Fuse#8 announced her Picture Book poll and I decided to be brave and come up with my own list of the Top Ten Picture Books Of All Time According To Me.
Consider that, although I have read many many picture books, I still wonder which I might have missed since I began reading them fourteen years ago after I arrived to the USA. Because I was already an adult when I started, I did not grew up with the titles I am about to mention. Instead, I grew some more with them.
These books are in this list because perhaps they made me cry, or because I kept thinking about them years after I met them for the first time, or because I couldn’t stop imagining what it would be like to make a book like those, or because they changed my mind, or my heart, or my body, or taught me something I still live by, or simply because I adore them with inexplicable, irrational fervor. But only ten books? I’ll do my best…
A Small Tall Tale From The Far Far North. Peter Sis.
The most powerful and unforgettable of Sis' books. I literally drank this book with my eyes when I found it.
Amos and Boris. William Steigh
My son and I would read this story at night over and over again, transpired by the sea and the love between this small mouse and a whale.
Chato’s Kitchen. Gary Soto and
Barrio cats in a picture book? I couldn’t believe my eyes the first time I saw this book! Chato is some kind of Pedro Infante of the children’s literature.
The Stray dog. Marc Simont.
Marc Simont is a genius. There is such a simplicity in his art, and yet, no emotion si too big for him. I cheered so much with this book.
A Mother For Choco. Keiko Kasza.
Some of the best endings ever in a picture book.
Calling The Doves. Juan Felipe Herrera and Elly Simmons
This book is soulful. A song itself.
Going home. Eve bunting and David Diaz
There is something in this story that makes me weep. Is it the longing?
Sitti’s Secrets. Naomi Shihab Nye and Nancy Carpenter
I love the letter at the end of this book. I just found that Shihab Nye wrote a different kind of letter one day.
Good Night Gorilla. Peggy Rathmann.
For the longest time I wanted to be just like Peggy Rathmman. I still do…
The Day I Swapped My Dad For A Goldfish. Neil Gaiman and Dave Mckean
Storytelling at its best. There are some many undercurrents in this story.
Dear Fuse#8, ten books would never be enough; a hundred books would never be enough…how could I leave out the following titles?
Lon PoPo. Ed Young
Monster Mama. Liz Rosenberg and Stephen Gammell
Freight Train. Donald Crews.
Madlenka’s Dog. Peter Sis.
The Arrival. Shaun Tan.
Emeline At The Circus. Marjorie Priceman.
Northern Lullaby. Nancy White Carlstrom, and Diane and DianeDillon
Wild Child. Lynn Plourde and Greg Couch
The Mountains Of
John Patrick Norman McHennessy: The Boy Who Was Always Late. John Burningham.
