Favorite Picture Books

I was going to do this last week, when it was actually my birthday, but I kinda took a blogging break. So, I am doing it this week. I made a list of my 40 favorite books. I was going to do categories (like 10 favorite pictures, etc...) but I threw that out. Today's post will be picture books and tomorrow's will be all the rest.
I know this isn't very many, and I am sure I am missing some, but these are the ones that came to mind first, so that makes me think they are truly the ones I love.

I am sure that I could mention any Dr. Seuss, but I hold a very special place in my heart for The Sleep Book. I didn't even know this book existed until I had my first child. I have read this book out loud to sleepy babies more than any other book. There is a soft, sweet cadence to reading it out loud and it made me feel like I was singing. So precious.

If you want an awesome read aloud book for kids of all ages (even adults) get yourself a copy of Tadpole's Promise. It is sweet and super funny. I recently read it out loud to classes of 8th graders and they loved it. (If you read the reviews on GoodReads there are some one star reviews, that's because those people have no sense of humor!)

I Love You the Purplest also holds a special place in my heart. It is a little longer story, but here I go: I have one child who is literally a golden child. (I say that with a roll of my eyes because anyone will tell you that he is.) He was such an easy baby and transitioned to everything really well. I could say, "Carter, today you will use the potty, no more diapers," and he would say "ok" and never again use a diaper. I am serious when I say this. It was an unnatural baby experience for me. So once, I found out I was pregnant again I figured that I would probably never be as lucky. I found this book which is about a mother and her two sons. One, Julian, is a quiet, easy boy. The other, Max is a loud, boisterous boy. The mother tells them how she loves each of them (Julian, blue: Max, red=purple). This book is one reason I picked the name Max for my second child. (Later a friend of mine bought a copy of this book for me and changed all the Julians to Carters--and she had no idea that this was where I got the name Max from!).

I have no interesting tales about any of the other books and I think they are pretty self explanatory. Tomorrow, my other favorite books!