PICTURE BOOKS TO READ TO CHILDREN IN GRADES K-3
Aardema, Verna. TRAVELING TO TONDO. Knopf, 1991. On the way to his wedding, with his friends as attendants, a civet cat meets with extraordinary and unexpected delays.
Aliki. DINOSAUR BONES. Crowell, 1988. Discusses how scientists, studying fossil remains, provide information on how dinosaurs lived millions of years ago.
Allard, Harry. MISS NELSON IS MISSING! Houghton, 1977. When Miss Nelson, a caring teacher, is replaced by a tyrant, the unruly students shape up and come to appreciate Miss Nelson.
Andrews, Jan. VERY LAST FIRST TIME. Atheneum, 1986. Eva, a young Inuit girl, relates her first experience collecting mussels under a roof of ice when the tide is out and the seabed along the shore is exposed.
Auch, Mary Jane. EGGS MARK THE SPOT. Holiday House, 1996. Pauline the hen uses her talent for laying eggs with the image of what she sees to help capture the thief who has stolen a famous painting from an art gallery.
Bang, Molly. THE PAPER CRANE. Greenwillow, 1985. An impoverished restaurant owner's business is restored when a mysterious elderly man pays for his meal by constructing an origami crane that comes alive and dances, drawing crowds of people.
Birdseye, Tom. SOAP! SOAP! DON'T FORGET THE SOAP!: AN APPALACHIAN FOLKTALE. Holiday, 1993. A forgetful boy gets himself into trouble when he repeats what each person he meets on the road says to him.
Blos, Joan. OLD HENRY. Morrow, 1987. When Henry fails to improve the old house he has moved into, his neighbors try various means of encouraging him to do so which finally drives him away.
Bottner, Barbara. BOOTSIE BARKER BITES. Putnam, 1992. Bootsie Barker only wants to play games in which she bites, until one day her friend comes up with a better game.
Brown, Don. ALICE RAMSEY'S GRAND ADVENTURE. Houghton, 1997. In 1909, Alice Ramsey became the first woman to drive cross country, coping with car repairs, washed out or non-existent roads, and bad weather along the way.
Burningham, John. JOHN PATRICK NORMAN MCHENNESSY: THE BOY WHO WAS ALWAYS LATE. Crown, 1987. A boy offers fanciful excuses for being late for school. When his disbelieving teacher encounters a far-out situation, his student has his turn at denying such an incident can happen.
Christelow, Eileen. THE FIVE-DOG NIGHT. Clarion, 1993. Cantankerous Ezra keeps rebuffing his nosy neighbor, Old Betty, when she tries to give him advice on how to survive the cold winter nights, until she finally discovers that his five dogs are his source for warmth.
Compton, Patricia. TERRIBLE EEK. S&S, 1991. A father's fear of the terrible leak ultimately saves him from a thief and wolf.
Cooper, Susan. THE SILVER COW. Atheneum, 1983. A young Welsh boy is rewarded for his beautiful harp playing with a silver cow, a gift of the magic people living in the lake. The cow makes his family rich, but when his father becomes greedy, the magic people take their revenge.
Cox, David. BOSSYBOOTS. Crown, 1987. A girl uses her bossy behavior to subdue Flash Fred, one of the worst outlaws of the Australian bush.
DuBois, William Pene. LAZY TOMMY PUMPKINHEAD. Harper & Row, 1966. Tommy lives in an electric house which takes care of his every need, but a power outage turns things topsy turvy.
Emberley, Michael. RUBY. Little, 1990. While taking cheese pies to her granny, Ruby, a small but tough-minded little mouse, forgets her mother's advice not to talk to cats, in this urban Little Red Riding Hood.
Ernst, Lisa Campbell. GINGER JUMPS. Bradbury, 1990. Ginger the dog loves performing in the circus, but she is unable to summon the courage for a new trick until she finds the little girl companion about whom she has been dreaming.
Fleischman, Sid. THE SCAREBIRD. Greenwillow, 1988. In his isolation, Lonesome John plays his harmonica and seeks companionship by dressing a scarecrow. When a homeless boy drifts into his life, the elderly farmer gradually transfers the clothing and his feelings to the boy, developing a new friendship.
Gauch, Patricia Lee. TANYA AND EMILY IN A DANCE FOR TWO. Philomel, 1994. From their emerging friendship, Tanya, the smallest dancer, and Emily, the most talented one, learn more about dance.
Gershator, Phyllis. TUKAMA TOOTLES THE FLUTE: A TALE FROM THE ANTILLES. Orchard, 1994. When Tukama is captured by a two-headed giant and held prisoner by the giant's wife, he uses his flute to escape.
Golenbock, Peter. TEAMMATES. Harcourt, 1990. This real-life story tells of Pee Wee Reese's efforts to ease racial tensions during Jackie Robinson's early baseball career.
Griffith, Helen V. GRANDADDY'S PLACE. Greenwillow, 1987. A girl from the city learns to appreciate the farm when she spends a summer vacation with her grandfather.
Henkes, Kevin. OWEN. Greenwillow, 1993. When none of the neighbor's suggestions for giving up a security blanket work with Owen, his mother finds a way.
Henkes, Kevin. SHEILA RAE, THE BRAVE. Greenwillow, 1987. When brave Sheila Rae, who usually looks out for her sister Louise, becomes lost and scared one day, Louise comes to the rescue.
Hong, Lily Toy. TWO OF EVERYTHING: A CHINESE FOLKTALE. Whitman, 1993. A poor old Chinese farmer finds a magic brass pot that doubles or duplicates whatever is placed inside it, but his efforts to make himself wealthy lead to unexpected complications.
Isaacs, Anne. SWAMP ANGEL. Dutton, 1994. This tall tale tells of a giant, Angelica Longrider, also know as Swamp Angel, and her heroic feats, which include her victory over the bear, Thundering Tarnation.
Johnston, Tony. THE COWBOY AND THE BLACK-EYED PEA. Putnam, 1992. In this adaptation of "The Princess and the Pea," the wealthy daughter of a Texas rancher devises a plan to find a real cowboy among her many suitors.
Johnston, Tony. THE GHOST OF NICHOLAS GREEBE. Dial, 1996. In Colonial Massachusetts, the ghost of a recently-buried farmer haunts his widow's house after a dog takes one of his bones on a long journey.
Karas, G. Brian. HOME ON THE BAYOU: A COWBOY'S STORY. Simon & Schuster, 1996. Because he loves cowboys, but can't imagine one living in a swamp, Ned hates the move which he and his mom make to live with Grandpa near a bayou.
Kesey, Ken. LITTLE TRICKER THE SQUIRREL MEETS BIG DOUBLE THE BEAR. Viking, 1990. Little Tricker the squirrel watches as Big Double the Bear terrorizes the forest animals one by one, but then Little Tricker gets revenge.
Ketteman, Helen. THE YEAR OF NO MORE CORN. Orchard, 1993. Grandfather tells Beanie a tall tale about the year of the corn crop failure and how he made corn trees grow from whittled corn kernels.
Kimmel, Eric A. ANANSI AND THE TALKING MELON. Holiday, 1994. A clever spider tricks Elephant and some other animals into thinking the melon in which he is hiding can talk.
King-Smith, Dick. ALL PIGS ARE BEAUTIFUL. Candlewick, 1993. An introduction, in brief text and illustrations, to the characteristics and habits of pigs.
Kinsey-Warnock, Natalie. THE BEAR THAT HEARD CRYING. Cobblehill, 1993. A fictionalized retelling of the true story of three-year- old Sarah Whitcher, who, in 1783, became lost in the woods of New Hampshire and was protected by a bear until her rescue four days later.
Lasky, Kathryn. LUNCH BUNNIES. Little, 1996. Clyde, the rabbit, is ready to start school, but after talking with his brother, he is worried about what will happen at lunchtime.
Lester, Helen. TACKY THE PENGUIN. Houghton, 1988. Tacky, the penguin, does not fit in with his sleek and graceful companions, but his odd behavior comes in handy when hunters come with maps and traps.
Lyon, George Ella. COME A TIDE. Orchard, 1990. The people of a rural mountain community are caught up in a spring flood.
Mahy, Margaret. THE GREAT WHITE MAN-EATING SHARK. Dial, 1990. Greedy to have the cove where he swims all to himself, Norvin, who looks a bit like a shark, pretends to be one, scaring off the other swimmers and leaving him in happy aquatic solitude-until he is discovered by an amorous female shark.
Martin, C. L. G. THE DRAGON NANNY. Macmillan, 1988. An elderly woman who loses her job as a caretaker to the king's children ends up taking care of a dragon family.
Martin, Jacqueline Briggs. GOOD TIMES ON GRANDFATHER MOUNTAIN. Orchard, 1992. A mountain man whittles away every problem that comes his way.
McCully, Emily Arnold. MIRETTE ON THE HIGH WIRE. Putnam, 1992. Mirette learns to walk the tightwire from a famous artist who no longer performs because of fear, and then she helps him return to the wire, and the two perform together.
McDonald, Megan. INSECTS ARE MY LIFE. Orchard, 1995. No one at home or school understands Amanda Frankenstein's devotion to insects until she meets Maggie.
McKissack, Patricia. MIRANDY AND BROTHER WIND. Knopf, 1988. Knowing whoever catches Brother Wind can make him do their bidding, Mirandy catches him to be her partner in the Junior Cakewalk.
McLerran, Alice. ROXABOXEN. Lothrop, 1991. A hill covered with rocks and wooden boxes becomes an imaginary town for Marian, her sisters, and their friends.
McMillan, Bruce. NIGHTS OF THE PUFFLINGS. Houghton, 1995. This photo essay shows how Icelandic children help newly hatched pufflings survive. Meddaugh, Susan. MARTHA SPEAKS. Houghton, 1992. Problems arise when Martha, a dog, learns to speak after eating alphabet soup.
Palatini, Margie. PIGGIE PIE. Clarion, 1995. Gritch the witch flies to Old MacDonald's farm for some pigs to make a piggie pie, but when she arrives, she can't find a single porker.
Patterson, Francine. KOKO'S KITTEN. Scholastic, 1985. The real life experience of Koko, a gorilla in California, who uses sign language, with a young kitten whom she loved and grieved over when it died.
Paulsen, Gary. DOGTEAM. Delacorte, 1993. The experience of taking sled dogs on a night run is described in a lyrical manner.
Pilkey, Dav. DOG BREATH: THE HORRIBLE TROUBLE WITH HALLY TOSIS. Scholastic, 1994. Hally, the Tosis family dog, has such bad breath that Mr. and Mrs. Tosis plan to give her away, until she proves to be an invaluable watchdog.
Polacco, Patricia. MRS. KATZ AND TUSH. Bantam, 1992. A long-lasting friendship develops between Larnel, a young African-American, and Mrs. Katz, a lonely, Jewish widow, when Larnel presents Mrs. Katz with a scrawny kitten without a tail.
Polacco, Patricia. MY ROTTEN REDHEADED OLDER BROTHER. Simon & Schuster, 1994. After losing running, climbing, throwing, and burping competitions to her older obnoxious brother, a young girl makes a wish on a falling star.
Rathmann, Peggy. OFFICER BUCKLE AND GLORIA. Putnam, 1995. Officer Buckle learns about the advantages of teamwork when Gloria, the police dog, joins him in teaching children about safety.
Rathmann, Peggy. RUBY THE COPYCAT. Scholastic, 1991. Ruby insists on copying Angela, until her teacher helps her discover her own creative resources.
Ringgold, Faith. TAR BEACH. Crown, 1991. Based on a story quilt, a young African American dreams of flying to claim a better life for her family.
Rosenberg, Liz. MONSTER MAMA. Philomel, 1993. Even though Patrick Edward's mother is an unusual person, she is loving and loyal to him and helps him cope with bullies.
Samuels, Barbara. WHAT'S SO GREAT ABOUT CINDY SNAPPLEBY? Orchard, 1992. Though Faye wants to be friends with the cool and confident Cindy Snappleby, she won't put up with Cindy's calling Faye's little sister names.
San Souci, Robert. THE TALKING EGGS: A FOLKTALE FROM THE AMERICAN SOUTH. Dial, 1989. A Southern folktale in which kind Blanche, following the instructions of an old witch, gains riches, while her greedy sister makes fun of the old woman and is duly rewarded.
Sayre, April Pulley. IF YOU SHOULD HEAR A HONEY GUIDE. Houghton, 1995. Honey guides, birds that live in Kenya, lead badgers or people to honey, hoping for some for themselves.
Scieszka, Jon. THE TRUE STORY OF THE 3 LITTLE PIGS! Viking, 1989. The wolf gives his own outlandish version of what really happened when he tangled with the three little pigs.
Seymour, Tres. THE SMASH-UP CRASH-UP DERBY. Orchard, 1995. While visiting the fair, a child describes the most exciting event - the demolition derby and its surprise winner.
Silverman, Erica. BIG PUMPKIN. Macmillan, 1992. A witch grows a pumpkin so large that she must seek the help of others to pick it.
Stanley, Diane. SAVING SWEETNESS. Putnam, 1996. The sheriff of a dusty western town rescues Sweetness, an unusually resourceful orphan, from nasty old Mrs. Sump and her terrible orphanage.
Steig, William. THE AMAZING BONE. Farrar, 1976. On her way home from school Pearl, the pig, meets a bone with amazing magical powers. The bone saves Pearl from becoming a fox's dinner, and the two become close friends.
Steig, William. SPINKY SULKS. Farrar, 1988. Spinky is in a world class sulk: nothing his family says or does can cheer him up.
Thomassie, Tynia. FELICIANA FEYDRA LEROUX. Little, 1995. Even though Feliciana is her grandfather's favorite, he refuses to allow her to go alligator hunting with him, so one night she sneaks out and surreptitiously joins the hunt anyway.
Thurber, James. MANY MOONS. HBJ, 1990. Though many try, only the court jester is able to fulfill Princess Lenore's wish for the moon.
Turkle, Brinton. DO NOT OPEN. Dutton, 1981. The courageous Miss Moody faces the evil that emerges from a bottle washed up on the beach after a storm.
Van Allsburg, Chris. JUMANJI. Houghton, 1981. A bored brother and sister become involved in a jungle board game that leads them into a mysterious, exciting adventure.
Vaughan, Marcia K. WHISTLING DIXIE. HarperCollins, 1995. Dixie Lee brings home an alligator, a snake, and an owl as pets to protect her family from such spooky creatures as the churn-turners, the bogeyman, and the mist-sisters.
Wiesner, David. TUESDAY. Clarion, 1991. One Tuesday night hundreds of frogs fly on lily pads throughout a neighborhood.
Yorinks, Arthur. WHITEFISH WILL RIDES AGAIN! HarperCollins, 1994. Called back from retirement, Whitefish Will routs bad guy Bart with a weapon much more effective than a gun: his harmonica.
Zelinsky, Paul. RUMPELSTILTSKIN. Dutton, 1986. A strange little man helps the miller's daughter spin straw into gold for the king on the condition that she will give him her first-born child.
Zemach, Harve. THE JUDGE: AN UNTRUE TALE. Farrar, 1969. A judge discovers that the people he has thrown into jail are telling true stories about a monster.
Grace W. Greene Children's Services Consultant Vermont Dept. of Libraries 109 State St. Montpelier, VT 05609 802-828-3261 ggreene@dol.state.vt.us December, 1997