Plenty of Options: Kid-Friendly Coffee Table Books
Behold the enchanting artistry of books that can be loved by both grown-ups and their offspring.
Open this email in a browser to see the whole thing, if you can. As the name suggests, there are plenty of options in here! 🙃
Welcome to a new series we’re calling Plenty of Options where we’ll pick a category of stuff and share way too many options. We hope you enjoy this overabundance! Today we’re diving into the strange literary niche of kid-friendly coffee table books.
We like to take an expansive view of what constitutes a children’s book. Here is a sprawling list of books that were written with kids in mind and a few that may not have been. These are books that we like, too, many of which have pleasing covers and/or artwork. These are books that we can leave out on the coffee table in our homes for anyone to peruse at any age. Look. During a time of life with small children when you will most certainly read the same terrible book over and over for what seems like an actual decade, it’s nice to pepper in a few that everyone can enjoy. Or try to, anyway.
Places to browse and shop for books: Oly Oly Oxen Free Books, 50 Watts Books, Laguna Vintage, I Know Alot of Things, Kids Book Recs, My Old Books, Press, Children’s Book Club, and
.And now, plenty of options in absolutely no particular order:
Josephine by Patricia Hruby Powell & Christian Robinson
Seeing Things by Joel Meyerowitz
All Kinds of Cars by Carl Johanson
Tomi Ungerer Treasury by Tomi Ungerer
Willy O’ Dwyer Jumped in the Fire by Beatrice Schenk De Regniers
Inside Outside by Matthias Arégui & Anne-Margot Ramstein
Cat’s Cradle by Ron Spillman & Jack Ramsay
Swimmy by Leo Lionni
Colors by John J. Reiss
All the Animals Were Angry by William Wondriska
Historium by Jo Nelson & Richard Wilkinson
ABC by Bruno Munari
Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold
People by Peter Spier
Rain and Hail by Franklyn M. Branley & Helen Borten
M.C. Escher. the Graphic Work by M.C. Escher
May I Bring a Friend? by Beatrice Schenk De Regniers
The Book of Beetles by Patrice Bouchard
Joan Miro: His Graphic Work by Joan Miro
Moomin by Tove Jansson
The Marcel Marceau Counting Book by George Mendoza
Incredible Cross Sections by Stephen Bietsy
Puff by William Wondriska
Numbers by John J. Reiss
Anthropomorphic Japan - The Frogs by 50 Watts Books
Toilet: How it Works by David Macaulay
The Secret World of Teddy Bears by Pamela Prince
The Big Book of Birds by Yuval Zommer
Where’s My Cat by Seymour Chwast
Art Forms In Nature by Ernst Haeckel
The Tomato Patch by William Wondriska
The Unfortunate Life of Worms by Noemi Vola
The Mysteries of the Universe by Will Gater
Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot & Edward Gorey
Brazil Paradise of Gemstones by Jules Roger Sauer
Welcome to Mamoko by Aleksandra Mizielinska & Daniel Mizielinski
Tales from the Brothers Grimm by Lisbeth Zwerger & Brothers Grimm
This Is Paris by Miroslav Sasek
Ancient Egypt by DK
A Dictionary of Color Combinations by Sanzo Wada
Lots by Marc Martin
Flowers by Irving Penn
The Great Quillow by James Thurber
Zoo by Bruno Munari
Human Body by Wonder House Books
Circles, Triangles, and Squares by Tana Hoban
Henri’s Walk to Paris by Saul Bass & Leonore Klein
The Art Book for Children by Ferren Gipson & Amanda Renshaw
Enjoying books together as a family is one of life’s great joys. We hope you’re able to find something everyone will love. As always, suggestions, hopes, dreams and recommendations are welcome in the comments.
PS Maybe you want an embosser or a stamp to go with your books?
Thanks for reading. Please email all constructive feedback with the subject line “I hate you I wish you weren’t my mom.” See you very soon.
Court + Grace