Question

When I was growing up my favorite book (and I always get the title wrong) was Horton Hatches an Egg. I loved it because it was about truthfulness and trustworthiness. (the other was Horton Hears a Who -- similar themes) I still like it for those reasons, but I think I have moved on. There are many children's books that I really like and it is difficult to choose between them, but I think I will go with Abel's Island. There are several reasons. One is very fond memories of sharing it with Mendon. He loved that book, and loved for me to read it to him. Reading a book to someone outloud allows you to experience the book in a different way, to partially see it through the eyes of your listener. Abel's Island (William Stieg) is a rather spiritual book and, like most of Stieg's books, is about relationship, seperation and reunification (or not -- Amos and Boris). Reading it with Mendon brought a flavor to it that I might have missed had I only thought of it as a 'children's book' and skimmed my way through it.
I think one of the things that is different about me now from then is that I don't take relationships for granted. As a child, your mother, father, brothers (in my case) are just there. You don't think about them, you love them and they love you, well, just because. . . because they are there, because they/you 'have' to, whatever. Now that I'm the Mamma, I realize that it is up to me to keep relationships going. They are fragile things. I cherish them more, so their importance as a theme that is going to appear in my favorites list. Horton may be true to his word, but his relationships sucked big time. He is shunned and laughed at by everyone. He gets took by the Stupid Bird (I can't remember what kind of bird it was), and then the baby doesn't even stay with Horton. It is sort of co-dependant behavior to sit on that egg, but I still stick with the trustworthiness issue.
PS. I think Children's Literature has improved since my day, at least the picture/story books. Dr Seus was a big thing in my childhood, and there wasn't much else to choose from. Blueberries for Sal. Homer and the Doughnuts. (Again, I think I have the title wrong, but it was something like that. I thought that book was pretty funny. I did find it and read it to Mensch, but it just didn't seem as funny the second time around.)

Don't you mean Nathan? At least, Nathan was the one who made you read Abel's Island over and over and over - even though he cried every time.

No, I wanted Maman to read me Amos & Boris over and over again.

I kept hoping the ending would change. That's my favorite book from childhood.

As to favorite children's book...well, Harry Potter is ostensibly a children's book, right? Not my favorite, though.

His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman are my favorite children's books, although all children's books in this genre seem to have the same shitty theme running through them - The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Prydain Chronicles...the magic always ends.

Nathan had me read Amos & Boris over and over and he cried each time. Mendon had me read Abel's Island. They both are by William Stieg.

Hooray, another fan of His Dark Materials! Although I love that trilogy, I have been trying to think what my favorite book for little kids is. My mom says that, when I was very little, before I can remember, my favorite book was a Little Golden book called We Help Mommy. I also remember my dad reading to me One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, which I liked for its silliness, along with many, many other Suess books (and many, many other books in general!) As for right now, some of the childrens books in the running for my favorite are:
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
The Lorax by Dr. Suess
The Sneetches by Dr. Suess
For Every Child a Better World by Kermit the Frog and read to me by Jessica Dumford

Hayley, I'm so glad you reminded me of For Every Child a Better World! What a fabulous book.
Oh, and Mendon, seeing that he's not volunteering the info here as readily as in our class, cries over Amos and Boris as well.

The way I handled it when Nae cried was to hide the book. I think I would handle it differently now. That is why we have a second chance with Grandchildren.

When Mendon was about 4 I was reading The Velveteen Rabbit (not my favorite but appropriate -- Popop had just died). We were sitting in the blue rocker in the living room. Nathan (about 16) was in his room, cleaning it, maybe? (that seems unlikely, but he was moving in an out of the room initially) As I read more and more, I became aware of Nathan's stillness. I realized that he was standing behind us, riveted by the story. No dry eyes in the house after that one. It was a very special moment for me.

Notice the time on the posts that Nathan and I made commenting in Amos & Boris! Almost creepy. His comment was not there when I started writing.

I am intrigued by the discussion of the William Stieg books. I have never heard of them, but would like to read them sometime.

Ah. I didn't think it was called Abel's Island (Nathan's book) - that explains it.

I still can't think of my favorite book . . .

This is just my favorite(s) for the moment. There are others I really love, too. Mog, the Forgetful Cat. The Little Monster books. Patrick. Etc. I love the books that helped me to laugh with my children, that really tickled my funny bone. John Mouse.

I was going to say John Mouse before I finished reading your entry! I loved John Mouse - I'm so sad he seems to have completely disappeared!

And I can't believe I forgot Mog. One of my co-workers is British and keeps saying "oh bother!". Each time I hear it I giggle - I can't help but think of Mog!

Also, one of my most precious childhood memories is of our mother reading us the Little House on the Prairie series one year, every night before going to bed. All that was missing was a rocking chair . . .

One of our family's staples was the Little Critter books. These are my Pets and the one about "You make the mess, you pick up the mess" were read all the time. That phrase (You make the mess.) was repeated over and over for years! ; )
Actually, I went to Amazon to find a title and now that I'm browsing Little Critter, I'm realizing how many we actually read, and how often! (Wow) I can even hear some of them. It's funny how the ones that were probably the most needed are the ones that I remember the most of.

I'm glad you enjoyed Little House. I cherish the memory, but that was not one of favorite books. Aunt Cindy loves it too, but she grew up with it. Now, in the way of chapter books from my childhood, I loved the Oz series. Very different than the movie, really transported me. I don't think they are read much anymore. Also, Little Women. And another one I can't quite remember. I think I may have it at home. (I hope so) The Little Lame Prince? I think that was it. I loved that story and the whole book it was part of. Thanks for reminding me

Another book that I loved was an oversize picture book, green in color, that had a collection of stories. The ones I liked best were the ones about fairies. If you go back, Margaret Wise Brown illustrated by Garth Williams (I am doing this from memory, so I might not have this right.) were some of my favorites. They both were published by Golden Books, believe it or not. I really loved those illustrations. I wish I could remember the name of that book. There was another Golden Book that I can't remember the name of, but I read it to you guys too. It was sort of sing-songie and went something like "I like boats, red boats, slow boats, big boats, tooting boats . . .", etc. You get the picture. I loved that book. Yesterday I volunteered to be the answer-lady in the hall for the first day or two of classes. As I watched this extremely diverse stream of humanity flow by, I thought of that book. "I like people, tall people, short people, fast people, slow people, people who primped for hours, and people who just rolled out of bed, people who have the deer in the headlights look and people who are jaded beyond belief. . .

Little Critter books were a good match for your younger brother's attention span. I enjoyed reading books to you that allowed me some theatrical liberty and had you asking for one more chapter, like Peter Pan.
From my childhood, I also was raised on the Dr. Seuss library, and I liked Horton and the Sneetches. Add Bartholomew and the Oobleck to the list.(Good life messages, silly feel-good books, and boy were they easy to memorize- "an elephant's faithful one hundred percent".

I loved the Little Critter books! I didn't discover them until Mendon, but they were so appropriate! We all loved them. I had forgotten about them.

It's hard to remember my favorite book from childhood because I read SO much. I know there was a hardback green book that had a see serpent/ dragon that was lonely or had some issues and it seemed long. It disapeared but I think I loved it- maybe I'm remembering that Mendon loved it. OH, I remember. Mara used to read to me Outside Over There by Maurice Sendak (Author of where the wild things are). I also loved A little Princess, which my mother bought me and I still like to go back and read- I hate the disney movie, not true enough to the story, though very close. I love it because the little girl is a perfect heroine. I loved reading so much I consumed books. I used to read by my nightlight- probably why I got glasses in 7th grade instead of in highschool as all my siblings did.
As an adult I really loved The Counte of Monte Christo- it's a thrilling story with such satisfying revenge- the opposite of my other choice! Also phenominal was Jitterbug Perfume, Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and of course. . . A Fairwell to Arms.

Cyrus the Unsinkable Sea Serpent by Bill Peet, and it was Nathan's favorite book.