The Best Picture Books Of All Time!

Happy National Picture Book Month! I am so happy to discover there is a whole 30 days devoted to celebrating the world I've immersed myself in for the past 3 years. Picture books are my life! Just ask any of my co-workers at the library. They'll tell you that at the end of every shift I'm walking away with an armful of picture books. I currently have 72 checked out, and they're sitting on a shelf in my 4 year old's bedroom just waiting to be opened. Every night Samuel and I snuggle up and step into the worlds created for us by Mo Williams, James Marshall, Maurice Sendak and hundreds of other brilliant children's book authors and illustrators. I may forget to have him brush his teeth or change him in to pajamas, but I never neglect to read him his bedtime stories. It's the most important ritual of my day.

In honor of National Picture Book Month I would like to share with you our top 10 favorite picture books. These are the books that threw us into fits of giggles, or caused an unexpected burst of emotion in me as I tried to wipe away the tears before Samuel could see. These are the books that I can recite word for word. These are the books that made me want to be a children's book author/illustrator in the first place. They are my haven, inspiration, and delight. They are the best of the best, and I hope you'll enjoy them too.

Samuel's Top 10

1. Tin - Chris Judge
2. Sneeches and other short stories - Dr. Seuss
3. Rhyming Dust Bunnies - Jan Thomas

4. There are No Cats in this Book - Vivian Schwartz
5. No David! - David Shannon
6. Bedtime for Mommy - Amy Krouse Rosenthal and LeUyen Pham
7. Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site - Sherri Duskey Rinker
8. Room on the Broom - Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
9. Hooray for Hat! - Brian Won
10. Go Dog. Go! - P. D. Eastman

My Top 10 

1. A Story, A Story - Gail E. Haley
2. The Giving Tree - Shel Silverstein

3. Julius the Baby of the World - Kevin Henkes

4. Heckedy Peg - Audrey and Don Wood
5. The Mitten - Jan Brett
6. Home - Carson Ellis
7. Are You My Mother? - P. D. Eastman
8. Ernest the Moose - Catherine Rayner
9. No Fits Nilson - Zacharia O’Hara
10. The Eleventh Hour - Graeme Base

What are your favorites? What are the books that you loved as a child? What are the books that your own kids pull off the shelves over and over again? Please share!