Today is a special day, so I’m going to depart slightly from my usual Perfect Picture Book post and tell you a (very condensed :)) story.
Once upon a time, I had a house full of babies – diaper-clad, chubby-limbed, crawling, walking, running, climbing, lap-snuggling, bedtime-reading, dressing-up, imagining, adventuring, singing, dancing, laughing, mile-a-minute children – 5 amazing kids who filled our home with energy, love, and joy.
And they did what kids will do if you are blessed.
In what feels like a heart beat, they grew up.
This weekend, we will celebrate not one, but two graduations.
While they mark wonderful new beginnings – excitement, adventure, opportunity – they also mark the end of an era, and it’s making me a wee bit nostalgic.
So I want to share a special Perfect Picture Book Collection – a round-up of the family favorites that made up so many happy hours of reading at nap time and bedtime, on rainy afternoons or long car drives, with parents, grandparents, and older siblings, from babyhood until the move up to chapter books – a little glimpse of those golden childhood years which seem to have flown by far too quickly.
(Many have been reviewed for Perfect Picture Books and link to their reviews on the blogs of the wonderful PPBF bloggers who shared them. And a few I realized, had been reviewed at one time, but the links are no longer active – so they could be done again :))
Each Peach Pear Plum
The Itsy Bitsy Spider
The Cat In The Hat
The Cat In The Hat Comes Back
Go, Dog, Go! (was reviewed but link is no longer active)
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish
Make Way For Ducklings (was reviewed but link is no longer active)
Blueberries For Sal (was reviewed but link is no longer active)
Bedtime For Frances (whole series)
Madeline (whole series) (has been reviewed twice but don’t have links on hand)
Curious George
Mike Mulligan And His Steam Shovel
George And Martha (whole series)
The Story Of Ferdinand
Contrary Bear
Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon (has been reviewed but don’t have link on hand)
Cowgirl Rosie And Her Five Baby Bison
The King, The Mice, And The Cheese
The Best Nest
The House On East 88th Street (whole series)
Of course there were many others, but those are some of the tried-and-true, beloved by all the kids regardless of age, stage, or gender, that were read over and over so often that I used to be able to recite many of them by heart. If you’re looking for a list of best books to give as a baby gift, or just want a field-tested group of favorites, I highly recommend all of the above 🙂
Today’s picture-book-aged kids likely have a different set of favorites, but I’m curious: how many of these are on your list of family favorites?
This weekend’s graduations are scheduled for the same day… same time… different states, which means neither child will have her whole family in attendance, and none of us will be able to attend both milestone moments (which, as you can imagine, is causing a great deal of heart wrenching.) It also means that in order to attend at least part of each child’s momentous occasion, there will be a lot of traveling, so please forgive me if I fail miserably to visit your blogs and read your choices this weekend. I will try to catch up next week!
For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.
PPBF bloggers please be sure to leave your post-specific link in the list below so we can all come visit you!
Have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend, and enjoy whatever events you may have planned, or just happy time with your families!
Happy beginning of summer 🙂
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Susanna Leonard Hill 