Children's Picture Book Database at Miami University

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

Grandpa, is everything black bad? | by Holman, Sandy Lynne

Montsho struggles with the dark color of his skin. Everything around him that is black is considered bad. Thankfully, Muntsho's grandfather teaches him to appreciate his black skin by telling him stories about his African heritage.

Keywords: activities, africa, african, african american, animals, bedtime, colors, confusion, death, discrimination, egypt, emotions, friendship, glasses, grandparents, greek, history, identity, instruments, inventions, language, playing, pride, relationship, rhythm, royalty, self esteem, sounds, storytelling, television, traditions, understanding, witches

Half a moon and one whole star | by Dragonwagon, Crescent

As Susan starts to fall asleep, she hears all the sounds of summer. She hears people talking and the animals outside moving. When she wakes, she knows that another beautiful summer day will greet her.

Keywords: animals, appreciation, five senses, hearing, imagination, moon, nonverbal communication, rhyme, seasons, sleep, sounds, stars, summer

Polar bear, polar bear, what do you hear? | by Martin, Bill Jr.

Zoo animals make animal sounds for each other, while the children make the animal sounds for the zoo keeper.

Keywords: animals, five senses, hearing, imitation, sounds, verbal communication, zoo

Toot, toot | by Wildsmith, Brian

Let's count up to five and watch the animals on each page increase by one. Do you know what noises the animals make?

Keywords: animals, cat, chicken, counting, cow, dog, duck, noise, sequence, sheep, sounds, train

Listen to the rain | by Martin, Bill Jr.//Archambault, John

Using a rhyme, this book introduces the beautiful sequences of sound that are produced by a rainstorm.

Keywords: critical thinking, five senses, hearing, listening, nonverbal communication, rain, rhyme, self esteem, sight, sounds, weather

The bell ringer and the pirates | by Coerr, Eleanor

Pio is a young Indian who lives on a mission. The people at the mission discover that pirates will arrive in two days so they hide in the hills. Pio stays behind to ring the bells so his friends and family know when the pirates come and leave.

Keywords: assertiveness, conflict resolution, critical thinking, decision making, family, friendship, helping, multicultural, native american, pirates, refusal skills, sounds

Jungle sounds | by Emberley, Rebecca

A picture display ofjungle animals with paper cutouts. A glossary of animals and their sounds are included.

Keywords: animals, five senses, imagination, jungle, nature, noise, sounds

Five live bongos | by Lyon, Ella

Five brothers and sisters make a giant drum set from a bunch of junk. They gather this junk from their garage and from a garbage dump. They play music all day long.

Keywords: conflict resolution, decision making, family, feelings, five senses, happiness, music, nonverbal communication, siblings, sounds, verbal communication

The cow buzzed | by Zimmerman, Andrea G.

Something is amiss on this farm. All the farm animals have a cold and sound quite differently when they cough and sneeze!

Keywords: animals, cat, cow, dog, farm, five senses, fun, humor, illness, pig, sounds

Beep beep, vroom vroom! | by Murphy, Stuart J.

Molly wants to play with her big brother's brightly colored toy cars just like him. But her family thinks she is too little to share Kevin's cars and besides, he likes to keep them in a special order. Each family member catches Molly playing with Kevin's cars and they help her put them back the way Kevin likes them. In the end, Molly gets a surprise of her own!

Keywords: animals, author's note, birthday, car, colors, disobedience, dog, family, fun, helping, parents, playing, sequence, siblings, sizes, sounds, transportation

The great white owl of sissinghurst | by Simmons, Dawn Langley

Three young children stay at an English castle and are fascinated by a great white owl who lives there. The owl is shot and the children help to restore its health.

Keywords: beauty, birds, helping, injury, kindness, owl, royalty, sounds, survival, sympathy

Window music | by Suen, Anastasia

The train trip of a little girl and her family is described through colorful illustrations and rhyming words. She travels over streets, past horses at play, around growing fruit trees, and through a city to the final stop.

Keywords: adventures, american, animals, car, family, food, grandparents, horse, ocean, plants, rhyme, sounds, train, transportation, travel, tree

Calvin crocodile and the terrible noise | by Pickett, Carla

A lion tries to tell Calvin the crocodile that he is king. Calvin does not believe him, so they have a contest to see who can make the loudest noise. The lion makes the loudest noise, which cracks the dam and the river floods the land. The crocodile helps the lion so he will not drown.

Keywords: animals, assertiveness, competition, conflict resolution, critical thinking, crocodile, decision making, goal setting, helping, lion, noise, nonverbal communication, peer resistance, reptiles, royalty, safety, sounds

Rain talk | by Serfozo, Mary

A girl listens to the sounds of the rain. She hears it hit on the pond, her umbrella, and the roof while she travels around her community.

Keywords: animals, bodies of water, car, dancing, dog, exercise, family, feelings, five senses, happiness, parents, pond, rainbow, sounds, touch, transportation, truck, walking

Pablo's tree | by Mora, Pat

When Pablo is adopted as a baby, his grandfather buys a tree in his honor. Each year on Pablo's birthday, his grandfather decorates the tree in a special way to surprise Pablo.

Keywords: adoption, birthday, family, five senses, grandparents, holidays, multicultural, music, plants, sight, sounds, spanish, surprises, toys, travel

No dinner!The story of the old woman and the pumpkin | by Souhami, Jessica

An old woman is on her way to her granddaughter's house for dinner, but meets many animals on her way. In order to escape the animals, she promises to come back all fat and fed. The animals are outwitted when the old woman is disguised as a pumpkin.

Keywords: adventures, aging, animals, author's note, bear, body image, bravery, critical thinking, deception, decision making, fable, family, food, forest, goal setting, habitat, heroism, hunting, intelligence, nature, nonverbal communication, nutrition, overeating, pretend, protection, relief, sly, sounds, tiger, verbal communication, wolf

Turtle splash! Countdown at the pond | by Falwell, Cathyrn

Ten turtles rest on a log. Startled by various sounds, they jump in one-by-one from around the pond then rest in the water for the night.

Keywords: alliteration, amphibians, animals, author's note, birds, bodies of water, butterfly, counting, day, deer, duck, frog, insects, mosquito, nature, night, noise, numbers, rabbit, reptiles, rhyme, sequence, sounds, squirrel, turtle

Springtime in a noisy village | by Lindgren, Astrid

Some children live in a little, simple village. They all play together and resolve any little conflicts. They watch out for one another.

Keywords: animals, community, conflict resolution, five senses, friendship, noise, play, seasons, self esteem, sounds, spring, verbal communication

Mr. brown can moo!Can you? | by Seuss, Dr.

Mr. Brown does many things and always asks if you can do it too. He makes many noises like animals. Can you?Mr. Brown can do everything.

Keywords: animals, challenges, confidence, cow, encouragement, goal setting, intelligence, noise, recognition, self esteem, sounds

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