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

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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.

Memorial

Crew, Gary

Storytime is a great time to recollect and gain lessons on past events. Take a stand with a young boy as he tries to preserve a memory.

Tags

assertiveness, conservation, critical thinking, decision making, family, fight, generations, grandparents, history, memories, monuments, plants, storytelling, tree, war

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

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

First come the zebra

Barasch, Lynne

In the Kenyan grassland, Abaani, a Maasai boy takes his cattle out to graze. While he is out he sees a vegetable stand with a young boy from the Kikuyu farms, who are rivals of his tribe because they destroy their land. While arguing, a group of Kamba women and children approach to trade for fruits and vegetables, and one baby wanders toward three warthogs. Abaani sees this and knows he can save the baby himself so he calls to Haki to help. Together they save the boy, which is the beginning of a growing friendship. They learn how to appreciate one another and hope to teach their families to be friends.

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

Burro's tortillas

Fields, Terri

Burro finds it hard to get any help from his friends as he diligently works to turn corn into tortillas. Expect repetition, puns, and an accurate picture of the traditional way that tortillas are made.

Tags

animals, assertiveness, central america, cooking, coyote, donkey, fable, feelings, food, friendship, hard work, language, Mexico, multicultural, nutrition, pattern, plants, rabbit, repetition, sadness, spanish

Madoulina: A girl who wanted to go to school: A story from south africa

Bognomo, Joel Eboueme

Madoulina has dreams of becoming a doctor. She doesn't, however, go to school because her mother needs her to sell fritters in the marketplace to earn money. Madoulina meets her brother's new teacher, who convinces her mom to find a way to let her go to school.

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!

Earth mother

Jackson, Ellen

The day begins by Mother Earth tending to her plants and animals. As the day progresses, Mother Earth comes upon a man, a frog, and a mosquito. Each tell Mother Earth what can be changed in their life.

Tags

african, animals, appreciation, assertiveness, birds, communication, cycle, decision making, dedication, diversity, earth, environment, fantasy, firefly, frog, frustration, hawk, insects, loyalty, mosquito, multicultural, nature, nonverbal communication, otter, peace, plants, seasons, snow, summer, verbal communication, whale, wildlife, winter

The duchess of whimsy: An absolutely delicious fairytale

de Seve, Randall

The Duchess of Whimsy is very well known to be extravagant, through her celebrations, clothing, and conversation. The Earl of Norm is quite the opposite; in fact the Duchess thinks he is rather ordinary. However her father tells her, their two kingdoms have to be friends. The Earl of Norm loves the Duchess of Whimsy and goes to extraordinary lengths to try to impress her, but none of them impress her. One night at supper the cook becomes sick, so all the Duchess' guests try to impress her with their cooking. However the one food that impresses her is the one ordinary food. Cooked by whom?

Tags

animals, assertiveness, attention, celebration, clothing, colors, conflict resolution, cooking, decision making, fairy, fantasy, feelings, food, friendship, giraffe, goal setting, humor, opposites, party, peer resistance, poetry, refusal skills, surprises

Somewhere in Africa

Mennen, Ingrid//Daly, Niki

A boy named Ashraf lives in a city in South Africa. He compares the city to the countryside of Africa.

Tags

africa, african, assertiveness, body parts, books, community, comparisons, critical thinking, dancing, differences, flowers, geography, imagination, instruments, library, multicultural, music, rhyme, song

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.

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

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.

Bugs! bugs! bugs!

Barner, Bob

A child uses rhyme to describe the insects she sees. The actual sizes of the bugs are included, as well as a bug-o-meter, which tells where the bug lives, how many legs the bug has, if it can fly, and if it stings.

Tags

ant, art, assertiveness, bee, bug, butterfly, caterpillar, colors, counting, critical thinking, graphing, grasshopper, habitat, insects, ladybug, math, nonverbal communication, rhyme, rhythm, science, spider, verbal communication

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.

The alphabet tree

Lionni, Leo

The alphabet tree is full of letters. After the storm, all the letters grouped together because they were afraid. A bug and a caterpillar teach teamwork so the letters can say something important.

Tags

alphabet, assertiveness, bug, caterpillar, closeness, cooperation, creativity, critical thinking, diversity, freedom, insects, peace, sequence, teamwork, tree, verbal communication, weather, wind

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.

Ant and honey bee: What a pair!

McDonald, Megan

Ant and Honey Bee use their friendship to create a two-things-that-go-together pair of costumes for Cricket's party. As it starts to rain on the walk to Cricket's house, what will happen to Ant and Honey Bees costumes?

Get to work trucks!

Carter, Don

In the morning trucks, such as dump trucks, bulldozers, cement mixers, tow trucks, cranes, and rollers, go to work. Learn about types of machines, sizes, colors, and numbers. At night, the trucks are finished working for the day.

Tags

assertiveness, careers, colors, concepts, construction, crane, critical thinking, decision making, hard work, height, machines, morning, moving, night, numbers, progress, reptiles, responsibilities, rocks, sizes, transportation, truck, turtle, verbal communication, work

Audrey and barbara

Lawson, Janet

Audrey has big ideas for herself and her cat, Barbara. She wants to cross the ocean in her bathtub sailboat to visit the Taj-Mahal and ride on an elephant. But will her imagination take her all the way to India?

Honey...honey...lion!

Brett, Jan

A badger and a honeyguide work together to find bee hives for honey. One day, the badger betrays the honeyguide and uses his help to eat all the honey himself. The honeyguide decides to get even and provides a twist in the end.

Tags

anger, animals, appreciation, assertiveness, badger, bee, birds, communication, conflict resolution, deception, decision making, hippopotamus, insects, lion, nature, nonverbal communication, overeating, termite, trick

Myrtle

Pearson, Tracey Campbell

Myrtle the mouse has a very happy life until Frances the bully moves in next door. The bully won't leave her and her brother alone, so myrtle refuses to play outside anymore. Myrtle's aunt from Africa convinces her to come back outside and arms her with a plan to stop the bully.

Tags

african, animals, assertiveness, bully, conflict resolution, family, fear, feelings, goal setting, happiness, mouse, multicultural, parents, problem solving, sadness, self confidence, shyness, siblings, stress management

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

Maria's comet

Hopkinson, Deborah

A little girl dreams of being an astronomer like her father. She daydreams of catching a comet by the tail to sweep the sky and stars. She tries hard to hold onto her dreams while being forced to the forefront of reality.

Tags

assertiveness, astronomy, bias, biography, bodies of water, careers, decision making, discovery, exploration, family, grandparents, history, moon, ocean, parents, planet, ship, siblings, stars, technology, transportation, vision

Ella Sarah gets dressed

Chodos-Irvine, Margaret

A young girl named Ella knows what she wants to wear and no one in her family can convince her otherwise. She refuses each person's suggestions for alternative clothing choices. Ella shows confidence and determination as she chooses her own style and presentation.

Tags

appearance, assertiveness, clothing, colors, determination, family, feelings, friendship, frustration, independence, individuality, nonverbal communication, opinions, parents, pattern, refusal skills

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

The red piano

Leblanc-Barroux, Andre

A young pianist is sent to a re-education camp in China. She lives for her secretive two hours of music after a long day's work. Her parents managed to send a piano to Mother Han's house and she manages to smuggle music in notebooks. One night the pianist is caught at the piano, forcing her to live through an extended-re-education while her love and talent for music are challenged.

Tiny and Bigman

Gershater, Phillis

Challenging stereotypical gender roles, Tiny and Bigman illustrate the unique people skills people have to help the world go around and to make a happy family. Tiny learns to use her large size, strength, and booming voice to help people in her community. Tiny falls in love with a small man who is hard of hearing. She builds their house, and he cooks and cleans.

Pemba Sherpa

Cossi, Olga

Perma, a nyuny pa,or old man, tells a story from when he had to gather firewood for school as young boy. One morning his sister Yang Ki says she wants to go with him. Yang Ki wants to be a Sherpa but girls aren't allowed. That morning she disobeys her brother and follows him, but when Pemba falls in a landslide, Yang Ki becomes the heroine and proves that girls can be brave and strong.

Tags

assertiveness, climbing, courage, critical thinking, family, gender, goal setting, helping, heroism, injury, mountains, multicultural, obedience, problem solving, safety, siblings, village, walking

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.

The fox and the hen

Battut, Eric

Henrietta Hen lays her first egg, but she doesn't know what it is. Red Fox comes along and asks to trade her egg for a nice juicy work and she agrees. The other animals help Henrietta realize her mistake, so they each try to offer something valuable to trade for Red Fox's egg. When the animals solve the problem with one final idea, Henrietta goes home to find a little yellow chick. Coming out of her original egg.

Tags

animals, assertiveness, chicken, critical thinking, food, fox, pattern, persistence, problem solving, refusal skills, verbal communication

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.

Henry & the crazed chicken pirates

Crimi, Carolyn

The Buccaneer Bunnies live a happy life until one day they receive a message in a bottle from the Crazed Chicken Pirates. Henry worries about the note and starts writing plans even through the other bunnies don't believe the note. The day the chickens invade, Henry has to be brave and think of a way to save the other bunnies!

Tags

animals, assertiveness, books, bowling, bravery, chicken, correspondence, critical thinking, decision making, feelings, island, peer resistance, pirates, rabbit, reading, ship, stress, transportation, trick, worry, writing

That's good! That's bad! On Santa's Journey

Cuyler, Margery

Santa runs into a few problems on his Christmas Eve journey. At the beginning of the trip, he gets delayed by a snow storm. When it clears up, he continues to the first little boy's house, but his reindeer have trouble landing on the icy roof. Santa continues to encounter problems, but manages to deliver all the presents.

Tags

animals, assertiveness, clothing, critical thinking, decision making, holidays, onomatopoeia, opposites, reindeer, santa, travel, weather

C.L.O.U.D.S.

Cummings, Pat

Chuku works for C.L.O.U.D.S. (The Department of Creative Lights, Opticals, and Unusual Designs in the Sky). His first assignment is New York and becomes disappointed because the buildings are so high, the air is so dirty, and no one ever looks up.

Tags

assertiveness, careers, communication, conflict resolution, creativity, decision making, feelings, goal setting, nonverbal communication, weather

Meet the gizmos

Tocco, John V.

Pong, a young Chinese Gizmo, journeys to the International Space Station (ISS) for the first time. She is welcomed by Gizmos from other parts of the world, such as Russia, Africa and America. The other Pong is given a tour of the station while sharing the creative and imaginary world of the other Gizmos. The Gizmos do a fabulous job in working as a team to welcome Pong into her new space.

Recycle every day!

Wallace, Nancy Elizabeth

Through a poster contest at school, Minna and her family discover many ways they can recycle. Many of the other contestants' posters demonstrate ways to recycle, however Minna ultimately wins the contest through her poster that reminds everyone to re-re-remember, re-re-recycle every day.

Lazy lion

Hadithi, Mwenye & Kennaway, Adrienne

Lazy lion orders everyone to build him a house, but he is not satisfied with it. When a big rain comes, all the other animals go into the house that was built for the lion to keep dry. This is why lions must roam the earth.

Tags

aardvark, african, animals, ant, assertiveness, badger, bee, birds, conflict resolution, critical thinking, crocodile, decision making, folktale, geography, goal setting, insects, laziness, lion, rain, refusal skills, reptiles, shelter, teamwork, weather

The boy who wouldn't go to bed

Cooper, Helen

Not wanting to go to sleep, a little boy rides away in his car to find someone to stay up and play with him all night. As the determined little boy drives off, he encounters exciting things such as a lion and a parade of soldiers. After searching for someone to play with him, the little boy finds someone who is still awake.

Tags

animals, assertiveness, bedtime, car, conflict resolution, disobedience, family, imagination, instruments, moon, music, night, parade, play, shadows, sizes, sleep, train, transportation

Murmel murmel murmel

Munsch, Robert

A little girl finds a baby in a hole in her sandbox. She walks him around town but no one is willing to take him. She is only five years old!What will she do with a baby?

Tags

assertiveness, baby, child care, conflict, frustration, goal setting, identification, play, sand, self esteem, stress management, transportation, truck, verbal communication

Daisy's taxi

Young, Ruth

Daisy ferries to and from the island all day in her water taxi. Throughout the day, Daisy takes passengers and their valuables to the island and back to shore no matter what kind of weather. After a long day, Daisy wants to go for a row with her husband.

Tags

assertiveness, careers, critical thinking, decision making, dedication, family, goal setting, helping, island, responsibilities, self esteem, stress management, transportation, verbal communication, weather

The return of freddy legrand

Agee, Jon

Freddy Legrand tries to fly across the Atlantic, but crashes. He is rescued by Sophie and Albert. He builds a new plane and plans and encounters great new adventures.

Tags