Here’s a handful of titles we’ve enjoyed lately. If I’ve reviewed any of them at any point, I’ve linked to them here, otherwise, FYI, these are affiliate links:
Meet Danitra Brown and its two follow-ups, Danitra Brown, Class Clown and Danitra Brown Leaves Town, all by Nikki Grimes — these remain some of our favorite poetry books to revisit every fall
Applebet: An ABCby Clyde Watson — if you think a 7 and 10yo are no longer interested in an alphabet book — especially one in which you have to find an apple on each page — you’re dead wrong
My biggest win, Bunnicula: A Rabbit Tale of Mystery by Deborah and James Howe, which I’ve been trying to get my children to let me read for YEARS
Escape From Baxter’s Barn by Rebecca Bond — this will likely be our favorite read-aloud of the year; it’s so good
The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit by Julius Lester — this is my husband’s read-aloud with our children, and all three of them are obsessed, probably in no small part because these stories are hilarious (and sound 10x better in my husband’s Southern accent)
What are you reading with the children in your life?
(Board books, picture books, graphic novels, middle-grade titles, nonfiction, audiobooks, seek-and-finds — we’ve got all ages and no judgment here.)
My 5 yo got Diagrams, Diagrams, Diagrams! by Kelly Boswell from the school library last week and he loves it! His favorite page is about Venn Diagrams. We have read it 10 times.
We got some Halloween books from the library we liked last year- The Crayons Trick or Treat by Drew Dewalt and A Tiger Called Tomas by Charlotte Zolotow- it’s a beautiful book about a new kid who goes trick or treating and finds out how much everyone likes him and knows him already even in his tiger costume- it’s also in Spanish and English and my 7 yo loves to practice his Spanish, he’s very into his Duolingo streak of 500+ days.
I’m pleased to report we have 40 second graders who have reached their quarterly Accelerated Reader goal and get to go to the party- my kid is super excited for me to come to school midday and be there with them all.
I am reading Sanctuary by Paola Mendoza and Abby Sher- it’s honestly a bit triggering this close to the election but I appreciate the stories of immigrants and the way it captures the story of a teenager who is trying her best to protect her younger brother after they get separated from their mom. And the moment of recognition I had with her brother using hair gel just like my 7 yo made me cry.
Me and my daughter (7) are reading and rereading the 6th Dory Fantasmagory! And I just looked on Abby Hanlon's site & there's going to be a 7th book next fall-- eee!!
My son (just turned 4) has been loving Who Made This Cake? by Chihiro Nakagawa-- very fitting since it was just his birthday and he's loved looking at all the details of the illustrations.
Janae Marks' newest MG is a 10: A SPIT SECOND and I love the pacing and character development in K.B. Jackson's book 2 of the Sasquatch Hunters series:THE SASQUATCH OF HARRIMAM LAKE. MG mysteries are my fav. Inviting authors of this genre to join me and Kate Jackson and others at MaliceDomestic.net
Great time to visit DC and meet mystery authors and fans! Thanks fir asking what I'm reading!
I can’t believe the connections in our current reading list - my second grader and I are doing Bunnicula together, and I recently read Applebets with 1st graders at school. We will definitely check out Escape from Baxter’s Barn!
As a family, we just Rump by Liesl Shurtliff — strong start, we’ll see how it goes :)
Would HIGHLY recommend Aaron Becker's wordless "Journey" trilogy - my 2.5-year-old has loved making up the story with us, and the illustrations are gorgeous.
LOVE the Journey trilogy! We started them when our son was about 2.5 too and he still (5 years later!) picks them up and has even read them together with his 4.5 yo sister (who also loves them herself).
My son is so into the books by Marianne Dubuc—a random library find but I love them too! her illustrations are so packed with fun things to notice. Our favorites are the Mr. Postmouse ones!
We just finished the first PIPPI LONGSTOCKING and, while my kids (7.5 and almost 5) liked it, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I had hoped. We’ve been really enjoying the ANIMAL STORIES collection that I believe Sarah recommended and it has been a big hit. We’re also reading TOY DANCE PARTY which is the 2nd in the TOYS GO OUT series. Our car audiobook right now is the RAMONA series which is just wonderful and all 4 of us love.
Some recent fun picture books include: FINDING WINNIE: THE TRUE STORY OF THE WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS BEAR, IMAGINARY FRED, ROBO-SAUCE and I LOST MY TOOTH IN AFRICA.
Both of my kids (1 and 3) love King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub (Don and Audrey Wood), which I didn’t expect the baby to enjoy so much! They’re also both very into a cheap, silly little Fisher Price bath book, in Brazilian Portuguese, that I let my daughter grab at random one day. (We’re from the US but live in Brazil.) You never know what the little ones are going to fall in love with 🤷🏼♀️
I should add, I also love King Bidgood! It’s a very fun one to read aloud and the illustrations are gorgeous. Not only do I enjoy reading it over and over again, but sometimes I even ask if they want it instead of a book that I *don’t* really want to read (looking at you, Noisy Trucks 😵💫😂)
King Bidgood is so great. There are a couple of Don and Audrey Wood books that are really different from each other but that my kids also loved. Mostly Napping House and Heckedy Peg in addition to Kjng Bidgood. Heckedy Peg is for a little bit older kids than 1 and 3 but napping house would be great if you don’t know it.
Love when you do these posts, Sarah. King Bidgood was a favorite of my kids. Currently my 12 year old and I are reading Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell, and my 10 year old and I are reading Library Girl by Polly Horvath. I just finished Library Girl myself and loved it 😍
My little one is obsessed with Judith Kerr's Mog stories at the moment. We read the picture books together and then every night he asks to listen to the audiobook while he falls asleep. They're great fun to read aloud and the illustrations are gorgeous so I love them too.
Same! Mog and the VET is the current favourite here. The audiobooks are great too. There was a lovely animated version of Mog's Christmas released last year, I think its available on Prime, your little one might enjoy it.
Mine loves that one too! He likes to shout along when they have to call the dogs with "Heel! Sit! Stay! And come back!" - it's very cute. I will see if I can find the animated Mog's Christmas, I didn't realise it was on Prime! Thank you for that.
Love these features and hearing what people are reading. At bedtime this evening our 3 choices were The Day the Crayons Quit (Crayons on strike in US) by Drew Daywalt; In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak and a National Geographic kids book about Planets.
My 4 year old is obsessed with Mercy Watson books. I love these books so much I’ve been known to read to the end after my daughter goes to sleep to find out how they end 😂
We absolutely loved Mercy Watson, too. The Tales of Deckawoo Drive are also so great. And just a delight to not have to say goodbye to the characters (in fact to get to go deeper with them!) as your kids get older. 🤩
I just finished reading The Witches to my kids and they hung on every word. (Well, every word I read aloud — I did some selective editing for my 4-year-old.) It was a fun one, especially because the Grand High Witch has a distinctive way of speaking!
We are in the midst of an international move so we don't have access to our books or a library at the moment. But we did just go to a 2nd hard store and bought a copy of Possum Magic by Mem Fox that I doubt anyone outside of Australia knows about, though it is a classic that's been in print here for 40 years -- I think it is the best selling Australian children's book of all time.
I did some library tidying yesterday and came across Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say and I cried leafing through it, enjoying it all over again. The story is gentle and full of complex emotions and the watercolor illustrations are just dynamite!! One of our all time favorites.
We’ve loved Half Magic by Edward Eager and Detectives in Togas by Henry Winterfeld. I’m also enjoying introducing my younger child to the Strega Nona stories!
We've just finished two wonderful chapter books that I am reading to both of my girls (6 and 9) at the same time: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe and The Wild Robot. Both were so fantastic (I'd read TLTW&TW before, but not since I was in 3rd grade). Our Halloween books are in the rotation, too, so lots of Stumpkin and Gustavo the Shy Ghost.
Blythe and I are reading A Wrinkle in Time, which I never read as a child (I read 49 of 50 books for Battle of the Books, but refused to read this because (without reading it), I deemed it too "science-fiction-y". Blythe loves this anecdote and we are both loving the book. Just prior to this, we read One for the Murphys, which I couldn't recommend more. It is heart-wrenching in the best possible way.
I read TLTW&... to my kids earlier this year -- the first time *I've* ever read it -- and was underwhelmed. Maybe it's because I have heard for basically my entire life what an amazing and important book it is -- or because the religious messaging was just far too unsubtle, and too much for me -- but it did not live up to the hype, and my kids didn't want to continue with the next book.
The religious message did really hit you over the head. I think what I most enjoyed was that my kids were really engrossed in the story although -- like yours -- they haven't asked about the next book in the series.
Okay, we've moved onto the second Wild Robot book (The Wild Robot Escapes). Have you read these yet? This is our read to both girls at once book and we are all loving it (just like we did the first).
Blythe and I have moved on to From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basel E. Frankweiler. I think this is my first time reading it? How is that possible?
Did you participate in Battle of the Books growing up?
My second grader is super into graphic novels. I was pleasantly surprised how funny the Hilo series by Judd Winnick is, and we love anything by Ben Hatke and Chad Sell.
My 5 yo got Diagrams, Diagrams, Diagrams! by Kelly Boswell from the school library last week and he loves it! His favorite page is about Venn Diagrams. We have read it 10 times.
We got some Halloween books from the library we liked last year- The Crayons Trick or Treat by Drew Dewalt and A Tiger Called Tomas by Charlotte Zolotow- it’s a beautiful book about a new kid who goes trick or treating and finds out how much everyone likes him and knows him already even in his tiger costume- it’s also in Spanish and English and my 7 yo loves to practice his Spanish, he’s very into his Duolingo streak of 500+ days.
I’m pleased to report we have 40 second graders who have reached their quarterly Accelerated Reader goal and get to go to the party- my kid is super excited for me to come to school midday and be there with them all.
I am reading Sanctuary by Paola Mendoza and Abby Sher- it’s honestly a bit triggering this close to the election but I appreciate the stories of immigrants and the way it captures the story of a teenager who is trying her best to protect her younger brother after they get separated from their mom. And the moment of recognition I had with her brother using hair gel just like my 7 yo made me cry.
Me and my daughter (7) are reading and rereading the 6th Dory Fantasmagory! And I just looked on Abby Hanlon's site & there's going to be a 7th book next fall-- eee!!
My son (just turned 4) has been loving Who Made This Cake? by Chihiro Nakagawa-- very fitting since it was just his birthday and he's loved looking at all the details of the illustrations.
Janae Marks' newest MG is a 10: A SPIT SECOND and I love the pacing and character development in K.B. Jackson's book 2 of the Sasquatch Hunters series:THE SASQUATCH OF HARRIMAM LAKE. MG mysteries are my fav. Inviting authors of this genre to join me and Kate Jackson and others at MaliceDomestic.net
Great time to visit DC and meet mystery authors and fans! Thanks fir asking what I'm reading!
SPLIT SECOND. SORRY for the typo!
Really enjoyed this book too!
I can’t believe the connections in our current reading list - my second grader and I are doing Bunnicula together, and I recently read Applebets with 1st graders at school. We will definitely check out Escape from Baxter’s Barn!
As a family, we just Rump by Liesl Shurtliff — strong start, we’ll see how it goes :)
I want an audiobook from Matt! ❤️
Would HIGHLY recommend Aaron Becker's wordless "Journey" trilogy - my 2.5-year-old has loved making up the story with us, and the illustrations are gorgeous.
LOVE the Journey trilogy! We started them when our son was about 2.5 too and he still (5 years later!) picks them up and has even read them together with his 4.5 yo sister (who also loves them herself).
If you like wordless books, have you
checked out David Wiesner? His work is phenomenal. Flotsam and Mr. Wuffles are probably our favorites.
Thanks for the rec!!
My son is so into the books by Marianne Dubuc—a random library find but I love them too! her illustrations are so packed with fun things to notice. Our favorites are the Mr. Postmouse ones!
I am also a fan of her work!
We just finished the first PIPPI LONGSTOCKING and, while my kids (7.5 and almost 5) liked it, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I had hoped. We’ve been really enjoying the ANIMAL STORIES collection that I believe Sarah recommended and it has been a big hit. We’re also reading TOY DANCE PARTY which is the 2nd in the TOYS GO OUT series. Our car audiobook right now is the RAMONA series which is just wonderful and all 4 of us love.
Some recent fun picture books include: FINDING WINNIE: THE TRUE STORY OF THE WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS BEAR, IMAGINARY FRED, ROBO-SAUCE and I LOST MY TOOTH IN AFRICA.
Both of my kids (1 and 3) love King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub (Don and Audrey Wood), which I didn’t expect the baby to enjoy so much! They’re also both very into a cheap, silly little Fisher Price bath book, in Brazilian Portuguese, that I let my daughter grab at random one day. (We’re from the US but live in Brazil.) You never know what the little ones are going to fall in love with 🤷🏼♀️
I should add, I also love King Bidgood! It’s a very fun one to read aloud and the illustrations are gorgeous. Not only do I enjoy reading it over and over again, but sometimes I even ask if they want it instead of a book that I *don’t* really want to read (looking at you, Noisy Trucks 😵💫😂)
The illustrations in that book could be hung up and framed! And it’s a fun story to boot.
King Bidgood is so great. There are a couple of Don and Audrey Wood books that are really different from each other but that my kids also loved. Mostly Napping House and Heckedy Peg in addition to Kjng Bidgood. Heckedy Peg is for a little bit older kids than 1 and 3 but napping house would be great if you don’t know it.
I actually just ordered Napping House! My daughter saw the cover on the back of King Bidgood and was immediately intrigued!
Totally agree!!
My 8 yo and I have been loving Scary Stories for Young Foxes by Christian McKay Heidicker on audiobook during out morning drives this October.
Love when you do these posts, Sarah. King Bidgood was a favorite of my kids. Currently my 12 year old and I are reading Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell, and my 10 year old and I are reading Library Girl by Polly Horvath. I just finished Library Girl myself and loved it 😍
Ooh that’s my cue to read LIBRARY GIRL!!
I'm reading Scare School by Jarret Lerner and really, really enjoying it!
My little one is obsessed with Judith Kerr's Mog stories at the moment. We read the picture books together and then every night he asks to listen to the audiobook while he falls asleep. They're great fun to read aloud and the illustrations are gorgeous so I love them too.
Same! Mog and the VET is the current favourite here. The audiobooks are great too. There was a lovely animated version of Mog's Christmas released last year, I think its available on Prime, your little one might enjoy it.
Mine loves that one too! He likes to shout along when they have to call the dogs with "Heel! Sit! Stay! And come back!" - it's very cute. I will see if I can find the animated Mog's Christmas, I didn't realise it was on Prime! Thank you for that.
Love these features and hearing what people are reading. At bedtime this evening our 3 choices were The Day the Crayons Quit (Crayons on strike in US) by Drew Daywalt; In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak and a National Geographic kids book about Planets.
Beti and the Little Round House by Atinuke is everything my Fall heart desires. 🍂
HOW DO I NOT KNOW OF THIS ATINUKE BOOK?!?!
It’s new! I think it released in late spring this year.
I have admittedly had a year full of serious distractions and other preoccupations (which makes me feel slightly better for missing this one).
(I just went to put it on hold at the library and... I already have it on hold. That's all you need to know 🤦🏻♀️)
My 8yo daughter and I are reading The Cookie Chronicles (just finished #3) and loving them!! The perfect blend of silly and serious.
My 4 year old is obsessed with Mercy Watson books. I love these books so much I’ve been known to read to the end after my daughter goes to sleep to find out how they end 😂
We absolutely loved Mercy Watson, too. The Tales of Deckawoo Drive are also so great. And just a delight to not have to say goodbye to the characters (in fact to get to go deeper with them!) as your kids get older. 🤩
I second the love for The Tales of Deckawoo Drive — they’re hilarious.
I just finished reading The Witches to my kids and they hung on every word. (Well, every word I read aloud — I did some selective editing for my 4-year-old.) It was a fun one, especially because the Grand High Witch has a distinctive way of speaking!
I love this!
Bunnicula 4ever
4EVER AND EVER 🙌
We are in the midst of an international move so we don't have access to our books or a library at the moment. But we did just go to a 2nd hard store and bought a copy of Possum Magic by Mem Fox that I doubt anyone outside of Australia knows about, though it is a classic that's been in print here for 40 years -- I think it is the best selling Australian children's book of all time.
Possum Magic is a lovely book and while it’s not as well know as Fox’s other, more popular titles, it’s certainly around here in the US.
I did some library tidying yesterday and came across Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say and I cried leafing through it, enjoying it all over again. The story is gentle and full of complex emotions and the watercolor illustrations are just dynamite!! One of our all time favorites.
We’ve loved Half Magic by Edward Eager and Detectives in Togas by Henry Winterfeld. I’m also enjoying introducing my younger child to the Strega Nona stories!
We've just finished two wonderful chapter books that I am reading to both of my girls (6 and 9) at the same time: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe and The Wild Robot. Both were so fantastic (I'd read TLTW&TW before, but not since I was in 3rd grade). Our Halloween books are in the rotation, too, so lots of Stumpkin and Gustavo the Shy Ghost.
Blythe and I are reading A Wrinkle in Time, which I never read as a child (I read 49 of 50 books for Battle of the Books, but refused to read this because (without reading it), I deemed it too "science-fiction-y". Blythe loves this anecdote and we are both loving the book. Just prior to this, we read One for the Murphys, which I couldn't recommend more. It is heart-wrenching in the best possible way.
I read TLTW&... to my kids earlier this year -- the first time *I've* ever read it -- and was underwhelmed. Maybe it's because I have heard for basically my entire life what an amazing and important book it is -- or because the religious messaging was just far too unsubtle, and too much for me -- but it did not live up to the hype, and my kids didn't want to continue with the next book.
The religious message did really hit you over the head. I think what I most enjoyed was that my kids were really engrossed in the story although -- like yours -- they haven't asked about the next book in the series.
Also impossible to deny Lewis was an incredible writer -- some of the sentences in that book are genuinely breathtaking.
Okay, we've moved onto the second Wild Robot book (The Wild Robot Escapes). Have you read these yet? This is our read to both girls at once book and we are all loving it (just like we did the first).
Blythe and I have moved on to From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basel E. Frankweiler. I think this is my first time reading it? How is that possible?
Did you participate in Battle of the Books growing up?
I have not read any of the Wild Robot books (yet). I know they're beloved by many.
I didn't do any kind of Battle of the Books growing up -- that wasn't a thing where I live, or wasn't at the time.
My second grader is super into graphic novels. I was pleasantly surprised how funny the Hilo series by Judd Winnick is, and we love anything by Ben Hatke and Chad Sell.