Children's Books

[dwanollah]

I think I'm going to go buy it; now you'll have to tell your friends you unwittingly converted another weepy mom...

NOOOOOOOOOOO!

;D

Lemme know what you think of the pictures, though. Now I'm curious!

While you're at it, pick up The Paperbag Princess. Same publisher, MUCH better book!

[prickle]

Dwanollah, I don't like Love You Forever, either. It's nice that the mom is always there to love her son. But when he's a grown man, and she's crawling in his window to rock him to sleep? Yeah, that's creepy. And I don't like that the book has a high sap factor over all, either. It's like the author is really wanting you to cry over it. Seems manipulative to me.

A book that has the same unconditional love message that is fun and won't make you cry is I Love You, Stinky Face. It's one of my favorites, and my 4 year old loves it, too. Really stellar stuff!

[Deleted]

We love I Love You, Stinky Face! It's cute w/o being sappy. I can't stand books that force you to feel emotional.

We got a book from the library called Bark, George! that was really cute. It's about this dog who won't bark, so his doggy mom takes him to the vet to find out why. The poor guy has eaten all of these things likes cows and cats, and he can only make the sounds of the animals he's eaten. The vet keep reaching into his mouth and pulling out animal after animal. Finally, George barks, so his mom brings him home. On the way, they pass through a crowd of people, and his mom is so excited that George can bark that she asks him to bark again. George opens his mouth and says, "Hello". Hee!

My kids also love a book called What Mom's Can't Do, about a dinosaur and his mother, and all of the things the mom can't do (like, "Moms can't always push the grocery cart fast enough", or "Moms can't wait to wake us up in the morning", or my favorite, "Sometimes moms can't hear themselves think (whatever that means)". Of course, kids love hearing about the things moms can't do. ;D

Jerry Seinfeld's Halloween book is really cute, even if it is fashioned more for adults (or at least people who once wore those cheesy plastic masks w/ the elastics for Trick or Treating).

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Here‘s a review of Love You Forever, complete with pictures. Pretty funny.

I have massive love for Louis Sachar, author of Holes, There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom (the ending of which made me cry every time I read it), and the awesome beyond compare Sideways Stories from Wayside School series. The first four books in the Bunnicula series by James Howe are really great, too.

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My nephews are in love with having me read aloud to them whenever I babysit. Their current favorite is The Velveteen Rabbit, a wonderful classic. I could not be more proud, except for that I tear up a little every time we read it. Oh, and the edition my sister bought for them, the Donna Green one, has the most amazing illustrations I have ever seen. Children's books are the best kind.

My mom read me Love You Forever when we were little, and it scared the shit out of me then. Still does. Of course, she cannot seem to grasp why it's so creepy. "A ladder, Mom. She uses a ladder to climb into his bedroom! That's breaking and entering!"

[genevieve]

forget Love You Forever for weep-worthy fun. I think thatThe Runaway Bunny owns that title forever.
You give this book to parents and they just break down. It is kryptonite.

Off the subject of weepy books but on the subject of children's books that I like is Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. WoopdeDoo I think this might be a fun book to read to your five year old. So many kids enjoy it because it goes silly places and a kid can enjoy the illustrations.
I admit I was disappointed by the sequel to this book. It just fell limp.

[dwanollah]

From that Love You Forever review:

Yep, ol' Mommy climbs up his house, crawls through his window and does the same thing. Man this guy sleeps better than anyone I've ever known! Well, you can see by looking at this small single bed that he never got married. And he had such a healthy upbringing, too. It's a shame!

*hysterics!*

And Svengali, I can't read The Velveteen Rabbit without bawling my stupid head off. I *still* hate that kid for letting them take his stuffed bunny away so easily! I don't care if you're sick and dying, FIGHT FOR THE BUNNY! FIGHT FOR THE BUNNY!

[vacationland]

I never read Love You Forever, but now I'm not sure I want to...between the weeping and apparent creepiness, yikes!

I was an early reader (from age 3) and the eldest kid in a big family, so I did my share of reading to my younger siblings. Kids have even less patience than adults at re-reading the same stories over and over (and over and over) so I got in the habit of making up new endings to stories I'd grown bored with. Once made the mistake of tacking on an even sadder ending to The Velveteen Rabbit and had to explain to my Mom why my little sister wouldn't stop crying. Heh.

I have a soft spot for Robert McCloskey books because I could relate to his spunky little Maine girl heroines (Sal even looked like me). I also loved Maurice Sendak and Dr. Seuss's gentle anarchy and the true-life adventure of the Little House books. I loved Lewis' Narnia books back then and would've loved the Harry Potter series as well, I'm sure. But one book that I really wish had been around when I was a kid was Squids Will Be Squids (Scieszka/Leach/Smith, 1998) -- it makes my nieces howl when we read it together. Plus, fables featuring animated beef sticks and morals like "takes one to know one" and "who smelt it, dealt it"? Pure kiddie comedy gold.

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Another book we like around here is Caps For Sale. I don't know if it's the noise the monkeys make ("Tsz, tsz, tsz!") or what, but my kids love reading that book. I think they also get a kick out of an adult being outsmarted by a bunch of monkeys.

That said, we never got into Goodnight Moon. Could someone explain that to me? What is so great about this book?

[vacationland]

Funny you should mention Caps For Sale...it's my younger niece's latest favorite, and the first book she's starting to read by herself. I'd completely forgotten it for the last 35 years or so, but the minute she put it in my hand to read with her last week, I had a huge deja vu moment. Remembered the whole thing, right down to the "Tsz! Tsz! Tsz!" It's kind of hokey and quaint at this point, but way nostalgic for me and apparently not too hokey for a modern 4 year old.