Fifty recommended books for infants, toddlers, and Grades 1-3

Choosing largely from enduring favorites rather than newly published titles, the Monitor has selected 50 high-quality books to recommend for children ranging from infancy to Grade 3. Within each grouping the list begins with books for younger children and progresses to those for older. The list may not suit the gifted reader who, though young, might be ready for more challenging reading, but others should find it useful. Picture books

* Old Mother Hubbard and Her Dog, by Paul Galdone. New York: McGraw-Hill. Pages not numbered. $7.95.

* Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak. New York: Harper & Row. Pages not numbered. $8.95.

* A Child's Goodnight Book, by Margaret Wise Brown. Illustrated by Jean Charlot. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley. Pages not numbered. $7.95.

* Richard Scarry's Great Big Schoolhouse. New York: Random House. 69 pp. $4. 95.

* Horton Hatches the Egg, by Dr. Seuss. New York: Random House. 64 pp. $5.99.

* Burt Dow: Deep-water Man, by Robert McCloskey. New York: The Viking Press. 63 pp. $8.95.

* Why Noah Chose the Dove, by Isaac Bashevis Singer, illustrated by Elizabeth Shub. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux. 32 pp. $8.95. Poetry

* Boom-de-Boom, by Elaine Edelman. New York: Pantheon. 36 pp. $4.95.

* Father Fox's Penny-rhymes, by Clyde Watson. Illustrated by Penny Watson. New York: Harper & Row. Pages not numbered. $8.95.

* The Mother Goose Treasury, by Raymond Briggs. New York: Dell. 224 pp. $7.95 (paperback).

* Marguerite de Angeli's Book of Nursery and Mother Goose Rhymes. New York: Doubleday & Co. 192 pp. $10.95.

* Drums and Trumpets: Poetry for the Youngest, selected by Leonard Clark. Illustrated by Heather Copley. Toronto: Chatto-Bodley-Jonathan. (Distributed by Merrimack Book Service, 99 Main Street, Salem, N.H. 03079.) 96 pp. $7.95.

* A Child's Garden of Verses, by Robert Lewis Stevenson. Illustrated by Tasha Tudor. New York: Random House. 72 pp. $7.95.

* A Visit to William Blake's Inn, by Nancy Willard. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. 48 pp. $10.95. Counting

* The Berenstain Bear's Counting Book, by Stanley and Janice Berenstain. New York: Random House. 14 pp. $2.95.

* Anno's Counting Book, by Mitsumasa Anno. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company. Pages not numbered. $8.95.

* A First Number Book, by Shari Robinson. Pictures by Sal Murdocca. New York: Platt & Munk Division of Grosset & Dunlap. 94 pp. $3.95 (paperback).

Richard Scarry's Best Counting Book Ever. New York: Random House. 48 pp. $4. 95. Alphabet

* Anno's Alphabet: An Adventure in Imagination, by Mitsumasa Anno. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company. 64 pp. $10.95.

* Wild Animals from Alligator to Zebra, by Arthur Singer. New York: Random House. Pages not numbered. $1.25 (paperback).

* Dr. Seuss's ABC, by Dr. Seuss. New York: Random House. 72 pp. $3.95.

* As I Was Crossing Boston Common, by Norma Farber. Berkeley, Calif.: Creative Arts Book Company (833 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, Calif. 94710). Pages not numbered. $3.95, paperback. Science

* Science Toys and Tricks, by Laurence B. White Jr., drawings by Mark Tolon Brown. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley. 96 pp. $4.95, paperback. Crafts

* Ed Emberley's Great Thumbprint Drawing Book. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. 37 pp. $5.95.

* Syd Hoff's How To Draw Dinosaurs, by Syd Hoff. New York: Windmill Books/Simon & Schuster. 64 pp. $3.95.

* Mask Magic, by Carolyn Meyer. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. 88 pp. $ 7.95.

* Beginning Mobiles, by Peggy Parish, illustrated by Lynn Sweat. (Ready-to-Read Handbook.) New York: Macmillan. 63 pp. $6.95.

* How to Make Play Places and Secret Hidy Holes, by Jane and John Lane. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Co. 45 pp. $6.95. For infants and toddlers

* Baby's First Library. New York: Platt & Monk. Pages not numbered. $3.95.

* Dressing, by Helen Oxenbury. New York: A Little Simon Board Book/Simon & Schuster. 14 pp. $3.50.

* Let's Play Peek-a-Boo, by Joan Webb. New York: Golden Press, a First Little Golden Book. Pages not numbered. 69 cents.

* Farm Animals, by Lisa Bonforte. New York: Random House, A Board Book. 14 pp. $2.95.

* Nursery Rhymes, by Eloise Wilkin. New York: Random House, A Board Book. 14 pp. $2.95. Stories

* Even If I Did Something Awful, by Barbara S. Hazen. New York: Atheneum. 32 pp. $8.95.

* Cyrus, the Unsinkable Sea Serpent, by Bill Peet. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 46 pp. $10.95.

* The Story of Ferdinand, by Munro Leaf. Illustrated by Robert Lawson. New York: The Viking Press. 72 pp. $8.95.

* Babar's Anniversary Album, by Jean and Laurent De Brunhoff, Introduction by Maurice Sendak. New York: Random House. 144 pp. $12.95.

* Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories, by Dr. Seuss. New York: Random House. 96 pp. $5.95.

* Bread and Jam For Frances, by Russell Hoban, pictures by Lillian Hoban. New York: Harper & Row. 31 pp. $7.95.

* Chin Ling, The Chinese Cricket, by Alison Stilwell. Carmel, Calif.: The Stilwell Studio (PO Box 50, 93921). 44 pp. $10.95.

* Where The Buffaloes Begin, by Olaf Baker. Drawings by Stephen Gammell. New York: Frederick Warne. Pages not numbered. $8.95. Folk tales

* Giants, compiled and illustrated by Doug Cushman. New York: Platt & Munk Division of Grossett & Dunlap. Pages not numbered. $9.95.

* Stone Soup, by Ann McGovern. Illustrations by Nola Langner. New York: Scholastic Book Services. Pages not numbered. $1.25, paperback; with record $2. 95.

* The Platt & Munk Treasury of Stories for Children, edited by Nancy Christensen Hall. New York: Platt & Munk Division of Grossett & Dunlap. 128 pp.

* The Gingerbread Boy, retold and illustrated by Paul Galdone. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 40 pp. $7.95.

* Aesop's Fables. Illustrated by Heidi Holder. New York: The Viking Press. 25 pp. $12.95.

* The Best of Grimm's Fairy Tales, translated by Anthea Bell and Anne Rogers. Illustrated by Svend Otto S. New York: Larousse & Co. Pages not numbered. $9.95 . First readers

* Are You My Mother?, by P.D. Eastman. New York: Random House (Beginner Book). 64 pp. $3.95.

* The Komodo Dragon's Jewels, by Diane Redfield Massie. New York: Macmillan (Ready-to-Read). 64 pp. $5.95.

* Johnny Lion's Rubber Boots, by Edith Thacher Hurd, pictures by Clement Hurd. New York: Harper & Row. 64 pp. $6.95.

* The Bear's Picnic, by Stan and Jan Berenstain. New York: Beginner Books/A Division of Random House. 63 pp. $3.95.

* The Clay Pot Boy, by Cynthia Jameson. Pictures by Arnold Lobel. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan. Pages not numbered. $6.95.

* Look for a Bird, by Edith Thacher Hurd, illustrated by Clement Hurd. New York: Harper & Row (A Science I Can Read Book). 31 pp. $6.95.