Fuse #8 has been counting down the top 100 picture books, according to a poll she conducted. She's up to #35 so far, and I'm breathlessly awaiting the remaining picture books. I voted, did you? I don't actually remember what my top 10 was (I'll have to ask Betsy what I ended up sending her, I don't know if I saved the list anywhere), but I do know that so far only one of my top 10 has appeared (Yoko by Rosemary Wells was #85). I have a feeling that many of my choices won't be appearing at all, but I'm banking on my #1 to be in the top 5.
Any guesses as to what my #1 all-time favorite picture book is? I've probably mentioned it on the blog before, and I've also often mentioned it at conferences, so this shouldn't be too hard. (note: I didn't choose any of the books I've edited myself)
What would your top 5 look like?
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And also, if you haven't checked out School Library Journal's Battle of the Kids' Books, do it! It's a lot of fun. And some biggies were upset in the first round (The Graveyard Book was beaten by The Trouble Begins at 8, for example, and The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks was knocked out by We Are the Ship!)
I'm betting on either the Hunger Games or Graceling taking it all, and as they'd face each other in semifinals, I'll go out on a limb and say Graceling will come out on top. Do you have a favorite you're rooting for?
And this is fantastic, from a couple of fans who are cheering for Hunger Games to win:
4 comments:
My guess is THE SNOWY DAY by Jack Keats. Is that right?
As a small child, I liked nursery rhymes and fairy tales more than picture books, but there were some books whose illustrations were so beautiful that (even when the stories weren't that good) I loved them:
*THE TALL BOOK OF MAKE BELIEVE, with magical color illustrations by Garth Williams -- this has been out of print for years and I paid over $100 for my copy. The family copy has fallen apart...someone should reprint it!
*MADELINE (when I first saw Matisse's paintings I immediately loved them because they reminded me so much of the paintings in this book)
*CHILDREN OF THE NORTHERN LIGHTS by the d'Aulaires. I hate to think of how much I paid for THIS on Amazon and the copy I got didn't even have the beautiful end papers which were the main things I wanted! Maybe I liked this partly because it took place in Finland and I'm half-Finnish, but I loved the paintings.
*FLORINA AND THE WILD BIRD, illustrated by Alois Carigiet
*THE COUNTRY BUNNY by DuBose Heyward, illustrated by Marjorie Flack -- this one I loved for the story as well. I recently gave it to a friend's daughter and she loved it too; and her mother noted with amusement that she "now refers to the Easter Bunny as 'she.' "
*HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYON I loved because of the idea of the moon and the goofy but resourceful Harold....I especially love the part where his shaking hand makes the ocean and he quickly draws a boat!
Hmmm. Maybe I love picture books after all. The good ones are so very, very good.
PS And how could I forget Beatrix Potter? As a chid probably PETER RABBIT and BENJAMIN BUNNY and THE TALE OF THE TWO BAD MICE were my favorites -- I still love them and now would add THE TAILOR OF GLOUCESTER (her own favorite) and JEMIMA PUDDLEDUCK:
"Even then" (when the fox has asked her to bring sage and onions to dinner with her) "she didn't suspect anything."
What a genius! I hope someday we can all go to her house together--Anna and I have been (separately) but I don't think the other BRGs have?
Here are the top 10 (of all time) picture books that I sent to Betsy. Plus two because I couldn't cut it down to 10:
1. The Little House – Burton, Virginia Lee
2. Millions of Cats – Gag, Wanda
3. Make Way for Ducklings -- McCloskey, Robert
4. Goodnight Moon – Brown, Margaret Wise
5. Epossumondas -- Salley, Coleen
6. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie -- Numeroff,Laura
7. Caps for Sale -- Slobodkina, Esphyr
8. Ferdinand the Bull -- Leaf, Munro
9. Silly Sally – Wood, Audrey
10. Strega Nona – DePaola, Tomi
Humbug Witch -- Balian, Lorna
The Very Hungry Caterpillar – Eric Carle
-wendie old
Libby, you're right, my favorite is THE SNOWY DAY. It's so interesting--we have no top books in common? Wendie, the only one we have in common is MAKE WAY FOR DUCKLINGS. But I guess this goes to show how many fantastic picture books there are in the world.
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