Top 11 Children's Books

By CJ Tiernan

When you first learn to read as a child, it opens up world of possibilities. You can pick up a book and read it all on your own (Awesome!). You can explore a world or learn and grow. It creates your first real moment of autonomy as a human being. Below is a list of my 11 favorite books that I read as a child. I read these over and over and over again.

1. Harold and the Purple Crayon

Written and Illustrated by Crockett Johnson

Published in 1955

This book, about a young boy with the power to shape his world by drawing anything with just a purple crayon, was my favorite book growing up. It displayed a malleable world with infinite possibilities. Starting around the age of 8 or 9, every time I made a wish by blowing out the candles on a birthday cake or tossing a coin in a fountain, I wished for the same thing: car keys (I know, I know. Now that I told you, it won't come true). Not a full-on car, or the ability to drive a car, I just wanted keys. I saw holding keys as the gateway to go anywhere I wanted and thus do anything I wanted. That was Harold and his purple crayon. He could travel anywhere because he could draw anything and a path to it. Granted, he's a young kid, so he accidentally draws his nightmares, bringing to life his fears and wishing desperately that he was back home in bed, but who hasn't been there.

2. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Written by Judi Barrett

Illustrated by Ronald Barrett

Published in 1978

In our world, barring the occasional emergency supply drop, food does not fall from the sky. I like reading about a world where that is possible. While the weather does escalate to the point that the townspeople are forced to abandon the city of Chewandswallow, it is a fun and whimsical story. It's also a story within a story, as the grandfather is telling the tale to his grandkids, not unlike the format of "The Princess Bride." There's something that makes you warm and fuzzy inside about hearing a story from a grandpa.

3. The Big Orange Splot

Written and Illustrated by Daniel Manus Pinkwater

Published in 1977

"My house is me, and I am it. My house is where I want to be and it looks like all my dreams." That is the life mantra of Mr. Plumbean, the persecuted protagonist who butts up against the local HOA by shaping his home in his image. It creates a wave of individualism that spreads throughout the neighborhood. A magically beautiful tale of being yourself and following your dreams. It helpfully inspired my current wardrobe choices.

4. The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales

Written by Jon Scieszka

Illustrated by Lane Smith

Published in 1992

A fairy tale book that says it's okay to break the rules. It takes existing fairy tales and puts a fun spin on the them. It was the first book that told kids nothing is too sacred. "The Princess and the Pea" became "The Princess and the Bowling Ball." It also may have been one of the first places where I experienced meta humor. Chicken Licken was crying that the sky was falling and wanted to contact the president, but everyone was crushed by the table of contents instead. Fairy tales made silly. Perfect!

5. Big Pumpkin

Written by Erica Silverman

Illustrated by S.D. Schindler

Published in 1992

This is a tale of teamwork between Halloween mainstays like a witch, a mummy, a vampire, and a ghost. I remember my dad reading this book to me as a kid and doing the voice of the vampire as a Dracula impression [insert heart emoji here]. It starts with a selfish witch who wants her pumpkin and one by one has more and more people help to pull it off the vine (Then they head to the Winchester for a bite of Pumpkin Pie and wait for all this to blow over, or something like that).

6. The Cat in the Hat

Written and Illustrated by Dr. Seuss

Published in 1957

Can you imagine if you were just hanging around the house while your mother is out and suddenly an anthropomorphic cat bursts in like he owns the place, as though you all had made plans and you just forgot. The beauty of Dr. Seuss is the imagination. He builds a world, devoid of straight lines, where a cat can wear a hat and a fox can have socks anything you can imagine goes. Spoiler Alert: this will not be the last D-Seuss book on the list.

7. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

Written by Laura Joffe Numeroff

Illustrated by Felicia Bond

Published in 1985

Felicia Bond, Illustrator, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Most children's books have a theme designed to teach you something about how to exist as a member of society. Be yourself. Work as a team. Always wear clean underwear. You know, basic Emily Post stuff. This book, along with its more than a dozen sequels, educates kids on the domino effect. It teaches you there are consequences for your actions or, at the very least, sharing is a slippery slope.

8. Wacky Wednesday

Written by Dr. Seuss (as Theo LeSieg)

Illustrated by George Booth

Published in 1974

"Wacky Wednesday" was a great book to read as a child for two reasons. The first and obvious reason: It helps you learn how to spell Wednesday. Wednesday is unquestionably the most difficult day of the week to learn how to spell as a kid. It's tricky, like February. Secondly, it's weird. I like weird. There are progressively more things wrong with the world, but no one else can see them except the narrator (and the reader). It's like a seek and find puzzle.

9. If I Ran the Zoo

Written and Illustrated by Dr. Seuss

Published in 1950

This is another book that allows the imagination to run wild. It follows a kid thinking up increasingly exotic animals to put in the zoo instead of the existing and mundane animals in your standard zoo. "If I Ran the Zoo" harbors a sense of adventure and an unwillingness to settle for reality as it is, but rather shape it in your image.

10. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Written by Judith Viorst

Illustrated by Ray Cruz

Published in 1972

Sometimes, it's just not your day. It's not the most eloquent of messages to offer a child, but it is a lesson we all have to learn. At some point in our lives, we learn that we live in a heliocentric world, and the world doesn't revolve around us. It hurts. I remember on my seventh birthday, I had to wait to do something and I was so mad. It was my birthday. If I can't get my way on my birthday, what power do I really have? I remember I was fuming and walked out of my house and just walked up and down my street, silently venting my frustration and wrapping my mind around the idea that I am one of many. It hurts when you find that out. It was much tougher for Alexander, who wanted so badly to get away to Australia while suffering through the most radical representation of the idiom "when it rains, it pours" that we've ever seen outside of the book of Job.

11. The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Written and Illustrated by Eric Carle

Published in 1969

Who doesn't love the artwork of Eric Carle? It is so iconic and an absolute pillar of childhood. It carries us through the idea of growth and development and transformation. We also get treated to simple learning elements like counting and days of the week. So much of the beauty of a kids book is the fun pictures, and few are more lovely than an Eric Carle joint.

Final Thoughts

There is a magic to children's books. Whether you're reading them to yourself as a child, or your kin as an adult, they crack open the imagination and childlike sense of wonder. To be honest, I kinda miss it. As you can tell by the dates these books have been published, I have been out of the game for a while. I don't have a single book on my list that was written after I turned 5. That means I may very well have missed some great ones in the intervening 30 years. If I did, please let me know in the comments below. Thanks!