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  • Tags: growing up
Casper and the rainbow bird
Hyman, Robin//Hyman, Inge
One day, Casper flies all the way to town. Through a window, Casper sees Rainbow, a bright, colorful bird who lives in a cage in the city. Rainbow is afraid to leave the comfort of her cage, but Rainbow overcomes her fear and lives with Casper in the forest after Casper proves that he is a true friend.

Mousekin's birth
Miller, Edna
Mousekin grew from conception to birth. Once in the outside world, Mousekin wonders what the world has in store for him.

More tales of amanda pig
Van Leeuwen, Jean
Amanda pig and her family experience five short stories. One describes Amanda playing with her brother and another describes how she organized a birthday party for her dad.

Birthday wishes
Schweninger, Ann
The Rabbit family makes Buttercup's fifth birthday special by throwing her a party and planning lots of fun activities, not to mention giving her many nice gifts.

The way home
Richardson, Judith Benet
Savi, a baby elephant, is left at the beach, because he did not want to return home with his mother. He becomes scared and finally follows a trail of bananas home.

White dynamite and curly kidd
Martin, Bill Jr.
A young child, Curly Kidd, wants to grow up to be just like Dad. Dad is a bronco rider, and together they ride the toughest bulls in all the country. In the end, the reader learns that Curly Kidd is a girl.

The story of ferdinand
Leaf, Munro
Ferdinand is a bull who likes to smell flowers and be by himself. He grows up and is chosen to be in the bull fights. He enters the ring and sits down to sniff the flowers.

Dusty
Malone, Nola Langner
Dusty, a cat, and a little girl form a friendship. Dusty grows up and soon must leave. The girl tries to cope with her loss.

New baby
McCully, Emily Arnold
The youngest mouse in a big family finds it very hard to adjust to the new baby. She was used to being the center of attention and now has competition. If she shows the adults that she is still a baby, she thinks she will get more attention. It backfires, but the baby pays attention to her.

Geraldine's blanket
Keller, Holly
Geraldine the pig does not want to give up her blanket. So when she gets a doll for Christmas, she makes a dress out of her blanket so she can take it with her.

I want a dog
Khalsa, Dayal Kaur
When her parents refuse to get her a dog, May creates an imaginary dog out of a roller skate.

Taking care of melvin
Sharmat, Marjorie Weinman
Melvin is a dog who does everything except take care of himself. He does other people's wash, food, shopping, and polishing. When he gets sick, he makes everyone do the same for him in return. He soon realizes he just needs to be himself and not a crowd pleaser.

Prehistoric Pinkerton
Kellogg, Steven
Pinketon, a Great Dane puppy, is teething, and he's chewing on everything. He causes a huge problem when he chews on an exhibit at the museum.

Don't worry, dear
Fassler, Joan
Jenny does a lot of things little girls do; she sucks her thumb, wets the bed, stutters her words, and pretends her stuffed animals are real. Many people laugh at Jenny, but her mother tells her not to worry because things will get better as she grows up.

Johnny maple-leaf
Tresselt, Alvin
Johnny Maple-Leaf begins his life as a small brown bud. As time passes and the seasons change, he grows and develops into a mature leaf. Throughout his life, he encounters many animals. The other leaves help to keep him company, whether in the trees or on the ground.

Henry and mudge
Rylant, Cynthia
Henry is upset because he does not have any brothers or sister to play with. His parents decide to buy him a dog. He names the dog Mudge and they have many adventures together.

Babar and his children
Brunhoff, Jean de
Babar, the king of Celesteville, and his wife are expecting a baby. There is not just one baby but triplets. The babies experience many adventures growing up.

Salt boy
Perine, Mary
Salt boy wants to learn to rope horses. His father will not teach him until he is older and has learned to respect animals. Salt boy saves a lamb from drowning with a rope and his father agrees that he has grown up.

Oliver pig at school
Van Leeuwen, Jean
Through four short stories, Oliver pig takes us along on his exciting first day of school and how he makes friends.

Amanda pig, schoolgirl
VanLeeuwen, J. Amanda
Amanda is very excited for her first day of school. She makes many new friends and tries to help a girl smile in her class. Amanda plays with toys, goes outside for recess, and realizes how much fun school really is.

Little frightened tiger
Wisegard, Leonard//Mac Donald, Golden
A little tiger tries to deal with other animals in his habitat. His parents try to assure him that there is nothing to be afraid of. Eventually, he becomes a brave little tiger.

Window
Baker, Jeannie
A wordless book that depicts changes occurring outside a window throughout one boy's life.

Fast is not a ladybug
Schlein, Miriam
Some things are faster than people and some are slower. A firetruck must go fast, but growing up must go slow.

Anna, grandpa, and the big storm
Stevens, Carla
Anna is annoyed with her grandfather who is staying with her family. He takes her to school one day in the midst of a big snow storm. They are standed and have a chance to get to know each other better.

I'll fix Anthony
Viorst, Judith
Anthony is tired of being picked on by his brother. He decides that as soon as he turns six, he is going to be taller, smarter, and faster, and he will also fix his brother.

Obadiah the bold
Turkle, Brinton
This is a story about a Quaker boy who wants to be a pirate. After learning about his grandfather, who was brave in an honest way, Obadiah changes his mind and wants to be a noble sailor.

Lenny's baby brother
Smith, Peter
At first, Lenny is unhappy because her brother is too young to play with, but soon he joins in the fun.

Little cliff and the porch people
Taulbert, Clifton
As Cliff grows up, he is entrusted more and more to do things on his own. Cliff's great-grandmother has him run an errand for her and along the way Cliff continually gets stopped by neighbors. Each of the neighbors assists Cliff in accomplishing his errand.

Kim and me: A book about a little boy and his baby sister
Kessler, Ethel//Kessler, Leonard
A three-year old boy describes all the things he can do that his baby sister, Kim, can't do. He then reflects that all the things he used to do, that Kim does now. Someday she will be able to play with him too.

The boy in the drawer
Munsch, Robert
Shelly's room is a mess but it is not her fault. A little boy that is living in her sock drawer is causing all the problems. How can she get others to believe her?

Moonlight
Ormerod, Jan
A little girl has bad dreams and wants to be near her mom and dad to feel secure. When they try to put her to sleep, the parents get more and more sleepy.

A weekend with wendell
Henkes, Kevin
Wendell visits his friend Sophie and her family for a weekend. He spends most of his time terrorizing Sophie. She wants him to leave but by the end she finds that a weekend with him was not all that bad.

Owliver
Kraus, Robert
Owliver's mother and father expect him to be different things when he grows up. The little owl makes up his mind to be a firefighter, something neither of his parents thought of.

Five little ducks
Raffi
Five little ducks journey through life in this song. They go off on their own, and then come back with their own families.

Running fox the eagle hunter
Shannon, Terry
Running Fox is a young boy learning the customs of his people. His greatest desire is to catch an eagle and be looked upon as a man. When he finally catches an eagle, he knows he has become a man.

Woodpecker forest
Tejima, Keizaburo
A young woodpecker hatches out of his egg and matures until he is ready for his first flight. He is frightened to fly, but the image of his father comforts him.


Waiting for noah
Oppenheim, Shulamith
A grandmother tells her grandson a story about the night he was born. She tells him about all the things she wanted to do with him when he was older.

Queenie, one of the family
Graham, Bob
A rescued hen becomes a member of a young girl's family. Even though they take the hen back to the farm where she lives, the hen returns to the house everyday so that her chicks can grow up along with the family.

One morning in Maine
McCloskey, Robert
Sal, Jane and their father go to the beach to search for clams. During the day, Sal loses her tooth in the mud. She does not cry because she knows that when you lose your teeth you are starting to grow up. They take a boat trip to a nearby island to celebrate with ice cream cones.

Coral island
Mordivnoff, Nicolas
Terii dreams of growing bigger so he can become a pearl-shell diver like his Uncle Teopu. Uncle Teopu always tells Terii that he will grow bigger when Teopu's hat is all worn out. Whe Terii saves the hat from Kaveka, Uncle Teopu let Terii paddle the canoe. After he saves Teopu from a shark, Terii is ready to become a diver.

Angel mae
Hughes, Shirley
The event of a birth in her family and preparations for a Christmas play cause Mae to be anxious. Mae's courage helps her to make decisions to solve her problems.

Willy the wimp
Browne, Anthony
Willy is called Willy the Wimp by the local gorilla gang. One day he sees an ad in his comic book on how to stop being a wimp. He starts exercising, eating healthy, and lifting weights to the point where the gorilla gang becomes afraid of Willy.

The very hungry caterpillar
Carle, Eric
A caterpillar hatches from it's egg and is very hungry. It eats a variety of food for seven days. After it is full, the caterpillar builds a cocoon and becomes a butterfly.

Butterfly house
Bunting, Eve
A young girl and her grandfather save a caterpillar and keep it while it goes through its changes. They build it a beautiful house and care for it until it turns into a butterfly. Although it was hard for her to let it go, she has mysterious visitors surprise her every spring, even when she grows up to be a grandmother herself.

Michael
Bradman, Tony
Michael is different from his classmates. He misbehaves, always runs late, and does not do very well in his classes. His teachers believe he will have trouble all through life. He proves them wrong when he grows up to be an astronaut.

Girls can be anything
Klein, Norma
Marina, a little girl, loves to play pretend with her best friend Adam. They pretent what they will be when they grow up. Adam tells Maria that she cannot have a career like a doctor because girls can only he nurses. Adam is always telling her that girls cannot do certain things but Marina always proves she can.

A troll in passing
Krensky, Stephen
Imagine growing up and being just a little different than everyone else. Morgan was never interested in troll things, even the games they played. He wanted more than troll life could give him. When he gets the job of forager, he begins a whole new life.

General store
Field, Rachel
A little girl wants to own her own store one day. She realizes that there will be many responsibilities and duties for a store owner.

Maybe tomorrow i'll have a good time
Soderstorm, Mary
Marsha Lou's mom decides to go back to work. This means the Marsha Lou will have to go to child care. She is very unhappy, but she soon adjusts.