The List - Picture Books

As promised, here is THE LIST! This task was more difficult than I imagined. I could name a few from memory, then I went to the children's bookcases. Each asked what I was doing and I told them I wanted to make a list of our absolute must have picture books. At this point, they both started screaming favorites and pulling them off the shelf. We eventually chose books that had been read until the pages acquired that old book feeling or the covers were taped. After the list was finished, I realized that there were still treasured books that were not represented. These are in a random order.

Title	Author	Illustrator	Why?
Miss Suzy	Miriam Young	Arnold Loebel	Great story and pictures. This is one from my childhood. I always enjoyed the good winning over menacing.
Verdi	Diane Cannon		You have beautiful nature pictures, a story about growing older while retaining your inner youth, and the "perfect figure eight." What more could you need?
Miss Twiggley's Tree	Dorothea Warren Fox		A wonderful story about a woman who eschewed typical society coming to the aid of the the town that snubbed her. I love the idea of tree houses if you haven't noticed.
The Complete Curious George	Margaret and H.A. Rey		My mother gave this volume to me, because I loved Curious George when I was young. We have read the cover off this book.
Frederick	Leo Lionni		Validation of the poet, not to mention cute little mice.
Over on the Farm	Christopher Gunson		I'm not usually much on counting books, but my sister gave my son this book when he was very young and the pages have been worn to that wonderful patina because the pictures and words are wonderfully happy.
The Raft	Jim LaMarche		Wonderful paintings and wonderful story about a boy interacting with nature on a raft.
Mike Mulligan	Virginia Lee Burton		Love the tale of problem solving.
The Quiltmaker's Gift	Jeff Brumbeau	Gail De Marcken	Beautiful quilt pictures and a magical story about giving.
Piggies	Don and Audrey Wood		The drawings of the fingers with their piggy personalities are priceless.
Toot and Puddle	Holly Hobbie		Mud Season
The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear	Don and Audrey Wood		The drawings and the power of invention.
The Runaway Bunny	Margaret Wise Brown		The power of a mother's love
Where the Wild Things Are	Maurice Sendak		The pictures and the reality of the tantrum
The Little Engine That Could	Watty Piper		Perseverance
New Shoes, Red Shoes	Susan Rollings		Bright, happy shoe images that my daughter could not resist
My Many Colored Days	Dr. Suess		Color and the reality that not all days are
The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter	Beatrix Potter		Who can live without Peter and Jeremy Fisher
The Lorax	Dr. Suess		It's never too early to start teaching about environmental stress.
Peach and Blue	Sarah Kilborne		Wonderful story of how someone else's view can improve our own.
Insectlopedia	Douglas Florian		Interesting pictures and cute insect poems
The Foot Book	Dr. Suess		I know this one by heart because I read it over and over and over and over
No Matter What	Debi Glori		Again, a mother's love overcomes a bad day. "Do you still love me; Do you still care?" Of course, I do.
Something From Nothing	Phoebe Gilman		Beautiful pictures and story. The mice images on the bottom of each page are wonderful.
In a Small, Small Pond	Denise Fleming		Bright, interesting pictures and happy words and pond life.
The Classic Tales of Brer Rabbit	Joel Chandler Harris	Dan Daily	Trickster tales, especially Tar Baby
Aesop's Fables		Jerry Pinkney	Great pictures and classic tales

What have I forgotten? Here's Becky's list. Zilla's list is in the comments section of the last post. Where's your list?