Thursday Thirteen: Books I read to my children

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When I made up my book meme a couple of weeks ago, one of the questions I asked concerned book we may have read to our children. I found so many others books that I had forgotten about mentioned in other people’s answers that I decided to focus a Thursday Thirteen on books I enjoyed reading to my children.

1. The Little Engine That Could.

2. Gus the Bus. This appears to be out of print not, but it’s one my kids loved reading over and over even after we had to tape it together. It’s about a dutiful school bus whose tires one day get too much air in them, which sends him through meadows chasing horses and such while all the kids are in school. When the bus driver finally finds him, discovers the problem, and brings him back, He goes back to his routine, but with a little smile and a daisy stuck next to his mirror.

3. Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? by Nancy White Carlstrom as well as others in the Jesse Bear series. Sweet stories, lovely art work.

4. Dr. Seuss, especially, of course, the perennial favorites The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham.

5. Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey.

6. Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey.

7. Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie by Peter Roop. This was one of my favorites, about a girl who has to keep the lighthouse lamps burning when her father is delayed from getting back home due to a storm.

8. P. D. Eastman. books, especially Go, Dog, Go, and Are You My Mother?

9. The Puppy Who Wanted a Boy by Jane Thayer.

10. Golden Books, especially The Poky Little Puppy, The Little Red Caboose, Scuffy the Tugboat.

11. Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton.

12. Arch books, but I was choosy with those. I don’t like Bible story books that are flippant or where the characters are drawn in a cartoonish way. I wanted my children to respect those stories and to differentiate between them and other stories.

13. The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes by Kenneth N. Taylor or one like this.

We read multitudes of books when they were younger, but these are the standout favorites that come to mind. As they got older they liked Encyclopedia Brown by Donald J. Sobol and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett and Ron Barrett and others.

I can’t wait to read some of these to my grandkids some day!

You can visit other Thursday Thirteeners here.

(Graphic Courtesy of Grandma’s Graphics.)

20 thoughts on “Thursday Thirteen: Books I read to my children”

  1. There are several I’ve never heard of….many favorites are on your list that I am reading to my grand child. Thanks for the heads up on several titles I had not heard before.

  2. Burton was a wonderful writer. Her books thrill me. Sometimes I take them out even though my daughter has moved on to Harry Potter and beyond!

  3. Reading your post brought back so many memories. Nancy read a number of these to our kids when they were young. It didn’t hurt that she was the librarian at BJES.

    As we would make the 700-mile trek from Greenville to Detroit for our summer visits with our parents, Nancy read several of those very same books to the kids. She also read “The Rats of Nimh” and some of Madeleine L’engle’s books as well.

    I am happy to say that, for the most part, my kids are still readers. We even have literary discussions over Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners from time to time.

  4. I see many favorites on your list. Either from my childhood or my daughter’s. She learned to read early and wanted to read them on her own so I missed out on reading to her as much as I wanted.

    I especially remember Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel from Captain Kangaroo.

    Come by and see my trip to the lake.

  9. Our children loved the Narnia series by C. S. Louis, Prydain Chronicle by Lloyd Alexander, Dark is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper, and the Time Trilogy by Madeleine L’Engle. What fun to read them aloud while traveling. My husband loved listening to these books while driving during our reading sessions. Now we travel with books on tape or CD.

    Goodnight Moon is another favorite of our children and grandchidlren.

  11. Jesse Bear was one of my children’s favorites, as well as the dayhome’s. We regularly check it out at the library and have read them all at one time or another. There is something so comforting about the way the stories are rhymed!

    Bears in Pairs was the hands down favorite and it helped to teach my children to read because of the easy rhyme the story uses. In fact, my husband found a copy on ebay and ordered it for me so I’ll be putting it away to read to my grandkids one day! Another fave and one I bought a copy of for each of my kids was “I’ll Love You Forever” by Robert Munsch.

  12. I think I have read all but ONE of the first 11… and unfortunately I never read my children Bible stories. *kicks self in butt one more time!* The one of course would be the one out of print! But if I had to pick favorites… well… ya know what? I think I’ll do my own post about this… tomorrow! Catch MY list then!

  13. What a great list! I haven’t heard of some of these. “The puppy who wanted a boy” sounds great. I’ll have to look into these for my book collection for my son!

    Thanks!

    Happy TT!

  14. There are several that I liked so well when my children were small that I have copies of them now as well. I’ll have to gather them and tell you about them. I also have several about Bears that I like.

    I’ve tagged you for a meme over at my place.

  15. Hello, Barbara!
    Oh, you are making me know for sure that I am going to miss teaching this year! I got a “bonus” reading aloud time in between reading to my kids and someday reading to my grandkids – reading to my first graders! There was never enough time to read aloud as much as I would like, but I made great effort to do it. You listed many of my favorites, esp. the McCloskey and P.D. Eastman books. Also, my 1st graders loved Curious George books. Susanne(#10 above ) mentioned “I’ll Love You Forever”. That is a great book, just make sure you have tissues handy! Also, a set of books that weren’t around when my kids were little, but I have been introduced to from teaching, is the “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie”, “If You Give a Moose a Muffin” ,etc. series by Laura Numeroff. Lastly, I really like the Jan Brett books.
    Thanks for the fun memories brought to mind by your post .

  18. Great list! I have read most of those with my daughter who is now 6 and I am sure the rest will follow with time.

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