“’The Storyteller’ - Memorable Books from My Childhood.”

A list of my five favorite children's books are:
"Clifford The Big Red Dog" written by Norman Bridwell
"The Giving Tree" written by Shel Silverstein
"No, David !" written by David Shannon
"Corduroy" written by Don Freeman
"The Rainbow Fish" written by Marcus Pfister

Clifford was the runt of a litter of puppies and was chosen by a city child named Emily Elizabeth as her birthday present. No one expected him to grow, but Emily's love for her tiny red puppy changed him dramatically. Before long, he was over 25 feet tall, forcing the Howard family to leave the city and move to the open spaces of Birdwell Island.

The Giving Tree is a tale about a relationship between a young boy and a tree. The tree always provides the boy with what he wants: branches on which to swing, shade in which to sit and apples to eat. As the boy grows older, he requires more and more of the tree. The tree loves the boy very much and gives him anything he asks for. In an ultimate act of self-sacrifice, the tree lets the boy cut it down so the boy can build a boat in which he can sail. The boy leaves the tree, now a stump. Then in the future the boy comes back and asks the tree for a quiet place to sit and rest. The tree once again gives the boy the least that it has.

In No, David! there are pictures of David doing he was not supposed to do like writing and drawing on the wall, reaching the cookie jar, stepping into mud, dressed like a pirate with a scuba mask and snorkel and holding a shark and running naked down the sidewalk, dressed as a soldier playing with a big spoon and a pan, playing with the food at the table and eating it watching the tv dressed as a cowboy picking his nose, watching tv in another room, playing baseball in the living room and knocking down a vase sitting in time out and hugging mom.

Corduroy tells the story of a teddy bear named Corduroy, who is bought in a department store by a girl named Lisa.

The Rainbow Fish is best known for its morals about the value of being an individual and for the distinctive shiny foil scales of the Rainbow Fish.