5 Children’s Books That I Still Love As An Adult
For years, every great now and again, I’d be reminded of a book that I read as a child. Perhaps a quote, perhaps a moment in time… As an adult, I would still, on occasion, read children’s books. Even before I got pregnant. Especially when they come from Neil Gaiman or “Weird Al” Yankovic (What? “Weird Al” writes children’s books? Why yes… yes he does).
Here are five children’s books that I still love from when I was a child:
5. The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
These books were cute tales with cute art, and were conveniently small in size for children, as I recall.
I remember that my dad would get these at the gas station for us every time he’d gas up. We’d always run over to him when he came home, asking if he got another book for us. And if we happened to be in the car while he gassed up, we’d ask him the moment that he hopped back into the car.
I also remember, one day more recently, cashing a money order for $25 from one of my aunts and uncles- a baby shower gift- wondering what books I was going to possibly buy my son. I didn’t want him to have just any books with this money… They had to be special. It took a few days, but I remembered these gas station books, so I looked up these Beatrix Potter stories on Barnes & Noble’s website. Lo and behold, there was a Board Book Box Classic Collection set for $23 plus tax. Score!
4. Just Mommy and Me by Mercer Mayer
Little Critter!
My brother and I used to bring these books home from the school library. Having gone to a French school, however, the books of this series were always read in French.
My fondest memory of these books was at the end, when my mum would read us the rest of the books from the series from the back cover. She would read them really fast, and my brother and I would always get a kick out of it, and try and imitate her reading speed.
3. But No Elephants by Jerry Smath
As a kid, I could not tell the difference in between Jerry Smath and Dr. Seuss. All I knew for certain was that I enjoyed this book just as much as any Dr. Seuss books we owned.
I remember reading this over and over again, to my brother or just to myself. I also remember staring at the artwork.
2. Green Eggs And Ham by Dr. Seuss
Speaking of Dr. Seuss… Who didn’t love Dr. Seuss books, as a child?
We had quite a few books by Dr. Seuss in our house, growing up. Green Eggs And Ham and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish are pretty tied for favorite, in my Seuss world, but in the end, the green eggs and green ham won.
As a child, I loved the repetitiveness as we got further into the book, and how we would snowball back to the original he-does-not-like-green-eggs-and-ham. Sam-I-am was pretty persistent, though… I wonder if I’ll have to go through these lengths with my son?
1. Love You Forever by Robert Munsch.
I remember this story from sitting in the library at school a long time ago. How long ago? Well, I was pretty young, so my timeline is pretty sketchy… But I know that I was living in Borden, Ontario at the time, so it had to be 1st Grade or earlier.
In school, we would, on occasion, get to go to the library and have the librarian read a book to us. Now since I was attending a French school, I remember the book in French “Je T’aimerias Toujours“. I remembered how the librarian repeated a certain paragraph over and over again. And as I grew up, I could still remember that paragraph, and would recite it whenever I’d think about it.
When I found out that I was pregnant, I knew that I wanted my son to be bilingual like me. I asked my mum and all of my family from Quebec for French books, but I specifically asked my mum to find the French translation to this one.
She found it. She even had to read it to my son one night after he was born, because I couldn’t- I was still a hormonal mess, and this book just triggered my feelings pretty hard with its beautiful message.
What children’s book do you still love? Let me know in the comments!
Raine