Preschool Picture Books
[1]
Mrs. Marlowe's Mice
illus. Asch, Devin
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
This is a long picture book by great father and son team. The issues tackled here are pretty serious, though in the guise of a cat and mouse tale. Mrs. Marlow is a young widow who, at great risk to her own safety, hides a family of mice from a gestapo-like police society. If you read this to a 5 year old, just let them enjoy the story. Perhaps for an older child you may want to discuss it. Both the writing and the pictures are superb. Recommended for advanced listeners and older children.
Recently Added
[2]
Mr. Maxwell's Mouse
illus. Asch, Devin
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
This book is a little controversial. A cat, celebrating, goes to a restaurant and as a treat orders a live mouse. The mouse, while on the dinner plate with a fork and knife hanging over him, amicably talks with the cat. I thought the text and pictures were excellent, but the images are a little disturbing. Read it to yourself before you read it to your child. Recommended for advanced listeners and older children.
Recently Added
[3]
Enigma: A Magical Mystery
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
An intriguing mystery, with a cipher that must be broken, and great illustrations. But what makes the book special to me is the last page: there is an actual cardboard combination lock that must be opened in order to obtain the secret code.
Recently Added
[4]
The Library Dragon
illus. White, Michael
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
A satire on draconian librarians mixed with a classical fairy tale. The language is great, especially the many funny puns.
Recently Added
[5]
Weslandia
illus. Hawkes, Kevin
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
This is an advanced read aloud picture book. It contains a wealth of ideas relating to history, sociology, and science. In fact, if you fully explain this book, you kid can skip a few grades in elementary school. A boy, Wesley, decides to start a new civilization, based on a staple food crop he plants. His plant turns out to be amazingly useful, providing for his every need. Hawkes' paintings are superb.
Recently Added
[6]
Encyclopedia Prehistorica Dinosaurs: The Definitive Pop-Up
Reinhart, Matthew; Sabuda, Robert
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
The best pop-up book I have ever seen. Let's just say that, when done correctly, you can scare an adult by making a dinosaur pop out of this book. It contains a wealth of information and the countless pop-up figures really bring the dinosaurs to life.
Recently Added
[7]
Moonpowder
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
A young boy loves to tinker, invent, and fix things. Unfortunately, for the past couple of months he has been having a nightmare. The main story is a fantastic adventure, but on the last page, you see the true reason for the nightmares. The pictures are amazing and creative.
Recently Added
[8]
If You Hopped Like A Frog
illus. Warhol, James
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
'If you were as strong as an ant, you could life a car.' Imagine what humans would be like you could transfer some of their skills (in proportion to their size) to us. The illustrations are clever. The book is a nice introduction to some important math concepts like ratio and rate.
Recently Added
[9]
How I learned Geography
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
A little boy grows up hungry and poor in Eastern Europe. Instead of buying food with a few newfound coins, his father buys a map of the world. Can dreams fill an empty belly? A neat book that shows the power of dreaming.
Recently Added
[10]
The Widow's Broom
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
Van Allsburg is a really famous picture book author and illustrator. Many of his books have inspired movies. I like all of his work, but The Widow's Broom evokes the most emotions, for me. When a book doesn't evoke emotions, it is hard to re-read it many times. Go to your local library and check out all of his books.
Recently Added
[11]
Miss Nelson is Missing
illus. Marshall, James
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
How should a nice, young teacher deal with a class who uniformly behaves terribly? Miss Nelson has an original idea, brining in the meanest substitute teacher ever, Miss Viola Swamp.
[12]
I invited a dragon to dinner : and other poems to make you laugh out loud
illus. Demarest, Chris L.
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
Very funny poems that will really make you and your kids laugh out loud.
[13]
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
illus. Barrett, Ron
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
Wouldn't it be great if food fell from the sky instead of rain or snow. For the most part, it would be great. But what happens when the weather turns crazy (Global Warming)? The people of the town of Chewandswallow find out when too much food starts falling from the sky. This is a rare book where not only is the story compelling, but the pictures of giant food falling from the sky are great. It teaches the lesson that too much of a good thing is not good.
[14]
Violet the Pilot
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
I am always amazed when a single person can both write a really good book and draw amazing pictures. Here, Breen does both. Violet is a girl who is also a mechanical genius. Her family owns a junk yard and she dreams of building an airplane; and she does. Unfortunately, pretty much like real life, she doesn't fit in in school, and is teased mercilessly: her only friend is her dog. Don't worry though, since this is a kids book there is a happy ending.
[15]
Would I Ever Lie to You?
illus. Davis, Jack
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
In order to bully the narrater, Ed, an older cousin constantly tells some tall tales. Most of the time the narrater doesn't believe them, like
'Please don't eat that piece of pie; That piece of pie could make you die! It's full of poison, through and through; It might just be the end of you!' but every once in a while Ed does say something truthful. The pictures are funny: in the car, while the narrater is believing a tall tale, the picture where the father is rolling his eyes is hilarious. In the end, of course, the narrater turns the tables and spins a tale of his own. The fact that the book is in rhyme brings the author to Seuss status.
[16]
Pop's Bridge
illus. Payne, C.F.
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
Pop's Bridge deals with the building of the Golden Gate Bridge. Bridges are one of the first wonders that children encounter. Each time a child drives over one, they ask a million questions about it. This books helps explain the hard work and sacrifice of life, that made the bridge a reality (10 men died in a construction accident). The pictures are superb and show the different stages of the bridge while under construction. One of the subplots in the book concerns which of the workers has the more important job. After the accident, we see that they are all equally important and dangerous.
[17]
Stellaluna
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
A young bat is separated from her mother and, for a short time, raised in a bird's nest. The bat has to learn to eat worms, fly during the day, and not sleep hanging upside down (the mother bird doesn't like the bad example it sets). This book teaches a valuable lesson: respect and appreciate differences of living beings.
[18]
Verdi
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
A young snake doesn't want to grow up. He sees the mature snakes sitting around all day, living a boring life. He vows never to grow old like that. Well, he does grow old, but somehow, he stays young at heart. The pictures are wonderful. Cannon's more famous book is Stellaluna, but I think Verdi is much better.
[19]
Duck
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
Duck is the continuation of Gator. Like Gator, Duck decides to leave the carousel and go exploring. Unlike Gator who explores the world, Duck explores his heart by adopting a lost, real baby duck, Duckling. Duck dreams to fly (but can't because he is not real) and tries to live his dream by teaching Duckling to fly. Of course, Duckling eventually learns to fly, and flies away, but in the end...
[20]
Gator
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
Gator is a carousel animal. His amusement park as closed down and he is lonely and bored sitting around doing nothing. So he decides to leave his park, and see the world. When he leaves the carousel, there is a little hole in his heart where the the carousel pole was. As you might except, the story comes FULL CIRCLE (no pun intended) and he returns home to the park, though he does learn a few new things about the world.
[21]
Clever Cat
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
Clever Cat is ill treated. No one feeds him, unless he starts begging: then he is fed with a cold hand. Finally he has had enough, he starts to feed himself (he is clever), taking responsibility for himself. In the end, he realizes that it is easier to beg. It's a cute story with a strange, subtle lesson.
[22]
Diary of a Worm
illus. Bliss, Harry
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
audiobook CD
'June 15, My older sister thinks she's so pretty. I told her that no matter how much time she spends looking in the mirror, her face will always look just like her rear end.' The book is filled with clever, funny lines like that. This book will definitely make you laugh. See also; Diary of a Fly, and Diary of a Spider, by the same authors.
[23]
One potato two potato 
illus. U'Ren Andrea
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
A poor old couple, on the verge of starving, find a magical pot that doubles whatever they put inside it. The story sneakily teaches the concept of two raised to the n-th power, doubling an doubling,... The book is funny and interesting.
[24]
Mrs. McBloom, CLEAN UP Your Classroom
illus. Francis, Guy
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
Mrs. McBloom is retiring after 50 years as an elementary school teacher. She has never cleaned up her room. This book is funny and sentimental. It brings back memories of our own great teachers of the past, the ones who valued imagination over order. The pictures go well with the text. I especially liked the mature apple tree growing in the middle of the classroom.
[25]
The Gruffalo
illus. Scheffler, Axel
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
A clever little mouse escapes from various predators by convincing them that a creature (that Mouse invented ), the Gruffalo, is nearby. What a surprise Mouse has when he actually meats a real Gruffalo. This book is one of the best rhyming books that I have read in a long time: when a good poetry tells an interesting story, you can't really go wrong reading this book.
[26]
The Old House
illus. Cole, Henry
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
It is one of those books that address the common theme of when a person stops dreaming when they leave childhood. Here it is explained from the perspective of rats, and at a level kids can understand. It is also enjoyable to read and comes with a recorded version on an included CD (so after you read it 50 times, you kids can listen to it 500 times more).
[27]
By The Side of the Road
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
This book is a little controversial. I recommend you check it out from your library. A little boy is fighting in the back seat of his parents car. His father tells him to behave or get out. He gets out of the car and never comes home. If you read the Amazon reviews, some people like it, some don't. I think you have to read it correctly. When you read it, think about how families get in fights over stupid things, and then stay mad at each other for years and years.
[28]
The Man Who Walked Between the Towers
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
audiobook CD
The true story of Philippe Petit's 1974 tightrope walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. The story, and Petit's courage are inspiring. The pictures and text are superb.
[29]
The Castle on Hester Street
illus. Kulikov, Boris
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
Julie's grandpa tells her about his experiences when he came to America. His enthusiasm for the Land Of The Free, where the streets are paved with gold, causes him to embellish his stories, a little. For example, he tells Julie that when he came to America, he received a castle on Hester street, so high that pigeons couldn't fly up it. Actually he shared an apartment with 3 others. The illustrations are wonderful.
[30]
Lilly's Big Day
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
audiobook CD
Lily is a mouse who loves her teacher. She wants to be the flower girl at his upcoming wedding, only he has already chosen his niece. This book, along with most of Henkes's other books are witty, humorous, subtle, and interesting.
[31]
Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
audiobook CD
Lily loves her new teacher so much that she wants to be one when she grows up. When the teacher has to discipline her, she of course, changes her mind and writes her teacher a harsh note. This book, along with most of Henkes's other books are witty, humorous, subtle, and interesting.
[32]
Owen
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
audiobook CD
A little boy doesn't want to give up on his security blanket. The parents try everything the next door neighbor suggests to break the habit.
[33]
A Day with Dad
illus. Eriksson, Eva
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
A touching story about a boy's experience when his father (divorced) comes for his weekly visit.
[34]
Clancy The Courageous Cow
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
Clancy is a cow who is born looking different from his herd. He becomes an outcast. He is different because he is missing a white stripe about his stomach. It turns out that his mutation is what saves his herd, later on, and he becomes the hero of his herd. The story is both touching and educational. It could lead to a discussion on the theory of natural selection.
[35]
Otter Nonsense
illus. Witte, Michael
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
Otter Nonsense is a book of animal puns: otter space, baseball bats,.... Now these puns are not very funny until you look at the illustrations: baseball bats have bats, hanging upside down holding baseball bats (no pun intended here). I love puns, but when you combine pictures, they are very punny!
[36]
The Top Job
illus. Neubecker, Robert
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
Did you know that someone's job is to change the lightbulb at the top of the Empire State Building? This story book is inspired by this very job. Once every two years the bulb needs to be replaced. It is told through the eyes of the workman's daughter.
[37]
Library Lion
illus. Hawkes, Kevin
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
Library Lion is one of my favorite picture books. The dimensions of the book are quite large (as picture books should be), and the illustrations are excellent. The writing is excellent (prose) and it tells a subtle story about friendship, and about rules that sometimes need to be broken. Library Lion is a lion who loves the library. In particular, he loves story-time. However, being a lion, he gets a few stares around the library and is not made welcome by all the librarians.
[38]
Henry's Freedom Box
illus. Nelson, Kadir
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
Tells the true story (with some fictional elements) of Henry Brown, the slave who mailed himself to freedom. The text is good, but the pictures are phenomenal. I particularly liked the way the artist drew Henry, while in the box, so we could see him on the inside. An excellent introduction to slavery.
[39]
Sound of Colors
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
This book is a translation of an original Chinese version. It tells the story of a girl who is losing her vision. The pictures and text show how she imagines the world she can not see. I find Liao's pictures imaginative and thought provoking. The text is extremely deep, and emotionally moving.
[40]
The Blue Stone: A Journey Through Life
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
This book is a translation of an original Chinese version. A blue stone is cracked in half, and one half gets sculpted into various different objects (in decreasing size). All through the stones life, it yearns to go home to its other half. I find Liao's pictures imaginative and thought provoking. The text is extremely deep, and emotionally moving.
[41]
Bats at the Beach
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
The cutest bats you have ever seen illustrated. The pictures are highly imaginative, and often quite funny. My favorite picture is the one where the bats are toasting bug-mallows over a fire. As a bonus, the book is written in verse, and the verse is good: not Dr. Seuss, but much better than the averaged published quality level.
[42]
Bats at the Library
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
The bats are back (see also Bats at the Beach. ) This time at the library. They find the photocopy machine: 'This big box is loads of fun, blasting brighter than the sun. Instead of copying books from shelves, we can duplicate ourselves.'
[43]
The Shivers in the Fridge
illus. Zelinsky, Paul
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
The Shivers are a family of fridge magnets who are trapped inside a fridge. They dream of a warmer place. The writing is both clever and funny.
[44]
George and Martha: The Complete Stories of Two Best Friends
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
It is amazing that anyone could write a good stories out of a few words and a few pictures. Marshall does so. This collection contains all of the George and Martha stories. Most are very simple but contain some sort of life lesson. I guess that what makes these stories so good are they they are so, so simple, yet at the same time contain substance. Most of all, they are stories of love between two friends.
[45]
Absolutely Not
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
Look at the front cover of this book. Do you see the outline of an animal somewhere, hiding. You may not see it at first, but there is a lizard formed from the space between the leaves. Frieda is terrified of everything. Everywhere she goes she sees things that look scary but turn out to be her imagination (with the help from some really subtle artwork). In the end, there really is something scary but by then, no one believes her.
[46]
Way Up and Over Everything
illus. Daly, Jude
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
An old American slave folk-tale about a group of new African slaves who fly away from their cruel masters.
[47]
Munschworks Grand Treasury
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
Fifteen of Robert Munsch's most popular picture books, including one of my favorites: The Paper Bag Princess. Munsch is very different from other kid's writers. He has a strange, twisted sense of humor.
[48]
New York's Bravest
illus. Fancher, Johnson and
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
A tall tale about an actual firefighter, Mose Humphreys, of the 1840s. The story is exciting and touching, and deals with Mose's death in a clever manner, appropriate for a preschooler. The illustrations are also wonderful.
[49]
In Aunt Giraffe's Green Garden
illus. Mathers, Petra
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
audiobook CD
A collection of Prelutsky's (a Children's Poet Laureate) poems. The subject of most poems are experiences in different U.S. states.
[50]
Officer Buckle and Gloria
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
A very funny book, with extremely funny illustrations. Officer Buckle preaches safety tips, and his dog Gloria performs some hilarious tricks to emphasize the tips, behind Buckle's back.
[51]
Those Darn Squirrels
illus. Salmieri, Daniel
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
A classic lesson: if you can't beat them, join them. A very funny and entertaining story about a group of squirrels determined to steal food specifically set out for birds.
[52]
The 20th-Century Children's Book Treasury: Picture Books and Stories to Read Aloud
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
This collection is the best possible present you can buy a 3 year old. It contains 44 classic picture books, in their entirety (though the pictures are shrunk). It contains Madeline, Where the Wild Things Are, Curious George, and many other great picture books. It is also a good book to take with you on a vacation.
[53]
A Bad Case of Stripes
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
The pictures in this book are unbelievably creative. A little girl is embarrassed by her love of lima beans. In order to fit in, she abstains from them. This causes her to develop a bad case of the stripes.
[54]
The Giving Tree
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
audiobook CD
A story of how a tree loves a boy, and how a young boy, and an old man love a tree, back.
[55]
Sylvester and the magic pebble
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
I think this is Steig's best story, though almost all of his stories are wonderful. It's a story about family love and loss.
[56]
Sadie, The Air Mail Pilot
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
Sadie is an air mail pilot. She flies through storms: 'No wind, no rain, no cold or flu, Can stop the Air Mail getting through.' The story is exciting, but what struck me about this book are the pictures. They have a sort of cartoonish realism, with an amazing amount of detail. I particularly liked the pictures with the city at night with thousands of little tiny lit up windows.
[57]
Bridges Are To Cross
illus. Laroche, Giles
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
Bridges are one of the earliest man made wonders that children encounter. They ask countless questions about them (while the parent is trying to safely navigate across them, sometimes) and this book brings that sense of wonder to a higher level. It has an illustration of the Brooklyn Bridge surrounded by the 1883 building landscape. Fathers may especially enjoy this book, even more than the kids.
[58]
The Garden of Happiness
illus. Lambase, Barbara
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
In a rundown section of New York City, the people of an apartment building decide to clear away a yard filled with junk and make a vegetable garden. Little Marisol plants a sunflower seed that grows to be enormous. Of course, the sunflower eventually dies, but in a sense, it lives on for long after. It reminds me a little bit of the Chalk Box Kid by Bulla.
[59]
Flotsam
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
This book contains very few words. The story is told from the wonderful, clever pictures. A boy finds a magical camera that has captured many fantastic wonders of the sea. At the end of the book, the boy sees a picture within a picture within a picture, within a picture,... that shows all of the people involved with the camera, from the first owner, to the boy who finds it. This book was the first word-free book that I enjoyed.
[60]
The Three Pigs
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
The three little pigs escape from the big bad wolf by leaving the story
[61]
A chair for my mother
illus. Williams, Vera B.
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
A poor family saves up money to buy a comfortable chair that the mother can sit on after her hard day's work. A good book to introduce poverty to young children.
[62]
The Tale of Pale Male
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
highly recommended
A true story of a hawk who moved into a penthouse on fifth avenue, NYC. As you can guess, the human penthouse resident didn't exactly like sharing his porch with a hawk, and a really public battle ensued.
Recently Added
[63]
The Dumpster Diver
illus. Roberts, David
picture book
read-aloud preschool and up
I love this book, but my DaddyRead-Co-Conspirator didn't. I guess it depends on whether you grew up going to garage sales, and picking out those 'lost treasures' that people through out.