Picture This

I have been collecting children’s picture books for about twenty years. A year or so ago, I decided to take inventory and categorize my 300+ books. I have 30+ categories ranging from Alphabet Books to Winter Books, with Friends, Families, Insects, Oceans and many more in between!

My collection began when I was in college becoming an Early Childhood Educator. I remember the first books that were given to me, as a student. I was doing a two day per week field placement at a resource centre for children with behavioural and emotional difficulties. Upon completion of my placement, the staff took me out for lunch and gave me two books. One was called My Bear, I Wish, Do You? And the other was titled, This Is Me. Both were toddler-style board books. I still have them. They are in the “Toddler-Time” section of my collection.

My seven year old daughter (Sugar-Plum) has quite a nice picture book collection of her own, which she has now outgrown. She has moved on to the greener pastures of Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia (much to my delight) as well as the mainstream mediocrity of the Rainbow Fairies (these books aren’t bad; they just lack the real magic that authors like J.K Rowling and C.S Lewis can make come alive on the page). As for Junie B. Jones, well she’s not welcome in our home until she learns some manners!

Anyway, Sugar Plum’s picture books have gradually become intermingled with mine. Those books still belong to her, but she has agreed that it makes sense to house them together with mine in their appropriate categories. Especially since she needs the space on her book shelf for her ever-growing collection of chapter books! There is now an impending list-and-category re-vamping to be done very soon!

I have been writing reviews for some of my best loved children’s books and do plan to feature them here in the coming weeks. For starters though, I decided to post a list of many of the best loved titles in MY collection. I tried to make a Top 10, but it is far too difficult to narrow it down.

20 Best Loved Titles

A Colour of His Own
Leo Lionni

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Judith Viorst

Are You My Mother?
P.D Eastman

Big Sarah's Little Boots
Paulette Bourgeois
Brenda Clark

Big Wolf and Little Wolf
Sharon Philips Denslow
Cathie Felstead

The Carrot Seed
Ruth Krauss
Crockett Johnson

The Dark at the Top of the Stairs
Sam McBratney
Jill Barton

Green Eggs and Ham
Dr. Seuss

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
Laura Joffe Numeroff

It Looked Like Spilt Milk
Charles G. Shaw

Jillian Jiggs
Phoebe Gilman

Night Is Coming
W. Nikola-Lisa
Jamichael Henterly

One Grey Mouse
Katherine Burton
Kim Fernades

Owl and The Pussycat, The
Lear, Edward
Brett, Jan

The Popcorn Shop
Alice Low
Patti Hammel

Rain Talk
Mary Serfozo
Keiko Narahashi

The Snowy Day
Ezra Jack Keats

The Temper Tantrum Book
Edna Mitchell Preston
Rainey Bennet

The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Eric Carle

Wombat Stew
Marcia K. Vaughan
Pamela Lofts

I will soon post a list of favourites from Sugar Plum's collection as well as a list of favs that I don't actually own.