Here are 100 books that The Selfish Giant fans have personally recommended if you like
The Selfish Giant.
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One way I bring lightness and wonder to my life is through the joy of observing something new around me in this world. The new thing might be the forty Heavenly Blue morning glories that bloomed one morning for my father and me, finding an ancient fossil shell in a skirt of fallen shale at the bottom of a cliff or hearing Balinese gamelan music for the first time. But each time one of these wonders lights up my day, I am reminded of how limited our ability to observe is. Each of these books gave me a view into a world I had not even dreamed about.
All my life I’ve loved looking closely at the natural world to see as much as possible: Why is that leaf broken? Was a chipmunk digging here? Is that a different kind of mushroom? But no matter how closely I looked, I was unaware of the overwhelming complexities and sophistication of the fungal world.
Sheldrake shows the interconnections, not metaphysical ones but actual physical and chemical connections, between fungi, plants, and even living, moving animals. If that chapter about ants doesn’t change how you see the world, I don’t know what will. Fungi own the world, and we are just lucky to live in it.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A “brilliant [and] entrancing” (The Guardian) journey into the hidden lives of fungi—the great connectors of the living world—and their astonishing and intimate roles in human life, with the power to heal our bodies, expand our minds, and help us address our most urgent environmental problems.
“Grand and dizzying in how thoroughly it recalibrates our understanding of the natural world.”—Ed Yong, author of I Contain Multitudes
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR—Time, BBC Science Focus, The Daily Mail, Geographical, The Times, The Telegraph, New Statesman, London Evening Standard, Science Friday
Growing up in Iran, I never thought I would one day become an author in a language other than my mother tongue, and live clear across the world from my birthplace. An eclectic assortment of literature, representing core human themes of thinking, love, laughter, and science are subjects that help me bond with my fellow humans. Books have constantly reassured me of our similarities and encouraged me to make connections. The magical threads of our shared humanity are tools which help us thrive in our global village. They remind us we are more similar to one another than we may think.
In The Little Black Fish, our hero is the black fish who observes, thinks, and decides to do things his or her way. The picture book was banned in Iran because the author of the book, a beloved school teacher and thinker, spoke up passionately to advocate for children. When I lived in Iran, the country was managed by one person, the king. When one king or one idea rules with absolute power, people have minimal or no say in the way their country and lives are managed. Rulers at the top are happiest when people do not read, think, or protest the ways that their society is run. This gorgeous book encourages thinking, analyzing, speaking up, and action.
(Mina Javaherbin has read Little Black Fish in its original text, Persian. She has informed us of numerous translations of this book in English and numerous languages. This particular translation…
Little Black Fish may be small, but he has big questions about the world and the determination to find answers to them. Despite his mother's and the other fish warning him of the perils of leaving their safe haven, Little Black Fish swims over the edge of the pool, into the stream towards the river and to the sea. On his adventure Little Black Fish sees many wondrous and beautiful things, encounters danger lurking around every corner and finally is faced with his ultimate challenge...
A beautiful book about freedom, self-determination, courage and power, it's about a little fish who…
Growing up in Iran, I never thought I would one day become an author in a language other than my mother tongue, and live clear across the world from my birthplace. An eclectic assortment of literature, representing core human themes of thinking, love, laughter, and science are subjects that help me bond with my fellow humans. Books have constantly reassured me of our similarities and encouraged me to make connections. The magical threads of our shared humanity are tools which help us thrive in our global village. They remind us we are more similar to one another than we may think.
Growing up and finding our ways in the world is a lifelong process of trials and errors. There are moments of despair and joy. Hopes can be crushed. New Dreams are born. This beloved story is one that I still think about when I see how I’m judged by all sorts as I simply mind my own life and try to find my way. In the hands of the great storyteller, Hans Christian Anderson, the metaphor of an ugly duckling becoming a gorgeous swan, tells us how overcoming our adversities will indeed help us become a beauty. Thank you Hans!
The Hans Christian Andersen story about staying true to oneself, illustrated by the legendary European artist Bernadette Watts.
The ugly duckling, outcast and misunderstood by the other animals, goes on a journey to discover a place where he will fit in… only to become triumphant when he emerges as the most beautiful swan of all, always destined to stand out. Bernadette Watts's detailed illustrations chronicle the bittersweet story with charm and poignancy.
Growing up in Iran, I never thought I would one day become an author in a language other than my mother tongue, and live clear across the world from my birthplace. An eclectic assortment of literature, representing core human themes of thinking, love, laughter, and science are subjects that help me bond with my fellow humans. Books have constantly reassured me of our similarities and encouraged me to make connections. The magical threads of our shared humanity are tools which help us thrive in our global village. They remind us we are more similar to one another than we may think.
This hilarious picture book makes me laugh out loud every single time I read it, even when I had to read it consecutively to my children during their bedtime. I think humanity is nothing without laughter. Do animals make jokes and laugh? Sometimes we think writing and learning from the accumulation of knowledge is one of the most important human traits, but what about laughter? What about not taking ourselves seriously? What about the ability to poke fun at ourselves and our crazy actions and thoughts? Einstein was definitely a genius and we are all in awe of him, but I think people who can make us laugh are also brilliant. I’m grateful for laugh creators.
Patty Jane Pepper is being unjustly punished. Her parents claim that she punched her brother Theodore. In fact, she only touched him--hard. And she didn't call him a dumbbell, either. She just called him a dumb head. Nonetheless, she's been sent to her room.
So Patty Jane decides to punish her parents back. She'll stay in her room--forever. She'll stay up really, really, really late (so that when she goes to bed it will be the next day), speak in a code that only she understands, and never, ever eat again. Unless, of course, there's something good…
I am the author of two folktales in addition to several other fiction stories for children and an early childhood educator. I taught kindergarten and first grade for over twenty years. As part of our state standards, we must do a yearly unit of study on folktales. Folktales deliver universal messages to children in a non-didactic way. We can use them to address issues that young children face while also using them as resources to teach students about faraway places, customs and cultures. Folktales are in integral part of an early childhood education and it’s a unit of study that I always looked forward to. Immersing myself in them was the catalyst for recreating my own.
This book has been a class favorite for many years. I always use this book when opening our folktale unit of study. The children are enamored by the storyline and by the musical component embedded in the text. They love to sing the song that accompanies the story.
1
author picked
Abiyoyo
as one of their favorite books, and they share
why you should read it.
This book is for kids age
4,
5,
6, and
7.
What is this book about?
A young boy and his father save the town that ostracized them from a hungry giant in this picture book adaptation of a South African lullaby and folk story.
In a small town, one young boy loves walking around playing the ukulele, but the people get tired of the clink, clunk, clonk and beg him to stop while covering their ears! The boy’s father has a magic wand he uses to make things disappear, like a playing card or a glass of water—or a chair just as someone’s about to sit.
The townspeople have had quite enough of the boy’s…
I’m a stay-at-home working dad, and have handed my boys countless books to keep them entertained so I could get some work done. There’s something magical about giving your kid a book that sparks their love of reading. In my own experience, adventure books that made my boys laugh out loud would captivate my kids for hours…and keep them out of my hair.
Jorge and Rafael have created a lovable trio of heroes with Claudette, Marie, and (personal favorite) Gaston. These three friends go on an adventure to fight a dangerous giant while their entire town tries to stop them. The kids encounter all manner of magical foes who are more than meets the eye, adding up to an adventure that’s as surprising as it is hilarious.
Claudette's fondest wish is to slay a giant. But her village is so safe and quiet! What's a future giant slayer to do?
With her best friend Marie (an aspiring princess), and her brother Gaston (a pastry-chef-to-be), Claudette embarks on a super-secret quest to find a giant-without parental permission. Can they find and defeat the giant before their parents find them and drag them back home?
Giants Beware! offers up a wondrous, self-contained world in the tradition of the very best of Pixar. Claudette and her friends will have you laughing out loud from page one.
Given the state of the world today, laughter truly is the best coping mechanism. The best satire is all about excess in design, intention, characterization, and deployment of attitude. The more extreme, the better; leave restraint to the prudish moralists!
Giants defecating, fornicating, getting drunk, and having a gay old time – does literature get any better than this? The answer is no, of course.
The fact that it was written by a French monk in the sixteenth century boggles the mind even further – he certainly got into his fair share of trouble for this masterpiece of the bawdy and grotesque. The novel’s anti-authoritarian ethos, its celebration of the carnivalesque, was later discoursed upon by Mikhail Bakhtin in Rabelais and His World, one of the greatest works of literary criticism ever written.
As you may notice, in my own stories, I like to find the magic in everyday things and, to a greater or lesser extent, each of the books I have chosen to write about here, do that. Having worked with children as a Rainbow Guide Leader, taught children, for a brief spell, abroad, I know children and their intelligence, understanding, and kindness, amongst other things, can often be underestimated. The books I chose, show how children (girls in particular) win the day by using their intelligence, skills, and talents. Celebrating girls and their achievements is increasingly important in improving their rights and access to opportunities in life.
It is about courage and standing up for what is right, even in front of people who are bigger and stronger than you are. It is about being the smallest/ youngest person in the room, and still being able to lead – it is about ostensibly having the least power in the room and still being able to lead and persuade others to follow your lead. It is about using your voice.
Sophie is the creator of her own story, she isn’t passive. Valuable lessons, particularly for girls, to learn, so that their voices can always be heard and so that they always have the courage to challenge wrongs and wrongdoing and so help make the world a better place.
2
authors picked
The BFG
as one of their favorite books, and they share
why you should read it.
This book is for kids age
7,
8,
9, and
10.
What is this book about?
From the bestselling author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda!
One of TIME MAGAZINE's 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time
The BFG is no ordinary bone-crunching giant. He is far too nice and jumbly. It's lucky for Sophie that he is. Had she been carried off in the middle of the night by the Bloodbottler, or any of the other giants-rather than the BFG-she would have soon become breakfast. When Sophie hears that the giants are flush-bunking off to England to swollomp a few nice little chiddlers, she decides she must stop them once and for all.…
George Hagen is a Brooklyn writer who has written two adventure books for children about talking ravens. Hagen lived on three different continents by the time he was eleven, and developed a tremendous passion for folktales of all cultures from Africa, Egypt, Greece, Europe, and Celtic and Norse myth. His children's books were inspired by the myth of the Viking God Odin whose two ravens, Huginn and Muninn, flew around the land of ice and fire, reporting all the news. Hagen has appeared before hundreds of students, unraveling the secret mystery of riddles (modern and ancient) at schools from New York to Los Angeles.
The D'Aulaire's book is a visual feast of stories from the land of ice, fire and Viking culture. The tales are well-told and exciting. It comes with lively illustrations which offer children who haven't encountered Thor, Odin, Freya or Loki before, a panorama of this marvelous world and the many adventures of the Norse Gods.
The Caldecott medal-winning d'Aulaires once again captivate their young audience with this beautifully illustrated introduction to Norse legends, telling stories of Odin the All-father, Thor the Thunder-god and the theft of his hammer, Loki the mischievous god of the Jotun Race, and Ragnarokk, the destiny of the gods. Children meet Bragi, the god of poetry, and the famous Valkyrie maidens, among other gods, goddesses, heroes, and giants. Illustrations throughout depict the wondrous other world of Norse folklore and its fantastical Northern landscape.
When I was little I used to seek out stories that featured strong female characters—especially in genre fiction. This proved to be quite difficult, even as I enlisted my entire family to help in the search. Because of this, ensuring that each of my own works feature this is a must. I am an author, artist, and podcast host who focuses on understanding the importance of story elements. I am an active martial artist, have a degree in creative writing from Kwantlen Polytechnic University, and often get mesmerized by the process of creating comics and music. I hope you enjoy these recommendations as much as I did.
Like an earlier entry on this list, this story utilizes a unique format. In Sleeping Giants the reader is exposed to a first contact-like plot. Rose is a scientist and the woman spearheading a project to make sense of the discovery of giant robot parts hidden beneath the Earth’s surface. She, along with one of the project pilots, Kara, provide both depth and distance to events thanks to the help of a mysterious interviewer who does well to keep the reader engaged. We discover things as the characters do, and their revelations linger just enough for the reader to crave a sequel. I appreciate the complexity of the sci-fi in the story—there are aliens, robots, and perhaps a few international conspiracy theories.
A page-turning debut in the tradition of Michael Crichton, World War Z, and The Martian, Sleeping Giants is a thriller fueled by an earthshaking mystery—and a fight to control a gargantuan power.
A girl named Rose is riding her new bike near her home in Deadwood, South Dakota, when she falls through the earth. She wakes up at the bottom of a square hole, its walls glowing with intricate carvings. But the firemen who come to save her peer down upon something even stranger: a little girl in the palm of a giant metal hand.
