Holidays are Coming: Top Ten Must Have Picture Books

By Susan July 6, 2021

Holidays are Coming: Top Ten Must Have Picture Books

Top Ten Must Have Picture Books

	Date	Title	Author	Books sold
1	1955	**Harold and the Purple Crayon**	Crockett Johnson	2,000,000+.
2	1969	*The Very Hungry Caterpillar*	Eric Carle	50,000,000+
3	1947	*Goodnight Moon*	Margaret Wise Brown	48,000,000+
4	1985	*Good Dog, Carl*	Alexandra Day	2,000,000+
5	1938	*Caps for Sale*	Esphyr Slobodkina	2,000,000+
6	1960	*Green Eggs and Ham*	Theodor Seuss Geisel	200,000,000+
7	1940	*Horton Hatches the Egg*	Theodor Seuss Geisel	100,000,000+
8	1963	*Where the Wild Things Are*	Maurice Sendak	19,000,000+
9	1964	*The Giving Tree*	Shel Silverstein	10,000,000+
10	1940	*Pat the Bunny*	Dorothy Kinhardt	11,500,000+

Baby ready for more ‘storyline’?

	Date	Title	Author	books sold
1	1972	*Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day*	Judith Viorst	4,000,000+
2	1939	*The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes*	DuBose Heyward
3	1960	*One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish*	Theodor Seuss Geisel	6,000,000+.
4	1973	*Curious George*	Margaret & H.A. Rey	25,000,000+
5	1922	*Velveteen Rabbit*	Margery Williams	1,500,000+
6	1984	*Angelina Ballerina*	Katherine Holabird	19,000,000+
7	1974	*Where the Sidewalk Ends*	Shel Silverstein	11,500,000+
8	1941	*Make Way for Ducklings*	Robert McKloskey	2,000,000+
9	1986	*Polar Express*	Chris Van Allsburg	7,000,000+
10	1992	*Rainbabies*	Laura Krauss Melmed

What would your top ten be?

Last updated on October 9, 2023

In 2006, researching for my last literature paper at Oxford, I stumbled onto the late 17th-century court of Queen Mary of Modena, consort to James II. I was intrigued because she had so many female writers in her court—rare for the 17th century. Before heading back to the states, I met with my professor, Peter McCullough, to discuss a book idea stemming from that research. Peter had stunned me with his compliment of my paper—“One of the most beautiful Bread Loaf papers I’ve read . . . The work of an artist by an artist.” He was encouraging about my book idea and later agreed to be one of my Beta readers. Rain Dodging follows my quest for a sense of Mary’s spaces, to breathe the same air, to imagine their lives, visiting palaces and manor houses in England and Scotland and exploring their sublime back roads. Rain Dodging is a kaleidoscope of memoir and mystery, a collage of images and events. As I travel through Britain, I take you on a journey through my life and into a 17th-century royal court. You'll watch the connections unfold, from tales of a troubled childhood to wild days of college and young adulthood, the music scenes in Los Angeles & Nashville, and to my growth as mother, teacher, writer, lover, and solo traveler.