40 of Your Favorite Picture Books
This Riot Recommendation of favorite picture books is sponsored by When God Made You by Matthew Paul Turner, illustrated by David Catrow.
From early on, children are looking to discover their place in the world and longing to understand how their personalities, traits, and talents fit in. The assurance that they are deeply loved and a unique creation in our big universe is certain to help them spread their wings and fly.
Through playful, charming rhyme and vivid, fantastical illustrations, When God Made You inspires young readers to learn about their own special gifts and how they fit into God’s divine plan as they grow, explore, and begin to create for themselves.
‘Cause when God made YOU, somehow God knew
That the world needed someone exactly like you!
I can’t imagine growing out of picture books. They can be a joy to flip through, read to children, and admire on an artistic level. There are the new picture books you or the kids discover, and there are the vintage childhood favorites tucked away somewhere safe.
We asked you to tell us your favorite picture books and you responded. Here are 40 of your favorites!
Miss Suzy by Miriam Young and Arnold Lobel
Home by Carson Ellis
Aunt Flossie’s Hats (and Crab Cakes Later) by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard and James Ransome
I Wish I Were a Butterfly by James Howe and Ed Young
Blueberry Girl by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess
The Patchwork Quilt by Valerie Flournoy and Jerry Pinkney
The Undesirables by Paule Briere and Philippe Beha
Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel
Perfect Piggies! by Sandra Boynton
Pete the Cat series by Eric Litwin and James Dean
Come On, Rain! by Karen Hesse, illustrated by Jon J Muth
The Monster at the End of This Book by Jon Stone and Michael Smollin
Tomas and the Library Lady by Pat Mora
Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney and Anita Jeram
The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd
The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant and Stephen Gammell
Scaredy Squirrel series by Mélanie Watt
Micawber by John Lithgow and C. F. Payne
Gathering the Sun by Alma Flor Ada
The Cello of Mr. O by Jane Cutler and Greg Couch
See the Ocean by Estelle Condra
Rhyming Dust Bunnies by Jan Thomas
Baby Animals Black and White by Phyllis Limbacher Tildes
Peter’s Chair by Ezra Jack Keats
Hairy Maclary series by Lynley Dodd
Meg and Mog by Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowsky
I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen
Do Like Kyla by Angela Johnson and James Ransome
The Little Prince by Richard Howard and Antoine de Saint-Exupery
The Day the Babies Crawled Away by Peggy Rathman
Peepo by Janet and Allan Ahlberg
Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet and Allan Ahlberg
Summer Sun Risin’ by W. Nikola-Lisa and Don Tate
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams and William Nicholson
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Summer Jackson: Grown Up by Teresa E. Harris and AG Ford
Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match by Monica Brown
What are your favorite picture books?
