Children's Picture Book Database at Miami University

The golden rain | by Mashiri, Pascal

A young child learns from his mother's stories about decision making and choices. He comes to understand that choices make some people happy and leave some disapointed. The child also realizes that help is sometimes needed for the decision making, but ultimately it is up to the individual.

Monster looks for a house | by Blance, Ellen // Cook, Ann

A friendly purple monster comes to a new city to look for a new place to live. Since this monster is different from others in the city, he must hunt for a house that fits him. After looking at many houses, he finally finds one that he can live in comfortably.

Keywords: buildings, change, community, comparisons, critical thinking, decision making, differences, environment, exploration, goal setting, home, monsters, moving, nonverbal communication, problem solving, sizes

He's your dog | by Schories, Pat

A young boy's pet dog is on the verge of getting sent away. Before acting, he comes up with possible solutions for the two of them. He then comes to realize that the problem is sitting right in front of him.

Keywords: animals, conflict, conflict resolution, decision making, dog, family, farm, feelings, friendship, frustration, love, moods, parents, problem solving, sadness

The runaway duck | by Lyon, David

Sebastian ties his wooden duck to his father's car then forgets about it. The duck ends up in France. After much effort, he gets his duck back.

Keywords: birds, duck, french, imagination, lost, multicultural, problem solving, travel

Allie's basketball dream | by Barber, Barbara

Allie loves basketball, but she is often the only girl on the court. Buddy and other boys tease Allie about playing basketball. Allie believes in her ability and keeps practicing so that one day she can be better at basketball than the boys!

The children of LIR | by MacGill-Callahan, Sheila

When King Lir's evil new wife becomes jealous of his children and turns them into swans, the two sets of twins must make new friends and problem solve to go back to their beloved father.

Keywords: animals, birds, celebration, dancing, direction, evil, family, folktale, friendship, happiness, ireland, light, magic, mountains, problem solving, royalty, siblings, song, swan, whale

Leo in the library | by Mkatshaw, Dumazile

Leo was in the class watching ants crawl on the wall when his teacher asked on what animal he would be doing his project. He could only think of ants, about which he knew nothing. Leo goes to the library looking for a book and causes a terrible mess. Leo must find his book about ants, but he doesnﾒt know what it would look like.

The trial of cardigan jones | by Egan, Tim

Cardigan, a moose, is new to town. While walking through the neighborhood, he happens upon Mrs. Brownﾒs pie in her window. The pie becomes missing and witnesses say that he took it. He then goes on trial and throughout the trial, he keeps knocking things over with his giant antlers. This gives the judge an idea, so he takes the courtroom to Mrs. Brownﾒs house. They notice the smashed pie in the bushes and pronounced Cardigan ﾓnot guilty.ﾔ

Keywords: animals, careers, conflict resolution, critical thinking, decision making, feelings, flag, food, guilt, honesty, love, moose, neighbors, nonverbal communication, party, pig, politics, problem solving, rabbit, verbal communication, walking

My sister's wedding | by Mkatshaw, Dumazile

Nhlanhla is getting married and her cousin, Priscilla, is going to sing at the ceremony. The day before the ceremony Priscilla loses her voice. Priscillaﾒs family comes up with many different remedies, including eating raw eggs and drinking hot garlic. Upset, Priscilla cries over her lost voice and sits down on a box of pins! With a hearty scream, her voice returns and she can sing for the wedding.

Keywords: animals, celebration, critical thinking, family, feelings, five senses, flood, happiness, love, nonverbal communication, porcupine, pride, problem solving, sewing, sounds, taste, touch

The bully blockers club | by Bateman, Teresa

Lotty is very excited to begin a new school year. When she arrives at school, Grant Grizzly changes her attitude. He picks on her everyday, causing her to feel ill. Lotty tries to get Grant to stop by ignoring him, being his friend, and telling the teacher. It seems as if nothing can stop the bully, until Lotty and her friends create the Bully Blockers Club.

The heroic symphony | by Harwell-Celenza, Anna

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!

A triangle for Adaora: An African book of shapes | by Onyefulu, Ifeoma

When Adaora's cousin promises to find a triangle for her, he does'nt realize just how difficult the task might be. As they search through their village, the cousins encounter a variety of other shapes - heart-shaped leaves, circular elephant drums, crescent-shaped plantains - everything but the shape they seek. Just when the children are too tired to look anymore, they find a perfect triangle...and a great surprise to go along with it!

Keywords: africa, african, community, family, food, fruit, jewelry, multicultural, music, plants, problem solving, shapes, siblings, traditions, verbal communication, village

Monkey for sale | by Stanley, Sanna

Two little girls in Africa look forward to their village market day in the Congo. They must make wise choices for their spending. They make initial purchases, but later find a monkey they want to rescue. They creatively work together to find a solution.

Keywords: african, animals, clothing, conflict resolution, congo, critical thinking, decision making, family, food, friendship, goal setting, market, money, monkey, multicultural, negotiation, parents, problem solving

Bitter bananas | by Olaleye, Isaac

Yusuf is a boy who lives in a jungle in Africa. His favorite drink is palm sap, and he sells what he doesn't drink. A family of baboons begins to steal his sap, so he tries many things to keep the baboons away.

Keywords: african, animals, baboon, careers, decision making, fable, family, food, forest, jungle, learning, market, multicultural, nutrition, problem solving, rain, sounds, tree, weather

Billy Twitters and his blue whale problem | by Barnett, Mac

When Billy Twitters doesn't brush his teeth or finish his peas, his mother says we are going to buy you a whale. This does not worry Billy, because he knows how large blue whales are and he couldn't possibly have one delivered. To his surprise, one morning there is a blue whale sitting outside his house, and it is his responsibility. The whale causes problems at school because Billy's classmates pick him at gym. And it just gets worse: his parents give him the owner's manual for the whale. While feeding him, Billy realizes that when he's inside the whale, nobody's laughing and nobody's…

Keywords: animals, bridge, bus, cleanliness, colors, community, comparisons, critical thinking, decision making, dinosaur, feelings, five senses, food, frustration, history, hygiene, language, loneliness, numbers, parents, park, perspective, problem solving, responsibilities, school, sight, sizes, smell, teeth, time, transportation, whale

All aboard, owney! | by Sattler, Jennifer

Climb aboard with Owney the mail dog as he travels the Adirondack railroad! Meet his new wilderness friends and enjoy the colorful view.

Keywords: animals, caring, colors, communication, companion, conflict resolution, dog, five senses, problem solving, sounds, train, transportation, travel, wilderness

Candy shop | by Wahl, Jan

A young boy, Daniel, and his aunt Thelma take a trip to the market with money that he has earned. The boy is looking forward to visiting the candy shop but when they arrive they see a crowd and are faced with prejudice acts toward the owner of the store. Daniel and his aunt help comfort the owner and show true friendship.

Keywords: african american, asian, challenges, conflict, conflict resolution, coping, culture, discrimination, feelings, helping, kindness, market, money, multicultural, nonverbal communication, problem solving, racism, respect, sadness

Toni's topsy-turvy telephone day | by Ljungkvist, Laura

Toni wants to have a potluck dinner. She calls all of her guests and tells each of them what to bring. It's the day of the party and her guests have arrived. Something has happened! Her friends misunderstood what Toni told them to bring. Now Toni has no food to feed her guests. What will Toni do?

Keywords: animals, baboon, bee, birds, cat, conflict resolution, critical thinking, decision making, dog, food, friendship, goal setting, hunger, misunderstanding, moose, nutrition, party, problem solving, snake, stress management, technology, telephone, verbal communication

Dona flor | by Mora, Pat

A vicious animal is causing panic among the villagers. Done Flor, a giant woman with a heart of gold, helps find the reason behind the mysterious beast.

Keywords: bravery, conflict resolution, courage, critical thinking, friendship, giants, giving, magic, mythical, neighbors, problem solving, relationship, verbal communication, village

Audrey and barbara | by 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?

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