Jane, I fail to see what the problem of including them in a library collection would be. At age six, I found them engrossing and looked forward to reading period each day.

I also learned to read with Dick and Jane. "Oh Oh Oh. See Sally run. Run, sally, run. Engrossing might be a bit of an exaggeration, but I did read them and found them useful. I probably got more benefit from reading comic books, including Captain Marvel Bunny.

I don't think of Shel Silverstein of being for first or second or third graders. Some of his stuff was pretty raunchy.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

The Dick And Jane series were textbooks, not library books.

Still, as someone who actually learned to read with Dick And Jane, I fail to see what the problem of including them in a library collection would be. At age six, I found them engrossing and looked forward to reading period each day.

They were/are but they are always in the library of most elementary schools. I too learned the basics on Dick and Jane then quickly graduated to MAD Magazine, which I liked much more.

 

[Weird Harold]

I have a pretty good collection of the Babysitter's Club ones. They didn't read them too much this year, but next year could be different.

Having two daughters, and now two granddaughters, I'm not really familiar with what's available to interest boys in reading. Harry Potter seems to fill part of that niche, but I don't know of anything to equal the Hardy Boys or Tom Swift in exciting boys' imaginations outside of the fantasy genre.

I suppose Heinlein's juveniles, like Starship Troopers are still a good fit for that niche -- and some of those are a good fit for SF-minded girls too.

I don't know if there is any current juvenile mystery series that is any good -- possibly Scooby Doo; although that's more a parody of the mystery genre than a good example.

An excerpt of that is in the sixth grade reading book. I have a couple of kids who read the book because they wanted to find out what happened next.

That reminds me that many reading textbooks contain The Smallest Dragonboy by Anne McCaffrey.

The direct tie in for that story is the Dragonriders of Pern and the rest of the Pern novels, up to and including the recent collaborations with her son Todd McCaffrey. Anne McCaffrey has also written a lot of "juveniles" suitable for even (precocious) beginning readers -- The Acorna series even includes some "illustrated novels" (suitable for the non-precocious )

 

[Stella_Omega]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Zeb_Carter
Anything but Dick and Jane!



I also learned to read with Dick and Jane. "Oh Oh Oh. See Sally run. Run, sally, run. Engrossing might be a bit of an exaggeration, but I did read them and found them useful. I probably got more benefit from reading comic books, including Captain Marvel Bunny.

I had them as well--they kinda sorta didn't make any sense to me. Little blond kids? A daddy in a brown suit and fedora? Nobody was Hispanic? President Kennedy hadn't been assassinated? Get outta here!

I don't think of Shel Silverstein of being for first or second or third graders. Some of his stuff was pretty raunchy.

Stacy Brown got Two!

Those were published in Playboy. And sung by Dr Hook. Don't worry, though-- none of his adult material is in the books so far suggested.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I had them as well--they kinda sorta didn't make any sense to me. Little blond kids? A daddy in a brown suit and fedora? Nobody was Hispanic? President Kennedy hadn't been assassinated? Get outta here!Stacy Brown got Two!

Those were published in Playboy. And sung by Dr Hook. Don't worry, though-- none of his adult material is in the books so far suggested.

D&J made sense where I was growing up but only until I got to junior high. I didn't live in an integrated world until I got to the university. After that it was the Army and my world expanded a whole bunch.

Now whenever I find myself someplace where everyone is pink, I wonder what's wrong. Unless I'm in the rural Midwest or something.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Boxlicker101

I also learned to read with Dick and Jane. "Oh Oh Oh. See Sally run. Run, sally, run. Engrossing might be a bit of an exaggeration, but I did read them and found them useful. I probably got more benefit from reading comic books, including Captain Marvel Bunny.

I had them as well--they kinda sorta didn't make any sense to me. Little blond kids? A daddy in a brown suit and fedora? Nobody was Hispanic? President Kennedy hadn't been assassinated? Get outta here!Stacy Brown got Two!

Those were published in Playboy. And sung by Dr Hook. Don't worry, though-- none of his adult material is in the books so far suggested.

The blonde hair wasn't strange to me, because there were quite a few towheads in the small town where I lived. When I first met Dick and Jane and Sally and Spot and Puff and Mother and Father in his brown suit and green tie, JFK was still in the Navy. He might even have still been marooned on that island in the Pacific.

Don't ask me why I remember so much from those books. I didn't remember Spot and Puff until I started witing this post.

 

[Salvor-Hardon]

"Not a Box" and "Not a Stick" by Antoinette Portis come highly recommended by my 6 year old.

My favorites to read on that level is "I love you, Stinkyface" and the other Stinkyface series, but you really have to do the voices when you read them to achieve optimum effect.