99 of our favorite books for kids ages 0-5

I'm nearing my fifth year of parenthood and I've decided that this makes me a connoisseur of great children's literature. It's pretty simple, really. The perfect book must both appeal to a child and not make a parent's head explode after the fifth reading. I don't like books with preachy morals, but I don't mind a lesson with my lit either. I like a combination of short and long books, for obvious reasons. Illustrations are key, but once Annabella turned 4, they no longer needed to be on every page. I've spent some time compiling our favorites.

What are yours?

1. The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
2. Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
3. Zen Shorts by Jon J. Muth
4. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
5. The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White
6. Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey
7. One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey
8. Crow Boy by Taro Yashima
9. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
10. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendack
11. Umbrella by Taro Yashima
12. The Sneeches by Dr. Seuss
13. Love You Forever by Robert Munsch
14. How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
15. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendack
16. Hug by Jez Alborough
17. Oh the Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss
18. Library Lion by Michele Knudsen
19. The Empty Pot by Demi
20. Corduroy by Don Freeman
21. The Clown of God by Tomie dePaola
22. Cars and Trucks and Things That Go by Richard Scarry
23. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
24. Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina
25. Pierre by Maurice Sendack
26. Fish is Fish by Leo Lionni
27. Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary
28. Ramona and Her Father by Beverly Cleary
29. Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary
30. Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Leonni
31. Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary
32. The Paper Bag Princess by Robert N. Munsch
33. Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems
34. A Bargain for Francis by Russell Hoban
35. The Little Train by Lois Lenski
36. The Little Airplane by Lois Lenski
37. The Little Fire Engine by Lois Lenski
38. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
39. The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary
40. Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion
41. Ramona's World by Beverly Cleary
42. Are You My Mother? by PD Eastman
43. The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper
44. Owl Moon Jane Yolen
45. Eloise by Kay Thompson
46. The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
47. Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed (Obviously) by Eileen Christelow
48. A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni
49. Where The Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
50. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
51. Good Night Gorilla by Peggy Rathman
52. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr.
53. We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury
54. Skippy Jon Jones in Mummy Trouble by Judy Schachner
55. Carl's Afternoon in the Park by Alexandra Day
56. Ruby the Copycat by Margaret Rathmann
57. Chicken Soup with Rice by Maurice Sendack
58. Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester
59. Falling Up by Shel Silverstein
60. The Missing Piece by Shel Silverstein
61. I Was So Mad by Mercer Mayer
62. Everyone Knows What a Dragon Looks Like by Jay Williams
63. Time for Bed by Mem Fox
64. Humphrey the Lost Whale by Wendy Tokuda and Richard Hall
65. Richard Scary's Best Word Book Ever Richard Scary
66. Curious George Goes to the Hospital by H.A. Rey
67. Curious George Takes a Job by H.A. Rey
68. Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
69. Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Bill Martin Jr.
70. My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss
71. Henry and the Paper Route by Beverly Cleary
72. Dig Dig Digging by Margaret Mayo
73. Fancy Nancy by Jane O'connor
74. Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy by Jane O'connor
75. Nurse Nancy by Kathryn Jackson
76. Fire Truck by Peter Sis
77. How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? by Jane Yolen
78. What Do You Want? by Lars Klinting
79. Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt
80. Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss
81. Horton Hatches an Egg by Dr. Seuss
82. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
83. One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss
84. The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
85. The Snow Globe Family by Jane O'Connor
86. Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
87. May I pet your dog by Stephanie Calmenson
88. Olivia Saves the Circus by Ian Falconer
89. Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae
90. Alphabet Soup by Kate Banks
91. I Love You the Purplest by Barbara M. Joosse
92. Ramona the Brave by Beverly Cleary
93. Bub or the Very Best Thing by Natalie Babbitt
94. There's a Wocket in My Pocket by Dr. Seuss
95. The Mysterious Tadpole by Steven Kellogg
96. Frog Goes to Dinner by Mercer Mayer
97. One Frog Too Many by Mercer Mayer
98. Frog on His Own by Mercer Mayer
99. It's My Birthday by Helen Oxenbury

Review: The Baby Lottery

Please don't call this book chick lit.

In The Baby Lottery, by Kathryn Trueblood, the problems of the characters are real --messy, uncomfortable, profoundly sad, and often just plain mundane.

The story follows five friends from college who are facing down their late thirties. Nan, formerly a single mom is now comfortably married. Virginia, working mother of a 5 year old, has just separated from her husband. Jean and her husband have divorced after years of unsuccessful fertility treatments lead him to an affair. Tasi is happily single. Charlotte is married and is considering a late-term abortion.

The Baby Lottery is filled with sentiments that are as universal as they are direct.

"Here's the funny part about forgiveness: you never know if you mean it or not."

"'Brothers and sisters are the main social unit. They never marry or move away. Lovers come and go, kids come and go...'"

It also uses metaphors that although hilarious and right on target to me, might not be as universal.

"She's like those people with a live-in nanny who tell you they never let their children watch TV."

Trueblood's characters show that while there's both joy and security in child-rearing and marriage, there are perks to being unattached in your late thirties too. But then there are the obstacles. And for the first time, friends you've had for fifteen years or more may be facing entirely different problems and might not be able to help guide you through your own maze. The conflicts between their decisions and yours could easily destroy the friendships forever. If you this rings true to you, then find yourself a copy of The Baby Lottery . You won't be sorry.

Disclosure: Kathryn found my blog and sent me a review copy of her book. We'll be interviewing her on an upcoming podcast about how to promote your book online. Kathryn is also an assistant professor at Western Washington University. If you have questions you'd like me to ask during the interview, e-mail me at megan@twit.tv.

Review: Zen Shorts

A few weeks ago I randomly grabbed a book off the shelf of the kids' section at the public library. The title intrigued me as did the cover illustration. Why would a panda be wearing shorts?

Zen Shorts is the story of two brothers and a sister who meet a panda named Stillwater. He tells them simple stories that are interesting to kids and based Zen principles (as I learned from reading the author's note at the end of the book.)

The illustrations are also fantastic. Geeks will appreciate that Muth has worked on several graphic novels, including Neil Gaiman's Sandman series.

We had to return this book before the due date and not for the usual reason we return books before their due date, which is because if I have to read them one more time my head will explode. We had to return it because we were reading it so much that the pages started to pull out from the binding. So, we returned it and I bought my own copy and several extra copies to give as gifts.

I am not a particularly Zen person, but I aspire to be. And I have no idea if the kids understand the principles in this book, but I've always believed that at every stage my kids understand way more than I think they do.

Review: HP Printer and Photo Book

As I mentioned last week, the Parent Bloggers Network recently sent me an HP Photosmart 626 Printer and two cloth bound photo books to review. Here are my thoughts.

Printer Setup

The printer was super easy to set up. It's designed to work directly with your memory card. Just pop it in and then edit or print your photos. If you want to print photos from your computer, you must purchase a USB cable separately.

For a printer that's designed to help you create a photo memory book, I didn't find this very practical. If you're making a photo book of your most recent vacation I can see how all of your pictures could still be on your memory card. But if you're making a photo book of your children's first year of life (as I was) and that child is now 4.5 years old, you're going to need the USB cable to get those photos off of your computer.

I can see how working directly from the memory card would be really helpful for a technophobe since you don't have to worry about compatability issues. Personally, I want my printer to come with a USB cable.

Printer Touch Screen Functionality

The PhotoSmart 626 works with a touch screen that pops up out of the computer. You can navigate your photos using the included stylus or your finger. I found both work equally well. The touch screen makes it simple to crop photos, remove red-eye, and adjust photo brightness. I found the results to be similar to the basic photo editing software that's included with most printers.

If your camera records video, you can even use the touch screen to play the video, although without sound.

My one gripe with the touch screen is that I'd prefer to view the pictures on the large screen of my computer to determine how they're going to look before I print them.

Printing

The prints from this printer are similar in quality to my Canon i560 and my Dell Photo AIO 922 printer. The major improvement is how easy it is to print borderless photos of different sizes. However, you also can't print any photos larger than 5x7.

The HP printer also includes a very cool feature called Get Creative. Use it to draw on photos with stylus, add frames, special effects, clip art, and captions. This is a great feature for anyone who fancies him/herself a scrapbooker and will come in handy when I finally get around to creating those photo books.

Troubleshooting

As I tested this printer I never found cause to refer to the troubleshooting and support section of the user's guide, but I read it anyway and found it to be very simple to understand, which can't be said about many tech products these days.

Discounts

The Parent Bloggers network asked me to mention that you should check Sunday circulars for specials on the printer itself. For 20% off the Photo Books at the HP Home & Office Store, use COUPON CODE: AC8595.

Review: The Daring Book for Girls

Annabella: Mommy, is this a boy book or a girl book?

She's referring to my old paperback copy of The Black Pearl, by Scott O'Dell, which she found on my parent's book shelf. She's recently gotten into her four year old head that everything is divided by gender - people, colors, toys. I try not to let it bother me when she wants everything to be pink. But like so many lapses in my parenting, I am not consistent. Consider my response to her request for a pink bike.

Me: You cannot get a pink bike because when you grow out of it, you will give it to your brothers.

Annabella: But mommy, you said it was OK for boys to have pink things.

The book question also throws me. I want to say that there is no such thing as a "girl  book" or a "boy book," but this is not true. In fact, 2007 seems to be The Year of the Gender-Specific Book, at least for kids. Consider The Dangerous Book for Boys, by Conn and Hal Iggulden that came out in May. It's a collection of knowledge that all boys should have and that the authors argue is missing in the age of video games and cell phones.

I'm not sure if the success of this book spawned a return to old-fashioned boyhood, but it has spawned a lot of similar books, with very similar covers. First there was How To Be the Best At Everything (The Girl's Book) and How To Be the Best At Everything (The Boy's Book) and now we have The Daring Book for Girls by Andrea J. Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz.

I had high hopes for The Daring Book since I'm a fan of both of these writers. They're veteran authors on this topic, popular mommy bloggers, and also the founders of Mother-Talk, a blogging network that I write for. And from what I understand, this book was written, in part, as a response to the chatter on the blogoshere about The Dangerous Book for Boys: Why did it have to be just for boys? And what would a similar book for girls look like?

This is tough territory. I want my daughter to be tough and to know that she can do anything boys can do. But I also recognized that a lot of gender is hard-wired and if we try to keep our daughters from girly things, it might backfire on us.

In her New York Times Magazine article What's Wrong With Cinderella from December 2006, Peggy Orenstein describes what might happen when we try to explain feminism to a four year old.

"What if, instead of realizing: Aha! Cinderella is a symbol of the patriarchal oppression of all women, another example of corporate mind control and power-to-the-people! my 3-year-old was thinking, Mommy doesn't want me to be a girl?...By not buying the Princess Pull-Ups, I may be inadvertently communicating that being female (to the extent that my daughter is able to understand it) is a bad thing."

In the Daring Book for Girls, Buchanan and Peskowitz navigate this tough territory well, with activities that are both gender specific (Let's face it, most boys would not be interested in "Princesses Today" or "How to Tie a Sari") and gender-neutral (Hiking, How to make a lemon-powered clock, How to make your own handlebar scooter.) And then there are those section with activities that should be taught to girls, but sadly, often aren't (Stocks and bonds, How to change a tire, How to negotiate a salary.) I'm even finding it useful for girly things that I'm sure my own mother taught me, or wanted to teach me, if I hadn't rebelled against all things girly (How to make your own fudge).

Annabella and I are slowly working through this book and I hope we'll reference it for years to come. I'm also planning on getting it for a few different of my friends who, like me, are confounded by the difficulties of raising a strong daughter in world where the cards seem stacked against us.

Disclosure: The Parent Blogger's Network sent me a copy of this book so I could write a review.

Review: That Baby CD & That Baby DVD

"There are two types of people in this world: Those that grasp just how cool Neil Diamond is and those who don't."

So say the liner notes of That Baby CD that was recently sent to me by the kind folks at Parent Bloggers. The CD is filled with acoustic cover versions by well-known artists like Neil Diamond, Fleetwood Mac, The Pretenders, Bruce Springsteen, Natalie Merchant, and Joni Mitchell.

At first listen the CD became part of Annabella's regular bedtime rotation. I can't tell you how much it warms my heart to hear my 4.5 year old daughter sing along to Joni Mitchell's Circle Game. This song was a favorite of my parents when it came out in 1968, and I remember using their old record/tape player to record it on tape so I could add it to a mix I brought with me to college.

The bedtime CD that Annabella plays after we read books and before she goes to bed is usually something she enjoys by herself, but I like the music on this one so much that I usually stick around for a few songs too. 

The creators of That Baby CD, mom and pop team Lisi and Rob Wolf, also created a companion DVD called That Baby DVD. I didn't ask Parent Bloggers to send me a copy, because we try not to watch TV in our house, but they sent me one anyway and I have to say that I'm glad.

Imagine this scenario: It's 5 am and two, two year old boys are screaming their heads off for scrambled eggs with cheese while one four year old girl who will no longer eat scrambled eggs is persistently insisting upon a waffle sandwich with peanut butter, and presiding over this chaos is one mom who might have had a mom's margarita night out the evening before, which entitles one husband to be blissfully earplugged upstairs.

That's the sort of situation we're in when my kids watch That Baby DVD. And they love it. What's not to love? It's really fun music that they already know from the CD and videos of cute kids dancing and some simple animation.

Beyond the fact that it occupies my kids for it's entire 30 minute length, I can't tell you a lot about the DVD since I am usually busy making scrambled eggs with cheese and a waffle sandwich with peanut butter. Sometimes it even gives me time to make and eat my own breakfast and for that I give it very high marks.

The creators of the DVD say it's appropriate for ages 0-5 and from the parts I've watched I agree. I also don't think that any kid of any age who has a steady diet of Noggin, Disney, and Pixar would be captivated by this. But if you're not after captivation and you just want something playing in the background while you all dance around the room, this'll do nicely.

To purchase a copy of That Baby DVD or That Baby CD (or both at a package price), visit the That Baby DVD Web site. Enter the code PBN to get a 20% discount. There's also a no questions asked money back guarantee and you can get a lifetime replacement on your DVD and/or CD. See the site for details.

If you want to hear an interview with the creator of the DVD, Rob Wolf, listen to the Motherhood Uncensored podcast on 12/5. 

Review: Day Runner

To do or not to do, that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of organization through an erasable wall calendar and color coded storage cases or to take arms against a sea of disorganization with my Gmail and my Outlook Calendar and by opposing end it. To be organized - to sleep, perchance to dream; and by a sleep to say only until the twins wake up at 5:30 AM, the heartache and a thousand natural shocks.

My apologies to Shakespeare, but the question of whether to use high or low-tech organizational tools to organize the lives of five human beings is a big one. I admit it's got nothing on Hamlet's ruminations on killing is uncle, but sadly it's more real to me than that.

Between Outlook and Gmail I have a lot of tools to help schedule our lives, but as a family we still rely mostly on our wall calendar. It's always easier to have something on the wall that we can point to and look at, without having to open a computer.

When the Parent Bloggers sent me Day Runner's Family Matters kit, which includes an erasable wall calendar, appointment book, erasable door reminders, color-coded activity folders, and storage cases, I was really looking forward to trying out more of these low-tech solutions to organizing my life.

I appreciate how color coding each member of the family could help a family with older kids, but right now my kids aren't involved in enough activities to warrant that kind of organization. Plus, we currently use a Shutterfly photo calendar with pictures that I like to look at. The erasable wall calendar is much larger and sort of bland and I am unwalling to offer it that much wall space in my kitchen.

The erasable door reminders are a great idea. Unfortunately, they don't work very well with our doorknobs, so we stopped using them after a few days.

The bottom line is that these tools seem to be perfect for someone who's not comfortable organizing their life online. I, however, am not that person. With the exception of my wall calendar, I like having my address book, work calendar, and other organizational stuff on my computer. The less paper there is, the better. Maybe I'll change my tune when my kids start bringing home papers and doing more than one activity at a time. Or maybe by then they'll be able to organize themselves. Perchance to dream.

Right now my organizational system (or lack of one) works for me. If you have kids that are involved in a lot of activities and you're looking to upgrade your organization system (and you have round doorknobs), check out Family Matters.

Review: Sequoia Survival Kit

Marco's parents live in Montana and we've driven there from Northern California nearly every year since 1999. We've even made the trip for Christmas through a lot of snow and ice. This year for the holidays we're flying, primarily because we've already made the drive out there this year, but also because we've gotten wiser in our old age and we've realized that weather is not always our friend.

If you're still under the impression that weather gives a damn about you, may I recommend a Sequioa Vehicle Survival Kit? The folks at Sequoia Survival were nice enough to send me one of these kits to review for the Parent Bloggers Network.

Here's the thing about survival kits. You hope you never have to use them. So, even though the kit has been in my car for a few months, I'm pretty glad I still can't give you a review of how this really works in an emergency. I like that it's compact. My only real complaint is that I wish our minivan had a compartment for the kit, so it didn't clutter up the car. But really, is that such big price to pay for survival?

Here's what the kit contains:

• 32 oz water
• Meals ready to eat (MRE) for 2 people for 1 day
• 151 piece first aid kit
• Two thermal emergency blankets 
• Two rain ponchos 
• Two 6-hour hand warmers
• Two 12-hour light sticks
• Windproof and waterproof matches
• Crank radio/light and cell phone charger (compatible with most models of Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, and LG cell phones.)
• Multi-function hardware tool
• Leather work gloves
• Duct tape
• Rope
• Cleansing wipes
• Toilet paper
• Notebook
• Pen
• Playing cards

I'm not much of a survivalist, so I'd love to hear from you all if you think this kit is pretty complete or if it's missing some major items. In other words, what's in your emergency kit?

Review: Ryka Running Shoes

Am I the only one who finds it difficult to say "no" to free things? No? Good.

So, when the Parent Bloggers Network offered me a free pair of Ryka MC2 running shoes, you can imagine my answer. But I haven't forgotten about you, my friends. You can sign up at Ryka to win your own pair of sneakers. From now until October 25th Ryka is giving away 50 pairs of shoes and 50 performance tees every day.

Review: On Borrowed Wings

One of the things I like about being part of MotherTalk is that I'm asked to read books that I might never have discovered otherwise. On Borrowed Wings, by Chandra Prasad, is one of these books.

On Borrowed Wings is the fictional story of Adele Pietra, a girl from the granite quarries of Stony Creek, "a granite town at a time when granite was going out of fashion." Adele attends Yale University in the 1930's, before the school admitted women. She goes disguised as her brother with her hair cut short and her breasts bound.

This book is far more than a Just One of the Guys period piece. Prasad tackles issues of family loyalty, race, and class, as well as gender. The fact that Adele is passing as a boy is hardly the point. If you left home for college and went to a school where you don't know anyone, you probably had similar experiences. We try on a lot of disguises in those years in an attempt to figure out who we really are.

The book made me think about how I took my own college education for granted. I wasn't surprised when I learned that the college I went to didn't admit women until 1969. When I was there in the early nineties, there were still more men than women by a large margin, even when the opposite was true at most American universities. Because it was a school that specialized in math and science, the culture was not particularly friendly to women undergraduates. I didn't mind this and I think it went a long way in preparing me to work in the field of technology, which is also still dominated by men.

Still, a male-dominated culture is far different than a male-only culture. I have always appreciated that my parents were able to pay for me to go to college and I try never to miss an opportunity to thank them for it (Thanks, Mom & Dad!). But I haven't spent much time thanking the people who made it possible for me, as a woman, to attend the university at all.

I'm really glad that I had a chance to read this book. Not least of all because it's refreshing to read something that has nothing to do with parenting young children or technology. It's a simple story, but very well-researched and literary. There are a few moments in the book that require a suspension of disbelief. For example, why would a racist eugenics professor trust a student with an Italian last name?  But mostly I was along for the ride and enjoyed most every page.