best illustrated children’s books

While we’re all working to keep a firm grip on the loot piles looming over our kids this holiday season, there’s a simple saying:

Give Your Child:
One thing they want
One thing they need
One thing to wear
One thing to read

Nice, right? Today, let’s focus on the reading. I just found this little list of the 2011 Best Children’s Illustrated Books from the New York Times. Scroll on down for the four books that have caught my fancy. But help – how will I ever pick just ONE? Seriously, tell me your first choice in the comments!

Best Book #1: I Want My Hat Back, by Jon Klassen (image above!)
From the Publisher:
“The bear’s hat is gone, and he wants it back. Patiently and politely, he asks the animals he comes across, one by one, whether they have seen it. Each animal says no, some more elaborately than others … Told completely in dialogue, this delicious take on the classic repetitive tale plays out in sly illustrations laced with visual humor and winks at the reader with a wry irreverence that will have kids of all ages thrilled to be in on the joke.”

Best Book #2: Grandpa Green, by Lane Smith
From the Publisher:
“Grandpa Green wasn’t always a gardener. He was a farmboy and a kid with chickenpox and a soldier and, most of all, an artist. In this captivating new picture book, readers follow Grandpa Green’s great-grandson into a garden he created, a fantastic world where memories are handed down in the fanciful shapes of topiary trees and imagination recreates things forgotten.”

Best Book #3: Along A Long Road, by Frank Viva
From the Publisher:
“Follow that road!
Speed off on an eventful bicycle ride along the bold yellow road that cuts through town, by the sea, and through the country. Ride up and around, along and through, out and down.
Frank’s striking graphic style is executed in just five joyous colors, and his spare, rhythmic language is infectious.
Hit a bump?
Get back on track!
Reach the end?
Start again!”

Best Book #4: Stuck, by Oliver Jeffers
From the Publisher:
“When Floyd’s kite gets stuck in a tree, he’s determined to get it out. But how? Well, by knocking it down with his shoe, of course. But strangely enough, it too gets stuck. And the only logical course of action . . . is to throw his other shoe. Only now it’s stuck! Surely there must be something he can use to get his kite unstuck. An orangutan? A boat? His front door? Yes, yes, and yes. And that’s only the beginning.”

What books are on your list this Christmas – or which ones would you recommend for us?

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