The Literature of Honor for Little Boys

I often get questions about good picture books for younger children and I notice that my choices are usually archaic in the sense that new authors and new stories have flooded the market. This list will reflect the books that my boys loved when they were little about last Friday.  I will try and stick to books that meet our theme of illustrating honor and not just books that we loved.



Saint George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges and Trina Schart Hyman



This is the Quintessential book of honor for little boys! If you like this, and you will, then you will also want to look for others by this duo such as:

The Kitchen Knight: A Tale of King Arthur



Thy Friend, Obadiah by Brinton Turkle



There are 3 Obadiah books by Brinton Turkle and they are superb. Timothy used to ask me to read these over and over again and the pictures illustrate all the joys of adventuring AND coming home.
Obadiah the Bold
Rachel and Obadiah
Brandy just blogged about these last week.



The Biggest Bear by Lynd Ward



Andy and the Lion By James Daugherty



Henry the Explorer by Mark Taylor
and
Henry the Castaway



Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain by Edward Ardizzone
This is a not-to-be-missed series by Edward Ardizzone. Tim will warm your heart and enliven the imaginations of your little boys. There are 8 Tim books. You will want to read them all.



Billy And Blaze: A Boy And His Horse by C.W. Anderson

My older guys are already collecting these for their little boys and last Thanksgiving there was quite a stir when one of them came home from McKay's with a few of these. There are 9 Billy and Blaze books.



Lentil by Robert McCloskey
My boys love this book!! I am not even sure why but it is a huge favorite around here.



The Monkey and the Crocodile: A Jataka Tale from India
This is a book by one of our favorite authors. Galdone has many books retelling fairy stories and they are all quite good.



Mouse Soup by Arnold Lobel

Anything by Lobel is excellent!! What could be more honorable than the friendship between Frog and Toad?




A Bear Called Paddington and others by Michael Bond



Corduroy by Don Freeman
Mr. Freeman's books have a particular pathos that I find compelling and sweet.



The Church Mouse by Graham Oakley

The Church Mouse series is excellent in every way. As to honor, the mice are known to give Churchillian speeches!


This list could go on forever and I tried to avoid the obvious choices like the wonderful  Little Bear books by Elsa Holmelund Minarik, Winnie-the-Pooh who is a bear with much honor, the Beatrix Potter stories which I trust you not to miss, or the lovely and honorable Virginia Lee Burton books. I would suggest that you eschew more modern choices until you have read through some of these oldies!

Feel free to comment on other choices which I have missed.