Do you like Childrens picture book anthologies?

[Hilltopmom]

I'm making a wish list for my little ones. (I gave away many, many children's books once my teens outgrew them and I stopped teaching preschool as a career & now we have a toddler & baby again)

 

I did save hardbacks of books they really enjoyed, but there are a lot we will buy again. (& I saved all our five in a row books). We live pretty rural & getting to the library doesn't happen much these days with all the teen activities.

With my oldest kids, we went to lots of garage sales & had a huge collection of books, but lots of not great ones that I hated reading. Trying to be more selective this time around, both quantity & quality- wise. (As with 5 kids, we now have less space & less time)

 

I'm looking at some anthologies (from the Sonlight preschool lists) & trying to decide if I would like that many stories in a big thick book, or not.

 

Seems like they'd be good for "adult holding the book read alouds", but too un wieldy for a preschooler to handle alone. (which is ok, we still have plenty of single paperback picture books for child browsing)

 

What do you think? Do you have anthologies? Do you like them?

Thanks.

ETA- feel free to recommend any you truly love too!

Edited December 18, 2015 by Hilltopmom

[mathmarm]

I like them and NOT just because I look booksets that look like a set from across the room while they are on the shelf. Also it helps the kids to be able to put them away properly. I'm not "Lit-sy" though so maybe I'm not the person to ask.

[Aiden]

I have the ones from Sonlight P3/4 and P4/5. I like them. They don't get lost or pushed back on the shelves as much as the plethora of itty bitty individual paperbacks do. They're heavy enough that before I could trust her not to tear them, I could trust her not to get them--we lost many a small book that she tore up, but she never bothered those because they were too heavy. Now she's old/big enough to get the books and carry them to a table or sofa, and sit with them on the table or her lap or the floor, and look at them. The pages seem harder to tear than the cheap PBs, so that's good too. And I like the look of them.

 

It also made it easy when we travel and wanted to take bedtime books with us--just take one book and have a nice range of choices, rather than a bunch of small PBs that could get bent, lost, etc, and still not have as many options.

[HomeAgain]

I'm not a fan, and I do like compiled storybooks. 

When it's one large book of all one character, I find it's harder for the child to a) be interested and not overwhelmed, and b) to willingly pull the book off the shelf.  The only time it really works is when it reads like a short chapter book (there's a Thomas one that comes to mind) or is varied quite a bit (like Aesop or Parade of Stories or the like).

[athomeontheprairie]

No. I don't. My kids don't either, they are too big for then to hold. And it's harder for then to "see" which books are in the book than if they were individual titles

 

Also, Fwiw in my state if you live OUTSIDE the city limits in a RURAL community you can set up a library account that ships the books to your house. The state pays shipping both ways.

It is set up with the system/regional libraries not the small local library. perhaps something to look into if you really would like library books and can't make it into town.

[Another Lynn]

No. Sometimes they eliminate pictures. Plus I don't like seeing so many of the pages at once. It's distracting. I'd rather have the individual books.

[Kathryn]

I have the Sonlight P ones also. I don't so much mind the thinner one--I think that the 20th Century one--but the really huge one I really don't care for. I think that's the Harper Collins Treasury. It was really too unwieldy to be comfortable with when snuggled up reading aloud.

[shawthorne44]

I really liked them for read-aloud time.  When DD was really small, i.e. around 2, I particularly liked the anthologies because it helped to build up her listening endurance.  I'd finish a story and then she'd see the attractive cover of the next story and she'd ask for it.  And then the next one and then the next one.  Whereas, when she was really young, putting one book down and picking up the next would cause a break and her mind would wander off.  

For that reason, I didn't particularly care of the white book in Sonlight P3/4.   I would have loved it if only they's sorted the stories by reading age instead of just adding those colors.  

 

Now that DD is 5, I've been picking up themed anthologies at the used book stores.  Like "50 Princess Stories".   At this point it is because they are handy for me.  She gets several stories and this way I can use one book.  

[Kinspired]

I prefer individual books because they're easier to hold. Also, my clever 3yo picks up the anthologies when she's told she may have 2 books before bedtime. :)

[Rachel]

I don't care for them and my kids don't like them as well as indivdual books. The pictures tend to be smaller and less vibrant. It is more difficult for kids to find a particular story if they can't read the titles. Also, lots of pictures are missing and that's part of what tells the story when a non-reader is looking at a book independently.

[Rachel]

They are great for traveling and car rides though.

[shawthorne44]

I prefer individual books because they're easier to hold. Also, my clever 3yo picks up the anthologies when she's told she may have 2 books before bedtime. :)

 

I used to make use of that.  When I really liked one I'd comment.  "Boy, that was a long one.  It was also really good."  Then later when she was trying to extend bedtime by picking long stories, she would reach for the ones I liked.   If it was long and I didn't like it, I'd tell her that counted as two stories.  

[Tanaqui]

I usually find that picture book anthologies, in order to save space, have reduced the size and number of the pictures, and sometimes even abridged text. This can be frustrating to me. There are a few I've owned, now since given away and I don't recall the titles, that don't do that. Those were rare, though.

[Tsuga]

Yeah but they are the last hung my kids read. Le sigh.

[Seeking Squirrels]

Depends on the book. We have the SL preschool sets. I really like one of them that has just a dozen stories or so with full page spread pictures so each page looks like you're reading that book as normal. Another one has a lot of stories and each page is split into 2-4 frames. I don't care for that one as much. The kids can't see all the available stories at a glance, so lots of them don't get read just because we don't realize they're there. We have to intentionally decide to look for a new story or I just read through them pretty much in order. The one with just a few has a picture on the front representing each story so they can look and choose the one they want to hear. We also have a Franklin one and that one also has a picture for each story inside.

[Aurelia]

DD loved/loves them. She liked either the teeny tiny books (like the individual Beatrix Potter books) or the huge anthologies.

[AnniePoo]

We have a few and they have their place, but they do get really heavy to hold.  I usually have a handful of kids balanced on me while I read and it's a pain if the book keeps falling over.  

[shawthorne44]

Depends on the book. We have the SL preschool sets. I really like one of them that has just a dozen stories or so with full page spread pictures so each page looks like you're reading that book as normal. Another one has a lot of stories and each page is split into 2-4 frames. I don't care for that one as much. The kids can't see all the available stories at a glance, so lots of them don't get read just because we don't realize they're there. We have to intentionally decide to look for a new story or I just read through them pretty much in order. The one with just a few has a picture on the front representing each story so they can look and choose the one they want to hear. We also have a Franklin one and that one also has a picture for each story inside.

 

I forgot about the selecting the story from the picture.   That was one reason the DK fairy one was such a hit.  I had to make a rule, though, that I read them all in order first.  

[FO4UR]

I prefer the individual books usually.

 

The huge anthologies are hard to hold for any length of time.  

[CadenceSophia]

I don't know the specific one in question, but in general I'd say I like them. There are specific ones I like though and ones I don't like. The bigger the better in my opinion. When I sit down to read to the children it usually takes about an hour. I get tired of switching books and having the kids drag half the shelf to me for reading, only to abandon them on the floor. It only works if the language of the story is the main focus, not the pictures. Picture books need to be individual.

 

[katilac]

No, I don't like anthologies in general - too big and awkward. 

 

 

[Farrar]

Mixed feelings. Useful for trips, easy to save and have around for visiting younger kids. But they cut the pictures and they're not as kid friendly. I kept the 20th Century Children's Picture Book Treasury and it was useful to have. But I gave away the others.

 

My boys also had easy reader books that were anthologies and those were okay for them - one ds really, really adored the Usborne Book of Stories for Boys. That's a little different though.

[HomeAgain]

I just remembered an anthology I liked.  The library here has a large (about 1.5ft tall) compilation book of the Little Golden Books up through about 1970.  My son adores it.  None of the pictures were scrapped, but the pages of each book were shrunk down to create 8 or so on each page of the large book.  It gives me a chance to share several of my favorites with him that I can't find anymore. :)  It's terribly big and unwieldy, but it's worth checking out a few times a year.  

[vonfirmath]

I prefer individual books because they're easier to hold. Also, my clever 3yo picks up the anthologies when she's told she may have 2 books before bedtime. :)

 

My kids do this too!

 

I have a love-hate relationship with Anthologies. They look nicer on the shelves and are easier for me to deal with. But the kids seem to enjoy/pick out the individual books better. Except for bedtime.

[FriedClams]

We used to keep them in the car. It seemed dove kid was always picking them up, even for just a quick story. I was amazed at how many of my kid's friends loved them.