Browse Items · Children's Picture Book Database at Miami University

Tags: self esteem

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A new improved Santa

Wolff, Patricia

Santa is determined to become a new and improved Santa. He changes his hair, loses weight, and changes his clothing style. The children are not happy with his changes; they want the old Santa back.

Ludwig Van Beethoven learns he is going deaf. He is an accomplished and promising young pianist and this devastates him. Beethoven realizes his condition is actually leading to his destiny not his downfall. In creating his symphony no. 3 he searches for a hero on which to base his musical inspiration. He eventually realizes it is about him!

The barking mouse

Sacre, Antonio

A Spanish speaking mouse family goes on a picnic. The parents spend the day showing each other affection while the brother and sister go play. While they are playing, the come across a cat. The cat scared everyone, except the mother mouse who saves them by speaking another language.

Tags

affection, animals, cat, conflict resolution, critical thinking, family, fear, feelings, food, hispanic, language, mouse, multicultural, parents, peer resistance, picnic, playing, self esteem, siblings, sounds, spanish, verbal communication

My teacher for president

Winters, Kay

Oliver writes a letter to the local news station to nominate his teacher for president in the next election. He thinks she meets the requirements because she signs important papers, likes white houses, goes to meetings, acts quickly in a crisis, is used to being followed around, wants peace, cares for people and the environment, goes on trips, and deals with the media. The only downfall is he doesnﾒt want her to leave before the end of the year.

I like myself!

Beaumont, Karen

An African American girl tells about the characteristics she likes about herself and the different circumstances in which she likes herself. She is proud of herself no matter where she is or what silly things she is doing. She knows what really counts is inside her and shares this knowledge in an energetic story with imaginative illustrations.

Tags

african american, appreciation, assertiveness, body parts, confidence, differences, feelings, happiness, individuality, multicultural, nonverbal communication, rhyme, rhythm, self confidence, self esteem, stress management, uniqueness

Sun mother wakes the world: An Australian creation story

Wolkstein, Diane

The indigenous people of Australia believe their ancestors created the world through the sun shining on all living things to wake them up, bringing them to life. Sun Mother then creates the Morning Sun and the Moon to watch over ther children living on Earth in this spiritual, emotional, and multicultural story of creation.

Tags

aborigine, amphibians, animals, australian, beetle, birds, caterpillar, cave, celebration, cricket, direction, earth, emotions, emu, fear, folktale, frog, grub, happiness, insects, kangaroo, life, love, moon, multicultural, nonverbal communication, owl, plants, platypus, reptiles, self esteem, sky, sleep, snake, stars, sun, tree, understanding, verbal communication, walkabout, wind, wombat

Something to tell the grandcows

Spinelli, Eileen

Hoping to have a wonderful adventure to tell her grandcows, Emmadine volunteers to go to the South Pole in 1933. Emmadine learns a lot of interesting facts about Antarctica. After being there for a while, Emmadine misses the other animals on the farm. When she returns home from her adventure, her grandcows are very impressed with her experiences on the Byrd Antarctic Expedition

Tags

adventures, animals, antarctica, assertiveness, boat, cow, critical thinking, dancing, decision making, family, farm, feelings, history, illness, jealousy, pig, pride, seasons, self esteem, summer, time, transportation, verbal communication, winter

My first Chinese New Year

Katz, Karen

Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy New Year! A Chinese child is getting ready for the Chinese New Year by decorating the walls with red, making an alter to honor ancestors, getting a new dress to wear, and getting a haircut to start the new year off fresh and new. They eat a New Year Eve feast for good health and enjoy the New Year parade with lion dancers, drummers, and the dragon! Then, they wish each other Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Tags

animals, beauty, china, chinese, clothing, dancing, dragons, family, feelings, food, grandparents, happiness, health, holidays, language, lion, money, multicultural, new year, nutrition, parade, parents, party, plants, self esteem, siblings, verbal communication, wish

The patchwork path: A quilt map to freedom

Stroud, Bettye

Hannah and her father are slaves who decide to escape to freedom. They use the patterns in the quilt made by her mother, who passed away, to follow the Underground Railroad.

Marsupial Sue

Lithgow, John

Marsupial Sue is not a happy kangaroo. She does not enjoy the things kangaroos do. Marsupial Sue decides to go explore and find the place where she belongs. She tries to fit in with many other groups of animals. She finally discovers the place where she is happiest.

Tags

animals, autumn, birds, bodies of water, climbing, conflict resolution, decision making, exercise, feelings, freedom, goal setting, happiness, health, hopping, illness, kangaroo, koala, learning, music, nonverbal communication, platypus, sadness, sand, sea, self esteem, song, summer, verbal communication, wallaby

Days with frog and toad

Lobel, Arnold

Frog and his friend, Toad, go through many adventures. On these adventures, Toad learns many valuable lessons from Frog.

Tags

adventures, birds, companion, conflict resolution, critical thinking, encouragement, friendship, frog, goal setting, hard work, learning, nonverbal communication, peer resistance, robin, self esteem, stress management, toad, verbal communication

Frog and toad are friends

Lobel, Arnold

The friendship and adventures of frog and toad unfold with many activities that strengthen their relationship.

Tags

adventures, amphibians, assertiveness, conflict resolution, creativity, critical thinking, decision making, friendship, frog, nonverbal communication, refusal skills, self esteem, toad, verbal communication

Frog and toad

Lobel, Arnold

Frog and Toad are friends, and they have many adventures together. They run, play and swim together. They cheer each other up when they are feeling down.

Tags

adventures, amphibians, feelings, friendship, frog, play, recreation, self esteem, toad

Supersister

Cadena, Beth

Supersister is always thinking of ways she can help her pregnant mother. In the morning on the way to school, she forgets two things: to tie her mother's shoes and to give her mother a kiss. Throughout the day, she does all her chores and thinks of new ways to help her mother. At the end of the day she forgets the same two things, but when she remembers her mother says, Like I always say, you're going to be a super sister.

Tags

assertiveness, baby, bedtime, books, critical thinking, exercise, family, five senses, goal setting, helping, nonverbal communication, numbers, pets, playground, pregnancy, reading, school, self esteem, siblings, sounds, teacher

How the moon regained her shape

Heller, Janet Ruth

Influenced by Native American folktales, this fascinating story deals with bullying, self-confidence, and understanding the phases of the moon. After the sun insults and bullies her, the moon gets very upset and disappears - much to the chagrin of rabbits who miss their moonlight romps. With the help of her friends, the moon gains more self-confidence each day until she is back to her full size.

Tags

animals, beauty, dancing, depression, feelings, folktale, forest, friendship, happiness, moon, multicultural, native american, night, rabbit, self esteem, song, sun

Song of the boat

Graham, Lorenz

An African father and a son from West Africa build a boat from a special tree. They work together to find the perfect tree to use.

Tags

african, assertiveness, conflict resolution, decision making, determination, family, goal setting, hard work, language, multicultural, parents, refusal skills, self esteem, teamwork, traditions, transportation

Hattie the bad

Devlin, Jane

Hattie had a reputation for being bad. All her school classmates love her because she does exciting bad things, but her parents don't agree. When her friends aren't allowed to play with her anymore, she decides to be good. But just when she is about to get an award for the Best-Behaved Child ever, she does something that shocks everyone.

Tags

assertiveness, behavior, competition, decision making, excitement, feelings, goal setting, misbehavior, mischief, nonverbal communication, peer resistance, recognition, sadness, self esteem, technology, television

Pierre's dream

Armstrong, Jennifer

Is it all a dream? Pierre thinks so. He is the star of the circus, daring to do things he wouldn't do if he was awake. Pierre tames a lion, walks on a high wire, and all sorts of other scary or dangerous things. As the star of the circus, Pierre proves to the people of Apt that he is not just a lazy, foolish man.

Tags

acrobat, animals, circus, dreams, excitement, feelings, french, fun, happiness, horse, laziness, lion, multicultural, self esteem, sleep, surprises

April fool! Watch out at school!

DeGroat, Diane

It's April Fool's Day so Gilbert is excited to trick his friends. Throughout the day, his friends keep on tricking him, but he can't seem to trick anyone else. Gilbert doesn't give up though: he has one more trick in mind. The rest of the afternoon, he's extra nice to Lewis. Lewis gets so nervous about what Gilbert's trick is, the other classmates manage to trick him. At the end of the day, Lewis finds out Gilbert didn't have a trick after all. He had been tricked!

The wisdom bird: A tale of Solomon and Sheba

Oberman, Sheldon

Queen of Sheba, the wisest woman in the world, travels to Jerusalem after hearing about King Solomon, the wisest man in the world. She hopes to learn something new, but after asking for a palace made out of bird beaks, they both learn something important. This folktale is derived from Jewish, African and Biblical tales.

Tags

africa, african, birds, critical thinking, culture, folktale, israelian, Jewish, leadership, multicultural, religion, riddle, royalty, self esteem, ship, storytelling, teaching, transportation, travel, wisdom

Arijole

Mashiri, Pascal

Arijole's stepsisters are envious of her beauty. They do not want Arijole to be chosen as a wife in a nearby village, so the stepsisters turn her into a dog. When only Arijole (the dog) is left, a mother takes her home for her son to hunt. Soon they realize that Arijole is not a dog but a beautiful woman. She and Obondo are then married.

Tags

africa, beauty, conflict resolution, culture, envy, family, folktale, jealousy, love, marriage, multicultural, nonverbal communication, obedience, parents, respect, self esteem, siblings, stepmother, storytelling

Gift of the sun: A tale from south africa

Stewart, Dianne

Thulani is a South African farmer who keeps trading his animals in order to please his wife until all he has is a pocket full of sunflower seeds. The sunflowers produce many more seeds, which are also used to feed the animals and eventually lead to more wealth for the family than ever before.

Tags

africa, animals, boredom, conflict resolution, critical thinking, decision making, excitement, family, farm, feelings, garden, multicultural, self esteem, sheep, stress management, symbols, verbal communication

The talking cloth

Mitchell, Rhonda

Aunt Phoebe has a collection of many wonderful things, each having an interesting story. The little girl's favorite thing is an adinkra cloth from Ghana. It has many colors and symbols to represent feelings, faith, power, and love.

Painted dreams

Williams, Karen Lynn

Ti Marie loves to paint, but her family is too poor to afford paint so she uses bricks, stones and charcoal. One day, as she is walking to the river, she sees Msie Antoine painting a snake and admires his art supplies. Later on in the night she decides to look through his trash to see if he has any left over supplies. She uses them to paint on the wall behind her family's place at the Haitian market. Find out how the people at the market react.

Tags

art, careers, culture, customs, food, haitian, investigation, jungle, language, market, multicultural, nutrition, parents, responsibilities, river, self esteem, siblings, spiritual, success

Alex, the kid with AIDS

Girard, Linda Walvoord

Alex has AIDS. In school, he begins as a visitor with special privileges and ends up making friends and being a part of the class. Alex realizes that although he is sick, he cannot misbehave in school.

Tags

aids, conflict resolution, critical thinking, diseases, friendship, illness, misbehavior, school, self esteem, stress management, verbal communication

The giraffe who was afraid of heights

Ufer, David A.

A giraffe suffers from the fear of heights. His parents worry about his safety and send him to the village doctor for treatment. Along the way he befriends a monkey who is afraid of climbing trees and a hippo who is afraid of water. A life-threatening event causes the three friends to face and overcome each of their fears.

Tags

africa, animals, assertiveness, bodies of water, critical thinking, crocodile, family, fear, feelings, fish, flowers, friendship, giraffe, happiness, hippopotamus, lion, monkey, multicultural, parents, river, safety, self esteem, teamwork, tree

Big al and shrimpy

Clements, Andrew

Shrimpy learns that he is special in his own way, despite being different. He gets involved in a social activity then contributes his idea to solve a problem to help a friend in need.

Tags

adventures, bodies of water, companion, decision making, differences, fish, friendship, helping, individuality, ocean, sea, self confidence, self esteem, teamwork, uniqueness

Georgia's bones

Bryant, Jen

A young girl, Georgia, is fascinated with shapes, colors, and objects. Her family does not share nor comprehend her love for art, so they deem her different. With her strong will and determination, Georgia moves to New York to discover a life as an artist. The illustrations help the reader detail the beauty of her work as they take us through the life of Georgia O'Keffe.

Tags

adventures, art, assertiveness, biography, bones, careers, collection, critical thinking, decision making, environment, excitement, family, farm, flowers, goal setting, hobby, images, nature, pride, relationship, self esteem, travel, verbal communication, wildlife

Amy unbounded: Belondweg blossoming

Hartman, Rachel

Through comic book style illustrations, Amy of Eddybrook Lodge encounters many exciting adventures with her best friend. During the summer between her ninth and tenth birthday, Amy and her friend learn many lessons about life. The most important ones are that love does not solve everything and even heroines sometimes need help.

Bertie the ghost

Neale, Richard

Bertie the ghost wants a new place to live and new friends. He crosses through each page of the story then arrives at an old farmhouse and finds friends and a home.

Maxie

Kantrowitz, Mildred

Maxie wakes up each day and goes through the same routine. One day Maxie feels unloved and lonely, so she decides to stay in bed. Maxie doesn't realize how much others depend on her until her living room is full of worried neighbors. Maxie realizes how many people need and rely on her daily routine.

Tags

caring, community, depression, feelings, friendship, happiness, identity, loneliness, neighbors, nonverbal communication, perspective, relationship, sadness, self esteem, worry

Gregory's shadow

Freeman, Don

Gregory needs his shadow in order for spring to come. He ends up losing his shadow for awhile; his shadow gets scared and hides in a barn. Gregory later adventured out and finds his shadow, causing spring to come.

Tags

bravery, conflict resolution, fear, feelings, friendship, groundhog, holidays, loneliness, nonverbal communication, sadness, seasons, self esteem, shadows, spring, stress management, winter

Wee and the wright brothers

Gaffney, Timothy

An educational story told from Wee the mouse's point of view, of how the Wright brothers succeeded in flight. Wee, an ambitious mouse, tells the story in a humorous yet detailed way of the historical Wright brothers and their flying machine.

Lady monster helps out

Blance, Ellen & Cook, Ann

Monster gets a bike for his birthday. Monster doesn't know how to ride a bike. He is discouraged. The little boy and his friends try to help him, but he is too big. Lady monster comes to help and encourages him. Monster learns how to ride his bike just like all the others in the park.

Tags

accomplishment, bicycle, birthday, critical thinking, encouragement, feelings, friendship, goal setting, happiness, helping, insecurity, kindness, monsters, nonverbal communication, park, practice, self esteem

Cork and fuzz: Short and tall

Chaconas, Dori

Cork and Fuzz are best friends, but there's one problem, and it's not that one is an opossum and the other is a muskrat. The problem is that Cork is older than Fuzz, but shorter than him. Bothered by this difference, the pair try to make Fuzz shrink and Cork grow. Fortunately, they realize that friendship is more important than a difference in height.

Tags

acceptance, animals, comparisons, conflict resolution, critical thinking, differences, food, friendship, frustration, height, helping, individuality, muskrat, opossum, self esteem, similarities

Alphabet mystery

Wood, Aubrey

Charley's alphabet becomes worried when they learn that little x is missing. They set off on an adventure to find little x and experience a problem when they do.

Manana, Iguana

Paul, Ann Whitford

Following the story line of Little Red Hen, Iguana decides to throw a fiesta and invite all of her friends. Set in the desert, the lazy cat, dog, and mouse are replaced by Conejo (rabbit), Culebra (Snake), and Tortuga (tortoise). As Iguana sets the stage for invitations, decorations, and of course, food preparation, her three lazy friends have an excuse for every task presented to them. Either they are too fast, too slow, or have no arms. As the evening of the fiesta approaches, Iguana decides that her three friends should not be included, as they did nothing. Feeling bad about not only being left out, but disappointing Iguana, the three friends decide to right the situation, and prove themselves worthy of her friendship.

Spaghetti eddie

SanAngelo, Ryan

Eddie loves spaghetti. He eats it all the time. While running an errand for his mother, Eddie helps several neighbors by using his spaghetti noodles as a shoestring, a fishing net, and guitar strings. Eddie even stops a robber with a meat ball.

Tags

bravery, celebration, community, critical thinking, family, food, friendship, giving, instruments, kindness, neighbors, nutrition, party, self esteem

The stars will still shine

Ryland, Cynthia

The promises of a new year are given through rhyme and soft illustrations.

Tags

animals, appreciation, awareness, birds, church, cow, encouragement, flowers, garden, home, light, love, new year, self esteem, storm, stress management

The cow that went oink

Most, Bernard

All of the animals on the farm laugh at the cow that says oink and the pig that says moo. This makes the animals feel badly about themselves. The cow and the pig decide to work together and teach each other what they know. In the end, they become the envy of all of the other animals on the farm.

Tags

animals, barn, cat, cattle, challenges, chicken, comparisons, conflict resolution, cow, critical thinking, dog, duck, farm, feelings, goat, learning, pig, self esteem, teaching, teamwork, teasing, verbal communication

The dot

Reynolds, Peter H.

A little girl talks herself into believing she can't draw. She won't even try. Her teacher slowly coaxes her to at least try. Soon her effort snowballs into success. She passes on her confidence to another doubting student.

Tags

acceptance, accomplishment, art, colors, encouragement, goal setting, identity, math, self confidence, self esteem, teaching

Do like Kyla

Johnson, Angela

A little girl looks up to her older sister Kyla. Anything Kyla does, her little sister mimics. Her adoration for her sister is evident from waking up to bedtime.

Tags

activities, affection, bedtime, body parts, books, clothing, exercise, family, food, friendship, nutrition, parents, reading, relationship, seasons, self esteem, sequence, shopping, siblings, snow, verbal communication, walking, winter

The legend of mulan: A herione of anvient china

Jiang, Wei and Jiang, Cheng An

War breaks out in China and the men are summoned from each family to come fight. A young girl secretly disguises herself as a boy and fights in her brother's place. She has colorful adventures.

Tags

animals, assertiveness, china, chinese, conflict resolution, courage, critical thinking, decision making, equality, folktale, goat, heroism, judo, karate, language, multicultural, problem solving, self esteem, war

The storm

Harshman, Marc

A young boy confined to a wheel chair because of an accident, doesn't like the way people see and talk about him. He wants people to see past the wheelchair and see him. A tornado comes through Indiana and he shows how strong and able he truly is.

Tags

acceptance, animals, chicken, critical thinking, death, differences, disability, family, farm, feelings, goal setting, handicap, horse, nonverbal communication, parents, problem solving, relief, sadness, safety, school, self esteem, storm, stress management, tornado, weather

Beautiful blackbird

Bryan, Ashley

Colorful birds in the forest want to be like the blackbird. The blackbird teaches the other birds that each one is beautiful in its own unique way and that beauty does not come from a color.

Tags

african, assertiveness, beauty, birds, colors, comparisons, dancing, differences, envy, exercise, feelings, multicultural, poetry, rainbow, rhyme, rhythm, self esteem

Me and you

Cote, Genevieve

A rabbit and a pig both want to be like their friend. They try changing color, including their ears and tail in order to be like the other. After seeing each other, they realize that they like themselves just like they are.

Tags

animals, art, comparisons, differences, friendship, individuality, love, pattern, pig, rabbit, self esteem

Pumpkin day!

Wallace, Nancy Elizabeth

A rabbit goes to a farm to learn about pumpkins. The parents teach their children how they grow, how to carve them, and how to cook multiple recipes with this great vegetable.

Tags

animals, autumn, change, critical thinking, family, farm, food, garden, learning, nutrition, parents, plants, rabbit, recipe, science, seasons, seed, self esteem, siblings, vegetables, verbal communication

A castle on Viola street

Disalvo, Dyanne

Andy's family lives in a small, cramped apartment, and his parents work long hours to support the family. He never thought that they would ever live in an actual house, but one day they find a flyer saying You too can own a home. The organization buys empty houses and allows families to fix-up houses and then other people will help fix up a house for them. Andy's family is so excited as they help clean, paint, put down hard wood flooring, and pass out lemonade. At the end of the year, they find out that the next house to be built will be theirs!

Tags

author's note, celebration, change, community, construction, decision making, family, food, goal setting, hard work, home, hope, neighbors, safety, self esteem, teamwork

Karate hour

Nevius, Carol

A group of children practice karate. They kick, punch, chant and roll as they learn the value of self discipline, respect, and self esteem in both self and others.

Making room

Taylor, Joanne

John William Smith dedicated his life to helping others, especially people in need by inviting them into his very own home! His dedication to family is heart-warming and his marriage is strong. Readers will find a unique meaning of home in this story.

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