Book Lists

Two different public library systems put out "100 Books Your Child Should Hear before Kindergarten" lists here and here. While there are many books on both lists, there are also some differences. There is no documentation I was able to find regarding how the lists were composed for either library. Still we are always looking for recommendations for good books and chances are these are good books.

That being the case I went through and compiled both lists into one, removing duplications. I ended up with 164 books which means that while there were some duplications, there were lots of differences as well. Many of the ones that were duplications were also the obvious ones that we have already read.

I think I like the list from Tacoma Public Library better simply because more of the books we have not read looked interesting. As well there were fewer on that list that we had read and not liked.

There are a few on the combined list that we read so long ago when Froggy was just a teeny tiny baby that after being reminded of them I want to share again with her. I was surprised at how few in total we had read given how many books we read.

I am not sure we are going to read all of these but it gives us lots of room to explore new books.

Here is the list. I have italicized the ones we have already read. I have marked in bold the ones that are on our library request for the next trip. I will try to update with reviews as we read through them.

Each Peach Pear Plum - This is a cute I-Spy book about Nursery Rhyme characters. It was fun finding the items but twice through and we are done.

Alborough Where's My Teddy?

Alborough, Jez. Hug

Bang Ten, Nine, Eight - A counting book. Sweet. Good quality. We might have enjoyed it much more if we had found it a couple of years ago.

Barrett, Judi. Animals should definitely not wear clothing

Barton The Little Red Hen

Barton The Three Bears

Barton, Byron. My car

Beaumont, Karen. I ain't gonna paint no more!

Bemelmans, Ludwig, 1898-1962. Madeline

Bloom, Suzanne, 1950- A splendid friend, indeed

Bornstein Little Gorilla - I found no redeeming value in this book but Froggy loves it beyond comprehension. We have read it many many times.

Brown, Margaret Wise, 1910-1952. Goodnight moon

Brunhoff, Jean de, 1899-1937. The story of Babar, the little elephant

Burningham, John. Mr. Gumpy's outing.

Burton The Little House - Real Quality - It is the story of growth and change from the house's perspective. Like all of Burton's books it has a moral which prompts discussion but is not so overwhelming that the child resists.

Burton, Virginia Lee, 1909-1968. Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel - Froggy fell in love with this on the first reading. It ended up being one of our more successful FIAR books.

Butler, John, 1952- Whose baby am I?

Cannon, Janell, 1957- Stellaluna

Carle, Eric. The very hungry caterpillar

Chen, Zhiyuan, 1975- Guji Guji

Chodos-Irvine, Margaret. Ella Sarah gets dressed

Cooke, Trish. Full, full, full of love

Cowell, Cressida. What shall we do with the boo-hoo baby?

Crews, Donald. Freight train

Cronin, Doreen. Click, clack, moo : cows that type

Daly Happy Birthday, Jamela!

De Paola Strega Nona : An Original Tale

Degen Jamberry

Demi The Empty Pot

Dillon Rap a Tap Tap : Here's Bojangles-Think of That!

Dorros, Arthur. Abuela

Dunrea, Olivier. Gossie and Gertie

Eastman Go, Dog, Go!

Eastman, P. D. (Philip D.) Are you my mother?

Eclare A Handful of Sunshine : Growing a Sunflower

Ehlert Growing Vegetable Soup

Elya, Susan Middleton, 1955- Bebé goes shopping

Emberley, Ed. Go away, big green monster!

Everitt Mean Soup

Falconer, Ian. Olivia

Feiffer, Jules. Bark, George

Flack Ask Mr. Bear

Fleming The Everything Book

Fleming, Denise, 1950- Lunch

Fleming, Denise, 1950- The cow who clucked - Funny and cute

Fox, Mem, 1946- Time for bed

Freeman, Don. Corduroy

Gag Millions of Cats

Gág, Wanda, 1893-1946. Millions of cats

Galdone The Three Little Pigs

Goose Mother Sylvia Long's Mother Goose

Grimes, Nikki. Welcome, Precious

Guarino, Deborah. Is your mama a llama?

Hamanaka, Sheila. All the colors of the Earth

Henderson, Kathy, 1949- Look at you! : a baby body book

Henkes, Kevin. Lilly's purple plastic purse

Hill, Eric. Where's Spot?

Hindley, Judy. Does a cow say boo?

Hoban Bedtime for Frances

Hoban Is it red? Is It Yellow? Is It Blue? : An Adventure In Color

Hoban, Russell. Bread and jam for Frances

Hobbie, Holly. Toot and Puddle

Hoffman, Mary, 1945- Amazing Grace

Holabird, Katharine. Angelina ballerina

Hutchins You'll Soon Grow Into Them, Titch

Hutchins, Pat, 1942- Rosie's walk.

Isadora, Rachel. Peekaboo morning

Jenkins Biggest, Strongest, Fastest

Jenkins, Steve, 1952- What do you do with a tail like this?

Johnson, Crockett, 1906- Harold and the purple crayon

Joosse Mama, Do You Love Me?

Juster, Norton, 1929- The hello, goodbye window

Kasza The Wolf's Chicken Stew

Katz, Karen. Counting kisses

Keats, Ezra Jack. The snowy day.

Kent The Caterpillar and the Polliwog

Kimmel I Took My Frog to the Library

Kimmel, Eric A. Anansi and the moss-covered rock

Kraus Leo the Late Bloomer

Krauss, Ruth. The carrot seed

Langstaff, John M. Over in the meadow

Lewis, Rose A. I love you like crazy cakes

Lin, Grace. Dim sum for everyone!

Lionni Swimmy

Lobel Frog and Toad All Year

Lobel, Arnold. Frog and toad are friends.

London Froggy Gets Dressed

London, Jonathan, 1947- A truck goes rattley-bumpa

MacDonald Mabela the Clever

Marshall George and Martha

Martin, Bill, 1916- Brown bear, Brown bear, what do you see?

Martin, Bill, 1916- Chicka chicka boom boom

Mayo, Margaret. Dig dig digging

McBratney, Sam. Guess how much I love you Sweet and sad. I cried and cried. Reading as my mother was spending her last days did not help.

McCloskey, Robert, 1914- Make way for ducklings

McDermott Raven : a Trickster Tale From the Pacific Northwest

McDermott, Gerald. Raven : a trickster tale from the Pacific Northwest McKissack, Pat, 1944- Goin' someplace special

McFarland Widget

McGovern Too Much Noise

McMillan Growing Colors

McMullan I stink! - We live this book and come back to read it over and over again.

Meddaugh, Susan. Martha speaks

Numeroff, Laura Joffe. If you give a mouse a cookie

Opie, Iona My very first Mother Goose

Orozco Diez deditos / Ten Little Fingers

Park Bee-Bim Bop!

Parr Do's and Don'ts

Peet Kermit the Hermit

Pfister, Marcus. The rainbow fish

Piper The Little Engine that Could

Portis, Antoinette. Not a box

Potter, Beatrix, 1866-1943. The tale of Peter Rabbit.

Rappaport, Doreen. Martin's big words : the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Rathmann, Peggy. Good night, Gorilla

Rex, Michael. Truck Duck

Rey, H. A. (Hans Augusto), 1898- Curious George

Riley Mouse Mess

Rockwell The Toolbox

Rosen, Michael, 1946- We're going on a bear hunt

Rylant Dog Heaven

Say, Allen. Grandfather's journey

Scarry Best First Book Ever - Froggy loves all the Richard Scarry books. I find them cluttered and do not like them near as well.

Scieszka, Jon. The true story of the 3 little pigs

Seeger, Laura Vaccaro. Dog and Bear : two friends, three stories

Sendak, Maurice. Where the wild things are

Seuss, Dr., Cat in the hat

Shahan Spicy Hot Colors = Colores Picantes

Shannon No, David!

Shannon Lizard's Song

Shannon, David, 1959- Duck on a bike

Shaw, Charles Green, 1892- It looked like spilt milk.

Sherry I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean

Sierra, Judy. Wild about books

Silverstein, Shel. The giving tree

Simmons, Jane. Daisy and the Beastie

Slobodkina, Esphyr, 1908- Caps for sale; a tale of a peddler, some monkeys

Steig, William, 1907- Sylvester and the magic pebble.

Stoeke A Hat for Minerva Louise

Swanson The House in the Night

Taback, Simms. There was an old lady who swallowed a fly

Tafuri, Nancy. Five little chicks

Titherington Pumpkin, Pumpkin

Viorst, Judith. Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

Waber, Bernard. Lyle, Lyle, crocodile.

Waddell Owl Babies

Waddell, Martin. Farmer duck

Walsh, Ellen Stoll. Mouse paint

Watt, Melanie, 1975- Scaredy squirrel

Wellington Mr. Cookie Baker

Wells Yoko

Wells, Rosemary. Noisy Nora

Willems Knuffle Bunny : a Cautionary Tale

Willems, Mo. Your pal Mo Willems presents Leonardo the terrible monster

Williams I Went Walking

Wilson Bear Snores On

Wilson, Karma. Bear wants more

Wood, Audrey. The napping house

Yolen, Jane. How do Dinosaurs say good night?

Young, Ed. Seven blind mice

Zion, Gene. Harry, the dirty dog