Who are your favorite children's authors?

As much for posterity as anything else, I thought it would be fun to list the authors I hunt for when I go to the library. I know I'll forget these names in a few years (unless we have a second), and it would be nice to remember them. Who knows, one day we might be buying them for grand kids?

So, in no order, here are the authors of children's books I enjoy the most. Some of them--most?--are famous and well known to those who have put in the hours at the library or book store.

Please add to the list! I'd love to be surprised by more excellent authors. I'm already grateful for those Sue has shown and given us, and the many great books we've gotten from Mom and Dad and Amy and Aunt Ruth and others. I'll keep adding as I remember them. I am certain I am not remembering even half the ones which have been important to us.

Kevin Henkes: Sheila Rae, The Brave is a great example of his top-notch work. Just about everything he did is excellent.

Mark Teague: The How Does a Dinosaur series with Jane Yolen is fantasic. He also contributed some great art for the Poppleton series with Cynthia Rylant. Not to be missed; they are some of my favorite books of all time.

You'll notice I haven't mentioned Dr. Suess. I'll come clean. I really dislike his artwork. Hasn't anyone noticed that he can't really draw? And his wacky worlds just drive me nuts. Horton Hears a Who and Is Convicted of Trumped-Up Charges by a Kangaroo Court paints a bleak picture of human nature no less than Henry Fonda's great The Oxbow Incident. The Cat in the Hat has distinct resonances with that children's horror classic Pinocchio or David Mamet's House of Games: Everything goes worse and worse and worse, rules are broken, and for what? The vicarious thrill of watching someone's life broken, their hope of a good night's sleep dashed? For those who like any sort of order or reason, it's torture.

I know this is like insulting a favorite uncle, but there it is. Not to say Sam doesn't like his books.

Cynthia Rylant: The Henry and Mudge books and much more. She's a machine. We can all learn something from Poppleton and his adventures.

David Small: Great artwork and quirky plots. George Washington's Cows is as good a place to start as any. Or even better: Paper John, which has a great conflict with a demon, not to be missed.

Tomie dePaola: Oh, he's excellent. Some of his books deal with religious topics, quite nicely. Bill and Pete Go Down the Nile (thanks, Amy!) is a great place to start.

David Shannon: A smaller body of work but some great books, such as Pirates Don't Change Diapers (written by Melinda Long).

Arnold Lobel: The Frog and Toad books, Uncle Elephant, Mouse Tales, etc. Just delightful.

Mark Tolen for the Arthur series. Sandra Boynton for her many classics. Richard Scarry's books can't be forgotten either. (Loved finding Goldbug!) And if you like Richard Scarry, try A Year in a Castle by Rachel Coombs. Great art, great detail. For that matter, just about everything in the great collection The 20th-Century Children's Book Treasury really is amazing. That's worth owning.

Lauren Child: Every Charlie and Lola book ever done, plus classics like Beware of the Storybook Wolves.

Don and Audrey Wood: The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Bug Hungry Bear, etc. This one was given to Sam by his birth father long ago, and it's excellent. Piggies is classic, and King Bidgood's in the Bathtub--but if you are up for an adventurous graphic novel, try Intro the Volcano. Very well done. And Audrey produced such classics as Silly Sally.

Since I've mentioned graphic novels, I'll add Susan Schade and Jon Buller's series beginning with Travels of Thelonious. It's set in a post-apocalyptic world where animals have thumbs and human-level intelligence, and humans are almost entirely wiped out. These books are real page-turners, but not too sophisticated or scary for a 4 or 5-year-old.

In that vein, there are the Saltwater Taffy graphic novels by Matthew Loux which are a lot of good, innocent fun. Wish there were more. We've found various other comic-booky adaptations of classics, from Greek myths to Sherlock Holmes. I am not sure whether it's a bad idea for him to learn the story and its surprised in that format first. Will this ruin it for him when he's older and tries to read them in book form? Guess we'll see.

Margaret Wise Brown: Good Night Moon and Runaway Bunny, of course, but have you tried Big Red Barn? See if you can find the unintended, impossible reflection in a bucket of water.

And the authors who have only one book we've read, but it's one we love:

Peggy Rathman for Good Night, Gorilla. Follow the balloon on each page if you haven't already.

Bruce Degen for Jamberry -- This is delightful and sing-songy. Hey, you know what? Turns out he illustrated the Magic School Bus series! These are educational, and Sam's just really at the age where he'll get much to all of the information out of them. Very good series.

Margaret Beames for Night Cat. Never has a possum been as dramatically scary. Little known fact: the "reveal" of Grace Poole in the Orson Welles version of Jane Eyre was based on this book. (At least, that's my theory, causality be darned.)

Soon: Children's T.V. programs and movies!