Everybody has that one special book that brings them back to their childhood. Whether it’s remembering your mom reading it to you before you went to bed or seeing it on the shelf at your local library, they all have reserved a special place in your heart. Here are five fun favorites that will bring you back to your childhood.
1. The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
A story about the most beautiful fish in the sea learning one of life’s most important concepts: sharing. Blessed with shiny, vibrant scales, he was admired by all the other fish that swam passed him. However, when a small fish went up and asked if he could have just one of his scales, the Rainbow Fish rudely told him no. Seeing how vain the Rainbow Fish was all the other fish began to isolate him. This led the Rainbow Fish to ask advice from a very wise octopus that told him that he would find true happiness if he learned to share his scales. When the Rainbow Fish happened to run into the small fish again, he had a change of heart and gave him one of his precious scales. Seeing how ecstatic it made the small fish, the Rainbow Fish began to share all of his beautiful scales with the other fish in the sea.
2. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
An old time classic, this story follows the journey of a very hungry caterpillar on his way to metamorphosis. Illustrated with rich and dynamic colors, we follow him as a little caterpillar that begins to have an increasing appetite, which is evident as he slowly chomps through one apple on Monday to devouring multiple foods like salami, cupcakes, and chocolate cake in one sitting on Saturday. He soon gets really big and develops a stomachache which leads him to nibble on the green leaf. He then wraps himself in a cocoon, and at the end he develops into a gorgeous butterfly.
3. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault
Filled with fun rhyming and animated letters, this story follows the whimsical adventures of our alphabet as they journey up a coconut tree. Introduced three at a time into the story, the alphabet soon realizes that the coconut tree cannot support all twenty six of them, causing all of them to fall out. Although injured from the fall, as evident how a couple of the letters have band aids and are a little distorted, they continue to journey back up into the tree. Night then falls, however, “a” journeys back up the coconut tree daring the other letters to catch up to him. The book ends with the infamous title “chicka chicka boom boom.”
4. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff
Just as the title suggests, the story explains the consequences of giving a mouse a cookie. Upon receiving the cookie, the mouse then asks the boy for a glass of milk, which leads to asking for a straw, which then leads to many more requests after that. The story gets fun as the reader observes the labor the boy has to go through upon giving a mouse a cookie. In the end, the mouse goes to ask the boy for another cookie, only to find that he is fast asleep.
5. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
A book guaranteed to put you in the feels, Silverstein illustrates the friendship between a boy and a tree. In the beginning when the boy is young, he and the tree happily play together as he climbs up to her branches, eats her apples, and takes naps under her shade. He and the tree were so close that the boy engraves “Me + T” on her trunk. Seeing the boy always made the tree happy. However, as the boy grew up he began to visit the tree less often. When the boy was a teenager, he no longer wanted to climb up the tree’s branches, eat her apples, or nap under her shade. Instead, he wanted to make money and see the world which the tree suggested he take and sell all her apples, which he did. Even though the tree didn’t see the boy for a while she was still happy. When the boy came back, now a man, the tree once again asked him if he wanted to do the things they used to when he was a boy. Same as when he was a teenager he declined and came up with a new request: a house. The tree suggested he take her branches and make a house, which he did, and even though he left her she was still happy. The book progresses in each stage of the boy’s life and his requests, which the tree fulfills until in the end she has nothing else to give. The boy, now a very old man tells her he just wants a place to sit. The tree, which is now a stump, suggests that he sit on her, fulfilling his last request. In the end, they are finally reunited and both are happy.