Quality literature for the 0 to 3 set

Books for tiny kids pretty much divide into two categories: ones that are complete drivel or at least anemic (and which often come in big series), and those that have redeeming virtues as pieces of literature. Here are some of the good ones. I sometimes threaten to throw out all the other books we own, but I have to confess that my children's opinions of which books to obsess over don't always match up with my judgements as shown below.

• The Father who had 10 Children by Bénnédicte Guiettier
• Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban, or other Frances books
• Most Dr Seuss books actually written by Dr Suess, such as The Lorax or Green Eggs and Ham
• But not the Hippopotamus, or many other books by Sandra Boynton (Hippos Go Berserk; One, Two, Three)
• Selma by Jutta Bauer
• Marsupial Sue by John Lithgow
• The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
• Who Said Moo? by Harriet Ziefert and Simms Taback
• Jamberry by Bruce Degen
• Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae
• The Magic Bubble-Pipe by Stella Farris
• Over in the meadow adapted by Paul Galdone
• Where are you, Little Zack by J. R. Enderle and S. G. Tessler
• Little Blue and Little Yellow, by Leo Lionni (also others, like A Color of His Own)
• Books by Alona Frankel (Joshua's Counting book, Once upon a potty, etc.)
• Olivia by Ian Falconer
• The Trouble with Elephants by Chris Riddell
• Corduroy by Don Freeman
• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault
• Goodnight Max by Rosemary Wells

Ones to avoid:

• All Clifford books
• All Spot books
• Books by Lucy Cousins (inter alia, Maisy books)
• Most Max books (excluding Goodnight Max above)
• Bob The Builder books (but the kids love them...)

Bigger kids