National Children's Book Week

I don't have children yet, and I'm not a teacher yet, but I do love children's books. Children's books often have a lot to offer adults, too.

In honor of National Children's Bookweek, here are a few of my favorites (just a very few--you should see my bookshelves!):

1.A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. L'Engle is my favorite author, and this is one of many, many books for children that she wrote.
2. Another L'Engle: Meet the Austins. This book is one of L'Engle's early books and is completely different than the science-fiction many of her kid fans love. I read this to my brother when he was little, and we loved it.
3. The Giver by Lois Lowry. I read this as an adult, and still think about it sometimes.
4. The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo. I loved this enchanting book so much that I included it in a paper I wrote for one of my "serious" literature classes.
5.Imagine That! Poems of Never Was collected by Jack Prelutsky. I used to mail my little brother paintings of monsters. Around that time I found this fabulous book--the illustrations are wonderful!
6. The Eleventh Hour: A Curious Mystery by Graeme Base. I spent hours going through this as a kid, looking at the incredibly detailed illustrations and searching for clues to solve the story's mystery.
7. Superfudge by Judy Blume.
8. The Hank the Cowdog series by John R. Erickson. I am always surprised when people don't know this series. These are brilliant books, told from the farm dog's perspective. The books on tape are just hilarious--if you take a long trip with your child, you should take these with you.
8.The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. What favorite children's book list would be complete without this one?