Children's Picture Book Database at Miami University

Cassie's word quilt | by Ringgold, Faith

Cassie, a young African American girl living in New York City, shares a few of her favorite things. She labels many things and gives words to the things she treasures most.

Keywords: alphabet, bus, car, clothing, community, family, food, school, sequence, subway, taxi, transportation, verbal communication, vocabulary

Jack & Jim | by Crowther, Kitty

An adventurous blackbird wants to venture out, beyond his home in the forest, to explore the beach. He meets a white seagull and the two quickly become friends. However, their outward appearances quickly cause some adverse reactions from others in town. These friends stand fast to their friendship and overcome adversity. Eventually, the village of seagulls accepts Jack for his gift of stories.

Keywords: acceptance, assertiveness, birds, blackbird, bodies of water, community, conflict resolution, curiosity, friendship, ocean, peer resistance, prejudice, seagull, self esteem, travel

What planet are you from, Clarice Bean? | by Child, Lauren

Clarice Bean is having a hard time coming up with an idea for her project on the environment. To make matters worse, she is paired up with her tag-along neighbor, Robert Granger. Her situation looks hopeless until her brother becomes an ecowarrior in an effort to free the tree from being cut down in their neighborhood. Robert and Clarice become ecowarriors themselves, saving the tree and their project.

I have an olive tree | by Bunting, Eve

On Sophia's seventh birthday, her grandfather gave her an olive tree. Sophia is a little disappointed by the gift and doesn't understand why her grandfather would give her an olive tree that she can't even see. After all, it is Greece and she lives in California! It isn't until her grandfather passes away that Sophia truly understands the importance and meaning of the gift when she and her mother visit the olive tree in Greece.

Keywords: appreciation, birthday, communication, community, culture, customs, dedication, disappointment, emotions, exploration, family, feelings, generations, geology, giving, grandparents, greece, greek, grief, immigrants, instruments, language, learning, loss, love, memories, memory, misunderstanding, music, parents, plants, presents, resentment, sadness, traditions, travel, tree, understanding, verbal communication

When Catherine the Great and I were eight! | by Best, Cari

Sara, her mother, and Russian grandmother Catherine the Great, pile into Mr. Minsky's car along with a few of their other neighbors. They make their way to the beach to escape the heat of the hot summer day. Although they find it takes longer than planned to reach the beach, everyone has fun along the way.

Keywords: anticipation, beach, bodies of water, car, closeness, community, companion, conflict, conflict resolution, culture, dancing, exercise, family, food, friendship, games, grandparents, immigrants, language, neighbors, newspaper, ocean, patience, picnic, problem solving, recreation, relationship, russian, summer, swimming, travel, verbal communication

Sister Anne's hands | by Lorbiecki, Mary Beth

Anna begins her second year of school in the early '60's. Her new teacher, Sister Anne, is different from anyone she had ever seen. The teacher shows the students what tolerance is and they all end up learning from one another.

Keywords: acceptance, african american, appearance, art, body parts, community, counting, differences, discrimination, diversity, garden, god, history, learning, library, multicultural, prejudice, religion, rhythm, school, singing, teaching

My librarian is a camel: How books are brought to children around the world | by Ruurs, Margriet

Examine many different kinds of libraries from all around the world. Unlike the typical library room or building, many libraries are a bus, boat, train, or camel. Each type is different, but they all serve the same important purpose of delivering books to people, no matter where they live.

Keywords: animals, australia, books, camel, canada, communication, community, creativity, critical thinking, crowd, culture, diversity, donkey, education, elephant, england, excitement, feelings, geography, happiness, horse, indonesian, kenyan, kindness, library, multicultural, nonverbal communication, pakistani, poverty, reading, thai, transportation, travel, verbal communication, village, zimbabwe

Our tree named Steve | by Zweibel, Alan

A father writes a letter to his children about the tree that they named Steve years ago, which they has insisted on not cutting down when building their new home. The children had formed a strong bond with Steve and now, years later, the tree has fallen down in a storm. Through the friendship with Steve, the children learned about the importance of home, family and relationships.

Keywords: aging, animals, appreciation, camping, caring, change, closeness, community, correspondence, critical thinking, death, decision making, dedication, destruction, emotions, family, friendship, goal setting, home, rain, relationship, seasons, storm, tree, verbal communication, weather

Monster and the mural | by Blance, E. & Cook, A.

Monster has a new-found hobby; painting! His inspired friends crowd into his house to try painting too. In order to avoid a mess, Monster invites his friends to go outside and paint an old brown wall in the city. Together, they create a beautiful mural of a park. It is eye-catching and makes everyone in the community happy!

Keywords: appearance, art, body image, careers, colors, community, cooperation, feelings, friendship, happiness, hobby, monsters, museum, teamwork

Home | by Baker, Jeannie

From the day of her birth until the times of her adulthood, Tracy moves outside and inside her house experiencing important milestones. Through the same window scene, her neighborhood develops and matures with plants and animals. (A wordless book).

Keywords: accomplishment, author's note, birth, celebration, challenges, change, community, day, family, feelings, garden, growing up, gymnastics, happiness, neighbors, night, nonverbal communication, perspective, plants, seasons, sports, transportation, wedding

Tap-dance fever | by Brisson, Pat

Annabelle Applegate had Tap-dance fever. Her feet are constantly on the move, tapping everywhere she goes. The townsfolk are very aggrevated by her dancing. However, once tourists come to hear and see her tao-dance with the rattlesnakes, the townsfolk believe she was an asset to the community.

Keywords: anger, animals, business, community, dancing, exercise, feelings, happiness, mischief, performance, persistence, rhythm, snake, success, wealth

The great trash bash | by Leedy, Loreen

Something is wrong in the town of Beaston. Mayor Hippo and the animals in the town work together to find the problem. There is too much trash in the city. The animals work together to clean up their town and star recycling.

Keywords: animals, appreciation, author's note, cleanliness, community, energy, home, pollution, problem solving, recycling, teamwork, work

I took the moon for a walk | by Curtis, Carolyn

A young boy takes the moon for a walk and discovers the mysteries of the night. As he walks along he admires the bright refletion of the moon on the water and the changes that take place with the animals, the town and the environment. Hw then returns home to a restful sleep while the moon continues to shine brightly.

Keywords: adventures, animals, biking, birds, bodies of water, bridge, church, community, cow, dog, feelings, imagination, insects, ladybug, moon, moth, multicultural, night, owl, park, playground, rhyme, sleep, snail, walking, worm

The great fuzz frenzy | by Stevens, Janet & Grummel, Susan Stevens

When a dog drops a tennis ball into a Prairie Dog hold, it travels down, down, down to their home. Once they've overcome their fear, the Prairie Dogs begin to collect the fuzz from the ball to adorn themselves. When word of this gets out, more prairie dogs come in search of fuzz, and a fight begins. The fight is ended by the largest of the Prairie Dogs, Big Bark, as he takes all of the fuzz to adorn himself. Just as the prairie dogs are about to get mad at Big Bark, Eagle swoops down and picks him up by the fuzz to carry him off. Big Bark then uses his loud bark to scare the eagle and protect…

Keywords: acceptance, animals, ant, appreciation, birds, bully, community, dog, eagle, feelings, fight, imagination, insects, investigation, prairie dog, pretend

The big cheese of third street | by Anderson, Halse Laurie

Little Benny is bullied constantly for being so little. It isn't until he wins the pole challenge that everyone cheers and honors Benny.

Keywords: bully, celebration, challenges, climbing, community, family, flood, games, music, neighbors, party, play, river, siblings, swimming, teasing, violence

God bless the child | by Holiday, Billie & Herzog, Arthur Jr.

Each day is a work day for which to be thankful and grateful. There's a lot of work to be done on this land. It's time to go and experience the city life up north where things are different. Dream on, my child!

Keywords: closeness, community, education, emotions, exploration, family, feelings, hard work, migration, parents, playing, reading, separation, siblings, skills, transportation, travel, wealth, work, worry

The crayon box that talked | by DeRolf, Shane

While walking through a toy store, a little girl overhears a box of crayons arguing. Yellow and green don't like red and no one likes orange, but for no apparent reason. After buying the box of crayons, she takes them home and begins to draw a picture. Using every color in the box, the little girl created a picture. As she completed her drawing and began to walk away, she heard the crayons resolve their hatred and realize the beauty they make when they all work together.

Keywords: argument, beauty, clouds, colors, community, conflict, diversity, friendship, opinions, relationship, resolution, walking

The best place | by Meddaugh, Susan

An old wolf loves his house, especially his screened in porch. A bird suggests he sells his house to see if there is anything better. He regrets this and wants his house back. He becomes frustrated when he cannot get his house back and scares his neighbors. The conflict resolves when the wolf finds a place he likes better than his old home and he makes some new friends.

Keywords: accomplishment, anger, animals, apology, appreciation, birds, change, community, conflict resolution, consequences, cooperation, decision making, feelings, forest, frustration, helping, home, nonverbal communication, rabbit, stress management, tree, wolf

Matunje and the wooden spoon | by Mashiri, Pascal

During a time of famine, Matunje goes looking for food. He finds mangoes which fall into the water and are carried out to sea. Matunje follows and is led to the sea king who gives him a magical wooden spoon to feed his country.

Keywords: assertiveness, celebration, community, conflict resolution, critical thinking, dancing, famine, feelings, food, fruit, happiness, helping, magic, mythical, nutrition, song, spiritual, tree

The milkman | by Cordsen, Carol Foskett

A milkman delivers eggs, milk and ice cream to various people in a small community. While on his route, he discovers a sign that says lost dog. He begins to look for the dog along the way.

Keywords: animals, community, critical thinking, dog, family, food, hard work, helping, lost, morning, neighbors, nonverbal communication, nutrition, rhyme, transportation, verbal communication

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