November 2012: Classic Picture Book Characters (Master List and General Discussion)

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

In November, we'll be spending time with some dear old friends (and perhaps meeting some new ones) as we enjoy in on our Classic Picture Book Characters theme.

I'm thinking for a book to be considered "classic" it should have been published in the earlier '80s or before. I think a book needs to have gone through a few generations of children to really be an enduring "classic"--but if anyone would like to propose a different classification, please feel welcome to share your thoughts.

When I think of "classic characters" I tend to think of characters that are are part of a series. I'm suggesting that we start with the first book in the series, but if one later on in the series really speaks to you, feel welcome to nominate it and let us know why you love it so much ;-) Of course, some characters are so memorable from stand-alone books that they become classics without any further fanfare and these are welcome, too.

This list is a start. I'm sure I'm forgetting some really wonderful and beloved classic characters and will have lots of, "Oh, of course!" moments when others mention them; I hope this list grows and grows :-)

The voting process is now open until October 16th. Please choose the five books from our official list (messages 1-24) you'd most like to read with the group and vote for them by listing them in a comment below. Thank you!



Berenstain Bears (first book is The Big Honey Hunt)

Amelia Bedelia

Curious George

The Story of Babar: The Little Elephant

Paddington Bear

The Tale of Peter Rabbit

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Moonbear (I'm not sure which is the first book? Mooncake is the one I remember best)

Russell Hoban's Frances books (i.e., Bedtime for Frances)

The Cat in the Hat

Madeline

Little Critter (Just for You)

Where's Waldo?

Little Bear

The Little Engine That Could

Miss Nelson Miss Nelson Is Missing!

Frog and Toad Are Friends*

Corduroy*

*note these last two were selections in previous months but I couldn't leave these beloved characters off the list!

[Amy]

Miffy
Kipper.
Harry the Dirty Dog
George and Martha


I guess Kipper is not old enough. I was also thinking of Maisy Mouse, but I don't think she is old enough, either.

Fun with Dick and Jane Just remembered this one, but I don't know that it is really a picture book.

[Jenn]

Winnie the Pooh, Clifford the big red dog

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

Kirei wrote: "I guess Kipper is not old enough. I was also thinking of Maisy Mouse, but I don't think she is old enough, either."

We can definitely leave them on the list, Kirei. If it feels "classic" to you, it might feel the same to someone else, too :-)

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

Jenn wrote: "Winnie the Pooh, Clifford the big red dog"

Jenn, is there a particular Winnie the Pooh book you'd like to nominate? The original is too long, unfortunately, but I know they have made some picture book versions using single stories from the collection and keeping the original illustrations, too.

[Linda]

Thomas the Tank Engine: The Three Railway Engines

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

Green Eggs and Ham (Sam-I-Am)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (The Grinch)

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

Meg and Mog
Harold and the Purple Crayon
Where's Spot?
Clifford the Big Red Dog
Max and Moritz and Other Bad Boy Tales (has other tales besides "Max and Moritz").

[Jasmine]

My boys have loved Henry and Mudge: The First Book by Cynthia Rylant.
Other favorites in our house are The Grouchy Ladybug, The Missing Piece and Bread and Jam for Frances.

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

Chandra wrote: "Oh wait, did you get Eloise? Some of these like Babar and Curious George are a little controversial these days so it would be fun to get people's take on that! "

Yes, Eloise! For sure :-) And, I agree, it will be very interesting to see the various reactions to some of the potentially controversial titles.

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

Chandra wrote: "Oh, and one more - I know it's not 'technically' a picture book, but what about Winnie the Pooh? We could try reading one of the little stories from the collection. Just a thought..."

Jenn mentioned Pooh, too. I loooove the Winnie the Pooh stories, so I'd definitely be up for figuring out a way to read one of them if enough people are interested even though they aren't technically "picture books". I like the idea of choosing one of the stories from the collection. Thoughts on which one to nominate???

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

PS I love these nominations!!! Bringing up lots of fond childhood memories and I also see a few new-to-me characters that I'll have to check out :-)

[Amy]

Strega Nona
Barbapapa
Mr. Tickle (Mr. Men #1)

Maybe this time the theme could be old classics, and later we can do a "modern" classic characters theme, with characters like Olivia and the other more recent ones.

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

Kirei wrote: "Maybe this time the theme could be old classics, and later we can do a "modern" classic characters theme, with characters like Olivia and the other more recent ones. "

That sounds good to me. I know that there was a popular modern characters theme up on the polls before but it didn't quite win. Maybe next time it will. It would be fun to compare with some of the older classics :->

For this month's "classics" purposes, then, are we all okay with keeping it '80s and earlier?

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

Kathryn wrote: "Kirei wrote: "Maybe this time the theme could be old classics, and later we can do a "modern" classic characters theme, with characters like Olivia and the other more recent ones. "

That sounds go..."

I would agree with that, otherwise, it could get rather complicated.

[David]

Arthur's Nose Arthur
Angus and the Ducks Angus
Where the Wild Things Are Max
The Story of Ferdinand Ferdinand

[Jasmine]

Another series that I remember from my childhood and have made a recent re-appearance, even a TV show is the Little Mr. and Little Miss books (definitely a bit of controversy). The author's son has recently published some new titles.
A few favorites are Mr. Strong, Mr. Messy, Little Miss Chatterbox

[Dolly]

How about some of the Sesame Street characters?
I loved The Monster at the End of this Book when I was a kid and our girls loved Tubby Time for Little Ernie when they were babies.

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

Two more suggestions:

Fungus the Bogeyman

Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

Have a great weekend! And keep the great suggestions coming!!! :-)

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

The voting process is now open until October 16th. Please choose the five books from our official list (messages 1-24) you'd most like to read with the group and vote for them by listing them in a comment below. Thank you!

Please note, if you would like to vote for Winnie the Pooh, please also list the *one* story from the book that you would most like to read since we will only select one to keep more with our picture book length.

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

Amelia Bedelia
Harold and the Purple Crayon
Eloise
Madeline
Fungus the Bogeyman

[Dolly]

This is a hard one for me. I usually try to vote for books that I have yet to read, so I can discover new tales. But there are few stories here that are new for us, and most of the ones that I haven't read yet aren't available at my local library. Bummer.

I expect that most of the books chosen will be old favorites. Fun to discuss, but not a new discovery.

my votes:
The Little Engine That Could
Amelia Bedelia
Little Bear
Henry and Mudge: The First Book
The Story of Babar: The Little Elephant

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

Dolly wrote: "I expect that most of the books chosen will be old favorites. Fun to discuss, but not a new discovery. "

True, although I personally haven't read many of them since I was a girl so it will be fun to "discover" them anew as an adult :-> Sorry you weren't able to get any new-to-you books from the library this time around.

[June]

I'll vote for Mog the Forgetful Cat, it's the only one I'm not familiar with that I can get at my library. I'll probably read it even if it doesn't get chosen and will enjoy reading about what ever is chosen.

[Dolly]

Kathryn wrote: "Sorry you weren't able to get any new-to-you books from the library this time around."

I am bummed. I was really hoping to read
Fungus the Bogeyman, Meg and Mog, Mog the Forgetful Cat, and Katie Morag Delivers the Mail (among others.) I could buy them, but I prefer to borrow them from the library.

[Jasmine]

The Missing Piece
Fungus the Bogeyman
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile
Mr. Strong
The Cat in the Hat

[Jenny]

Dolly, I haven't read any of those (Fungus, Meg and Mog, Katie Morag) either...and none of them are available at my library. I agree. It's a bummer.

But it will be fun to revisit some old favorites.

I love Amelia Bedelia, so I have to vote for that...even though I just read it last week.

Let's see my other votes go to
Mr. Strong
The Story of Babar: The Little Elephant
Madeline and
Bread and Jam for Frances.


****
Oh and not a vote since I didn't think of it before voting started, but I just thought of an old favorite that should be added to the master list. I absolutely loved the Forgetfuls when I was a kid. I found one of my copies from my childhood about a year ago and read it to my children and they loved it to. The Forgetfuls Give a Wedding

[Amy]

I vote for
The Story of Babar
The Cat in the Hat
Curious George
Madeline
The Big Honey Hunt

[Crystal]

Amelia Bedelia
Bread and Jam for Frances
Harold and the Purple Crayon
Little Bear
Madeline

[Tricia]

Are we voting now or still listing the "classics?"

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

Abigail wrote: "We're voting, Tricia, according to post #26."

Yes, sorry, I should have bolded the voting information in message #1, as well. I will leave the voting open through tomorrow to give you and anyone else who was confused a chance to vote if you want to. I apologize for any confusion--I've had a lot going on lately so please ask if anything else needs clarification. Thanks :-)

[Tricia]

Guess I need to read the details more carefully! So many good books to choose from we should make it more than five! I would like to reread thise books:

Lyle, LYle, Crocodile
Strega Nona
Clifford, the Big Red Dog
Eliose
Madeline

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

Tricia wrote: "Guess I need to read the details more carefully! So many good books to choose from we should make it more than five! I would like to reread thise books:

Lyle, LYle, Crocodile
Strega Nona
Cliffor..."

Thanks for voting, Tricia! I'm glad you were able to.

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

The votes are in and here are the winners:

Amelia Bedelia

Madeline

Little Bear

Eloise

The Story of Babar: The Little Elephant

Sixth/Alternate:
Harold and the Purple Crayon

Looks like we're going to have a great month! And thanks for all the wonderful nominations and to everyone who voted.