Our favorite tender, inspired, sweet and silly books for kids

Our little one is four years old. We’ve been collecting books since we found out we were pregnant and read to him every night. These are the books I love reading and hope they touch him like they do me. Gratitude to all these book creators who inspire gentleness, kindness, love, laughter and education. We need you. As Kathleen Kelly so well put it, “When you read a book as a child, it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does.”

Many of the following links are for Barnes and Noble because they have them in stock. I don’t get a kick-back, I just love going into book stores and hope they continue to be supported so our kids can have access to them when they grow up.

You can also check out books from your local library, order from a used bookstore online, your local independent bookstore, or, if you don’t have one in your town, order from one of the following bookstores we’ve loved that have brought many of these books into our lives:
Darvill’s Bookstore Orcas Island, WA
Gallery Bookshop & Bookwinkle’s Children’s Books Mendocino, CA
Cuppa Tahoe South Lake Tahoe, CA
Word After Word Books Truckee, CA
Avid Reader Sacramento, CA
The Press Bookstore & Coffee Shop Valparaiso, IN

Here’s the list of books:
The Almost Fearless Hamilton Squidlegger by Timothy Basil Ering
Bear Came Along by Richard T. Morris & LeUyen Pham
Our Little Adventure Series by Tabitha Paige M.S., CCC-SLP
Wolfie the Bunny by Ame Dyckman & Zachariah OHora
A Family for Louie by Alexandra Thompson
The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld
Cars Galore by Peter Stein & Bob Staake
What the Road Said by Luci de Moyencourt
What Boys Do by Jon Lasser & Robert Paul Jr
Escargot by Dashka Slater and Sydney Hanson
Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson & Alex Scheffler (Halloween)
Grumpy Monkey by Suzanne Lang & Max Lang
Viking in Love by Doug Cenko (Valentine’s)
Little Tricker the Squirrel Meets Big Double the Bear by Ken Kesey & Barry Moser*
Hot Dog by Doug Salati
To Live on an Island by Emma Bland Smith & Elizabeth Person
Atticus Caticus by Sarah Maizes & Kara Kramer
The Bookstore Cat by Cylin Busby & Charles Santoso
Can I Sit with You by Sarah Jacoby
The Rock from the Sky and all the other Jon Klassen’s books, all of them
Gaston by Kelly DiPucchio & Christian Robinson
Aaron Slater Illustrator by Andrea Beaty & David Roberts
The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson & Beth Krommes
Everywhere with You by Carlie Sorosiak & Devon Holzwarth
The 1619 Project Born on the Water by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renée Watson & Nikkolas Smith**
If Animals Kissed Goodnight by Ann Whitford Paul & David Walker
A Spoonful of Frogs by Casey Lyall & Vera Brosgol (Halloween)
Gustavo the Shy Ghost by Flavia Z. Drago (Halloween)
Does a Bulldozer Have a Butt? by Derick Wilder & K-Fai Steele
Frederick by Leo Lionni
Turtle in a Tree by Neesha Hudson
Pig the Pug by Aaron Blabey
A Child’s Calendar by John Updike & Trina Schart Hyman

*This link is for Thriftbooks and is offered used here as well as other used sites. It’s written by the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and illustrated by the acclaimed artist Barry Moser. First edition copies are going for $75-$150, some signed. Our uncle gave us this book and I had no idea of it’s history or value until searching for it’s link today, I just loved reading it to our buddy.

**I found this book during our travels and felt its power immediately. It’s a beautifully written perspective of the origin of slavery in America. I haven’t read it to our son yet. It’s beautiful and horrible and tender and torturous and when I feel like it’s time, I believe it will be a valuable tool to teach about humanity, all its sides, and how we have power to make change for the future.

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