I don’t know about you, but I enjoy reading picture books. Good children’s stories are not just for children. There is so much to enjoy in a good picture book, from beautiful illustrations to clever humor to deep, underlying meanings.

Here are five of my favorite picture books.

​You Are Special by Max Lucado

Punchinello wants to be accepted and admired by the other Wemmicks, but it isn’t going well. The wooden people in his village have a status system where they slap gold stars on the “amazing” ones and gray dots on the “not-so-great” ones. Poor Punchinello is practically drowning in dots; he just can’t do anything impressive enough to gain the approval of the other Wemmicks. Everything changes when he visits Eli, the woodcarver, and learns that he is loved by his Maker no matter what the other Wemmicks think of him.

​This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen

A little fish swipes a hat from a snoozing, big fish and takes off for the thick weeds. He thinks he can hide, but like the proverb says, his sin finds him out.

I like how this story has a moral, but it’s woven through an engaging story with a lot of dry humor. It’s very engaging and easy to read because the pictures make up most of the storytelling.

​You Are Precious In His Sight by Sherilyn Shirk

Wrapped in the beautiful illustrations of this book is a message of belonging and purpose for children, and everyone. Jesus made you one-of-a-kind! He loves you no matter what physical features or giftings you have. You were created for a reason. When you are helpful and kind to others, you help spread the love that Jesus has for you.

​The Biggest Bear by Lynd Ward

Little Johnny stumbles across a bear cub in the woods and brings it home to raise it on the farm. It turns out baby bears don’t stay little forever. When his pet becomes a chaos-causing giant, Johnny makes the heartbreaking decision to take his beloved bear into the woods with his gun.

It has a surprise ending, which I won’t spoil for you if you haven’t read it yet. This classic was one of my favorite stories when I was growing up, and it is now one of my son’s favorites.

​What Do You Do With An Idea? by Kobi Yamada

This story is a masterpiece of visual storytelling. It gives an artistic representation of how an idea develops and grows. At the beginning of the book, the “idea” is full color and everything else on the page is black and white. As the idea grows, more and more of each scene is color, and at the end the pages are bursting with brilliant color.

There you go, those are a few of my favorite children’s books. What are your favorite picture books? Or the books your children love for you to read to them? I’d be glad to hear about them. Maybe I’ll discover some new favorites I can add to my list.