Jean Nathan is the author of The Secret Life of the Lonely Doll, a biography of the children’s author Dare Wright. Here, Nathan names her first- and still best-loved books.
Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt (Golden Books, $10). The premise is a bit weak—“Here are Paul and Judy. They can do lots of things.…” But Dorothy Kunhardt’s brilliance was in not shutting the littlest ones out of the game. This interactive book performs a noble task: providing a baby with his or her first taste of literary life—even if it is licking the pages.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Goodnight, Moon by Margaret Wise Brown; illustrated by Clement Hurd (HarperFestival, $8). The get-a-kid-to-sleep standard. The sight of its talismanic objects (the comb, the brush, the bowl of mush) flooded me with a sense of comfort when I was a child, as did the incantatory rhythm of Brown’s words.
The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown; illustrated by Clement Hurd (HarperFestival, $8). A little bunny tests his mother to see to what lengths she will go to find him—should he run away. An all-is-right-with-the-world classic, and another Brown-Hurd masterpiece.
The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss (Random House, $9 each). Or anything else he wrote. Seuss’ language is a sort of cracked poetry at the nexus of nonsense and sense. T.S. Eliot for kids.
Buy The Cat in the Hat at Amazon.com
Buy Green Eggs and Ham at Amazon.com
Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman (Random House, $9). A well-intentioned mother bird feels the egg beneath her beginning to hatch, and takes off to find him something to eat—unwittingly abandoning her baby at his very entry into the world. I always found his elemental confusion nightmarish. And I melted with relief when mother and baby finally reunite.
The Lonely Doll
-
The struggles of Aston MartinIn the Spotlight The car manufacturer, famous for its association with the James Bond franchise, is ‘running out of road’
-
The end of ‘golden ticket’ asylum rightsThe Explainer Refugees lose automatic right to bring family over and must ‘earn’ indefinite right to remain
-
Grecotel Luxme Dama Dama: Greek luxury with a breezy beach vibeThe Week Recommends Rhodes is reimagined in this refined and relaxed resort
-
Marisa Silver’s 6 favorite books that capture a lifetimeFeature The author recommends works by John Williams, Ian McEwan, and more
-
Lou Berney’s 6 favorite books with powerful storytellingFeature The award-winning author recommends works by Dorothy B. Hughes, James McBride, and more
-
Elizabeth Gilbert’s favorite books about women overcoming difficultiesFeature The author recommends works by Tove Jansson, Lauren Groff, and more
-
Fannie Flagg’s 6 favorite books that sparked her imaginationFeature The author recommends works by Johanna Spyri, John Steinbeck, and more
-
Jessica Francis Kane's 6 favorite books that prove less is moreFeature The author recommends works by Penelope Fitzgerald, Marie-Helene Bertino, and more
-
Keith McNally's 6 favorite books that have ambitious charactersFeature The London-born restaurateur recommends works by Leo Tolstoy, John le Carré, and more
-
Garrett Graff's 6 favorite books that shine new light on World War IIFeature The author recommends works by James D. Hornfischer, Craig L. Symonds, and more
-
Helen Schulman's 6 favorite collections of short storiesFeature The award-winning author recommends works by Raymond Carver, James Baldwin, and more
