Top Five Children’s Books for the 90s Kid

It’s a rainy Monday morning here in downtown Oneonta and I’m feeling a bit nostalgic.

When I signed onto my Gmail account this morning I noticed today’s Google Doodle celebrating the life of children’s author Maurice Sendak. Sendak was made famous by the children’s book he authored and illustrated, Where the Wild Things Are. The book was published in 1963 and has remained a classic to this day. Today would have been Sendak’s 85th birthday.

Check out the Google Doodle for June 10, 2013 here:

I decided to take a trip down memory lane this morning and countdown my top five favorite children’s books, with Where The Wild Things Are topping off my list at number one. Here are five books I loved as a child and still do to this day.

#5: Loud Emily by Alexis O’Neill, illustrated by Nancy Carpenter

I’m going to be honest here; I loved this book mainly for the reason that my name is in the title, but it’s has a great story as well. Loud Emily tells the story of a boisterous little girl whose voice bellows through her town from her birth. Her parents didn’t know what to do with such a loud little girl so they decided to send her off to Miss Meekmeister’s School for Soft-Spoken Girls. On the day before she was to leave her home, Emily and the cook headed down to the harbor where she saw a sign on a ship needing a loud voiced individual. She climbs aboard and gets the job yelling orders out to the crew. She saves the ship from many storms and rocks and becomes a hero for her seaside town. Emily eventually moves back with her parents into a lighthouse on the shore to warn other sailor’s of inclement weather. 

#4: No, David written and illustrated by David Shannon

No, David was a favorite of mine because it involved a little boy doing things he shouldn’t have and getting yelled at for it. There are very few words throughout the book’s pages besides no and David. The pictures in the book do most of the storytelling. Images of David getting into the cookie jar, tracking mud through the house overflowing the bathtub, playing with his food and running naked through the street are all found within this book’s pages. But of course at the end David’s mother says yes, David I love you. This story just goes to show no matter what trouble children get into, parents still love them.

#3 Now Everybody Really Hates Me by Jane Read Martin and Patricia Marx illustrated by Roz Chast

To go along with the theme of children doing things they shouldn’t have, Now Everybody Really Hates Me is about a girl who is being punished and has locked herself in her room. She is in trouble because she hit her brother at his birthday and called him a dumbbell in front of everyone. She then decided she will stay in her room forever, unless her family is having something good to eat for dinner. She will stay up super late every night and make her room little brother proof by lining the door with tacks. She will also quit speaking English. The book goes on and on with her plan to stay in her room forever. But in the end, she ends up coming back down to her brother’s party for cake and ice cream. This book is always good for a laugh and shows the thought process kids go through when they are in timeout. 

#2 Love You Forever by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Sheila McGraw

Love You Forever is widely regarded as a classic children’s book. It was published in 1986 and tells the story of a mother and child. As the reader turns the pages they will see the child growing into a man. At the end of every day the mother sings to her child: I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, As long as I’m living my baby you’ll be. Once the child has grown and moved out of the house the story reverses, and the man becomes the one to sing to his mother the same song. He then passes this tradition down to his daughter. The story shows the circle life takes and the influence our parents have on their children. This is a cute story but at times can be a tearjerker; tissues should be handy.

#1 Where the Wild Things Are written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak

Where the Wild Things Are tells the story of a boy full of mischief named Max. Max gets in trouble with his mother and is sent to bed with no dinner. There his imagination runs wild and he is transported into a forest. He jumps on a boat and sails away into the ocean until he arrives at an island where the wild things are. Max tames the monsters on the island and becomes their king. They have adventures all around the island but Max becomes disappointed with being there. He leaves the place where the wild things are and makes it back to his room where his dinner was waiting for him. This story shows the wild imagination that exists in a child’s mind, one that can take them anywhere they want to go.

See if you can dig up some of your favorite children’s books and share them with a child you know today.