Great Classic Illustrated Books

[Judy Freeman]

What constitutes a classic picture book? It’s a book you’ve read a zillion times and never gotten tired of sharing with the children in your life. Many have memorable lines, quotes that have become mantras and a part of your family’s personal lingo. (See the quiz at the end of this list.) These are books you and your kids dream about and think about and care about. You can see each illustration in your mind’s eye. They’re also books the publishers have seen fit to keep in print all these years, thanks to the parents and librarians who continue to buy copies and the children who continue to love them and read them ragged year after year.


Does a book have to be old to be a classic? It depends. True, you will peg some new books as classics the minute you read them, but for this list, I selected titles that were published ten or more years ago. Compiling this list was a nostalgic tour through my own life and childhood, revisiting books I have loved and shared and deemed essential, starting in 1902 with The Tale of Peter Rabbit and wending through each decade. I tried to winnow the list to 50 titles, but I kept adding just one more, so you’ll find 65 here. What are your children’s favorites that they insist on hearing night after night? Add your comments, suggestions, and additions to our list below.


For recent picture books, many of which are classics-in-the-making, check the Great Illustrated Books category on READKIDDOREAD. Also consult the list of winners of the Randolph Caldecott Medal, established in 1937, which is awarded annually to “the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.” For the complete list, go to:
www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmed...

MEMORABLE LINES FROM PICTURE BOOKS: A QUIZ

How many of these memorable quotes (all from books on the list above) can you and your children identify? What are your favorite lines from your favorite books?


1. “The kids in Room 207 were misbehaving again.”
2. “Hundreds of cats, thousands of cats, millions and billions and trillions of cats.”
3. “Better a bear in the orchard than an Orchard in the bear.”
4. “Sometimes there was snoring.”
5. “Oh man! What is that funky smell?”
6. “I do not want to be a teacher when I grow up!”
7. “You must do something to make the world more beautiful.”
8. “In an old house in Paris that was covered in vines, lived twelve little girls in two straight lines.”
9. “I always enjoy having a wolf for lunch.”
10. “You monkeys, you! You give me back my caps!”
11. “I'm Alexander T. Wolf. You can call me Al.”
12. “Oh please don’t go–we’ll eat you up–we love you so!” And Max said, “No!”



FOR THE ANSWERS, CLICK HERE...

[Judy Freeman]

Hi Susan & Lynn--

Excellent Googling technique, Lynn! You'll also find the book, along with 59 other great titles, on our new RKR annotated list, Books to Die For. Go to the home page, www.ReadKiddoRead.com, and scroll down to find the link (just click on the Jack-O-lantern. Here's the actual entry:

My Mama Says There Aren't and Zombies, Ghosts, Vampires, Creatures, Demons, Monsters, Fiends, Goblins or Things. Viorst, Judith. Illus. by Kay Chorao. Atheneum, 1973. (46 pages; Suggested Ages: 5-7)
Mama assures her worrying son, Nick, that the night noises he hears are nothing to fear, but Nick isn’t sure if he can believe her because “sometimes even mamas make mistakes."

Judy Freeman
ReadKiddoRead Reviewer

[Lynn Garthwaite]

Susan - I googled that line with the quotation marks and it gave me the following:

My Mama Says There Aren't Any Zombies, Ghosts, Vampires, Demons, Monsters, Fiend, by Judith Viorst

[Susan Woglom]

Do you know if/where I can find that book that has the words in it: "Sometimes Even Mamas Make Mistakes?

[Judy Freeman]

Hi Kristi--

I agree with you wholeheartedly. Did you know A Visitor for Bear won the E. B. White Award in the picture book category? It's an award given by of The Association of Booksellers for Children (ABC) to books that are terrific read-alouds. I was at the announcements in Brooklyn in May, and boy, did I cheer when they announced both this book and Masterpiece by Elise Broach, for fiction, two of my very favorite books of 2008.

Some people think 10 years isn't enough time to declare a book a classic, but on my lists, I did it anyway. It's fun to keep a running list of new books that you think are destined to become classics. I'd add to that list, just for starters:

A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever by Marla Frazee
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems
I Stink by Jate McMullan, illus. by Jim McMullan
Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems
Knuffle Bunny Too by Mo Willems
Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox

Hmmm. That's a good idea for one of my RKR lists: Classics-to-Be. Hey, book lovers out there--what's on your list?

Judy Freeman
ReadKiddoRead Reviewer

[Kristi Hazelrigg]

Though it's still very new, I believe Bonny Becker's A Visitor for Bear will become a true children's classic. Everything about it is absolutely perfect.

While I have many more favorites not on this list, just because I love them doesn't mean they're "classics". (But they're my classics.