Allan and Janet Ahlberg: Essential Guide to Children's Books and Their Creators

...And now we come to two of my favorites, Janet and Allan Ahlberg. They're known for creating endearing and appealing books for the youngest readers. Not familiar with them? While The Baby's Catalogue and Each Peach Pear Plum are well known, let me tell you about a few of their other books.




Treasure Hunt is the story of a little girl and her playful parents. Tilly loves to go on treasure hunts, so her parents are always hiding her favorite playthings and food. Whether it's her breakfast banana, her rabbit, or her grandmother's chocolate gold coins for her birthday, Tilly has a blast searching for and finding the goodies. "My treasure!" she always exclaims. Inevitably, Tilly becomes the treasure to be found, and her parents go a-huntin'.

This is a cute and fun story about family fun. Adorable! Gillian Tyler is the illustrator, and Allan Ahlberg is the author.



The first day of school is such a big deal. It's exciting, but it can be mighty intimidating. We have quite a few books about the first day of school, and this is one of my favorites. We see a (multicultural) class going through their first day-morning housekeeping duties (collecting money), recess, lunch time, storytime, etc. We see the children settling in comfortably during their first week, and the weeks after that, all the the way to Christmas. "And sometimes the children are happy, and sometimes they are sad; sometimes puzzled-or sleepy-or grumpy-or lumpy-or spotty!"

Starting School delightfully captures the agony and the ecstasy, the trials and tribulations of one ordinary preschool class.

Next in the Essential Series: Louisa May Alcott. This may take a while.