Bill Peet
is one of my favorite children’s authors of all time. I read just about EVERY one of his books to my brother Jay when he was little. Even now, I continue to read Bill Peet and he still resonates with me. Peet’s titles are filled with humor. Many of his books have deep underlying messages built into them that until we reach a certain maturity we will not see. Environmental concerns run throughout his books and it wasn’t until I read them and re-read them countless times that I understood this. To this day when one of his books is returned to us at the Scranton Library I will immediately stop whatever it is I’m doing and open the book and read it from cover to cover.
Peet only wrote 34 books in his career which seems not quite right, because I swear I read more books to my brother than that. Pick any one of Bill Peet’s 34 books and you’ll be laughing out loud. You can’t go wrong.
Maurice Sendak
Everyone knows Where the Wild Things Are and I understand that I said when starting this blog that I wasn’t going to discuss popular books here, that I wanted to help people discover the hidden gems of literature. However this is one rule I need to break in the case of Maurice Sendak. An amazing book and like Bill Peet, Sendak stands the test of time. His books are still relevant today and each time I read Sendak it’s like I’ve read him for the first time.
William Steig
Thanks to Lisa M. for helping this 48 year old who can’t remember a thing (a little inside joke.) with William Steig’s books. Steig is another author I read growing up. There IS a slight literary resemblance to Bill Peet. If you’re scratching your head, wondering why Steig’s name sounds familiar, perhaps it is because he wrote Shrek.
As you can see from the books I’ve been highlighting during Scranton Page Turner’s history, I have an eclectic taste in books. I love to read everything and I hope that I’m guiding you to some books you haven’t read or seen before.
Until next time…
…Turn the page.
–
Chris
