Those terrible toybreakers

Books, books, and more books! Why? Because they're one of the best developmental devices for a young mind, because reading together promotes family, because kids love stories, and because I was a bookseller in a former life and always have loved diving into a book. There are more reasons, but that's enough for now.

David McPhail

I guess this falls under the realm of recommendation. My wife and I really like David McPhail's books. I can think of the following three:

Drawing Lessons from a Bear
Those Terrible Toybreakers
A Bug, a Bear, and a Boy

There's also one involving a broken TV, but I can't remember the title. Some stories are short, others more involved. The topics are simple: monsters, life's small disappointments, what do I want to be in life... Oh, maybe not all simple, but they tend to have something about them that makes them enjoyable, even if they may not be time honored classics. For some reason, both my wife and I really crack up at the lion, tiger and elephant in Those Terrible Toybreakers.

O'Sullivan Stew, by Hudson Talbott

Upon telling my wife that I enjoyed this book, and thanking her for selecting it, she replied, "I got it for the illustrations. See, you can judge a book by it's cover!" A very good story (a bit long for a two-year old) with fabulous illustrations, but that's not why it gets special mention from me. No, this gets posted because it is an independent-minded girl book, a tome of the anti-princess. Three cheers for leaving the king to cool his heels!