Picture Books too Good to Miss

Some picture books have become all-time favorites. We suggest that they become part of every child's literary heritage. These books can be shared by adults and children together, in story hours, bedtime sessions, or as lap-stories. Many children will want to experience them over and over again.

Aardema, Verna. WHY MOSQUITOES BUZZ IN PEOPLE'S EARS. Illus. by Leo and Diane Dillon. Dial, 1975. The chain of events preventing the sun from rising are traced back to the mosquito in this West African tale.

Ackerman, Karen. SONG AND DANCE MAN. Illus. by Stephen Gammell. Knopf, 1988. Grandpa takes three grandchildren up to the attic where he recalls his early days in vaudeville.

Birdseye, Tom. AIRMAIL TO THE MOON. Illus. by Stephen Gammell. Holiday House, 1988. When Ora Mae Cotton thinks someone has stolen her tooth, she accuses her family and threatens them with a can of gotcha.

Brett, Jan. THE MITTEN. Putnam, 1989. A progression of animals try to fit into Nicki's mitten until the inevitable happens.

Brown, Marcia. ONCE A MOUSE. Scribner, 1961. A hermit transforms a mouse into larger, more fearful animals so it can protect itself.

Brown, Marcia. STONE SOUP. Scribner, 1947. Three soldiers show the people in a French village how to make soup from stones.

Burton, Virginia Lee. THE LITTLE HOUSE. Houghton, 1942. Tall buildings grow up around the little house that once stood on a quiet countryside. Something must be done.

Burton, Virginia Lee. MIKE MULLIGAN AND HIS STEAM SHOVEL. Houghton, 1939. Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel Mary Anne find their station in life.

Carle, Eric. THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR. Philomel, 1970. Holes in the book reveal the caterpillar's trail as he eats his way toward becoming a beautiful butterfly.

Carle, Eric. THE VERY BUSY SPIDER. Philomel, 1984. Raised lines appear in the book as the busy spider builds a web, ignoring the other barnyard animals in her attempt to catch a pesky fly.

Cooney, Barbara. CHANTICLEER AND THE FOX. Crowell, 1958. Based on Chaucer's "Nun's Priest's Tale," Cooney retells the story of the rooster who crowed once too often.

Cooney, Barbara. MISS RUMPHIUS. Viking, 1982. When Alice grows old she remembers her grandfather's advice, and she sets out to make the world more beautiful.

Crews, Donald. FREIGHT TRAIN. Greenwillow, 1978. The freight train passes by, at first slowly, then in a blur of bright colors.

Ehlert, Lois. PLANTING A RAINBOW. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988. A mother and her daughter plant a rainbow of flowers in this color/flower identification book.

Fox, Mem. WILFRID GORDON MCDONALD PARTRIDGE. Illus. by Julie Vivas. Kane/Miller, 1985. A young boy tries to help elderly Miss Nancy regain her memory.

Freeman, Don. CORDUROY. Viking, 1968. A teddy bear in a big department store thinks nobody will buy him because he has lost a button on his clothing.

Gag, Wanda. MILLIONS OF CATS. Coward, 1928. A very old man goes out to look for a kitten for his very old wife.

Galdone, Paul. THE GINGERBREAD BOY. Seabury, 1975. The Gingerbread boy runs away from everyone until he encounters the fox.

Galdone, Paul. THE THREE BEARS. Seabury, 1972. Large uncluttered drawings of the three bears and their visitor Goldilocks make this a good choice for the very young.

Goble, Paul. THE GIRL WHO LOVED WILD HORSES. Bradbury, 1978. A young Indian girl lost in a storm seeks refuge with a herd of wild horses and becomes one of them.

Hoban, Russell. BEDTIME FOR FRANCES. Illus. by Garth Williams. Harper, 1960. Frances, a little badger, tries to avoid bedtime.

Hogrogian, Nonny. ONE FINE DAY. Macmillan, 1971. A fox attempts to get his tail back after it has been cut off by an old woman who caught him drinking her milk.

Hyman, Trina Schart. LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD. Holiday House, 1983. Beautiful Bavarian-style illustrations accompany this freshretelling of an old tale.

Johnson, Crockett. HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYON. Harper, 1955. Harold uses his crayon to go on a magical walk one night.

Jonas, Ann. ROUND TRIP. Greenwillow, 1983. The concept of a round trip is developed as a day trip to the city unfolds, and then the reader literally turns the book around for the return trip.

Keats, Ezra Jack. JOHN HENRY. Pantheon, 1965. The legend of John Henry, steel-driving man, is illustrated in brilliant colors.

Keats, Ezra Jack. SNOWY DAY. Viking, 1962. Peter is excited about the new snowfall and goes outside to experience it.

Kellogg, Steven. PAUL BUNYAN. Morrow, 1984. Episodes about the famous lumberjack have been combined into one amazing story.

Kellogg, Steven. PECOS BILL. Morrow, 1986. Pecos Bill tall-tale cowboy, never slows down as he moves from one amazing fete to the next.

Lionni, Leo. ALEXANDER AND THE WIND-UP MOUSE. Pantheon, 1970. Alexander, a real mouse, meets a toy, artificial mouse.

Lionni, Leo. FREDERICK. Pantheon, 1967. When winter comes, the poet-mouse makes a valuable contribution to the community.

Lionni, Leo. LITTLE BLUE AND LITTLE YELLOW. Obolensky, 1959. A little blue splash hugs a little yellow splash until they become green.

Lobel, Arnold. FROG AND TOAD ARE FRIENDS. Harper & Row, 1970. The friendship of Frog and Toad are described in five classic stories.

Marshall, James. GEORGE AND MARTHA. Houghton Mifflin, 1972. Various aspects of friendship are revealed through these stories about two hippopotamuses.

Martin, Bill and John Archambault. CHICKA CHICKA BOOM BOOM. Illus. by Lois Ehlert. Simon & Schuster, 1989. All of the alphabet children try to climb the coconut tree in this catchy alphabet chant.

McCloskey, Robert. MAKE WAY FOR DUCKLINGS. Viking, 1941. Mother duck decides to move her family into the inner city.

McDermott, Gerald. ARROW TO THE SUN. Viking, 1974. This Pueblo Indian myth tells how the Lord of the Sun's spirit was brought to earth.

McDonald, Suse. ALPHABATICS. Bradbury, 1986. Each letter of the alphabet is transformed into an object that begins with the letter.

McKissack, Patricia. FLOSSIE AND THE FOX. Illus. by Rachel Isadora. Dial, 1986. Flossie outfoxes the fox by asking for proof in this story from the American South.

Mikolaycak, Charles. BABUSHKA. Holiday House, 1984. A Christmas story from Russia in which a woman later regretsthat she did not accept an invitation to accompany three kings.

Mosel, Arlene. TIKKI TIKKI TEMBO. Illus. by Blair Lent. Holt, 1968. Children will love to repeat "Tikki Tikki Tembo-No Sa Rembo-Chari Bari Ruchi-Pip Peri Pem bo," the name of the oldest son in this Chinese legend.

Piper, Watty. THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD. Platt, 1976 (orig. 1930). The little blue engine is determined to make it over the hill.

Potter, Beatrix. THE TALE OF PETER RABBIT. Warne, 1903. Despite his mother's warning, Peter visits Mr. McGregor's garden and suffers the consequences.

Rey, H.A. CURIOUS GEORGE. Houghton Mifflin, 1941. A little monkey adjusting to city life gets into many predicaments.

Rosen, Michael. WE'RE GOING ON A BEAR HUNT. Illus. by Helen Oxenbury. McElderry, 1989. A man, four children, and a dog trudge over a variety of terrains until they find a bear.

Rylant, Cynthia. THE RELATIVES CAME. Illus. by Stephen Gammell.Bradbury, 1985. When the relatives from Virginia come to visit, there's hugging, kissing, laughing, and talking.

Seeger, Pete. ABIYOYO. Illus. by Michael Hays. Macmillan, 1986. A boy and his father work together to rid the town of the dreadful giant Abiyoyo.

Sendak, Maurice. WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE. Harper, 1963. Max was naughty one night and was sent to bed without his supper.

Seuss, Dr. THE CAT IN THE HAT. Random House, 1957. An unusual cat plays all sorts of tricks on a boy and girl while their mother is away on a rainy day.

Seuss, Dr. THE 500 HATS OF BARTHOLOMEW CUBBINS. Vanguard, 1938. When Bartholomew can't take his hat off before the King strange things happen.

Seuss, Dr. HORTON HATCHES THE EGG. Random House, 1940. Horton the elephant is left to guard a bird's nest.

Slobodkina, Esphyr. CAPS FOR SALE. Young Scott, 1947. When the cap peddlar wakes up from his nap he discovers all of his caps are gone.

Spier, Peter. NOAH'S ARK. Doubleday, 1977. A humorous and detailed retelling of a well-known Bible story in a wordless picture book format.

Steig, William. SYLVESTER AND THE MAGIC PEBBLE. Windmill, 1969. Thanks to the magic pebble, Sylvester the donkey is transformed into a rock.

Steptoe, John. THE STORY OF JUMPING MOUSE. Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1984. Mouse's sacrifices lead to his transformation into an eagle in this Plains Indian legend.

Van Allsburg, Chris. JUMANJI. Houghton Mifflin, 1981. Two children discover unusual creatures in their home when figures in a board game come to life.

Van Allsburg, Chris. THE POLAR EXPRESS. Houghton Mifflin, 1985. A boy learns about believing in fantasy after receiving a silver bell on a magical train ride to the North Pole one Christmas Eve.

Viorst, Judith. ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY. Illus. by Ray Cruz. Atheneum, 1972. When everything goes wrong, Alexander threatens to go to Australia.

Ward, Lynd. THE BIGGEST BEAR. Houghton Mifflin, 1952. Johnny Orchard discovers that keeping a bear as a pet is no small matter.

Wood, Audrey. THE NAPPING HOUSE. Illus. by Don Wood. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1984. One by one characters join Grandma for a nap until a pesky flea decides to attack.

Yashima, Taro. CROW BOY. Viking, 1955. When a young Japanese boy is taunted by his classmates, his teacher helps him gain acceptance.

Yolen, Jane. OWL MOON. Illus. by John Schoenherr. Philomel, 1987. A little girl and her father go owling on a cold winter night.

Young, Ed. LON PO PO. Philomel, 1989. Three sisters outfox the wolf in this Chinese Red-Riding Hood story.

Zelinsky, Paul O. RUMPELSTILTSKIN. Dutton, 1986. In this beautifully illustrated version of a well-known folktale, a strange little man agrees to help a young maiden spin straw into gold in exchange for her firstborn child.

Zemach, Harve. THE JUDGE. Illus. by Margot Zemach. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1969. In this nonsense rhyme, the judge does not believe the prisoners warnings about a monster until it is too late.

Zion, Gene. HARRY THE DIRTY DOG. Harper, 1956. Harry becomes so dirty his family doesn't recognize him.

Zolotow, Charlotte. WILLIAM'S DOLL. Harper, 1972. William wants a doll, but according to his father boys are supposed to be interested in other things.

LL: 4/99