Books That Changed My Life: Part 1, The Picture Books

I've always been a reader, the other day a little girl came into my library and told me that she was a reader too. It made me really happy because books can change your life. There are a lot of books that have helped shape who I am. Especially when I was young, reading helped me deal with problems, like not quite fitting in, and introducing me to new ideas and activities.

The books I remember most from my childhood, are the ones that were a little different. My mom got my sister and I books by Robert Kraus that where signed with a cartoon, she got Where Are You Going Little Mouse and I got Whose Mouse Are You? which we both still have.

Another book I still remember is The Jolly Postman. This is the most awesome book. It has postcards that you can pull out and really detailed pictures with subtle jokes and references to literature and fairy tales that you can read and appreciate even when you get older. It's actually a series with two other books in it, The Jolly Pocket Postman and The Jolly Christmas Postman. Really, any of the books by the Ahlbergs are good.

  

My sister's favorite books when we were little were the Carl books by Alexandra Day*, they only have words at the beginning and end, the rest are pictures. My sister used to tell the stories in them to me and my brother.   

   












One of my boyfriends once told me that he had never had a Dr. Seuss book read to him as a child, this struck me as terribly sad.  We had a pretty complete set, and I had several favorites. I loved There's a Wocket in My Pocket the most for the nookgase and the zillow. I also loved Hop on Pop which my sister and I turned into a game. My aunt and uncle got me a copy of My Book About Me, which I filled out when I was 4 and still have. We didn't have a copy of The Lorax, but it makes a pretty good Earth Day story for the slightly older set.

    

I really liked the artwork in Where the Wild Things Are and when Mummy?(Mommy? for the American edition, but I like the pun) came out I bought a copy because pop up books are really cool, and this one was especially so.

  

My brother liked the Alexander books because that's his name too. He especially like Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day and went around telling people that was what he was having. 

 

* Note: I do not advocate leaving small children alone with a rotteweiler as a baby sitter ;)