Thoughts on what gets on a “favorite book list” to read to my child—and why …
The good news ─ for books ─ is that the criteria for making my favorite list is way easier than the criteria
for making the favorite ice cream list. There have always been only a few favorite ice cream flavors for
me. It all comes down to taste. The top of the list – chocolate, dark chocolate, fudge chocolate, chocolate
brownie, fudge ripple, and chocolate supreme. You get the picture. Occasionally I will go for mint chip
or black cherry but only if coupled with one of the chocolates, and preferably in a 3 scoops chocolate to 1
scoop “other” ratio.
For books, it is a more complicated formula. It isn’t only about the story, the flavor of the story.
First, the story has to be fun or interesting to be reading to my son, preferably both fun and interesting.
And there is the great phrasing or great rhyming or the impressive creativity of storytelling at its best.
And if the story carries a lesson or two and has some teachable moments, that’s a big plus. Then my son
has to be willing to sit through the reading so even if I am loving the book it can’t be a favorite if my son
isn’t liking the book. One of the most important ─ the story has to be accompanied by great illustrations
(and a lot of them) because art work is essential. Color is better than black and white. Sorry for those of
you who like black and white for artistic reasons. It’s a big plus if the book is part of a series, because
once we like the characters, the settings and art work, it’s reassuring to pick up a book that’s familiar but
you get the benefits of a new story. Books with compilations of stories – mini-stories – are great too
because you can pick and choose among them ─ it’s great to have that factor of choice to make it more
interesting when you sit down to select with your child what to read. The length of story is important too
─ you want to get through the story in a single setting. It’s not so great to have to put the story down midstream because it’s too long and your child has already fallen asleep, or have it so short that it’s over too
soon and your still wide-awake child is now asking for two or three more stories and you’re exhausted.
Also, legible fonts are good─ and bigger are nice so I don’t have to go find my reading glasses. Then
there’s book binding ─ you don’t want the book pages to be falling out while you’re reading. And the
redundancy factor. For mysterious reasons some of these stories are going to get on your child’s “read it
again and again” list. So you better pick some favorites of yours that you hope get on the ”do over” list to
sustain you when you have to read that story for the 200th time.
When my son is little, we read through hundreds of books. Many books we buy at the grocery and
bookstore – there isn’t the online option then. And many stacks of books we check out from the library.
The earliest favorites are “baby books” made out of cloth I can wash up after “reading.” As a toddler my
son is convinced that the way to experience the story best is to chew the words in his mouth, spitting them
out on the page when he’s done.
A next stage brings in the whimsical Dr. Seuss books – favorites are The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs
and Ham. I’ll come back to Dr. Seuss in another blog because his books make such a big impact on our
lives.
And we like pop-up books of all kinds. These are the books that bring to life in 3-D gardens and underthe-sea adventures and rabbits hiding behind giant birthday cakes.
The Berenstain bears make the list too, with relatable stories about every-day activities like going to the
dentist, eating junkfood, dealing with new neighbors, too much television, and forgetting manners. These
books are especially great for teachable moments.
Soon the dinosaur books join the favorite list. One of the Golden Press Books, The Giant Golden Book of
Dinosaurs and Other Prehistory Reptiles by Jane Werner Watson with illustrations by Rudolph F.
Zallinger gets read more than 200 times. We like it especially because it’s written in the present tense so
you get the feeling that diplodocus, psittacosaurus, stegosaurus, and tyrannosaurus are swimming in warm
seas, hunting for food, and moving from place to place in the here and now ─ even as the book tries to
convey the concept of history, through drawings depicting different archeological periods across an
impressive span of 250 million years.
Truly a favorite is the Stories of Gods and Heroes: Famous Myths and Legends of the World, adapted by
Morris Schreiber with illustrations by Art Seiden (Grosset & Dunlap). This book gets read so many times
the hardback cover gets separated from the 100 or so inside pages. This book has the advantage of
impressive artwork to illustrate 31 myths from Greece and Rome, with 18 others from around the world
including the favorite King Arthur and his Knights from the ancient Celts; the battle horse of King Oleg
from Russia; journey to the underworld from Polynesia; the cat who danced at night from Africa; and
Johnny Appleseed and Buffalo Bill from American folklore. The enduring favorites from Greece and
Rome are Prometheus, the fire-bringer; Pandora’s Box; Daedalus and his young son, Icarus; Hero and
Leander; Echo and Narcissus; Midas and the golden touch; the Gorgon’s Head; the 12 labors of Hercules;
and Jason and the Golden Fleece.
Another favorite are the Joe Kaufman series published by Golden Press. There’s About the Big Sky,
About the High Hills, About the Rich Earth …and the Deep Sea. This book explains a lot ─ to us both─
about the stars, planets, clouds, weather instruments, caves, earthquakes and volcanoes. How We are
Born, How We Grow, How Our Bodies Work … and How We Learn is a great practical book again
explaining to us both where tears come from, what makes us yawn, what makes us blush, and why our
skin perspires. And Wings, Paws, Hoofs and Flippers creates great games and questions to answer while
dispensing a lot of knowledge: ‘you’re in the Arctic and a one-ton, two-tusked walrus goes floating by.
What are those long tusks for?’ And ‘You’re watching a race between an ostrich, horse, gazelle, and
cheetah. Who will win?’
One other group of favorites: classic fairy tales. Some favorites are published by Derrydale, a division of
Crown publishers. Like Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, retold by Kay Brown from stories of the
Arabian Nights, illustrated by Gerry Embleton.
I’m saving the best for last ─ the Bill Peet books, with whimsical stories and fabulous illustrations. We
especially like Big Bad Bruce; How Droofus the Dragon Lost His Head; Ella; The Pinkish Purplish
Blueish Egg; The Caboose Who Got Loose; and Buford the Little Bighorn. Peet books are such favorites
I’m making a mental note to come back to them in another blog.
So these are my thoughts today on what gets on the favorites list ─ and why.
I hope lots of guest bloggers come forward to share your thoughts ─ what gets on your favorite book list
and why? And if you want to share your favorite ice cream flavor, that would be good too!