A children’s picture book literary tasting
Posted: August 14, 2019 Filed under: Books, Children's Books, Classics, Fiction, Growing Bookworms, Reading, Stories | Tags: Beatrix Potter, Children's Books, Children's Stories, Classic Children's Literature, Dr. Suess, Growing Bookworms, Korky Paul, Richard Scarry, Valerie Thomas, Writing to be Read 41 Comments
This month on Writing to be Read, I thought it would be fun to do a children’s picture book literary tasting to give readers an opportunity to sample short extracts from some wonderful children’s picture books. Interesting toddlers and small children in books and the written word lays the foundation for future readers and there is nothing like a great picture book to entice them into the book world.
Imagine you are at a picnic and the snippets in this post are delicious and varied food items.
The wonderful Dr Seuss
Dr Seuss’ delightful rhyming verse picture books are the perfect reading material for small children and beginner readers. There is a lot of benefit to the sound and word repetitions in these books which is comforting and confident enhancing to children in this age and learning bracket.
Dr Seuss also includes messages about friendship, environmental friendliness and sharing in his books which can’t go amiss.
I see his books as the hamburgers at the picnic.
“And then I got mad.
I got terribly mad.
I yelled at the Lorax, “Now listen here, Dad!
All you do is yap-yap and say, Bad! Bad! Bad! Bad!
Well, I have my rights, sir, and I’m telling you
I intend to go on doing just what I do!
And, for your information, you Lorax, I’m figgering on biggering
and BIGGERING
and BIGGERING
and BIGGERING,
turning MORE Truffula Trees into Thneeds
which everyone, EVERYONE, EVERYONE needs!“
From The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. You can purchase all of Dr Seuss’ books here: Dr Seuss Amazon US
The creative Richard Scarry
Richard Scarry is an amazing artist and children’s book author. He is know for his brilliant artwork personification where pigs, dogs, hippos and other animals wear clothes and take the roles of humans in his fantasy world. His books are aimed at a variety of age groups from toddlers to young children and teach them about a variety of things such as their ABCs for the youngest age group to What do people do all day?, Cars and trucks and things that co and A day at the airport. My boys loved these books and listened to me read them over and over again.
Richard Scarry books are the French fries at the picnic.
““Ho! Ho! Ho! And who are you?” asks a
great big fellow in red trousers. Mr Frumble
explains that he needs his skipickledoo
repaired so that he can get to the North Pole.
“Ho, ho, but you ARE at the North Pole!
I’m Santa Bear and these are all my helpers.”
Welcome!””
From The Night Before the Night Before Christmas! by Richard Scarry. You can buy all of Richard Scarry’s books here: Richard Scarry Amazon US
The artistic Beatrix Potter
Beatrix Potter wrote beautiful stories about the trails and tribulations of the small animals she had as pets and also studied during holidays to Scotland and the Lake District. The most famous of Beatrix Potter’s books is The Tale of Peter Rabbit. My personal favourites are The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, which features a hedgehog, and The Tale of Two Bad Mice, which features two naughty mice, Tom Thumb and his wife, Hunca Munca.
The Beatrix Potter books are the delicious cake at the picnic.
“Hunca Munca tried every tin spoon in
turn; the fish was glued to the dish.
Then Tom Thumb lost his temper. He put
the ham in the middle of the floor, and hit it
with the tongs and with the shovel – bang, bang,
smash, smash!
The ham flew all into pieces, for underneath the
shiny pain it was made of nothing but plaster!”
From The Tale of Two Bad Mice by Beatrix Potter. You can purchase all of Beatrix Potter’s books here: Beatrix Potter Amazon US
The fun Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul
Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul have teamed up to create the Winnie the Witch series of children’s picture books which feature a sweet and unconventional witch called Winnie and her sardonic cat named Wilbur. Winnie likes black and eats funny foods like batburghers, but Winnie has a heart of gold and is always trying to do nice things to impress and entertain the “little ordinaries” who attend the local primary school. Unfortunately, Winnie’s attempts to do conventional things always ends in disaster and Wilbur has to try to bail her out of her debacles. My son, Michael, and my two nephews loved these books and I read them many times to an attentive and fascinated audience. These books are more modern and include references to technology in the form of computers and mobile phones which appeals to modern children.
I see the Winnie the Witch books as the sweet and tempting cupcakes at the picnic.
“Winnie turned around, and there behind her
was a great crowd of people. They were
running along the road towards her house.
***
They crowded into her garden
They took off their coats, their
hats, their boots, their gloves,
and their scarves.
***
They sat in the sunshine
They walked on Winnie’s flowers
They put orange peel on Winnie’s
grass. They paddled in Winnie’s pond.”
From Winnie in Winter by Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul. You can buy all their books here: Valerie Thomas Amazon US
I hope you have enjoyed this literary tasting. See you next month.
About Robbie Cheadle
Hello, my name is Robbie, short for Roberta. I am an author with five published children’s picture books in the Sir Chocolate books series for children aged 2 to 9 years old (co-authored with my son, Michael Cheadle), one published middle grade book in the Silly Willy series and one published preteen/young adult fictionalised biography about my mother’s life as a young girl growing up in an English town in Suffolk during World War II called While the Bombs Fell (co-authored with my mother, Elsie Hancy Eaton). All of my children’s book are written under Robbie Cheadle and are published by TSL Publications.
I have recently branched into adult horror and supernatural writing and, in order to clearly differential my children’s books from my adult writing, I plan to publish these books under Roberta Eaton Cheadle. I have two short stories in the horror/supernatural genre included in Dark Visions, a collection of 34 short stories by 27 different authors and edited by award winning author, Dan Alatorre. These short stories are published under Robbie Cheadle.
I have recently published a book of poetry called Open a new door, with fellow South African poet, Kim Blades.
Find Robbie Cheadle
Blog: https://bakeandwrite.co.za/
Blog: robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com
Goodreads: Robbie Cheadle – Goodreads
Twitter: BakeandWrite
Instagram: Robbie Cheadle – Instagram
Facebook: Sir Chocolate Books
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Writing to be Read 
Thank you for sharing this post on Writing to be Read, Kaye.
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Reblogged this on Robbie's inspiration and commented:
I am over at Writing to be read today with a children’s picture book literary tasting. I would love to know what your favourite children’s books are and what you think of my choices. Thank you Kaye Lynne Booth for hosting me.
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Terrific post – Robbie is a GREAT Writer!
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Thank you, John, you are very encouraging and supportive.
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Fantastic post, Robbie. I love the idea of children’s books making up a literary meal for kids. And you’ve given us a few samples to choose from. Truly, these authors and their books are classics in the realm of children’s books. I would add Maurice Sendak with “Where the Wild Things Are”, Else Holmelund Minarik with her “Little Bear” books, and Patricia Thomas and Wallace Tripp with “‘Stand Back,” Said the Elephant, “I’m Going to Sneeze”‘.
(I name the illustrator for that last book because the illustrations are such an important part of children’s literature. All the above named books include great illustrations that add to the effect of the story on reader’s young and old. Children’s literature is often a co-creation between author and illustrator, and illustrators need to know we value their contributions.)
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Hi Kaye, you make a good point about illustrators being fundamental for children’s picture books. I love Richard Scary because of the pictures. I had the Little Bear books and learned to read with them. What a great memory. I don’t know Patrician Thomas and Wallace Tripp so I will have to seek those ones out.
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My sentiments exactly!
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Thank you, Liz
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🙂
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A great list. My kids loved the Amelia Bedilia series. So funny! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/774001.Amelia_Bedelia
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Thank you for this link, Darlene. Amelia Bedilia looks wonderful. I love to discover new children’s books and have added this to my wish list.
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Amelia is hilarious!
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Great post, Robbie!!
I always loved Enid Blyton as a child, and A.A.Milne!
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Oh, yes, those are both great, Ritu.
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💜
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I enjoyed your post, Robbie. I love The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I read it to my young students and read it to my daughter when she was young and now I read it to my granddaughter.
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The Hungry Caterpillar is a great book, Miriam. I also read it to both my boys.
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I bought the board book version for my granddaughter. She started reading regular paperback and turns the pages very well. I saved at least 10 boxes of books from my teaching days and give age appropriate books to her little bit at a time.
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Wonderful! 🙂
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Thank you, Bette.
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Some great choices here, Robbie. I especially love Dr. Seuss and Richard Scarry. We read their books to our kids all the time.
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Thank you, Barbara. There are so many wonderful books it is hard to narrow it down to just a few.
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Beatrice Potter is a great choice as is Richard Scarry…A series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket aka Daniel Handler was a firm favourite with my grandaughters and Poems by Spike Milligan were again a favourite bedtime or anytime read 🙂
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Thanks Carol, Greg also liked that series by Lemony Snicket. I have not read them myself. Spike Milligan is also great. Thanks for reading and commenting.
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I always enjoy your posts, Robbie you are one of the bloggers that I look forward to reading 🙂 x
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I remember Richard Scarry’s books from my childhood very fondly, as well as Dr. Seuss, the Amelia Bedelia books, and the Babar books by Jean de Brunhoff. As for the books I read to my children, they loved books by Jane Yolen, Eve Bunting, and Jan Brett. All the stories were accompanied by gorgeous illustrations.
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Hi Amy, illustrations are important for a children’s book. I love Richard Scary’s. You have mentioned some books I don’t know but I will be investigating them.
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Oh, yes, Babar! I’d forgotten about him.
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Babar was a favourite of mine too, Liz. Thanks for reading.
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My pleasure, Robbie!
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great choices, although I have to admit I’ve never heard of Winnie and Wilbur!
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Hi Jim Winnie and Wilbur are newer books. I had them for my children and my nephews and nieces. They are lovely.
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These are great children’s classics!
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www thank you, Pam. I love all of these.
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This is just wonderful! Robbie’s fondant and her picture book choices are perfect.
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Thank you, Jennie. I am glad you think so.
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You are welcome!
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Yes Jennie. Her fondant illustrations do make Robbie’s post quite special.
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Indeed!
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Wonderful selections, Robbie! My oldest especially enjoyed Dr. Seuss when he was younger – he’d cackle with laughter. Such sweet memories.
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Thank you, Teri. I must admit that I really love Dr Seuss myself.
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