A few years ago, when deciding what to buy my godson for his christening gift I struck upon the idea of giving him what I believed to be the essential books that every boy should grow up reading. His name is Jack, so I asked an artistic friend to paint a beanstalk on a bright red wooden crate from Target and label it "Jack's Beanstalk of Books." After that, many of my friends asked me for that list of books. This was before I had a blog, and when I stumbled upon the list on my computer the other day, it was almost like finding a blog post from my pre-blog past...eery.
There's no better time to share this list than now, and I hope it helps you find the right gift for your son, nephew, little brother or grandson this holiday season! Stay tuned for my Best Books for Girls list that will follow. And please let me know what you think I've left out! (since I was giving these books to a then 1 yr old, it definitely skews a bit younger, and I confess I have since added some my son's favorites).
All links go to Powell's, as they're offering free shipping on orders of more than $50 this week! The Giving Tree
The Runaway Bunny
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
Goodnight Moon
The Snowy Day
The Tale of Peter Rabbit
The World of Pooh Good Dog, Carl
Clifford the Big Red Dog
Bedtime for
Velveteen Rabbit
Tikki Tikki Tembo
Story of Babar Curious George
Caps for Sale
Story of Ferdinand
The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
The Story about
The Jungle Book
Just So Stories, Kipling
Where the Wild Things Are Stuart Little
Where the Sidewalk Ends
Charlotte's Web
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
Harriet the Spy
Henry Reed, Inc. Encyclopedia Brown
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
A Wrinkle in Time
Henry Huggins
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
The Phantom Tollbooth
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
