Edward Tufte’s ASK E.T. section, which resembles forums, has a delightful conversation about children’s books. Because of this, I bought The Water Hole and received it today. We read it to my youngest and I don’t know about him, but we loved it. Might have to get Graeme Base’s Animalia.
This discussion is dangerous to my pocketbook. If you scroll down about three-quarters of the way to the bottom, you’ll see a shot from the book along with notations. It isn’t a simple book you read aloud. It has things you might not notice the first time. I didn’t notice the silhouettes and of course, I couldn’t go look at them since the book is in the room where the sleeping boy is located.
I enjoy the works of Jon Scieszka, Lane Smith, and Chris Van Allsburg. Scieszka has a Web site listing books for little guys, middle guys, and older guys.
We read to our kids (4 and 6) a lot and have discovered some wonderful books. The Baby BeeBee Bird by Diane Redfield Massie and Rattletrap Car by Phyllis Root make the kids laugh, as do most of Ted Arnold’s books (No More Water In the Tub is a favorite). Despite tv and GameBoys, they also like the old classics. The House on East 88th Street with Lyle the Crocodile is a current hit. Oh, I could go on for hours and hours about children’s books. Aren’t you glad you have kids so you can read these books all over again?
You got that right! I bought children’s books before I had kids. One of my favorite classes in college was children’s literature. I wish there were more classes like that in college.