classic literature for my little one(s)

Aren’t they beautiful?  Can’t you just smell them?  The well-loved covers and beloved pages of some of the best children’s books ever written.  Ahhh… I could just stare at this photo and admire them for a good long time.  In fact, I have.

The story behind these photos is the little shopping spree I went on before meeting Eden on Capitol Hill last Saturday.  Don’t get too worried, sweet husband, because my shopping spree cost me a grand total of $9.50, and that was only because I went to the wrong place and spent too much at a yard sale ($7.50) before I headed to the library sale and wised up over a stack of books that cost me $2.

Here’s what I scored at the yard sale:

All those Madeline books (we already have the original) make me giddy!  As does that lovely old volume of Shel Silverstein’s poetry.  I’m still looking for a good copy of The Giving Tree, my favorite Silverstein story. 

Here’s what I scored at the library sale:

The Story of Ferdinand, A Coat for Anna, Blueberries for Sal, and Lena’s first James Herriot book (she will have many, her dad’s a veterinarian) made me do a happy dance.  These were some of my favorite books as a child!  Do you see favorites of yours in there?  I’m not familiar with all of them, but they looked good enough to snag.

Anyway, I thought the “scoring” was done and couldn’t wait to box these goodies up and ship them back to Sicily via media mail.  But then I went to my brother-in-law David‘s popup library to benefit the return of librarians to D.C. schools.  David had collaborated with a restaurant on H Street and filled the restaurant with donated books… all for free!  I browsed the adult titles and then my eyes landed on the kids’ section.  There were so so so many board books!  I couldn’t believe it! 

I made this stack, staring in disbelief at all the new Eric Carle, Sandra Boynton, DK, and Dr Seuss books.  And that random, darling Melissa and Doug wooden puzzle, which Lena will undoubtedly enjoy and our little boy will undoubtedly love.  Then I turned to David and said, “Are these really free?  Should I leave some for other people?”

David said, “No!  We want to leave here with less books than we brought.  They will all be donated anyway.  Please take them all!”

And so I did.  And Lena and I have been loving them!  We’ve spent hours (literally) since Saturday lying on my bed reading them all, some of them over and over and over.  Her favorite yesterday was The Very Quiet Cricket; her favorite so far today is I Spy.  Just like at home, we read when she wakes up in the morning and Mama is too tired to get out of bed, we read before her morning nap, we read before her afternoon “nap,” and we read before bed.  We read when we need a break or have a bad attitude.  We read when Lena needs snuggle time.  We read when Mama needs snuggle time.  We read because we love it.

I am always looking for good recommendations of good books, and now I can add “books for my kids” to that list along with “books for moi.”  Which are your favorites in this post?  Or that are not in this post?  I’m currently on a hunt for books that have been awarded the Caldecott Medal… do you have any favorite winners?