Books for fun!

And now, just for fun ...
The Way Back Home by Oliver Jeffers

A boy finds an airplane in his closet. He does not remember leaving it there, but decides to go flying anyway. He flew higher and higher until he landed on the moon.

A Martian crashes with a bump on the moon. Now neither is alone and they both realized that the other was in trouble, too. The two work together to solve their problems.

The text is brief, the illustrations simple, and the story is delightful.

Not a Stick by Antoinette Portis

This sparsley illustrated, simple text story gives the reader all kinds of ideas on what can be done with a stick. Very, very short read.



Make sure you also get Not a Box and have some big boxes on hand for imaginative play that will follow.

Picture books just for fun

Blue Goose by Nancy Tafuri

The goose, hen, chick and others are painting everything. The book starts out with no color except the animals, who begin to paint and mix colors. By the end of the story, everything is colorful.
Great book for kids learning colors. I love all of Nancy Tafuri's books!
Most are perfect for preschoolers.




The Chicken of the Family by Mary Amato
This book appealed to both the teasing-sibling and the chicken-lover in me. Big sisters are teasing Henrietta, telling her she is really a chicken. They pull her feathers out while she sleeps, the eggs the gather are really found in her bed in the morning, and more. Henrietta decides to
go out and join the chickens in Farmer Barney's chicken yard and discovers she likes chickens. Big sisters find her there, and after some discussion, they decide to try being chickens, too. All ages.





Drive by Nathan Clement
Here is the latest, greatest, preschooler, truck driver book. Text is very simple. So are the great illustrations. Add The Trucker by Brenda Weatherby for another special truck driver picture book. Perfect for preschoolers who love things with wheels.








Wee Little Chick by Lauren Thompson

All the farmyard animals keep talking about how little the chick is, but this little chick keeps doing big things. John Butler does the delightful up-close illustrations. He has written and illustrated a number of books himself, also with animals. For preschoolers and anyone who feels too little to do anything.





Little Hoot by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

I love quirky stories, and I am partial to books with lots of white space, like this one. Little Hoot is a happy owl, until all his friends go to bed and HE has to stay up late. After all, he is an owl. We get to see what he does during that extra hour he is required to stay up, as well as his thought that when he grows up, his kids can go to bed as early as they want.

Do not miss this author's first book, Little Pea. It is laugh out loud funny! All ages.



Help Me, Mr. Mutt! by Janet Stevens

This dog writes an advice column and gets letters from fat dogs that have been put on diets, bored dogs who want to play, dogs who bark,
dogs who are really big and want to sleep on the bed, and more. The
advice columnist dog usually includes a P.S. about what to do with the
pesky cat in the house. The advice given is hilarious, the notes from
the cat add to the story that begins on the front end papers, and end
on the back end papers.

Janet writes the stories and her sister, Susan Stevens Crummel does the illustrations. They are wonderfully funny gals, and so are their stories. The Great Fuzz Frenzy and Jackalope are two of my favorites.


Trainstop by Barbara Lehman

This author illustrator is specializing in wordless books, and they are fabulous excursions into imaginative worlds. In this story, everyone falls asleep on the train, except the little girl, who gets off at the trainstop and helps tiny little people with their problems. Her other books, Rainstorm, Museum Visit and The Red Book are all great. She won a Caldecott Honor for The Red Book.

Picture books with positive character traits

Woolbur by Leslie Helakoski

This little lamb is his own person. He revels in choosing his own path, which worries his parents no end. Grandpa continues to say, 'Don't worry' but Maa and Paa worry right to the end. Before you know it, the other lambs are following Woolbur.

Woolbur is more than just a unique individual; he is joyously enthusiastic about the choices he is making. Woolbur can remind us to choose joy and not to be afraid of being different.

Ladybug Girl by Jacky Davis and David Soman

Little sister has to play by herself. At first, there seems to be nothing to do. Then she begins to find things to do. She helps ants by moving a rock that was in their way, wades through a puddle that might have a shark in it, and walks along a fallen tree that has roots that look like snakes. Ladybug Girl is brave and resilient, even if she is too little to play baseball with brother.

Dog and Bear: Two's Company by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Dog and Bear are two good friends. When Dog is feeling stingy, selfish and grumpy, Bear is kind and agrees with him and then invites him to stay for ice cream. In the next story, Dog makes Bear a birthday cake and then decides to just taste it ... and eats it all. Bear is happy to have the candle that was on the cake. Dog and Bear look out for each other, care for each other and find ways to express their friendship in kind deeds.

This author/illustrator has other fantastic books, like Lemons are Not Red.

Princess Grace by Mary Hoffman

What little girl does not want to dress up like a princess? In Grace's classroom, two girls are going to be chosen for a school parade. The girls begin talking about all the different kinds of princesses there are, and then they start reading princess stories from places like Nigeria, China, Ghana and other countries. Grace decides the real princesses are more interesting than fairy tale princesses. In the end, all the girls get to dress up as all the many princesses they learned about.

Albert the Fix-It Man by Janet Lord

Albert is always fixing things for people. One day he wakes up ill and unable to care for himself. When the people he has helped learn that he is sick, they all pitch in and help him out.

This gentle story of kindness is perfectly told, and should inspire the youngest of us to look for opportunities to help.

A Visitor for Bear by Bonny Becker

Bear is cranky, and wants to be alone. Always. Mouse wants to be his friend, and does not give up on Bear, even when Bear locks him out of his house again and again. Finally, Bear relents and shares cheese and tea with Mouse. As they sit together, Bear discovers that sharing conversation, jokes and such with someone else is a wonderful experience.

Mouse was persistant with grumpy Bear. Sometimes we need to be persistent.

History, science and civics ... all in picture books

I love the 'Sally' books by Stephen Huneck. Easy to read. Wonderful woodcuts as illustrations. And fun storylines. In Sally Gets a Job we have a fabulous book about careers for preschoolers through about 1st grade. Of course, these careers are all seen from a dog's perspective. When Sally thinks about being a teacher, we see her teaching dogs in an obedience school. Some of the careers/illustrations will make you laugh out loud.

If you like this title, you will want to read Sally goes to the beach,

Sally goes to the mountains, Sally goes to the farm, Sally goes to the vet, and Sally's snow adventure.

Night Running by Elisa Carbone.

This book is a great example of using picture books for history. The book is based on research the author did for a novel when she found a true story about James Smith and how his hunting dog helped him escape from slavery. Use this when studying the Civil War and/or the Underground Railroad. The illustrator, E. B. Lewis, has produced wonderful art for many other historically based picture books, so use his name to search for more beautiful books.

Not for preschoolers.

Here is a lovely science/production of maple syrup title that is appropriate for everyone, as it is also a story about an extended family working together to make maple syrup. The author offers two pages at the end of the book with both lore and vocabulary explanations. Easy to read.

Maple Syrup Season by Ann Purmell

Go, Go America by Dan Yaccarino

This is not a sit-down-and-read book, but one with interesting facts about all 50 states, and most are facts that will never be seen on a test anywhere, ever. And smack dab in the middle of the silly stuff are interesting tidbits, such as Maine being the producer of 90% of the blueberries grown in the United States, or that Battle Creek, Michigan has a cereal festival every June.

Perfect for school age children.

Finding Home by Sandra Markle

This is based on the true story of a koala in Australia that was threatened by seasonal fires. Momma koala has to search for a new area to feed in and encounters people. The interaction with people turns out to be a hands off, yet positive encounter for the koala.

Great for animal lovers.

Pale Male: Citizen Hawk of New York City by Janet Schulman

If you have not heard of read about Pale Male, here is a book to get you started. Pale Male is a real red-winged hawk that has taken up residence in New York City, and this is his story.

Learn about birds, how people interact and/or protect birds as well as a little about Central Park and the animals that live there.

School age.

The Elephant Quilt: stitch by stitch to California by Susan Lowell

Travel west in 1859. Meet bison, Apache chief Cochise, and follow the Sante Fe Trail. Grandma and Lily Rose are making a quilt along the way and the blocks in it are telling the story of their journey. Learn what it met to 'see the elephant' a popular expression during the 1800's. Author's notes at the end of the book give us even more information.

Great for all ages.

And, last but not least, Grace for President by Kelly DiPucchio

Grace's class is studying the presidents, when she notices there are no girl presidents. This inspires her run for class president. A boy in another class runs against her. We see both of the campaigns and what each of the kids do along the way. Each child in the two classes represent
a state and the total number of electoral college votes that state has. Election day comes, and
the votes are cast. The author then explains how the electoral college process works. Other books you might want to include in reading about elections and presidents: Duck for President by Doreen Cronin and Max for President by Jarrett Krosoczka.

Help me decide whether or not to do any more 'Great New Books' in this format. Post a comment, send an email. Tell me what YOU prefer. You can subsccribe to a blog and get an email when there is a new post. You can subscribe to a blog in a RSS feed. There are all kinds of new ways to share information. I really liked having the opportunity to get a picture of the cover - a picture is worth a thousand words!

Melody