Our Top Favourite Children’s Picture Books 10/40

Summer is almost over. And although we had hit a scorching hot week while we were away camping, I still get times where I think about how the warm evenings will turn cool and the days will get shorter. Until it’s gray bare trees and snowy Christmas once again. I know seasons change, and that we’ve chosen to live in a place where the leaves turn yellow every year and back to green. It’s good. But knowing that a circumstance will change, even for the good, I still struggle to live in the moment.

That’s why I love children’s picture books. They help me to stay in the moment. In the sleepy morning, in the warm afternoon cuddle, in the bedtime routine. To live in a short story, full of imagination and wonder. To slow down for the next ten minutes and be present in a different world with my son. I know that the stillness will end. The boy chaos will return. But I soak up the colourful words, the questions upon questions, fiddling hand in my hand, a little reader curled up in my lap as we explore a new story, even just for a moment.

We’ve found about half of our 40 favourite books this summer, so we will need to go on another library haul! Here are our first 10:

Wherever You Are My Love Will Find You

Nancy Tillman

1/40

Nancy Tillman has a way with rhyming that hits the heart at just the right, steady beat. The first book may not be a library book in our collection, but it needed to be mentioned. We got this book as baby shower gift and it certainly gave us tears the first time we read it to our teeny Arlo. Nancy has a way of putting the perfect words together to say just how much a child is loved, and this one in particular speaks to the days when our children won’t be quite as near, but they’ll know we aren’t far. I also love how it can be interpreted into the love that God has for us, wherever we are.

It never gets lost, never fades, never ends…

Ocean Meets Sky

The Fan Brothers

2/40

Another favourite author, or author duo, and from Canada! The Fan Brothers have several books with fantastical illustrations (It Fell From The Sky, The Night Gardener, The Barnabus Project), but this one tops them all. A young boy goes on an dreamy adventure that reminds him of his Grandpa. Full of imaginary worlds on a rickety boat, it also subtly speaks to always having beautiful memories with loved ones we’ve lost.

“It’s high and low, and as deep as the sea,” the fish answered in a voice that made Finn’s boat shake.

The Digger and The Flower

Joseph Kuefler

3/40

We have probably read this book over one hundred times. Only… Arlo insisted we had to skip the sad part every time. When a big construction vehicle learns about the fragility of life in a small flower amongst big city buildings, he finds a way to bring hope back into loss. In a book about loving care, and grief, I was so surprised by the empathy that my three year old felt in such a simple, yet deep, deep story.

Then the other big trucks went back to work. But Digger did not.

The Dinosaur Next Door

David Litchfield

4/40

This one was a cute surprise of a book. A little girl has an inclination her cake baking, bicycle riding neighbour, is actually a dinosaur. No one believes her so she finds out for herself. As their friendship grows, Mr. Wilson gets captured. The little girl must bring all the townspeople together to bring back their beloved neighbour. I love a good book about belonging and stepping into true identity and calling!

“I do miss it here sometimes, but your world is where I belong. It’s where I can make cakes like this, which is what I was born to do!”

The Kiss That Missed

David Melling

5/40

This one was another little gem. Sweet and funny, I never expected to be entertained by such a unique storyline. It brings a classic feel with ‘Once-upon-a-time’ knights and dragons. But add in a runaway bedtime kiss and good old slapstick British humour makes for a good laugh. It also helps to sneak in a couple bedtime kisses as we read.

Once upon a Tuesday the King was in a hurry as usual. “Goodnight,” he said and blew his son a Royal Kiss.

Mouse & Lion

Rand Burkert / Nancy Ekholm Burkert

6/40

As a child, I had a huge book of Aesops fables and other animal short stories like the Tortoise and the Hare. I loved the retelling that these authors created and the detailed artwork amongst the white space. These fables always have some sort of moral, much like the parables of Jesus. As told by a mouse encounter with a powerful, or not so powerful, lion, strength doesn’t always come in size. And to always be willing to pay it forward with kindness.

He found Lion in a sorry tangle, panting beneath the baobab tree. “O King,” he said, “do you remember how you laughed at me? I can help you now!”

Together We Grow

Susan Vaught / Kelly Murphy

7/40

A short storyline set in a stormy weather moment and a barn full of animals. Do they let even the foxes come in for shelter? With few words that rhyme so delicately, they set aside their differences. These illustrations convey such emotion of fear, concern and hope in their little animal faces. It’s kind of like a PG toddler version of Animal Farm.

There is room, there is room, there is room… for us all.

Hush, Little Bunny

David Ezra Stein

8/40

Set to the rhyme of Hush Little Baby, Don’t Say A Word, this is a quick, sweet book to read before bed. It follows a papa rabbit helping his little bunny see the next good thing when something ends or something doesn’t go the way as planned. It simply displays the strong, adventurous and caring tones fatherhood, and is certainly a keeper for dada to read.

Hush, little bunny, don’t you cry. Papa’s gonna show you a firefly. And if that firefly takes wing, I’ll take you where the blackbird sings.

Nature All Around: Trees

Pamela Hickman / Carolyn Gavin

9/40

I like a good learning book. When we have more time before bed, or used during homeschool time, it can be fun to read facts and see which ones interest Arlo the most. Like repeating the word deciduous. This book has really simple watercolour graphics that don’t take away from all the words but help simplify them. We may skip over a few things at his age, but it’s also a great tool to look at pictures and compare them to the real world.

Tree-watching is a great year-round hobby no matter where you live. Choose a tree in your neighborhood and watch it throughout the seasons.

Dogs Love to Ride

Olga & Aleksy Ivanov

10/40

Not a library book, but an absolute house favourite. Probably our top most read-it-again, and again, books. It rhymes, it’s silly, and most importantly, it features cars. What is great about this book is that each spread is a new car and the type of dog that might match up to it. Whether a hound in a pickup or a poodle in a sports car, it’s for car and dog lovers alike!

We dogs know about a mile out what these trips are all about.

Stay tuned, more good reads to come!