Children's books

The answer to Devorah's question is that of course Dr. Seuss's books are on the eternally wonderful list. My personal favorites are And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street, Happy Birthday to You and Horton Hatches the Egg. oh, and The Butter Battle. and the Grinch. and The Sleep Book. Ok, so almost anything he wrote. But those are the top three. Umm, six.

Other children's books - for the younger set I like the Sandra Boynton books, which were not out when I was young but which my children adored. Also Piggy in the Puddle by Charlotte Pomerantz, and the Jan Brett books with their wonderful panelled illustrations. The school library in Asmara had a number of the Snipp, Snapp, Snurr books by Maj Lindman and I was most disappointed to not be able to find them in libraries stateside when we got back. Amazon seems to list them so it looks like they've been reprinted. My sister had some of the Noddy books by Enid Blyton and I found some of the Mr. Twiddle books by the same author which my son thinks are wonderful. These also seem to be being reprinted and I need to look into this.

For older children: My all time list has to include Diane Duane (So you want to be a wizard, etc) and Tamora Pierce, Andre Norton, and the Narnia books. The Hed books by Patricia McKillip are wonderful. And Robin McKinley, particularly The Blue Sword, The Hero and the Crown, and Beauty.