Children's Picture Book Database at Miami University

Suddenly alligator: An adverbial tale | by Walton, Rick

A young boy decides it is time to buy a new pair of socks to replace the smelly one's he's worn for three years. He travels to town via the swamp discovering items he's lots along the way. He encounters an alligator and a chase ensues. The alligator gets hold of the boys' shoe and when the shoe cocmes off, the odor from the socks, stuns the alligator. The boy continues on his way to buy new socks. With each step along his journey, he experiences an adverbial action.

Keywords: alligator, anger, animals, bodies of water, body parts, bravery, challenges, clothing, fear, feelings, five senses, happiness, language, learning, running, smell, spelling, stream, swamp

Water dance | by Locker, Thomas

The water cycle is explained in a story form using beautiful illustrations as a visual lesson. All forms of water, including clouds, mist, rainbows, rivers, and seas are explained and described.

Keywords: bodies of water, clouds, environment, forest, lake, moon, mountains, nature, rain, rainbow, river, science, sea, sky, storm, stream, sun, water, weather, wind

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

The red bird | by Lindgren, Astrid

A brother and sister who live a very poor and hard life find a secret doorway to a ﾓperfect worldﾔ. The children leave it to go back to their lives after being told if they shut the door they can never return. But, one cold hard day they entered the ﾓroomﾔ again and face the decision, ﾓDo we shut the door?ﾔ.

Keywords: animals, barn, birds, bodies of water, cardinal, challenges, critical thinking, decision making, excitement, farmer, hunger, mice, poverty, seasons, self confidence, snow, spring, stream, stress management, toys, verbal communication, walking

Hedgehog haven: A story of a British hedgerow community | by Dennard, Deborah

A young male hedgehog is learning about the ways of nature and how to survive within it. Through close encounters with danger, he learns how to change his life to survive. This young hedgehog takes many adventures to learn that every place and time is not always safe.

Keywords: animals, baby, birds, bug, butterfly, england, fish, flowers, food, goldfish, hedgehog, horse, insects, maps, mollusks, multicultural, night, noise, owl, plants, rabbit, snail, sparrow, stream, tractor

Vera's first day of school | by Rosenberry, Vera

It's Vera's first day of school!She is so excited that she is up before the sun. But when she finally gets to the school yard, it is full of older children who scare Vera. When she finally gets to her classroom, with a little help from her mother, it is everything she hoped it would be.

Keywords: art, caterpillar, climbing, clothing, conflict resolution, critical thinking, decision making, emotions, family, fear, food, happiness, kite, loneliness, nature, nonverbal communication, nutrition, play, playground, sadness, school, self esteem, siblings, skating, stream, stress management, sun, tree

The secret of the stones | by San Souci, Robert D.

John and Clara work very hard all day, but they have no children to love. One night Clara finds two little white stones and brings them home with her. When they came home the next night all of the chores had been done, and John and Clara must find out who their helpers are and how to help them!

Keywords: african american, animals, author's note, bones, cabin, chicken, conflict resolution, cow, decision making, escape, farm, folktale, food, hard work, magic, multicultural, nutrition, orphan, poverty, rocks, song, stream, verbal communication

Tale of a tail | by Bodnar, Judit Z.

A fox catches fish for his dinner. WHen his friend, the bear, finds out he wants to know where the fox got all his fish. The bear takes his friend's advice and spends all night trying to catch fish. At dawn, he does not think he has caught any, but then he realizes he has caught a lot of fish on the way home.

Keywords: animals, assertiveness, author's note, bear, birds, bodies of water, correspondence, critical thinking, exercise, feelings, fish, fishing, food, fox, goal setting, happiness, hungarian, hunger, ice, lake, multicultural, nonverbal communication, recreation, refusal skills, sadness, seasons, snow, sounds, stream, verbal communication, walking, winter

The mud family | by James, Betsy

Susi and her family are in desperate need of rain to save their corn and land. If it does not rain soon Susi and her family will have to move to a different place. Susi runs away to a secluded place and prays to her mud family to bring rain to the canyon. Eventually, the rain does come bringing Susi back to the family that needs her most of all.

The trip to grandma's | by Hollander, Cass

One day Mom decides to take the whole family to Grandma's. On the way there, they stop and do all sorts of fun things-pet horses, pick apples, and go swimming. It takes the family so long to get to Grandma's, that by the time they arrive it's time to go home again.

Keywords: activities, animals, bodies of water, car, dog, family, food, grandparents, horse, nutrition, parents, play, siblings, stream, swimming, transportation

Come back, salmon | by Cone, Molly

Mr. King's fifth grade students work on a project to restore Pigeon Creek to its original beauty. They cannot believe the water was once clear and had fish. They learn about the life cycle of salmon, grow their own salmon, and release them into their now clear Pigeon Creek. The next fall they look for their salmon to return.

Bayou lullaby | by Appelt, Kathi

A young girl is put to sleep by her parents telling a lullaby.

Keywords: alligator, amphibians, animals, birds, boat, bodies of water, cajun, crawfish, cricket, crustaceans, dragonfly, family, frog, heron, insects, language, moon, mosquito, multicultural, nature, parents, rhyme, sleep, stream, tadpole, transportation, verbal communication

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