Children's Picture Book Database at Miami University

In my backyard | by Giogas, Valarie

Baby dogs are puppies and they belong to a litter. Counting from one to ten, familiar backyard animals are introduced by baby and family group name. Each stanza also tells a bit more about each animal by providing clues as to what they eat, how they sound, or where they live.

Keywords: animals, baby, counting, deer, flowers, fox, garden, grasshopper, habitat, home, mole, porcupine, rabbit, raccoon, sequence, skunk, snake, squirrel

Swamp song | by Ketteman, Helen

Down in the swamp where the cypress grows, Old Man Gator starts tappin' his toes...Pretty soon, all the swamp animals are movin' and swaggin' to Gator's beat. Sing along with the river otter, bullfrog, dragonfly, and many other swamp animals as their music swells into the natural chorus of croaking, whirring, and buzzing, all brought to life by Ponder Goembel's colored ink and acrylic-wash-paint illustrations.

Keywords: alligator, amphibians, animals, bear, birds, boar, bodies of water, dancing, dragonfly, fox, frog, insects, mosquito, otter, pig, rhyme, snake, song, squirrel, storks, swamp, tree, woodpecker

My even day | by Fisher, Doris and Sneed, Dani

A sequel to One Odd Day, this time the young boy awakens to find that it is another strange day: everything is even! His mother has two heads, and a trip to the zoo is dealt with in an odd, but even-handed, manner.

Keywords: alligator, amphibians, animals, dog, elephant, family, food, frog, fruit, kangaroo, lion, lizard, math, mouse, numbers, octopus, parents, penguin, reptiles, rhyme, rhythm, snake, zoo

Follow the line... | by Ljungkvist, Laura

Counting takes place everywhere and throughout the entire day-from early morning in the big city to mid-day across the ocean and finally evening in a country village. There are flowers, animals, buildings, windows, people, patterns and apples to help make counting engaging and fun! Will you be able to answer the questions on each colorful page?

Keywords: airplane, animals, boat, buildings, bus, car, colors, counting, deer, fish, home, pattern, rabbit, shapes, signs, snail, snake, symbols, tree, truck

If I could/ Si yo pudiera | by Sweetland, Nancy

A world full of beautiful, fanciful and comical possibilities where you explore what life would be like if you could be anything you wanted to be, if you only could.

Keywords: animals, ant, birds, butterfly, eagle, elephant, fantasy, fish, frog, goose, identity, insects, language, lizard, moon, multicultural, reptiles, river, seal, snake, spanish, stars, toad, walrus, wind, wish

The gruffalo | by Donaldson, Julia

A cunning mouse is able to deceive a fox, owl, and a snake into thinking he has a gruffalo as a friend. Things look bad for the mouse when the gruffalo actually appears and wants him for a meal. Using his wits, the mouse is able to convince the gruffalo that he, the mouse, is the scariest creature in the woods.

Keywords: animals, birds, bodies of water, communication, critical thinking, deception, dishonesty, fear, food, fox, interpretation, mischief, monsters, mouse, owl, perspective, sly, snake, stream, trick, wilderness, wildlife, wind, woods

Not norman: A goldfish story | by Bennett, Kelly

When a boy gets Norman, a goldfish, for his birthday he is disappointed. He wants an energetic pet with which to run and play. He makes a plan to take Norman back to the pet store and get another pet. After show and tell at school, he decides to keep him. Norman likes his music and makes him laugh; besides any other pet just wouldnﾒt be the same, they would not be Norman.

Food for thought: The complete book of concepts for growing minds | by Freymann, Saxton

Fruits and vegetables are strategically carved to emulate people and animals in order to teach shapes, colors, numbers, letters, and opposites. Readers can learn these skills while being entertained by the creative use of healthy foods.

Keywords: airplane, alphabet, animals, ant, birds, cat, colors, counting, dog, duck, elephant, feelings, fish, flowers, food, frog, giraffe, guinea pig, happiness, insects, kangaroo, letters, numbers, opposites, penguin, sadness, shapes, sheep, sizes, snake, turtle, umbrella

Sun mother wakes the world: An Australian creation story | by 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.

Keywords: 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

Lake of the big snake | by Olaleye, Isaac

Two boys outwit a hungry snake in an African rain forest village.

Keywords: africa, animals, argument, bodies of water, chores, conflict resolution, disobedience, family, fear, feelings, forest, friendship, lake, multicultural, nigerian, parents, play, reptiles, responsibilities, snake, stress management, teamwork, village

Shadow | by Brown, Marcia

The village storytellers and shamans of African expound on the important, mysterious, haunted, and enchanted life of shadows.

Keywords: africa, animals, appreciation, birds, bodies of water, cow, dancing, eagle, elephant, fable, fire, forest, insects, magic, mystery, night, reptiles, river, scorpion, shadows, snake, spy, storytelling, tree, war

Manana, Iguana | by 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…

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

Don't take a snake for a stroll | by Ireland, Karin

A little boy talks about taking a variety of animals into public places. Using his imagination he describes what could possibly happen. In the end, he advises to just take people along and leave the animals at home.

Keywords: animals, bodies of water, coyote, critical thinking, decision making, duck, elephant, exercise, fantasy, humor, imagination, kangaroo, moose, ocean, pets, pig, rabbit, rhyme, rhythm, shopping, skunk, snake, swimming, television, walking

Old granny and the bean thief | by Defelice, Cynthia

Granny loves her beans any way she can get them. A mischievous thief steals Granny's beans three nights in a row. She embarks on a journey to tell the sheriff about the thief. Along the way she makes several friends. They help Granny stop the thief in a very unique fashion.

Keywords: alligator, animals, bodies of water, cactus, community, conflict resolution, cooking, cow, critical thinking, desert, family, fantasy, food, grandparents, nutrition, pond, raccoon, reptiles, snake

The jungle grapevine | by Beard, Alex

In Africa, the bird and the turtle are taking a walk and the turtle says that the humor at the watering hole is drying up. The bird misunderstands him and flies off to tell the elephant that the watering hole is drying up. The snake hears and goes to the watering hole but finds that it's full. Snake tells the crocodile that the watering hole might actually flood. This scares the crocodile, and one misunderstanding leads to another spreading chaos throughout the jungle.

Keywords: africa, animals, ant, anteater, birds, chaos, crocodile, elephant, fear, feelings, fish, flamingo, hippopotamus, humor, insects, lion, misunderstanding, nonverbal communication, snake, truth, turtle, verbal communication, water, wildlife, zebra

Why the bush fowl calls at sunrise | by Tredgold, Margaret

In this folktale from Zimbabwe, a repeated sequence of inadvertent events between people, animals, and objects lead to the bush fowlﾒs eggs being crushed. The bush fowl is too sad to call the sun in the morning so the Great Spirit intervenes. As each participant is questioned by the Great Spirit, the sequence is repeated and deconstructed. Finally, the buzzing fly is restricted to saying only ﾓBUZZﾔ and the bush fowl promises to always call the sun in the morning.

Keywords: african, animals, birds, elephant, fly, folktale, insects, multicultural, rat, sequence, snake, sounds, zimbabwe

The rainforest grew all around | by Mitchell, Susan K.

Imaginations soar while following the circle of life in the rainforest. Children learn about the wide variety of creatures lurking in the jungle. Search each page to find unique rainforests with bugs and butterflies hiding in the illustrations.

Keywords: adaptation, amphibians, animals, ant, author's note, bat, birds, bodies of water, cat, dragonfly, flowers, frog, habitat, insects, pattern, plants, rainforest, rhythm, river, seed, sloth, snake, south american, tree

Python's party | by Wildsmith, Brian

A python is hungry so he decides to throw a party for all the animals in the forest. All the animals perform tricks for each other, so the python tricks the animals into crawling into his stomach. The elephant saves the animals then they all tie a knot in the python's tail as punishment.

Keywords: animals, assertiveness, conflict resolution, critical thinking, deception, decision making, elephant, food, hunger, nutrition, party, peer resistance, refusal skills, reptiles, snake, teamwork, verbal communication

Animal hide and seek | by Ipcar, Dahlov

Animals are described in their natural homes and how they are able to hide from predators.

Keywords: amphibians, animals, birds, caterpillar, deer, duck, frog, insects, nature, protection, rabbit, reptiles, shelter, snake, squirrel, turtle, woods

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