The Treasury of Read-Alouds

PICTURE BOOKS page 3 of 3

These books represent a brief portion of the hundreds
cited in the print edition of The-Read-Aloud Handbook.

The Napping House

by Audrey Wood; Don Wood, illus.      Tod–PreS.      28 pages      Harcourt, 1984

One of the cleverest bedtime books for children, this simple tale depicts a cozy bed on which are laid in cumulative rhymes a snoring granny, dreaming child, dozing dog, and a host of other sleeping characters until a sudden awakening at daybreak. The subtle lighting changes on the double-page illustrations show the gradual passage of time during the night and the clearing of a storm outside. Also by the author: Heckedy Peg. For other bedtime books, see Goodnight Moon.

The Neighborhood Mother Goose

Nina Crews took her camera into urban America and coupled Mother Goose with children of every hue, making it a rainbow's worth of traditional nursery rhymes peopled by children who have been traditionally excluded from such volumes. Other Mother Goose collections: The Everything Book by Denise Fleming; Lucy Cousins' Book of Nursery Rhymes by Lucy Cousins; Pio Peep! Traditional Spanish Nursery Rhymes selected by Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy.

An Orange for Frankie

By Patricia Polacco      K and up      40 pages      Philomel, 2004

It is books like this that make Polacco one of the great picture book storytellers of our time, whose body of work should outlast most of her contemporaries. Based on the author/artist's family history, we start with a family of nine, Christmas eve, a father missing in a snowstorm, a boxcar of hungry and freezing hobos, one missing sweater, and a lost Christmas orange—all of it neatly tied into a happy holiday ending. This is as good as holiday stories get! Related books: Mim’s Christmas Jam by Andrea Davis Pinkney; and A Cowboy Christmas by Audrey Wood.

Please, Baby, Please

By Spike & Tonya Lewis Lee; Kadir Nelson, Illus.      Inf-Tod.      28 pages      Simon & Schuster 2002

This talented husband and wife author-team offers a witty but very true-to-life picture of a rambunctious toddler’s day, following her many moods from daybreak to bedtime. Toddlers will love seeing themselves in this young lady, especially in her more mischievous moments. Illustrator Kadir Nelson has imbued this child with the essence of a happy childhood. With the recurring use of "please," the meaning of that lovely word has a better chance of being learned and instilled than by any other means. Sequel: Please, Puppy, Please.

Rotten Teeth

By Laura Simms; David Catrow, illus.      K–3      30 pages      Houghton, 1998

Melissa is the smallest, quietest person in first grade. And she’s never brought anything for show and tell—until today! Direct from her father’s dental lab comes a bottle of Rotten Teeth, extracted from her father’s patients. To the disgusted astonishment of her teacher, Melissa puts a rotten tooth on each classmate’s desk. No one has ever brought anything like this for show and tell, and suddenly Melissa is a class star! Other fun books about school: 100th Day Worries by Margery Cuyler; Author Day by Daniel Pinkwater; A Fine, Fine School by Sharon Creech; The Frightful Story of Harry Walfish by Brian Floca; Lost and Found and The Secret Shortcut, both by Mark Teague; and The Recess Queen by Alexis O’Neill.

The Silver Pony

by Lynd Ward      PreS.–4th      176 pages      Houghton, 1973

A classic wordless book (and the longest published for children), this is the heartwarming story of a lonely farm boy and the flights of fancy he uses to escape his isolation. His imaginative trips take place on a winged pony and carry him to distant parts of the world to aid and comfort other lonely children. Also by the author: The Biggest Bear. Higthly reommended: the wordless books of David Wiesner.

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble

By William Steig      PreS.–4th      30 pages      Simon & Schuster, 1969

In this contemporary fairy tale and Caldecott Medal winner, young Sylvester finds a magic pebble that will grant his every wish as long as he holds it in his hand. When a hungry lion approaches, Sylvester wishes himself into a stone. Since stones don’t have hands, the pebble drops to the ground and he can’t reach it to wish himself normal again. The subsequent loneliness of both Sylvester and his parents is portrayed with deep sensitivity, making all the more real their joy a year later when they are happily reunited. Also by the author: The Amazing Bone; Brave Irene; Doctor De Soto; Pete’s a Pizza; The Toy Brother; and Zeke Pippin.

Thank You, Sarah: The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving (nonfiction)

By Laurie Halse Anderson;  Matt Faulkner, Illus.      Gr. K-3      40 pages      Scholastic, 2002

By the middle of the 1800s, only New England states were observing Thanksgiving, to the chagrin of Sarah Hale, widowed mother of five and the editor of America's most popular women's magazine. So she began a campaign to make the day a national holiday, an effort that fell on the deaf ears of four straight Presidents. Hale had not only written them letters, but also urged her readers to do the same — and they did, by the tens of thousands. All to no avail. They couldn't vote, so no President had to listen to them. And then came the fifth President, a man carrying a great a sorrow in his heart but still aware of how much he and we should be grateful for — Abraham Lincoln. Related books: Molly's Pilgrim by Barbara Cohen ; and Milly and the Macy's Parade by Shana Corey, uses a fictionalized young girl to uncover the origins of the famous Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Based on a true anecdote, the Milly tale revolves around a thousand Macy employees who were recent immigrants and homesick for lands where costume parades and street festivals were the norm.

Tintin in Tibet (comic book)

By Hergé    Gr. 2–4    62 pages    Little, 1975

When you’ve been in print for more than sixty years, translated into twenty-two languages, and praised in The New York Times, you must be special. Tintin is just that. He’s the boy detective who hopscotches the globe in pursuit of thieves and smugglers. Loaded with humor, adventure, and marvelous artwork (700 pictures in each issue), Tintin’s special appeal for parents who want to assist their child in reading is the fact that each Tintin contains more than 8,000 words. Having heard Tintin read aloud, children will want to obtain his other adventures and read them by themselves, oblivious to the fact that they are reading so many words in the process. Because of the size of the pictures, Tintin is best read aloud to no more than two children at a time. Furthermore, a comic should be read aloud to the child only a few times—to show the child how a comic works. This is similar to the concept of a model train: the parent shows the child how, then turns it over to the youngster to use. The Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Arthur Schlesinger raised seven children, devoting his read-aloud experiences strictly to the classics —with one exception: The Adventures of Tintin.

Beginning in 1994, Tintin’s American publisher began issuing hardcovers, three comics to a volume. The single best Tintin resource: Tintin: The Complete Companion by Michael Farr, the world's leading authority on all things Tintin. In late 2007, the film production company Dreamworks announced a "Tintin" trilogy, with one film directed by Stephen Spielberg, a second by Peter Jackson (of "Lord of the Rings" fame), and a third to be handled by an undetermined director.

Related books in comic format: Bone #1: Out of Boneville (series) by Jeff Smith; Moby Dick retold by Lew Sayre Schwartz and illustrated by Dick Giordano; and an excellent series of stories told in comic format, selected and edited by Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly: Little Lit: Folklore & Fairy Tale Funnies; Strange Stories for Strange Kids; and It Was a Dark and Silly Night.

The graphic novel is a direct descendant of the comic book genre and just like comics, they run the gamut from ridiculous to erotic; therefore caution is advised in bringing them into the home or classroom. If you wouldn't show a video without checking it out first, so too with comics and graphic novels.

Where’s My Teddy? (series)

by Jez Alborough      PreS.–K      24 pages      Candlewick, 1997

Alborough has created three popular books in this series about little Eddie and the giant bear who lives in the park. In their first encounter (Where’s My Teddy?), Eddie mistakenly ends up with the bear’s teddy and the bear has his. Though each is equally afraid of the other, they both finally end up with the right teddy. In the second book (It’s the Bear!), Eddie’s mother is a non-believer until she and the bear come face-to-face (reminiscent of Robert McCloskey’s Blueberries for Sal). In the third book (My Friend Bear), their fear of each other is happily resolved when each realizes how much they have in common—including a needless fear of each other and a love of their teddies. Related books: Good Job, Little Bear by Martin Waddell; and Grandma's Bears (p).

The Whingdingdilly

by Bill Peet      PreS.–5th      60 pages      Houghton, 1970

Bill Peet should be declared either a national treasure (along with Dr. Seuss) or a modern Aesop. Using animals to make his points, he explored the human condition in a way that helped us all to better understand each other. Typical is this book: Discontented with his life as a dog, Scamp envies all the attention given to his beribboned neighbor—Palomar the wonder horse. But when a backwoods witch changes Scamp into an animal with the feet of an elephant, the neck of a giraffe, the tail of a zebra, and the nose of a rhinoceros, he gets more attention than he bargained for: He ends up a most unhappy circus freak. But all ends well, and tied into the ending is a subtle lesson for both Scamp and his readers: Be yourself!

Among Peet’s most popular titles are: Big Bad Bruce; The Caboose Who Got Loose; Eli; Encore for Eleanor; Farewell to Shady Glade; Fly, Homer, Fly; How Droofus the Dragon Lost His Head; Kermit the Hermit; Randy’s Dandy Lions; and Wump World. Also, Bill Peet: An Autobiography is a 180-page autobiography (Caldecott Honor-winner) with an illustration on every page.

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