Favorite Friday-5 Favorite Children's Books

I am starting my Favorite Friday blog. Every Friday I will make a list of my favorite things. This week I have started off with my favorite Children's Books. Being a teacher I love to read. I have numerous books around my house and have collected children's books over the years. Amongst my many variety of books I have my top 5. Below I have listed these books with a picture and quick review. I have also linked the pictures to Barnes and Noble, if you would like to check them out.

1. Journey- by Aaron Becker-  This is a wonderful book to drive imagination. Although a picture only book you don't need words to understand what is going on throughout the book. The pictures are exquisite and bring the imagination to life.  The main character is bored and decides to draw herself into a different world. Her adventures are trademarked by a read crayon, and everything that she imagines shows through in red.  I loved to show this to my students when I wanted to peak their curiosity and have them narrate the book. Recommended for ages 2-10. 

2. Henry's Freedom Box- by Ellen Levine and Kadie Nelson-   I can't tell you how many times I have read this book. Henry is a slave in the South, he goes through some hardship's before making the decision to mail himself up North . A great introduction book to talk about slavery, or the civil war, with your children or students. The illustrations in this book are  divine, each picture you can feel what the character is feeling. Recommended for ages 6-12. 

3. Fall Mixed Up- by Bob Raczka and illustrated by Chad Cameron-  Fall is my favorite season. Most of the books I have collected have to do with Fall. This book was one of my first purchased for the season. I can't rave enough about it. In this book everything that you can think about that describes Fall is all mixed up. Everything from pumpkin turning red, to bears gathering nuts, and vampire' riding brooms. This book is hilarious and the illustrations are comical. The pages are overflowing with vibrant colors. This is a great book to read once that first leaf drops to signal the beginning of fall. Recommended for ages 4-12. 

4. Miss Maple's Seeds- by Eliza Wheeler- Miss Maple's Seeds is a wonderful book that introduces how seeds are planted and become flowers, tree's, and more. One of my favorite quotes comes from this book: " Take care my little ones, for the world is big and you are small. But never forget even the grandest of trees once had to grow up from the smallest of seeds". Miss Maple looks after all of the seeds that have gotten lost. She takes care of them until it is Spring time and ready for them to be planted. There is a page with information on different types of seeds that you may come across. The book also discuss' the variety of ways that seeds are planted. This is a great book to read at the beginning of Spring when all the new flower and trees are blooming. Recommended for ages 5-12.

5. Mirror Mirror- by Marilyn Singer and illustrated by Josee Masse- I loved poetry growing up. I wish we had this book when I was in Elementary school. Mirror Mirror takes us on a ride through all of our Fairy Tales through rhyme. The fun part about Mirror Mirror is that if you read it one way, you see the point of view of a character, but if you read it backwards you read another point of view from a different character. The words are very strategically placed in order to describe both points of view. The illustrator does a great job bringing the poems to life. They have used bright colors to portray the heroes of our stories and more darker colors to portray our villains. Mirror Mirror is a joy to read and even more fun to relive the fairy tales. Recommended for ages 5-12.