Maybe Matilda: 10 of Forrest’s Favorite Picture Books

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

10 of Forrest’s Favorite Picture Books

Forrest has taken a big interest in books over the last year, and I am thrilled to do whatever I can to encourage him. We head to the library each week for story time and to fill up our library bag, and these visits are always a highlight of the week.

I’ve noticed something unfortunate that will probably not be a big surprise to any of you who are the parents of excited young readers: there are lots of crappy picture books out there. And I’ve gotten so tired of accidentally bringing home boring picture books that I’ve started researching books each week to make sure I only get ones he and I will both love.

So to help any others who have gotten frustrated with reading not-great picture books to their kids, here are 10 of our favorites—some of the books that we read over and over, that we both enjoy.

Great picture books for preschool boys, that both mom and son will enjoy reading!

Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle – A sweet story, fantastic illustrations, and perfect as a read-aloud. Plus it’s about a truck, so of course this one is a favorite for many little boys.

Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein – A funny bedtime read about a chicken who just can’t make it through his own bedtime story without interrupting to change the story’s ending.

Any of the Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems – Forrest loves all of the Elephant and Piggie books (there are many!), and knows exactly where to find them on our library shelves. They are so clever and lovable, and Forrest has become very particular about how, exactly, their voices should be read.

The Duckling Gets a Cookie!? by Mo Willems – While we’re chatting about Mo Willems, might as well mention his Pigeon books, too. Forrest loves them, particularly this one.

The Seven Silly Eaters by Marla Frazee – I hoped this funny book about 7 picky siblings would touch Forrest’s stubborn, picky heart. It did not, but it’s a great little book anyway.

The Book With No Pictures by B.J. Novak – I was skeptical about this one—what is the point of a pictureless picture book?—but it is fantastic. The creative type and clever writing have you providing all the silliness, and Forrest asked me to read this one over and over.

No, David! by David Shannon – This book is short on words, but will get you both giggling anyway. Particularly hilarious for Forrest was having his name substituted for David’s. He laughed so hard, every time.

Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems – The illustrations in this one are so fun (cute cartoon-y drawings over black and white city photography), and to my surprise, Forrest noticed immediately when Knuffle Bunny, Trixie’s precious stuffed bunny, went missing. Which of course makes me terrified at the thought of Forrest ever losing his own precious blankie.

When Dinosaurs Came with Everything by Elise Broach – Forrest seemed to like this one when he heard it at story time, so I checked it out and we must have read it a dozen times together. Such a great book, and perfect for little dinosaur lovers.

Otis by Loren Long – This cute farm story reads like a vintage book, but is fresh enough to keep Forrest involved (he generally gets bored when I try to read older books with him). He also really loved An Otis Christmas at Christmas time. 

I’d love to hear your favorite pictures books, too! I’m always looking for new ones.

25 comments :

  1. OOOh, I love this!! I am always chancing it when we go to the library....I check out like 10 books because there's bound to be a few good ones in there, right? I usually do Okay, but....this is a great list! My kids love many of these. Thanks for posting!

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  2. Otis and Mo Willems are great. My son still loves all the Sandra Boynton books, although he's starting to outgrow those. Harold and the Purple Crayon is a new favorite, although an older book. Sleep like a Tiger is wonderful. The Graeme Base books are also beautiful, he's just now getting to be old enough for those. I highly recommend them for the artwork - absolutely amazing.

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  3. Dinosaurs Love Tacos. My son loves this book.

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  4. These are great books. Other favorites at our house are "Timothy and the Super Strong Pajamas", "Crankee Doodle", "The Day The Crayons Quit", and "More Bears". Our library is closing this weekend for a month while they move into our new, bigger and much needed library. We are going to miss an entire month of no library days!

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  5. We love the Little Blue Truck series too! A new favorite is the Pout Pout Fish. Cute read and great pictures!

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  6. Seriously, I am done with choosing library books at random. There's only like a 5% success rate.

    And isn't that one cute? We love it. May need to purchase it.

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  7. We love Sleep Like a Tiger, too! The illustrations are amazing. I'll have to try Harold and the Purple Crayon with him--I love the idea of sharing books with him that I remember reading when I was little.

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  8. That one looks so cute--I'm on hold for it at the library! Thanks for the rec.

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  9. Thank you for the recommendations! We went to the library this morning and brought Crankee Doodle home (my library has a really limited selection--the fact that they even had 1 out of 4 of your recs was pretty surprising). Good luck coping with no library--that is rough!

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  10. That one looks so cute--I'm going to see if my library has it. Thanks for the idea!

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  11. You should check out Pirates Don't Change Diapers and How I Became a Pirate- they are soooo cute!! Also, Go Away Big Green Monster is a fun book. I don't have kids of my own, but I've been teaching preschoolers for over 10 years and these books are a hit. ☺️ Walter The Farting Dog series is fun, but might be for older kiddos...

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  12. Hope you enjoy it. My kids still call lasagna "fancy" after reading it.

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  13. I definitely know what you mean about bad picture books. I have disappeared a few that I could not stand to read one more time ("That book? I'm not sure, Sweetie, I'm sure it will turn up . . . ). I'll be looking for the books you mentioned above the next time we go to the library. Our favorite picture book authors are Julia Donaldson (all of them, but especially The Snail and The Whale and Room on the Broom), Bonny Becker's Bear and Mouse series (A+ to Bedtime for Bear and A Visitor for Bear), and Russell Hoban's Francis the Badger series (I adore Best Friends for Francis). As a fellow introvert, you might like Say Hello, Vanessa by Marjorie Sharmat - we referred to the book when my daughter had trouble learning to talk to people at school. I love reading all of these books out loud, and I can do it over and over.

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  14. We just started checking out books and we've definitely come home with a few duds so I'm excited to check some of these books out! We did just happen upon a fun one last week called Double Trouble in Walla Walla.

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  15. Those sound adorable! Thanks for the recommendations :-)

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  16. Hahaha, oh yes, we have had a few disappearances at our house, too ;-) I remember Best Friends for Frances from when I was a kid! Thanks for all the recommendations--I'm excited to check them out.

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  17. It's SO hard to find the motivation to exercise when it was freezing out! I hope it warms up a bit for you soon!

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  18. That sounds cute! I'll look for it at the library. Thank you!

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  19. LOVE Seven Silly Eaters (amazing illustrations) and my kids enjoyed Little Blue Truck and Otis as well! There are a number of Otis books, plus 2 more Little Blue Truck as well. Others we've enjoyed include most of the books by Karma Wilson (Little Pip, Bear), Nick Bland, Amy Rosenthal . Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae is super cute... I'm sure if I looked back on my Goodreads I could come up with a really long list! :P

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  20. SO TOTALLY WRONG!!!!! If you hold the very first chain and start your count with the second chain as #1then you will have the correct number of chains in y our foundation. I am a nationally certified Crochet Instructor throughout the Craft Yarn Council. This is exactly why professional crochet lessons are IMPORTANT. ALL MICHAEL'S CRAFT STORES HAVE NATIONALLY CERTIFIED CROCHET( and knitting )INSTRUCTORS. CHECK ALL STORES THAT TEACH CROCHET FOR A CERTIFIED INSTRUCTOR. I TEACH AT AN A.C.MOORE STORE.

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  21. LOL! Well I'm happy to say I've been doing this for months. I started doing this as a result of learning the chainless foundation. My first "stitch" is ALWAYS super loose so I started doing this to tighten up that knotted first chain after finishing my first row...
    BTW "happy" bc I finally new something or did something in crochet before it becomes "popular." LOL
    No judgement on those just figuring it out!
    :)

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  22. Thanks for the recommendations! I need to look for more Otis books--I know there are quite a few but we have only read two. Forrest would probably love more Otis in his life :-P

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  23. Yay! We love Little Blue Truck and Otis, but most of the others are new to us. Looking forward to checking them out.


    One of Henry's very favorites is "Train Man," and there are also a few others - "Digger Man" comes to mind. Great for little dudes.

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  24. I am *shocked* to hear that Henry is into Train Man, it just doesn't seem like his jam.

    ;-)

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