perennial favorites

We might be "heavy library users", with sack-fulls of books checked out at any given time, but we do have some perennial favorites in our collection of which we never tire: 
  

The Little Airplane by Lois Lenski.  "I think the pictures were colored with crayon," said the elder lad at the last reading a few nights ago.  With vintage charm and simple appeal, Pilot Small readies his plane for a solo flight by checking the aircraft over with his mechanic and then taking off for a tour of the countryside (checking in on his "little auto" and sailboat down below).  This is one of several books by Ms. Lenski that center on the character of Mr. Small; in other books he shows up as a policeman, cowboy, firefighter, father, sailboat captain, and farmer.  My beloved's late uncle gave us this book to commemorate a trip to Alaska he took with his parents (my beloved's grandparents).  He and his wife wanted to build a library for their children; ours is richer because of his contribution.

Mo Willems' Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale is source material for many family inside jokes and quotes.  Sweet little Trixie -- who's probably about our lass's age -- goes to the laundromat with her daddy and her trusty sidekick Knuffle Bunny.  Much like our lass loves to load the washer and start 'er up, so does Trixie.  When Knuffle Bunny doesn't make it home with Trixie and her daddy, Trixie tries to tell him what the problem is, but she's not quite verbal yet.  What results is much wailing and gnashing of teeth (for both Trixie and her daddy).   As devoted daddies do, Trixie's launches a full-out search for the missing plush bunny.  The result is both a happy reunion and a milestone in Trixie's speech development.  The mixed-media artwork in this book earned it a Caldecott honor in 2005.

Esphyr Slobodkina's Caps for Sale is the funny tale of "a peddler, some monkeys, and their monkey business."  One day the peddler balances all the many-colored caps he has for sale on the top of his head and walks about yelling "caps!  caps for sale!  Fifty cents a cap!" to no avail, so he settles down and takes a siesta under a tree.  He awakens to find his wares missing.   He looks up to see a tree full of monkeys having absconded with and now wearing his caps.  In a series of exchanges between him and the monkeys, he asks with increasing urgency and frustration for the monkeys to return the caps.  They find his accompanying gestures amusing and mimic them right back.  In his final act of desperation, he throws his own checked cap down on the ground, and the monkeys follow suit.  He regains his composure, stacks the caps back up on his head, and sets out for a fresh attempt at selling the caps.  The lads always find the monkeys' "tsk tsk tsk" parroting of the peddler's demands of "you monkeys you!  You give me back my caps!" amusing and usually have to give it a go themselves.  I'm sure many parents can identify with the peddler's frustration with such selective hearing  -- or does that just happen here?