a magic lady and book recommendations

My friend Becca is engaged to someone with a 4 year old; a couple weeks back Becca asked me for book suggestions for said 4 year old. I thought I would pass along the list in case anyone else is looking for ideas...but then I thought, no, I must share the entire list, not just the 4s/5s list... this list made its way to me via a strange route. The short version is, back in the day in Rochester Hills, MI there was this wonderful little privately-owned bookstore--whose name eludes me now (Halfway Upstairs? Upstairs Downstairs?)--whose owner was wonderful; one of those gifted souls who always had ready recommendations that always wound up being perfect. I am fairly certain she was magic. Anyway, apparently she'd made up this great list of book recommendations based on ages and grades, and somehow, someone at some point gave it to me. And I can't tell you how many times I've referred back to it and been thanked profusely for it. So, wherever you are, wise creator of this list, THANK YOU! And I know you wouldn't mind if I shared it because it was always about the books...wasn't it?

So, look for the list in pieces over the next few weeks.

BIRTH-TWO YEARS 

A You’re Adorable, illus. by Martha Alexander
Animal Crackers, by Jane Dyer
Barnyard Banter by Denise Fleming
Big Red Barn, by Margaret Wise Brown
Clap Hands, by Helen Oxenbury – also Tickle, Tickle
Everywhere, Babies! by Susan Meyers
Fuzzy, Fuzzy, Fuzzy, by Sandra Boynton
Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown
Here are My Hands, by Bill Martin, Jr.
Here’s a Little Poem, edited by Jane Yolen
Hush Little Baby, by Sylvia Long
I Kissed the Baby, by Mary Murphy
I Love You Like Crazy Cakes, by Rose Lewis (Adoption)
I See the Moon, by Kathi Appelt (Christening/Baptism)
I Will Hold You ‘Til You Sleep, by Linda Zuckerman
Moo Baa La La La, by Sandra Boynton
More More More, Said the Baby, by Vera B. Williams
My Very First Mother Goose, by Ionia Opie
Peek-a-Who, by Nina Laden
Read-Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young, by Jack Prelutsky
This Little Chick, by John Lawrence
Time for Bed, by Mem Fox
When You Were Born, by Diana Aston
Where’s the Baby, by Cheryl Christian

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