Combing the Kids’ Shelves: Helen Oxenbury

I was aware of Helen Oxenbury’s work before I had children, because I oversaw the kids’ section at a large used-book store. But I didn’t own any of her books till after I had my own child. The first thing that raised my interest was an article I can no longer find*, I think from the Guardian or Times, about best books for children that included at least one of Oxenbury’s quartet, Say Goodnight , All Fall Down , Clap Hands and Tickle, Tickle . The second was a post by kidlit/librarian blogger Book Moot about Farmer Duck , whose author is Martin Waddell. We owned, and both Drake and I loved, Owl Babies , by the same author. It had humor, and a wonderful almost-rhyming text that was a joy to read. Farmer Duck, a Parent’s Choice award winner about a lazy farmer who takes advantage of his hard-working duck, delighted us as well. Finally, a comment from a reader (was that you, Loretta?) about the Tom and Pippo series made me seek those out. Aft...