I’ve been a big-time book nerd for as long as I could remember. When I was Sam’s age I would be perfectly happy sprawled out on the couch for hours with a new book. I had a subscription to this Weekly Reader Book Club and would make it my mission to complete the book well before the next one came in the mail.

Nowadays, the whole reading thing is not going so well. I mean, I obviously read things daily (it’s kind of hard to be a writer/editor without reading things—although sometimes I do wonder…), but it’s mostly work related or blog posts or kids books. I very rarely take a minute to sit down and read for pleasure. And that’s not cool.

I’m trying really hard to be better at carving twenty minutes or so into my schedule to read. I’ve even started making an epic list of things I want to check out. I picked five very diverse titles off my list to share with you guys.

I was always one of those (annoying?) kids who absolutely loved school. I loved to learn and I really think a big part of that had to do with my teachers.

One of my earliest school memories is of standing in the doorway of my first grade classroom jumping for joy and excitedly squealing “I can read!” to anyone who happened to be wandering past. My teacher didn’t make me sit down and be quiet. She encouraged my pride, which only made my excitement about reading grow.

Fast forward two years to third grade. I was now a voracious reader and my teacher introduced a brand new love to me: writing. In Miss Calabrese’s class we wrote our own stories and then turned them into books—books with actual stitching and hardcovers wrapped in patterned wallpaper of our choosing. I can’t even imagine how much time and personal money our teacher must have put into those books, but I treasured mine and the love of writing she unearthed in me has never left.

I’m happy to say that Samantha is just like me. She is the type of kid who will argue her case for why she should go to school rather than why she should stay home. It makes me so happy to see her so excited to learn because I truly believe that a love of learning is a solid foundation for a well-rounded, well-educated adult.

It also makes me happy to see that her beloved teachers are just as encouraging and innovative as my favorites were. This year, her class got to Skype with author Tomie Depaola (I know you’ve heard of Strega Nona, right?). Samantha was ecstatic for weeks leading up to this day. Each kid got to ask Depaola at least one question and she thought long and hard about what she wanted to know. In the end she asked him what inspired him to become a writer.

My girl rode a high from that day in school for a while and really started getting into writing her own little stories. Hoping to encourage her even further, we’ve started making our own version of my third grade teacher’s books.

My hubs and I are big fat book nerds (I think I’ve mentioned that once or twice or maybe a million times). Because we’re book nerds, we’ve made it our mission in life to make our little ladies book nerds too.

Both girls have been read to pretty much since they emerged from the womb (and, really, Ellie was read to while she was still in there–with special singing performances from her big sister). And you know what? These kids love books.

Since I’m a big time reading cheerleader, I usually like to give the kids in my life a book when it comes time for gift giving. Don’t get me wrong, I usually throw some toys in there too (I’m no fool), but I like to look around for a book they might really like.

Most of the time this means going on a hunt for something silly. Kids love silly. And they really love the unexpectedly silly. They also really like wordplay, whether it’s repetition or fun sound combinations.

OK, let me get off my nerdy soapbox and get to the point of this post. I put together a little list of what are, in my opinion, the best kids books. These are books that I actually don’t mind reading for the 849th time in a week. I intentionally left out most of the widely known classics (no Dr. Seuss on this list, for example) and made sure to include some newbies as well as older choices.

The list starts out with short and simple books that will hold the attention of a toddler and becomes more in-depth.

But Not the Hippopotamus / Dear Zoo / Press Here / The Pout-Pout Fish / The Day the Babies Crawled Away / Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus (all Mo Willems books are a hit in this house) / Wemberly Worried / Pinkalicious / The Paper Bag Princess / Diary of a Worm / Frankly Frannie (series) / Cam Jansen (series) / Encyclopedia Brown (series) / The Birthday Ball

This list is by no means exhaustive. I’m sure as soon as I hit publish I’m going to think of three that I should have included. But it’s still a great starting off point if you’re on the hunt for a great kids book. And if you’re looking for even more fantastic children’s book options, check out 30 Picture Books Your Family is Guaranteed to Love.

What are your top choices for Best Kids Books?

Our family loves books. I’m a big believer in reading to kids pretty much immediately. Even if they don’t understand anything at first, just the sound of your voice is soothing to them. Eventually they’ll start paying attention to the stories and they’ll have positive feelings associated with reading, which I think is incredibly important.

Anyway, I’ve been reading to both girls pretty much since they emerged from the womb. We have tons of favorites, one of them being Where the Wild Things Are. When Max decides to give up being king, the wild things shout at him “Oh please don’t go–we’ll eat you up–we love you so!” I’m not sure how or when, but at some point I start saying this line to Samantha.

I’ve been wanting some kind of art that incorporated the quote for a while now and the other day I decided to make one myself. It couldn’t have been easier.