Family Favorites Friday: More Favorite Read Alouds

When I started my blog, I asked all my children to be thinking about favorite books from childhood.  This provoked the questions, " What qualifies as a children's book?  Do chapter books count? Do series count?"

I let them decide the books to include since we did read some chapter books aloud and they did read some chapter books when they were fairly young.

The only stipulation I put on their choices was I wouldn't include the same book twice.  If they all choose the same book as a favorite, I will only include it once, but I might mention at some point that it was everybody's favorite.

Last month I posted a review of favorite books from my oldest child.  This week, I interviewed my youngest, Christina, to share her favorite book memories.  Even though she is 15 years old, she has fond memories of these books.   

Her favorite toys and favorite books included animals.

Stone Soup by Marily Sapienza



Many versions of Stone Soup can be found. This version has animals as the characters.  The main characters are Molly and Max, who encounter unfriendly villagers.  This book appealed to my daughter because she enjoyed making 'dirty soup', which is similar to mudpies.  She added dirt, leaves, sticks, stones, etc in her outdoor soup making.  This did carry over into the kitchen where she enjoyed experimenting with soup ingredients.  Her soup making skills have improved with age.

The Rumpoles and the Barleys by Karen Mezek

This is predominantly a tale about thankfulness, but also is a twist on Town Mouse, Country Mouse .  In this story, two city mice children are ungrateful for what they have.  They sneak out of the house, end up in a passing garbage wagon (my daughter's favorite part), and meet a family of country mice.  You might be able to find The Rumpoles and the Barleys at  the library, but it appears to be out of print.

Pigs in the House  by Steven Kroll



This is a very funny book written in rhyme that follows the antics of three pigs after Farmer Mack forgets to shut the gate.  The pigs get in the house and manage to get into all manner of mischief.  Tim Kirk's illustrations add to the humor of the story.  This was also a favorite of mine to read aloud.

Little Bear's Trousers by Jane Hissey

   
 My nieces sent this book to my second daughter for her 4th birthday.  As you can imagine, I read this book a lot through the years.  The story involves stuffed animals.  Little Bear has lost his trousers and finds that he is always one step away from finding them as the other animals are using them for other purposes.  He does finally catch up with his trousers, but they are still being re-purposed in a fun way.  My daughter loved the story, as well as the illustrations; especially the last one of a beautiful cake.

Midnight Teddies by Dana Kubick

  
This is another book that my sister and her children sent to us for my oldest daughter's 6th birthday.  Teddy is accidentally left in the attic but comes to life at midnight.  He discovers some antique teddy bears in the attic and they decide to explore the house.  My daughter loved when they discovered the refrigerator and the strawberry jam.  Another fun story with wonderful water color illustrations.

The illustrations in all these books are wonderful.  Often the illustrations are as important as the words in telling the story in picture books.  It helps develop the imagination of children so when they progress to chapter books they can visualize a picture based on the words.  I don't have any 'scientific' proof for this, it is just my theory.

Are you familiar with these books?  Do you have a favorite read aloud?