100 books like Don't Forget to Come Back!

This is my very favourite children’s book. I have read it hundreds of times and it still brings tears to my eyes.

It is a great book to read to children who are starting preschool, or nursery, or school. It is about 3 owl babies whose mother goes away to find food. They worry that she might not come back but of course she does. It helps children understand that their parent will come back at the end of the day.

The page where the mother owl comes back to the baby owls makes me cry every time!

A story I read so often in my childhood that I could recite it nearly verbatim. I read it frequently to my son. Then my grandchildren. Although they were inexplicably drawn to Bartholomew and the Oobleck by Dr. Seuss and, of course, their grandmother’s books, smart boys.

Here, a naughty boy, Max, runs away and enters a world of wild creatures and becomes their king. Max has a blast being king until he misses home. The transition from foe to friend to king moves quickly but is a topic worth exploring more in-depth.

Kids love the Wild Things dance scene done with rhythmic grunts and book shaking. I love its unique view on a child’s desire for independence and simultaneous need to come home. 

While the city sleeps a small boy accompanies his dad on his night shift as a school custodian, playing ball in the gym while his dad sweeps, sharing a meal they brought with them, listening to a game on the radio as they go from classroom to classroom, reading aloud on a couch until he dozes off while his dad polishes the library. I love this story for its tender sense of togetherness and for sharing the adult world of work. The night time makes it special too.

In a heartfelt but also comic story, the eldest of three sisters in an immigrant family comes home from school with her first-ever birthday party invitation and much to her chagrin, her mom insists she must call the classmate to ask if she can bring along her annoying “I wanna go too!” sister. It’s hard having her sister with her at the party, and even worse when they get home.  I Iove the sibling rivalry, depicted so perfectly here, and the sibling love and family solidarity that goes with it.

We adore this book and know it all off by heart! Our 2.5 year old can often be spotted sitting ‘reading’ this book to herself, reciting the poems! The simple repetitive story tells the tale of a babysitter (Skinny Doug – although for some reason he has always been known as Lanky Dave in our house!) singing nursery rhymes to Bonnie and Ben, the children he is looking after. Such a lovely book to share and we have even added in our own extra nursery rhymes for the picture of the moon at the end. Judy Horacek’s bright and cheerful and inclusive artwork makes this a family classic.

Jean Regan has written a beautiful, funny, heartwarming story about the love and fun that is shared between the different generations, a grandmother and a granddaughter. I love the way she has reversed the roles of her main characters. This approach will appeal to little ones who will definitely want to babysit their grandma while still enjoying all the wonderful activities that a visit to Grandma’s house entails. The illustrations are cute, detailed, and add to the storyline. This is a great little book for parents to read to their children before they visit and a good source of activity ideas for grandmas to have for their little guests once they arrive.

This book is a complex mystery revolving around a boy accused of a terrible crime, a boy who is currently unable to speak. It is solvable, as the protagonist is the detective character, though not every detail may be known until the explanation. What I love about this book are the difficult issues handled well for young readers, the excellent friendship between the protagonist and his sister, and the wisdom about interpersonal relationships and emotions that carries this novel into depths not usually seen in a young reader’s mystery. One observation about shame and anger continues to ring in my mind, reminding me that emotions seen on the surface often have deeper roots.

I read this novel in one sitting because I was so taken by Reid’s portrayal of ‘parent vs. caretaker.’

As teachers, we navigate these challenging relationships every day. Such a Fun Age shows the rawness and imperfection of parenthood alongside the precariousness of taking responsibility for someone else’s child.

Eight-year-old Eleanor has only ever had one babysitter. Bibi is the person who makes Eleanor soup when she’s sick, sews up her pants when they don’t fit right, and keeps track of her lost baby teeth. When Bibi has to move away, Eleanor’s heart feels like “a mirror that fell and shattered in a million pieces.” This gentle book about losing people you love, missing them terribly, and moving forward is ideal for helping kids travel that same tough path. A novel-in-verse, it’s also a quick read without sacrificing an inch of depth.    

Can you tell Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite fairytales to read in all its retellings? This one is set in our modern world. It takes a look at the ugly side of bullying in high school, a murder mystery, ghosts, money extortion, lots of people keeping secrets, and through all of this, two people have to learn to see into each other’s hearts.