Books You Want to Read to Your Children (Over and Over)
You might think that the best book to read for your little child is the one he will love. The one that, when you close the last page, makes them scream, “Again, again!” The one that, before you even say: “Go and get a book for the night,” is already in their hands and waving in front of your face, an old and familiar friend.
Or you might think that this book, which you have read 652 times and believes, should meet its untimely death in a pizza oven.
While it’s good that your child wants you to read the same book over and over – after all, repetition can make you feel safe – it can get on your nerves. At least.
However, it is easier to stay sane if you choose great books from the beginning. Those books that are not averse to reading for the hundredth or thousandth time.
Here are my select books worthy of repeated reading:
Olivia (Jan Falconeris)
Olivia is a busy little girl who drains her mother, but this piglet is so damn adorable:
“In the morning, after she got up and moved the cat, and brushed her teeth, and combed her ears, and moved the cat, Olivia gets dressed. She has to try everything on. “
Books about Pete the Cat (Kimberly and James Dean)
These charming stories contain solid moral lessons and subtle rhymes make them fun to read. Take Pete the Cat and the Missing Cupcakes for example:
Pete said, ‘But wait! The grumpy Toad made a mistake. It’s true. Let’s give him a second chance. That’s what friends do! “
“Click, click, hum of this type of cow” (Doreen Cronin)
The story is somewhat silly and at the same time grown-up – Farmer Brown’s cows go on strike because he does not satisfy their demands:
Dear Farmer Brown! It is very cold in the barn at night. We need electric blankets. Best regards, Cows. “
Parts (Tedd Arnold)
What a great sense of humor ! This poor little dude is convinced he’s falling apart and you’ll giggle even after reading a dozen:
“The next day, when I was playing with the water hose outside, I saw small pieces of skin peeling off my toes. I looked at them in amazement, and then let out a slight groan, thinking that pretty soon I might be torn to the bone. “
Rosie Revere, engineer (Andrea Biti)
This story, which encourages little Rosie to follow her dreams without embarrassment or fear of failure, is so touching that you can never help but cry when you read it to your daughter or son:
“Her great-aunt Rosa was a real dynamo who built airplanes many years ago. She told Rosie stories about her actions and goals, which she noted on her list one by one. “
(Thanks to Ada Twist from Beatty , the scientist, and Iggy Peck, the architect .)
I like myself! (Karen Beaumont)
Here’s a good book with a great message. Even if you are reading it on the seventh evening of this week, you will be pleased to read:
“I am madly in love with myself. I’m like tamed. I like different and the same. “
Pigeon Books (Mo Willems)
Lessons from books about pigeons are very important, they teach children how to use the word “no”, how to ask for things, how to share. These funny and simple stories are familiar to everyone who lives with tiny people.
Take the ” Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog !” oh yeah, about a pigeon who found a hot dog, and about his nosy (and innocent?) chick friend who says, “I have a question. I’ve never eaten a hot dog before … How do they taste? “The pigeon snorts with snacks for a while before realizing that the chicken may have ulterior motives, and he says …” Wait a second. This hot dog is MY. I found this!”
Book without pictures (B.J. Novak)
No matter how many times you read it , it will make you laugh. That’s just the point: to make adults laugh, because they have to say nonsense:
“This is how books work: whatever the words say, the person reading the book has to say. No matter what. That’s the problem. This rule is. So that means … Even though the words say … BLOCK. What to expect? It doesn’t even mean anything. Bluurf “.
All the stuff of Dr. Seuss
Since 1937, when Dr. Seuss’s first book, And Think I Saw It On Mulberry Street, was published, these books have become a staple in children’s libraries. Why? Well, we love books with rhymes, don’t we? They are fun to read, and if we choose the right one, we can find many of Seuss’s books with a pretty damning message.
Take Lorax and his message on forest conservation:
“NOW… thanks to the fact that you cut my trees down to the ground, I do not have enough truffle fruit to get around them. And all my poor Bar-ba-loots get crumbs because they have gas in their bellies and no food! “
In the night kitchen (Maurice Sendak)
Some of the best stories for kids have hidden messages, an extra layer for adults. Kitchen Night has some incredible drawings and a fun storyline for kids, but Sendak says his book does indeed refer to the Holocaust – but not in the same way as small children:
“(…) The bakers who bake until dawn so we can make the pie in the morning mixed Mickey in the batter, chanting: Milk in the batter! Milk in batter! Stir it up! Scrape it off! Do it! Bake it! And they put that dough to bake a delicious Mickey Mouse cake.
(Disclaimer: This book sparked controversy because the main character Mickey is nude. It is still one of my favorite books.)
Any books by Nancy Tillman
In these books, the illustrations are especially beautiful – the bold and the dreamy – and the stories are cute. Take, for example, the introduction to The Night You Were Born :
“The night you were born, the moon smiled with such surprise that the stars looked in to see you, and the night wind whispered, ‘Life will never be the same.’ Because there has never been anyone like you … never in the world.