American children's books

[Twims]

My sister is soon going to be moving over to America and thought it would be a good chance to get some new books for my collection - I am a nanny and have bookcases overflowing with books to read to the children I care for.

Obviously books are books, wherever you are but I wondered if there were any American classics or even just some books that American moms are enjoying reading to their children at the moment, that I could note down and make her buy when she goes over.

Thank you

The American girl books I'm sure I've read before - when I was younger but theres lot more now - so def on my list and how could I forget Ramona Quimby and Harriet the spy the 2 girls I wanted as best friends

Name changed from Twims

Lucy Mangan reviewed a children's book by Sydney Taylor recently and this thread just reminded me that I wanted to get it for myself dd. You can see the books
here

They look really good

I loved The Phantom Tollbooth when I was younger, although it's for a bit of an older audience than the others people are mentioning here.

I lived in Boston when my kids were between 1 and 5, and I found some fab books for that age:
Kevin Henkes's picture books are very funny esp Lily and her purple plastic purse and Owen.

Goodnight Gorilla (not sure if that's American)

I prefered PD Eastman to Dr Seuss (especially Flap your Wings and Are you My Mother)

All the Busy world of Richard Scarry books

Arthur

The Mitten by Jan Brett is lovely

I agree with if you give a pig a pancake / moose a muffin etc - they were great.

I also loved a Bad case of Stripes (alhough slightly weird!)

As they get older and able to read, there's a great series called the Magic Trehouse stories (in fact, my children's school were so impressed, they now keep them all in their library and use them as text books!)

For poetry, try Shel Silverman

For older kids (we just returned - my kids are now 11 and 13) my daughter loves Mango Shaped Space by Wendy Mass (she's read it 3 times)

I'd forgotten all about Richard Scarry - he is fab.

Think my sister might have to stay longer than a year to keep sending me these lovely books

Definitely Shel Silverstein (pretty sure is Silverstein) - particularly Where the Sidewalk Ends, funny poems & equally funny pictures.

For young readers (eg 5/6/7), there is the very lovely (and endless) series of Magic Treehouse books. These are standard reading for US children.

Older books are the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books (they have the same stories, but with a female or male focus, respectively).

Hadn't heard of Shel Silverstein - see what people miss out on when they don't know, what other books exist.

The magic treehouse looks good too.

Are the Arthur books based on the tv show or the show on the books - not that it matters

The Berstein bears are fab I remember them from when I was little.

Are PD Eastman and Seuss somewhat "related" looking on Amazon and there seems to be a vibe between the two [dim witted?]

Kevin Henkes Lilly looks like a fab character too.

Thank you for the older suggestions as well - also look after "big" children so it's just as nice to have something for them to read/or have read to them.

Obviously you have lots of special days throughout the year, presidents day, 4th July, Thanksgiving - can you reccomend any books on those ?

Agree about Little House (on the Prairie) books. Loved the originals as a child, and now my DC adore "My First Little House" books.

Goodnight Gorilla
Blueberries for Sal
Ferdinand the bull
Jamboree
I went walking
Moonlight by jan ormerod
Sunshine also by jan ormerod

Plus seconding alot of others here esp Knuffle bunny which my toddler thinks is hilarious!

My suggestions are a bit retro as we lived in the US when I was 3 and I have lots of picture books from then. No idea if they're still in print. So my list is:

Another vote for Blueberries for Sal - it's such a classic.
Make Way for Ducklings - another oldie but still lovely.
We All Sing with the Same Voice - originally a song from Sesame Street. No idea if you can get it over here but a friend sent it to me and my two have loved it since they were about 1. You can find the tune on Youtube.
Homer Price
The Sign on Rosie's Door
One Morning in Maine

Been looking at Barnes and Noble and found these which look good too.

Drippy fish ; How do you Wokka Wokka ; All kinds of families ; When Mama comes home tonight ; Sophies big bed; Baby Bears chairs ;

Whats wrong with my hair ; On the night you were born ; Cloudy with a chance of meatballs ; The important book ; How full is your bucket ; Fancy Nancy

No excuses ; Max?s words ; Chicka chicka boom boom ; Jeremy draws a monster ; The gingerbread pirates ; The tiara club;

Peeny butter fudge ; Miss Bindergarten Celebrates the Last Day of Kindergarten ; Dad are you the tooth fairy ; Me and my animal friends ; The bad news report card

The American revolution from a-z ; Punctuation takes a vacation ; Extra credit ; Frindle ; Miss Daisy is Crazy ; The lemonade war; No Talking; Ivy and Bean ;

What to do when you worry to much ; Mr Klutz is nuts ; I spy A-Z ;

(Just putting it here so I can find it later)

Anyone read any of the above

we have Goodnight Moon and Goodnight Gorilla - I had no idea they were American "classics"

Olivia the pig appears to be almost exclusively American but I have no idea if they are any good (I was looking for presents for a small American girl called Olivia...)

We have

When Mama Come Home Tonight and On the Night You Were Born.

Lovely, lovely books.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom are both excellent.

Now I'm off to look at the others mentioned!

Oh and "The Day the Babies Crawled Away"

Wonderful!

We loved picture books starring 'Little Crittur' which we bought in drugstores mainly, so I suspect they aren't considered 'works of great literature'! Also 'The Little Engine that Could' is an American childhood classic overlooked over here.

the day the babies crawled away looks fab

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

McDuff stories like this one

Timothy goes to school

all remind me of being in America when DD reads them now - she's convinced she lived there too even though we moved back to the UK just before I got pregnant with her!

The Velveteen Rabbit.
Books by EB White.
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline someerother.

Aaah the velveteen rabbit looks lovely

Agree re Sandra Boynton (genius) and the Magic Treehouse series

The American version of "The Paperbag Princess" has to be the best ever children's book. I love it! Every year on book day I try to persuade DD to wear a paperbag to school, and she refuses and goes as a Disney Princess.