Whats Your Favorite Childrens Book?

The Giving Tree is a classic favorite. Another one we got once is "Max the Minnow" that has always been one of my favorites.

I LOVE the Llama series by Anne Dewdney.

Llama Llama Red Pajama (about going to bed)
Llama Misses Mama (about going to school)
Llama Mad at Mama (at the store)
Llama Home With Mama (home sick)
Llama Llama Holiday Drama (Holiday book)

I love getting books for my little guy!!

"Hop on Pop" & "Go, Dog, Go" were the 1st books which my sons read independently. Love them.

Jamberry, Barnyard Dance, & Over in the Meadow....are wonderful.

The Napping House (love the illustrations)
Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See (good for colors and animals)
Polar Bear, Polar Bear What Do You Hear (good for animal sounds)
It Looked Like Spilt Milk (good imagination book)
Jamberry (great pictures and rhymes)
The Very Hungry Caterpillar (good for counting)
Rainbow Fish (good for concept of sharing & great illustrations)
Guess How Much I Love You (really sweet)
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (great rhyming book about letters)
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (all three of these or good if/then books)
If You Give a Pig a Pancake
If You Give a Moose a Muffin
The Butter Battle Book (Dr. Suess, but maybe for older 4 yrs. old)
Harry the Dirty Dog (a classic)

Gosh there are so many I can't pick just one, I just can't

My little boys absolutely love:

Drummer Hoff by Ed Emberly (same guy who does the great art books for young kids) They loved this one so much, they memorized it. We have since discovered that little boys every where love this book so much they (their parents) have posted themselves reciting and reenacting the book on youtube! Hilarious.

Don't Feed the Pigeon and the other Pigeon books by Mo Willems

The Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems

I Stink! by Kate and Jim MacMullen

Click, Clack, Moo! by Doreen Cronin

Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt

Splat the Cat by Rob Scotton

Busy, Busy World and What Do People Do All Day? by Richard Scarry

Martha Speaks (the talking dog series) by Susan Meddaugh

The Hungry, Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss

Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy Marshall

Space Case and Merry Christmas Space Case by James Marshall

Pete's A Pizza by William Steig

How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? by Jane Yolen

What do Dinosaurs Do at School? by Jane Yolen

How do Dinosaurs Eat? by Jane Yolen and Mark Tiegue

Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich by Adam Rex

The Three Robbers by Tomi Ungerer

Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson

Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel

Owl at Night by Arnold Lobel

Danny and the Dinosaur by Syd Hoff

The Mysterious Tadpole by Steven Kellogg

Chicken Little by Steven Kellogg (way wackier and crazy than the tale we know!)

True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Joe Scieszka

The Scrambled States of America by Laurie Keller

Arnie the Doughnut by Laurie Keller

The Napping House by Audrey Wood

Curious George by Margaret Rey

Thomas the Tank Engine (The complete works by Rev. Awdry)

The Five Chinese Brothers Kurt Wiese

Make Way For Ducklings by Robert McCloskey

Caps For Sale by Esephyr Slobodkina

Crichtor the Boa Constrictor by Tomi Ungerer

The "If you Give..." books are my 3 y/o's favs!!
We also like:
That's not my Dinosuar/Robot, etc books
Love You Forever is MY favorite and I think my boys just let me read it to them b/c they know how much I like it :)
Curious George books
Don't Wake up the Bear (my boys LOVE this one!)
Grumpy Cat

My absolute favorite is The Faraway Tree series by Enid Blyton. I searched high and low for it when I was pregnant with my first ...found it in Australia. That book is more appropriate for older kids though.

Who's Hiding -Saturo Onishi *I think this book would be perfect. http://www.amazon.com/Whos-Hiding-Satoru-Onishi/dp/193360...
Tikki Tikki Tembo -retold by Arlene Mosel
Llama Llama books -Anna Dewdney
Ladybug Girl

Jamberry,
Go Dog Go
Is Your Mama a Llama?
Are You My Mother?
Fletcher and The Falling Leaves (all the Fletcher books, actually)
Wombat Walkabout
The Quiet Book
Spoon
Little Owl Lost
Barnyard Dance

Well my favorite IS a dr suess one.....the lorax But i also like "theres a monster at the end of this book" and the "very hungry Caterpillar" "the giving tree",

You already have lots of great suggestions so I'll share what I do when I give booksfor gifts. My kids pick their favorite book or books (we buy new copies for the gift) and on the first inside page I paste or tape in a photo of my child and then s/he writes a message - happy birthday or Congrats on new baby, why s/he likes the book, etc. When my kids were younger I would write what they wanted. It's a nice way to personalize the gift.

My favorite as a mother is, I Love You Through and Through. I love your top side. and your bottom side. I love your inside. and your outside. I love your happy side and your sad side. Your silly side and your mad side. I love your fingers and toes. Your ears and your nose. I love your hair and eyes. Your giggles and cries. I love you running and walking, silent and talking. I love you through and through, yesterday, today and tomorrow too.
Can you tell we read it every night?

I love 'Sheep In A Jeep'!
Any Sandra Boynton books

Also, consider getting her a classic like The Wind In The Willows or Black Beauty or James and The Giant Peach to enjoy when she's older. Books are such a great gift!

I liked all the suggestiions I recognized but wanted to add, "Don't Let The Pigeon Drive the Bus. When I was little I LOVED Mrs. Piggly Wiggly's Magic.

Personal favorites from my childhood are:
1. The Velveteen Rabbit

2. The Little Island (a Caldecott winner)
http://www.amazon.com/Little-Island-Dell-Picture-Yearling...

My daughter loved these books:

Good Night, Gorilla (by Peggy Rathmann)
Good Morning, Good Night! (by Melanie Mitchell and Laurie Young)
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (by Iza Trapani)
The Itsy Bitsy Spider (by Iza Trapani)
Mary Had a Little Lamb (by Iza Trapani)
I Love You Because You're You (by Liza Baker)

Llama Llama Nighty--Night (by Anna Dewdney) - this one wasn't out yet when my daughter was younger, but we loved the other Llama Llama books.

Dont let the Pigeon Drive the Bus- Dont let the Pigeon stay up late-
both are by Mo Willems great books
Three Nasty Gnarlies by Keith Graves cute book

they are not easy readers for a one year old but the parents will enjoy( or at least I did) reading them at night.

SHEEP IN A JEEP, by Nancy E. Shaw. I absolutely LOVE this little board book. Amazon has it

These are my daughters current favorites: (we like Sandra Boynton a lot as you can see!)

But Not the Hippopotamus
Barnyard Dance
Moo, Baa, La La La
Snuggle Puppy
Fifteen Animals
Five Little Monkeys
Llama Llama books
Where is Baby's Belly Button

My favorite book is I LOVE YOU STINKY FACE!! I absolutely adore that book and so do my two daughters. Every time one of my friends or co workers has a new baby, I must get them that book!!

As far as a goodnight book: we love Time for Bed, by Mem Fox.

we've also come to love books by Leslie Patricelli. "Yes Yes, No No" "Big, Little" and "Yummy Yucky." My son loves these because they are very simple and he loves seeing what the baby is doing on each page. Highly recommended and kind of funny for us to read to :)

They may be a bit old, but I LOVE the Skippy John Jones books. They are so funny! You can do good voices too. My boys also loved Marty and the Mango. Cute.
L.

What was MY favorite children's book?...I would probably say this one: http://www.amazon.com/Richard-Scarrys-Best-Giant-Golden/d...

It provided me endless entertainment as a child. :)

"The Little Engine That Could", but I would loove to find the old one. My mom bought my daughter the new version and it's just not the same (I think the story is the same, just not the book).

One of my favorites is the Madeline series by Ludwig Bemelmans. Love the illustrations!

My 2 year old loves beauty and the beast right now we read a chapter a night. As far as short bedtime books both my son and daughter are loving How does a dinosaur say goodnight

My Favorite is Where The Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein.
My littlest girls favorite is Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Wow! You've gotten some great responses here so I just want to add one more book for your collection. A book we recently bought is William Joyce's Man in the Moon (Guardians of Childhood). I would say this would be aimed at the age range of 4-9 year olds but it is a beautiful story and wonderfully illustrated. Illustrations are done by the author who is a former pixar animator and owns a small animation studio as well. This first book in a series to come I think will be huge after the movie comes out. Also, for those of you out there that may like Steam Punk illustrations it is definitely for you combined into a sweet sweet nostaligic story.

Both my kids love/loved the Usborne touchy-feely books: "That's Not My kitten", "That's Not My Bear", "That's Not My Pony", etc.

I always love this book and read it to my sons when they were little. "Love You Forever" a real tear jerker.

Anything by:
Sandra Boynton
Karma Wilson (Hilda Must be Dancing is a favorite!)

http://www.amazon.com/Silly-Tilly-Eileen-Spinelli/dp/0761...

My daughter loves it!

My daughter loves the Five Little Monkey books, too. Also, she liked Good Night, New York City, Count to Ten with Elmo, Winnie the Pooh 1-2-3,
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. There is also a Colors book by Garanimals that she likes.

I second Sandra Boynton
Also SkippyJohn Jones
How does a Dinosaur..... There are a few
Dinosaurumpus

Lately, my son's favorite is Ten in the Den by John Butler. The illustrations are about the cutest thing I've ever seen.
"There were ten in the den, and the little mouse said 'Roll over, Roll over!' So they all rolled over and ... Fox fell out ... Rumbly Tumbly bump!"

My girls loved the Rainbow Fish books. They also loved one called Going to Sleep on the Farm by Wendy Cheyette Lewison. We also loved God Gave Us You by Lisa Tawn Bergren and all the McDuff books.

I didn't read all the responses.....but my fav as a child and to read to my own girls is "Mouse Soup" by Arnold Lobel. It's long, so better for ages 3ish and up...but I LOVE it!

I love several of the books in the Bears series, especially these 2:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-bears-in-the-bed-and-...
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-bears-in-the-bed-and-...
They're fun to read, the illustrations are great, there's a good amount of words on each page, they have great flow, and some really choice vocab words. My kids LOVE them.

Also, Tikki Tikki Tembo was a childhood favorite of mine that I now read to my kids. It's one of those great repetition stories that's fun for kids to chime in and read along with.

This Babycakes book might seem a little young for her, but my kids still love this book, & they're 2 and 5. It's an interactive book with great pictures and will lead to lots of giggles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/baby-cakes-karma-wilson/1...

This book was given to my daughter when she turned 1, and it's become a family favorite. I really need to ditch the board book and buy the hardcover one of these days:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/little-mouse-the-red-ripe...

This book is such a classic & it was my favorite around that age. It's also a great little book for toddlers to read on their own, which is nice:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pat-the-bunny-dorothy-kun...

I hope that helps! Good luck!

Not sure what your families beliefs are, but a great book I got from Target is called Night Night Prayer. It is super cute, my boys loved it, and it has been a great gift I have used a few times.

CC, I just asked a very similar question, and I got tons of responses that would be very helpful to you as well. Just take a look on my profile for the question.

I haven't gotten to too many of them yet, but so far we really like the Llama Llama books, and my son is crazy about Curious George. He also really loves Chicka Chicka ABC.

Just wanted to add that there's absolutely nothing wrong or generic about Dr. Suess books :) My all-time fav is The Sleep Book by Dr. Suess.

"the beautiful peacock and the jealous bird"

buy at createspace.com/3403126

I know this was posted a while ago but in addition to all the fabulous books already listed, my daughter and I love the works of Todd Parr. His "The I Love You Book" is great and I also love his others, like "It's Okay to be Different", "The Mommy Book", "The Daddy Book", etc. They are loaded with bright colors with simple drawings like a child would make, and a very simple message about love and acceptance. I love giving them as gifts too and they are always well received.

My sons fave bedtime books are
All the ways I love you
I love you because you are you
Forever and always( the one with the little boy putting the watch in the potty)

I love the following books. Some may be 'standard' but I didn't grow up in the States so they are often new to me. And my son loves them:

Brown Bear Brown Bear
Polar Bear Polar Bear
I Love You Stinky Face
GoodNight Chicago
The Very Hungry Caterpillar

He LOVES the Sandra Boynton books.

I saw Harold & the Purple Crayon the other day and apparently its' awesome. Was given at a baby shower and I had not heard of it, but the other guests were all exclaiming how they loved it.

Now I'm going to read the other answers to get good ideas for my son's library! :)

Llama Llama books are great
Mr Brown Can Moo, Can You? Dr.
Inside, Outside, Upside Down

Almost any of the Sandra Boynton books are great for toddlers. Our favorites are But Not the Hippopotomus, All the Hippos Go Beserk, The Belly Button Book, Doggies, and Moo, Ba, La La La. I also like I See and I Touch for that age. I love Kitten's First Full Moon too.

My favorite as a child was Oh, What a Busy Day by Gyo Fujikawa. It was one of the first book to show multicultural children. I think it's great for any age because the pictures are so vibrant and doesn't require reading the text to get what's going on. It's just about kids having fun throughout their day. Has been reissued.

http://www.amazon.com/What-Busy-Day-Gyo-Fujikawa/dp/14027...

Here are some google images of the pictures. http://www.google.com/search?q=oh+what+a+busy+day&hl=...

My favorite more modern book is Tuesday by David Weisner. There are very few words, and the pictures are hysterical!

http://www.amazon.com/Tuesday-David-Wiesner/dp/0395870828...

The one book my daughter gravitates to always is called "Biscuit" . It is a book all about a dog doing different things.
http://www.amazon.com/Biscuit-Storybook-Collection-Alyssa...

Wonderful You, but Kate something.

The polar express. I can still hear my mamas voice when she would read it to us :)