Picture Book Neighborhoods: Classics

What is a "classic"? Who knows? In a sort of general way I consider it to be older titles, sometimes having won awards sometimes not, which remain in print. They tend to be much longer than today's picture books as when they were published they were aimed at older children and most children also had longer attention spans. They also don't generally fit well into the neighborhood categories and most have no new titles to be added, only new editions or reprints. Only a few have dividers and I have noted those.

List of individual titles or small collections of classics

• The Brambly Hedge complete collection by Jill Barklem
• This is a personal favorite of mine and the originals are small books, like Beatrix Potter, but it's become a strong favorite of many of my patrons.
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  The complete cloudy with a chance of meatballs by Judi Barrett
• This is a combined volume that includes the companion book, Pickles to Pittsburgh.
• Madeline by Bemelmans
• I am fully aware that several of these have outdated and racist language. However, they circulate so they are in the collection. I have two collections and two individual titles, the original Madeline and Madeline's Christmas.
• Arthur by Marc Brown
• I get asked for these mostly by teachers - most of them are out of print. I do have Arthur's Eyes, Arthur's teacher trouble, and for some reason, two copies of Arthur turns green. At some future point when I have funds I will consider adding some prebound copies if they are available.
• Margaret Wise Brown
• This is one of those classic authors that it's a huge pain to find the original, basic classic. You have to wade through endless board books, toy combinations, special editions, etc. etc. I have My World and Runaway Bunny and am looking for a replacement of Goodnight Moon. 
• Babar by Jean de Brunhoff
• Like Madeline, these are pretty outdated. They aren't something I would probably read to my own kids, although I still have a childhood copy. Even though I don't think most children will grasp the colonial background of the stories, it's a mindset that I wouldn't want to introduce. But, that's not my choice for my patrons. I have Babar the king, The travels of Babar, and The Story of Babar.
• Eric Carle - marked with divider
• This is probably one of the most extensive "classic" authors I have. I include Bill Martin Jr.'s "Bear" books here as well, since this is usually where people look for them. I try to have several copies of the most familiar and popular stories, like The Very Hungry Caterpillar and I periodically replace the other titles as needed. This is another one that can be frustrating as the most popular titles go in and out of print and there are a gazillion spin-off editions under the Eric Carle name.
• A comparison of the picture book and easy reader of A House for Hermit Crab
• Five little monkeys jumping on the bed by Eileen Christelow
• There's a whole series of these. Not my personal favorite, and they don't get asked for often and are mostly out of print, but I do get requests often enough that I'll keep this. I might add a couple more in the series if I find them on a discount site at some point.
• Maisy by Lucy Cousins
• I remember when Maisy was as big as Peppa Pig. She's not as popular nowadays, and I mostly purchase Maisy books in board book format since her picture books were ready to pieces, but I do have about 5 of them and add to it occasionally. This is the only "classic" series that regularly has new titles.
• Barbara DeRubertis - alphabet series
• There's one book for each letter (I'm missing Polly Porcupine, but it's out of print). Frankly, these are here b/c I'm not relabeling and moving 25 books.
• Drummer Hoff by Barbara Emberley
• Olivia by Ian Falconer - marked with a divider
• There are only 5? I think? of the original books. They've gradually disappeared due to wear and tear and I am trying to keep 2 copies at least of each one.
• Corduroy by Don Freeman
• Just the original two - Corduroy and A Pocket for Corduroy.
• Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag
  
• Just ordered a replacement of this.
• Frances by Russell Hoban
• I have the three that are generally still in print - Bedtime for Frances, Bread and Jam for Frances, and Best friends for Frances.
• Angelina Ballerina by Holabird
• I've moved these back and forth from the Dance section. I think they are now in "classic" category and besides a couple copies of the first title, the only one I make sure I have is Angelina at the Fair.
• Ezra Jack Keats
• I have Snowy Day of course, a collection, and a couple individual titles.
• Robert Kraus
• I recently moved Where are you going, little mouse? and Whose mouse are you? to this section because they weren't circulating in the general area.
• The story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf
• Tacky by Helen Lester
• Not one that I like, but I do get asked for them fairly regularly. I have 4.
• Leo Lionni
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  I am a big fan of Leo Lionni and when I keep them all together here they check out regularly, although not to the extent of more popular titles. I have 10 titles including Swimmy and Frederick.
• Froggy by Jonathan London
• These used to be much more popular. They are still mostly available in prebound, but I don't think they're worth expending the purchase money. I have 7 and I try to keep between 5 and 10.
• The Magic School Bus
• So, I have three of the original titles, Explore the senses, Inside a hurricane, and Inside a beehive. From the amount of requests I get for these, I could probably have more. But, while information doesn't generally outdate as much for a younger audience, I am not going to expend funds on purchasing very outdated nonfiction books. Additionally, most of them are out of print. In my opinion, teachers should be using other materials. I keep this handful specifically for a couple patrons who are autistic and get very focused on older kids' tv shows like this.
• Robert McCloskey
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  We had multiple copies in heavy, never-fail library binding. I've weeded a few as they stopped circulating or became very shabby, but the ones I've kept still circulate regularly. I have several copies of Make way for ducklings and Blueberries for Sal and a couple other random titles.
  
• Robert Munsch
• I'm not a huge fan of Munsch. I don't dislike him, I just don't care for the books and I don't think they make particularly good read-alouds. The ones I have circulate, but not often enough that I feel the need to purchase more and I never get asked for them. I have one collection and three individual titles.
• Sam Bangs and Moonshine by Evaline Ness
• This is a weird one but every time I figure it's never going to circulate again and I might as well weed it, someone comes in and borrows it. So, I keep it.
• Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
• I detest this book. I keep at least two copies of it.
• Beatrix Potter
• I used to have a collection of the small books, but they didn't really circulate - caregivers were worried about losing them. I replaced them with several collections.
• Curious George by H. A. Rey
• I only have the original books here. I think there are 7. These are the only paperback picture books I keep, because they are so thick. I also keep Pretzel here.
• We're going on a bear hunt by Michael Rosen
• I had to replace this anyways, so I've decided to move it to the classics section.
• Richard Scarry - Busytown - divider
• I put all the titles with the Busytown theme, characters, or art style here. They recently reprinted a lot of them, but the bindings weren't super strong so I've had to replace a few several times.
• Splat the Cat by Scotton - divider
• This series goes in and out of popularity. Right now, I'm keeping the picture books here and I don't think there are going to be any more.
• Maurice Sendak
• I have a couple copies of Where the wild things are. Everything else was weeded for lack of use except... Bumble-ardy. Do not ask me, I have no idea why it's circulating so much.
• Dr. Seuss - divider
• I'm not going to enter into any discussions about this. They circulate regularly and I get asked for them, but they are not so popular that I feel the need to purchase additional copies or have every book that Seuss wrote or that was dug out of his attic after his death. I try to keep the main titles - Horton, The Lorax, and The Grinch. This is just the original books, no spin-offs.
• David Shannon - divider
• I include A bad case for stripes and Alice the fairy here. I would have thought this was complete, but a new David book is coming out in spring 2025.
• Caps for sale by Slobodkina
• William Steig
• These really don't circulate much, but I keep a couple of the best-known titles.
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  Eloise in Paris by Kay Thompson
• Anatole by Eve Titus
• I admit I keep two Anatole books because they're favorites of mine. They do circulate occasionally though!
  
• Chris Van Allsburg
• I used to have a huge collection of these, but lack of circulation caused me to weed them down. I only have four of the best-known titles.
• Lyle Lyle Crocodile
• I just replaced the collected first four stories with a new collection.
• The biggest bear by Lynd Ward
• David Wiesner
• I moved some of his other titles into the neighborhoods - I just kept Tuesday and Flotsam here.
• The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
• King Bidgood's in the bathtub by Audrey Wood
• I moved a couple of her other books into other areas.
• Hey Al by Arthur Yorinks