It happens that my jobs over the past year have brought me into frequent contact with children’s books. I hadn’t thought much about children’s books since I was kid myself. It’s been interesting to get absorbed in them again, and discover how vividly I remember some of these books, as if every illustration were burned into my brain.
I rarely feel the need to own novels, but I find that I want to buy these children’s books. They’re so beautiful, it makes me want to give them a home. It seems silly for a grown woman to buy children’s books for herself, so instead I’ve gifted them to a number of friends with kids.
In case you have children of your own (or, like me, just a regressive desire to buy children’s books), here are ten of my all-time favorites:
Heckedy Peg
Audrey Wood and Don Wood, 1987
The Biggest Bear
Lynd Ward, 1952
The Lonely Doll
Dare Wright, 1957
Gorilla
Anthony Browne, 1983
Bread and Jam for Frances
Russell Hoban and Lillian Hoban, 1968
Miss Rumphius
Barbara Cooney, 1982
Roxaboxen
Barbara Cooney, 1991
The Sweetest Fig
Chris Van Allsburg, 1993
Angelina and Alice
Katharine Holabird, 1987
Trouble With Trolls
Jan Brett, 1994