This is the time of year when many illustrious institutions create their "best of children's literature" lists. While we here at What Do We Do All Day? are neither illustrious nor an institution, I see no reason why we cannot join the party with our favorite children's picture books.
All the books on our top ten list have two things in common: they were published in 2011 and the kids love them. These are not the same criteria that professional reviewers have, though several books on our list were also lauded by the pros. (We chose all the books ourselves; affiliate links are included.)
Some books on the pro lists, however gorgeous, did not interest the boys (Brother Sun, Sister Moon, I'm looking at you). Also, we did not read every new book published in 2011 so many books that are on our list to read (such as the lovely-looking A House in the Woods or the much-praised The Loud Book) have not made it into our hands, yet. Now, without further ado and in no particular order...
Sheer delight.
Both my boys have ridiculously long names so they can relate.
Obviously.
Word play to make your head spin
Ridiculous and silly, but in a good way.
Technically, not a picture book, but has been read many, many times by Kiddo and "read" often by New Kid.
I just don't think it gets any cuter than this.
I have drunk the Kool-Aid. This books is deviously delicious.
So... if you actually scrolled down to the bottom of this post, tell me, what's on your list of favorite books published this year?
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Jackie says
I like your list...must give a few of those books a try. Our favorites of course change with the wind, but a consistent few are:
Anything Mo Willems
Pete the Cat
Pete the Cat Rockin' in My School Shoes.
Square Cat
And many more, too early for my little brain to remember them all.
MaryAnne says
How have I only read the last two from this list?!
Thanks for more library inspiration!
Steph says
Love your list, thanks for the recommendations! I bought Press Here for my little guy (two years old) for Christmas... right before we discovered that he's color blind. Not sure yet exactly how color blind he is, but I hope he still enjoys the book because I think it's a lot of fun.
Raising a Happy Child says
Awesome list, I am off to my library site to order some of them. We only read one on your list.
Isil says
We haven't read any of these yet.Thanks for sharing your list.x
Read Aloud Dad says
Love the list! We haven't read any of them - and they all seem appealing.
My boy would certainly fall for Cars Galore!
We have a set of the Ivy & Bean books, but we have still to read them - glad that you like them!
Read Aloud Dad
Marissa says
These are mostly new to us, so I'm looking forward to reading some of these! Thanks for the recommendations. I shared your list on my fb page.
Jackie H. says
Blue Chameleon and Where's Walrus are both on our list. I want to check out Cars Galore. I'm going to post our list at the end of the month! But our #1 is Press Here by Herve Tullet. Loved that book and so did the boys!