Screen time was getting to be too familiar of a friend. It had been a long time, too long, since we went to the Edmond Library.

So off we went, with much joy and anticipation from Anneka. And her Mom—I love picture books almost more than my four-year-old does. I love the colors. I love the way Anneka snuggles close to me when I read them. I love the way she plays afterward for a good hour about the things she’s read, lost in a world of make-believe magic.

I love the way they are held to a higher standard than books for grownups.

We got lucky this time. We always enjoy our books, but this particular book haul from Edmond was rich in imagination, values, poetry, and artwork.

Voted up by Anneka was How To be A Dog, a silly manual for dogs.

Another huge favorite of Anneka’s was A Dog Named Doug, a picturesque journey through Doug’s impressive digging skills and a tongue-twister to boot.

This was my favorite page.

The Children Who Loved Books won me over with its simple message that books are the most valuable material possessions you can have. In a very short picture-book, Peter Carnavas leaves you aching for more books and illustrating how books bring families together.

I’m a poet at heart. Dreams of Freedom stirs the imagination with what could and should be and reminds us that to do great things, we must dream great things.

Any Laura Ingalls Wilder picture book ends up being a favorite. With their quiet courage, the Ingalls family make us all feel a little bit braver in the coldest winter and wildest frontier.

A Chair For Mother is a heart-warming, poignant tale of a daughter who helps her family save pennies to buy Mother a cozy chair after the destruction of their home by a fire. It’s a tale too precious and rich to break into a list of values. Hard work and selflessness, love and enduring through hardship, empathy, the value of saving, gratitude for the things you have, the list could go on and on.

Anneka loved Harry and the Dinosaurs Make A Christmas List. It may have been that Harry’s love of his family of dinosaurs echoes her own relationship with her overabundant “sleepy stuffies” as she calls them.

There were many more books. But these are our November favorites. What about you? What are your favorite children’s books or library finds? I’d love to hear from you!