Aleph-Bet Books is a business that sells first editions of children’s books and other illustrated books. They have put several of their book sale catalogs online which are full of antique and vintage illustrations. Not like holding the real thing in your hands, but still, I had fun salivating over all the fine, old illustrations shown here. There is also a interesting article and list covering the ‘Highspots in Children’s Literature (1863-1963)’, which has many classics you’ll recognize that are still available in reprint.

By Karma Wilson, Illustrated by Jane Chapman, 2002, 40 pages

“In a cave in the woods,In his deep, dark lair,through the long, cold wintersleeps a great brown bear.”Thus begins the story of one hibernating bear whose cave is visited by all manner of small forest creatures: mouse, hare, badger, gopher, mole, wren and raven. Each one arrives with a contribution to a spontaneous midwinter party in the bear’s cave. The party gears up while the bear snores on, until a small pepper fleck wakes him up: “He blows and he sneezes, and the whole crowd freezes…”

The cadence and flow of Karma Wilson’s verses are really delightful, especially when read out loud – it’s hard to believe this was her first book. She has written two other books about Bear, Bear Stays Up For Christmas“, and “Bear’s New Friend“, with a third just published: “Bear Feels Sick“. She also has a very nicely designed website, where you can learn more about the author and her work.

By Robert McCloskey, 1948, 64 pages

“Little Sal picked three berries and dropped them in her little tin pail…kuplink, kuplank, kuplunk!”

This is another favorite classic children’s books of ours that’s been around for 60(!) years. It’s the story of a mother and her Little Sal (a girl), and a mother bear and her Little Bear wandering over a late summer hillside in Maine, covered with blueberries. The mother and Sal are picking berries to can for winter, and the mother bear and Little Bear are eating as many berries as they can before winter arrives. A mother/daughter mix-up follows, with just the right amount of drama for little kids. This one makes my list of perfectly written children’s stories!

Robert McCloskey was a well-known author and illustrator of many other titles you would probably recognize including: “Make Way For Ducklings”, and the Homer Price stories.

If your child has a favorite book or series of books, they often want more stories than the author has written. Many publishers have created websites for these books which usually have more information about the author/illustrator, favorite characters, coloring pages that can be printed out, and interactive games. Three of my daughter’s favorites book series are the Babar books, the Angelina Ballerina books, and the Ella books. Each has a nicely designed website, and lots of new images and short animations to look at, and interesting tidbits about the creators of the books. Here are the links to each site:

Babar

Angelina Ballerina

Ella the Elegant Elephant

We all know about “The Cat In The Hat”, “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas”, and “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish”, but here are a couple other Seuss books you may have missed that my daughter and I really enjoy. The first is “Dr. Seuss’s Sleep Book” (1962), which leads us through a story of sleep beginning with one yawning bug named Van Vleck. It continues through the falling asleep of many other Seussian creatures, counting up the number of sleepers as we read along, until the end when everyone is sleeping but you. Be careful before agreeing to read this one at bedtime, because it’s a pretty long book!

“Ninety-nine zillion, nine trillion and two
Creatures are sleeping! So…how about you?
When you put out your light, then the number will be
Ninety-nine zillion, nine trillion and three.”

The other book is “Happy Birthday To You!” (1959). We should all be so lucky to have a birthday like the one the little boy in this book has. I think it would be fun to make a tradition of reading this book to each family member on the day of their birthday (including Mom and Dad). Reading this book (as well as the Sleep Book), you can really get a sense of how much fun Dr. Seuss must have had writing the verses:

“They smell like licorice! And cheese!
Send forty Who-Bubs up the trees
To snip with snippers! Nip with nippers!
Clip and clop with clapping clippers.
Nip and snip with clipping cloppers!
Snip and snop with snipping snoppers!
All for you, the Who-Bubs clip!
Happy Birthday! Nop and nip!”

Both books are pretty wordy, so I would recommend them for 3-year-olds and up. Enjoy!