My Favorite Children’s Books

Written By chloe fulton

← A slice of my bookshelf

This shall be a list of all the picture books I love. I suppose I’ll separate them into categories for ease of perusing. They will be in order of joy experienced, whether that be from the story, art, book design, or otherwise as well as how often I revisit them.

Picture Books I Loved As a Child:

  • Free Lunch, Olive, the Other Reindeer and Olive, My Love by J. Otto Seibold & Vivian Walsh

    1. TYPOGRAPHY INSPO !!! Such crazy, wonderful use of type on the covers of these

    2. Before revisiting these books I had memories of the vivid images being so soft, perfectly modeled, and full of gradiated 3D shadow and texture. This is all there, but the mix of this with MS Paint-looking wobbly line drawing is so, so magical and creates a more “real” world. Amazing digital illustration from the late 90s/early 2000s.

  • A Baby Sister for Francis and Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban & Lillian Hoban

    1. What a classic. This book influenced my sense of self deeply as a middle child and addressed feelings I couldn’t assign meaning to yet. The writing felt so true to my young self, and I can’t help but feel what Frances feels when I re-read.

    2. Soft pencil/charcoal drawings are a fitting medium for this story.

    3. Every time I read something by Hoban, I laugh out loud.

  • 10 Minutes Till Bedtime by Peggy Rathman

    1. Such a joy to read, even now. My siblings and I are very fond of this book and spent hours tracking each little numbered creature and deciding who was who. Silly and wonderful and real. One of those books that doesn’t need much text and creates a great story through images.

  • Madlenka by Peter Sis

    • Immersive illustrations you can sink your teeth into. Real life environments that draw the reader in and allow them to inspect each and every detail. Spooky!!! Cutouts!!! Awesome writing too.

  • The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

    • Needs no explanation.

  • Everyone Poops by Taro Gomi

    1. Some of the simplest, most evocative illustration work I’ve seen. The textures and visceral emotions in this book have stuck with me for over 20 years.

  • Strega Nona by Tomie de Paola

    1. Another classic.

  • Leo the Late Bloomer by Robert Kraus

    1. I first read this book in the Harper Collins Treasury of Picture Book Classics. In my time as a bookseller, I’ve noticed this one isn’t as well loved as it should be, so I try to handsell it when I can. The spread where all the animals are building snow versions of themselves is everything.

  • Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert

    1. Lois Ehlert is one of the greats. She was a master of design, color, and limited text. So many picture book authors these days fall prey to the disease of excessive text.

    2. The Scraps Book, also by Ehlert, is a beautiful behind-the-scenes book about her journey to becoming an artist and contains so many artifacts and process shots from her many, many picture books. She might be my favorite.

Picture Books I Love Now:

  • Bunnt & Tree by Balint Zsako

    • Wordless with hundreds of breathtaking paintings to tell the story. A picture book for all ages, something Enchanted Lion is wont to produce. Epic!

  • The Truth About Max by Alice and Martin Provensen

    • So simple and so great. Charming painted illustrations and a mischevious cat.

  • The Skull by Jon Klassen

    • Ugh my favorite that came out in 2023 I think… Klassen is wonderful and so funny! Otilla and her pear-loving self mean so much to me. A magical story of a girl who befriends a skull in a creepy castle and protects him from a headless skeleton-gone-wild. Love.

  • The Little Wooden Robot and the Log Princess by Tom Gauld

    • The moment I saw the cover of this at work one day, I knew I was going to love it. The story is hilarious and compelling and the illustrations are perfectly simple. It’s a modern version of a fairy tale and great because it’s got a male and a female protagonist.

  • Thank You, Omu by Oge Mora

    • Mora’s painted collage work is unbeatable. So colorful and thoughtfully laid out.

  • Sylvester’s Letter by Matthew Burgess

    • An incredibly moving tale of a boy’s grief manifested into a beautiful letter for his late grandmother. A celebration of life rendered in MS Paint-like digital illustrations. I love how raw this one is, visually and emotionally.

  • Farmhouse by Sophie Blackall

  • Anno’s Journey by Mitsumasa Anno

  • Stanley’s Secret by John Sullivan and Zack Manbeck

  • Margaret’s Unicorn and The Little Books of the Little Brontës by Briony May Smith

Illustrators That Inspire Me:

  • Jon Klassen - hilarious, sparing text that evokes so mcuh

  • Alice and Martin Provensen

  • Oge Mora - delicious collage work

  • Blexbolex

  • Briony May Smith - one of my favorite traditional media illustrators!

  • Sha’an D’Anthes AKA Furry Little Peach - her YouTube has been a consistent inspiration to me for years

  • Christian Robinson

  • William Steig

  • Sophie Blackall - collage & illustration that weave together seamlessly

  • Carson Ellis - funky and cool and inky

  • Matthew Cordell - Cornbread and Poppy is my favorite series that’s ongoing!

  • Arnold and Anita Lobel

  • Jan Brett

chloe fulton
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