Browse Items · Children's Picture Book Database at Miami University

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Hometown hero

Aiello, Barbara//Shulman, Jeffrey

Scott Whittaker recounts the events between Thanksgiving and Christmas in his diary. He starts a karate club at school and meets Bill Walters, a homeless man who was the quarterback of the local high school football team in 1967 The book ends with questions and answers about asthma.

Tags

accomplishment, appearance, assertiveness, asthma, community, decision making, diseases, exercise, football, friendship, holidays, karate, kindness, peer resistance, school, shelter, sports, surprises

Pierre's dream

Armstrong, Jennifer

Is it all a dream? Pierre thinks so. He is the star of the circus, daring to do things he wouldn't do if he was awake. Pierre tames a lion, walks on a high wire, and all sorts of other scary or dangerous things. As the star of the circus, Pierre proves to the people of Apt that he is not just a lazy, foolish man.

Tags

acrobat, animals, circus, dreams, excitement, feelings, french, fun, happiness, horse, laziness, lion, multicultural, self esteem, sleep, surprises

Shoo, fly guy

Arnold, Tedd

Fly guy comes home to find that Buzz is on a picnic with his parents. Fly guy is hungry, so he decides to find his family's picnic location by searching for his favorite brown, oozy, lumpy, smelly food. After coming across many food thatfit part of the decription, he finally find his favorite food and the picnic.

Tags

animals, birds, colors, dog, fly, food, frog, horse, hunger, insects, lost, mountains, nature, persistence, picnic, reading, repetition, surprises, vulture

Pigs in the pantry: Fun with math and cooking

Axelrod, Amy

Mrs. Pig isn't feeling well so Mr. Pig and the piglets decide to make her favorite chili. There's only one problem--they don't know how to cook! While Mom is taking a nap, Mr. Pig and the piglets make such a mess in the kitchen that Mrs. Pig wakes up to find the firemen cleaning up a big mess.

Tags

animals, cleanliness, cooking, family, fire, fire engine, food, goal setting, manners, nutrition, parents, pig, recipe, siblings, sleep, surprises, transportation

The night worker

Banks, Kate

Alex dreams of becoming a night worker just like his dad. One night before bedtime, Alex is surprised when his dad hands him a hard hat. Now Alex can see what it is really like to be a night worker!

Tags

architecture, bedtime, careers, construction, dreams, family, hard work, machines, night, parents, sleep, surprises, teamwork, technology, transportation, truck, verbal communication, work

Spring story

Barklem, Jill

It is Wilfred's birthday. He is so excited, he wakes up early and opens all of his presents. He is sad because everyone in town seems to have forgotten his birthday. Everyone meets at the Palace and have a picnic to surprise Wilfred.

Tags

birthday, feelings, friendship, picnic, surprises

Not norman: A goldfish story

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.

Monster goes to the circus

Blance, Ellen & Cook, Ann

Monster takes a trip to the circus. While there, he sees many different circus performances. To everyone's surprise, Monster has an act to include himself into the circus ring.

Tags

acrobat, animals, circus, clowns, feelings, food, fun, juggling, monsters, nutrition, performance, safety, sports, success, surprises, worry

The littlest matryoshka

Bliss, Corinne Denias

Nikolai shipped his last carved matryoshka from Russia to a toy store in America. While on display, one of the six dolls gets bumped from the shelf and begins a great adventure away from her sisters. She survived the snow, the stream, a bird, and a cat before being found by the very girl who had bought her sisters, and they were all together once again.

Tags

accidents, adventures, american, animals, author's note, beauty, birds, colors, dolls, family, hobby, hope, lost, missing, multicultural, russian, seasons, shopping, snow, squirrel, surprises, survival, toys

Good luck, mrs. k.!

Borden, Louise

Mrs. K teaches Ann's third grade class. In class they are explorers, scientists, poets, and astronauts. They are always learning something new. One day, Mrs. K doesn't come to school. The students learn that she is in the hospital with cancer. For the rest of the year the third grade has a substitute. On the last day of school, Mrs. K comes back to surprise her students.

Tags

animals, basketball, cancer, dancing, discovery, exercise, geography, guinea pig, hospital, illness, insects, learning, letters, listening, math, pets, practice, reading, school, science, sign language, skating, spelling, sports, surprises, teaching, travel, verbal communication, worm

The story of the three little pigs

Brooke, L. Leslie

A Mother pig sends her three little pigs out to seek their fortune. In the process, two little pigs are eaten by a wolf. The third little pig outsmarts the wolf, then eats him for dinner.

Tags

adventures, animals, assertiveness, challenges, critical thinking, deception, decision making, food, fortune, pig, problem solving, stress management, surprises, wolf

Flower garden

Bunting, Eve

A young girl and her father buy flowers at the grocery and prepare a flower box for her mother's birthday.

Tags

african american, birthday, bus, butterfly, caring, celebration, family, food, garden, holidays, insects, ladybug, multicultural, nutrition, parents, plants, shelter, shopping, surprises, transportation

Secret birthday message

Carle, Eric

The night before Tim's birthday, he finds a message on his pillow. The message gives directions for Tim to go look for his birthday gift. On Tim's birthday, he follows the directions and finds his gift. The gift is a puppy.

Tags

animals, birthday, critical thinking, dog, excitement, goal setting, letters, nonverbal communication, presents, secrets, surprises

Dustin's big school day

Carter, Alden R.

Dustin is very excited for the guests that are visiting his school one day. Along with the rest of his students, Dustin goes through his daily school routine awaiting the arrival of Dave and Skippy. When the time finally comes, the reader learns who Dave and Skippy actually are.

Tags

activities, alliteration, bus, calendar, celebration, curiosity, differences, down syndrome, entertainment, exercise, food, friendship, fun, geography, handicap, learning, math, numbers, patience, puppets, role model, running, school, science, surprises, teaching

Don't wake up mama another five little monkeys story

Christelow, Eileen

Five little monkeys wake early to make mama a birthday cake. But the five little monkeys must be careful not to wake mama or their surprise will be ruined -- can they do it?

Tags

accidents, assertiveness, birthday, conflict resolution, decision making, monkey, morning, party, siblings, surprises

The surprise party

Cohen, Lee

How do you tell Mom and Dad you love them? How about throwing them a surprise party? For Rip Squeak and his friends, Jesse, Abbey and Euripides, it's all part of a nonstop, fun-filled day where cleaning the house, baking a cake, and blowing up balloons becomes an adventure they'll never forget!

Tags

animals, baking, celebration, friendship, love, parents, surprises

Clever cat

Collington, Peter

Tibs, the cat, is tired of waiting for his family to feed him every morning, so he decides to start doing it himself!This encourages Tibs to embark on different adventures around town. Everyone thinks that Tibs is such a clever cat, but a turn of events makes Tibs wonder...is he really that clever?

A fine, fine school

Creech, Sharon

Mr. Keeene knows he has a fine school with great teachers and students. Since everyone is learning so much, he decides to have school on Saturdays, then Sundays, and then eventually all summer. Eventually, one student named Tillie tells Mr. Keene that they are not learning anything outside of school. Everyone is relieved when Mr. Keene announces the return of a normal school year.

Tags

careers, colors, Days of The Week, decision making, dog, family, happiness, holidays, learning, loneliness, play, pride, reading, repetition, school, shapes, siblings, skipping, summer, surprises, teaching, tree, worry, writing

Snowball

Crews, Nina

Each morning the children awake and anxiously look outside to see if it has snowed. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday go by and there's still no sign of snow!Friday is the children's last hope for a day of fun in the snow.

Tags

anticipation, bedtime, celebration, clouds, cold, Days of The Week, dreams, excitement, fun, goal setting, happiness, hope, morning, night, nonverbal communication, patience, photograph, playground, playing, school, sequence, sleep, snow, surprises, verbal communication, weather, winter

The duchess of whimsy: An absolutely delicious fairytale

de Seve, Randall

The Duchess of Whimsy is very well known to be extravagant, through her celebrations, clothing, and conversation. The Earl of Norm is quite the opposite; in fact the Duchess thinks he is rather ordinary. However her father tells her, their two kingdoms have to be friends. The Earl of Norm loves the Duchess of Whimsy and goes to extraordinary lengths to try to impress her, but none of them impress her. One night at supper the cook becomes sick, so all the Duchess' guests try to impress her with their cooking. However the one food that impresses her is the one ordinary food. Cooked by whom?

Tags

animals, assertiveness, attention, celebration, clothing, colors, conflict resolution, cooking, decision making, fairy, fantasy, feelings, food, friendship, giraffe, goal setting, humor, opposites, party, peer resistance, poetry, refusal skills, surprises

Merry christmas, strega nona

dePaola, Tomie

Strega Nona has a huge Christmas feast to prepare. How will she finish with untrustworthy Big Anthony as her only helper?Big Anthony will suprise us in the end!

Tags

assertiveness, celebration, christmas, conflict resolution, critical thinking, decision making, goal setting, holidays, italian, multicultural, surprises, traditions, verbal communication

Tyson the Terrible

Fox, Diane//Fox, Christyan

Tyson is rumored to be the most terrible dinosaur in all of Stone Valley. So, when three friends hear him coming they head for cover...until they see a tiny tyrannosaurus emerge. But is their new friend really Tyson the Terrible?

Tags

acceptance, animals, anticipation, beliefs, bias, comparisons, dinosaur, fear, feelings, loneliness, repetition, sadness, soccer, sounds, sports, surprises

The hickory chair

Fraustino, Lisa Rowe

Louis is born blind. He and his Gran play hide-and-seek or just sit and tell stories in her favorite old hickory chair. When Gran dies, her memory lives on through the gifts she leaves behind for her family.

Tags

blindness, correspondence, Days of The Week, death, family, feelings, five senses, flowers, games, giving, grandparents, loss, love, memories, nonverbal communication, play, relationship, shadows, smell, storytelling, surprises, touch, verbal communication

Dance, Tanya

Gauch, Patricia Lee

Tanya, the little sister, wants to dance just like her big sister. She watches her big sister during dance class and during a performance. One day, Tonya gets to join her sister at a dance class.

Tags

anticipation, dancing, excitement, exercise, family, feelings, grandparents, observation, parents, performance, siblings, surprises

Zorina ballerina

Gianni, Enzo

Zorina is considered too young to dance with the other elephants at the circus. The clowns, realizing how much Zorina wants to dance, teaches her. Modoc, the star elephant, becomes sick from eating too many peanuts. Zorina surprises everyone and dances so well that she becomes a star.

Tags

animals, circus, clowns, dancing, elephant, exercise, performance, persistence, surprises

The blue faience hippopotamus

Grant, Joan Marshall

A hippopotamus falls in love with an Egyptian princess. He finds a magician who turns him into a statue. The princess discovers the statue and there is a surprise ending.

Tags

acceptance, animals, assertiveness, baby, change, conflict resolution, critical thinking, decision making, egyptian, fable, feelings, hippopotamus, love, magic, multicultural, stress management, surprises, verbal communication, wish

Antonia's surprise

Gunthorp, Karen

Antonia has a big surprise for the picnic, but she needs her boat to get there quickly, and it is filled with holes. Will she get there before it is too late?!

Tags

amphibians, boat, decision making, frog, hard work, patience, picnic, surprises, transportation

Adam and the wolf

Gunthorp, Karen

Despite warnings not to go looking for strawberries because of the wolf, Adam goes anyway and finds a pleasant and unexpected friend.

Tags

animals, decision making, discovery, disobedience, food, friendship, nutrition, surprises, wolf, woods, worry

A summertime song

Haas, Irene

One summer evening a frog jumps into Lucy's room and invites her to a magical birthday party. Lucy goes outside and joins her animal friends in celebrating owl's birthday. While outside in the garden, Lucy discovers an old doll she recognizes as her grandmother's and returns it to the delighted woman.

Tags

animals, birds, birthday, car, cat, celebration, critical thinking, dolls, fear, feelings, frog, goal setting, happiness, mouse, owl, surprises, taxi, toys, transportation, verbal communication, worm

The surprise garden

Hall, Zoe

Three children eagerly wait to discover what marvelous plants will grow from the seeds they sowed.

Tags

animals, author's note, bee, birds, bluejay, butterfly, celebration, colors, dog, family, flowers, food, garden, health, helping, insects, ladybug, nature, nonverbal communication, nutrition, party, pets, plants, rabbit, seasons, siblings, summer, sun, surprises, teamwork, verbal communication, water

The seven silly eaters

Hoberman, MaryAnn

Mr. and Mrs. Peters have seven lovely children but they are all very picky eaters. Each child wants his or her particular food at every meal. Soon they discover a food that all the children will eat - Mrs. Peter's birthday cake made from a combination of everyone's favorite foods!

Tags

assertiveness, birthday, celebration, conflict resolution, differences, family, feelings, food, frustration, happiness, holidays, love, nonverbal communication, nutrition, parents, relief, siblings, surprises, verbal communication

What's in aunt mary's room

Howard, Elizabeth Fitzgerald

Susan and Sarah love to play what's in Aunt Mary's room? All great Aunt Flossie will say is: It's full of things to save, things to keep. One day the girls get to find out what's in Aunt Mary's room, and they get to learn about their ancestors in the process.

Tags

african american, books, death, family, games, imagination, multicultural, spiritual, surprises, traditions

Mac & marie & the train toss surprise

Howard, Elizabeth Fitzgerald

Mac and Marie receive a letter from Uncle Clem which says that he will toss them a package when his train passes their house. They anxiously await the arrival of the train in the field one summer night. When the train passes, they find a package and open it to find a conch shell from Florida!

Tags

anticipation, dreams, family, night, presents, siblings, surprises, train, transportation

Mary ann

James, Betsy

A moving of a best friend is sad for a young girl. She befriends a praying mantis and names it after her best friend. She must cope with the death of the mantis and the surprise at the end.

Tags

celebration, change, critical thinking, death, friendship, insects, loneliness, loss, moving, praying mantis, surprises, verbal communication

Grunter: A pig with an attitude

Jolley, Mike

Grunter is a pig with an attitude. He thinks he rules the little green farm. All of the other animals are sick of it! On his birthday, Grunter thinks everyone forgot him but they have decided to get their revenge. Before Grunter knows what's going on, he's blasted into outer space. Where will he end up now?

Tags

anger, animals, behavior, birds, birthday, bully, cat, celebration, chicken, dog, duck, farm, feelings, manners, misbehavior, mouse, overweight, pig, sadness, sheep, surprises, trick

Snow day!

Joosse, Barbara M.

Robby awakes to find school is cancelled because of snow. Many fun things happen on his unexpected day off.

Tags

activities, family, fun, parents, school, siblings, snow, surprises, weather

Jennie's hat

Keats, Ezra Jack

Jennie gets a hat from her aunt but it is very plain. Jennie is upset because it isn't as pretty as other hats. She tries to find a prettier hat. Finally, as Jennie is leaving church, the birds come and decorate it.

Tags

animals, birds, church, clothing, critical thinking, decision making, envy, nonverbal communication, presents, surprises, verbal communication

The mystery of eatum hall

Kelly, John//Ticknell, Cathy

Dr. Hunter invites Horace and Glenda Pork-fowler over to his house, Eatum Hall, for a weekend of gourmet food. They come over and realize Dr. Hunter won't be joining them until Sunday, so they eat and eat all weekend. In their cluelessness, they don't realize Dr. Hunter is a wolf.

Tags

animals, art, correspondence, decision making, exercise, food, goose, humor, mystery, overeating, overweight, pig, refusal skills, surprises, survival, swimming, trick, wolf

The magic dreidels: A hanukkah story

Kimmel, Eric A.

Instead of helping his family clean, Jacob plays with his new brass dreidel. Jacob's mom has had enough, so she sends Jacob to the well for a pail of water. At the well, Jacob meets a goblin who gives him two new magic dreidels.

Tags

assertiveness, celebration, cleanliness, conflict resolution, critical thinking, family, feelings, goblins, hanukkah, happiness, holidays, magic, mythical, parents, seasons, siblings, stress management, surprises, winter

I want my hat back

Klassen, Jon

A bear almost gives up his search for his missing hat until he remembers something important.

Tags

amphibians, animals, bear, clothing, concepts, deer, fox, frog, investigation, lost, manners, memory, rabbit, snake, surprises, turtle

Hooray, a pinata!

Kleven, Elisa

It's Clara's birthday, and she wants a pinata for her party. Clara, her mom, and her friend Samson go to the pinata store and Clara chooses a cute dog. Clara grows to love the dog and will not break him open. Samson saves the day by bringing another pinata to the party!

Tags

birthday, celebration, dog, family, feelings, friendship, grandparents, happiness, hispanic, love, multicultural, nonverbal communication, parents, pets, surprises, verbal communication

The red book

Lehman, Barbara

A friendship forms when two boys from different parts of the world find a magical red book. The boy from the urban city decides to use balloons to fly to the island where his new friend lives, but he accidentally drops the red book along the way. The boy on the island is disappointed when he can no longer view his city companion in the pages of the book, but is relieved when he lands on the beach instead! Back in the city, the red book is discovered by a man riding his bike on the street (A wordless book).

Tags

adventures, balloon, beach, bicycle, bodies of water, books, cold, correspondence, decision making, disappointment, discovery, emotions, excitement, feelings, fly, friendship, goal setting, happiness, island, maps, nonverbal communication, photograph, relationship, sadness, sand, school, sight, sky, snow, sun, surprises, transportation, travel, walking, weather

My farm

Lester, Alison

A young girl explains what goes on at her farm during each season. She longs for a pony and gets a wonderful surprise at Christmas.

Tags

animals, autumn, christmas, cow, farm, holidays, horse, pony, seasons, spring, summer, surprises, winter

Nine for California

Levitin, Sonia

A family travels across country to go live with their dad in California. Their trip is long but full of interesting adventures and surprises.

Tags

adventures, cowboys, critical thinking, family, parents, surprises, transportation, travel, verbal communication, wilderness

The birthday swap

Lopez, Loretta

Lori wants to find her older sister the perfect gift for her birthday. At the market, Lori learns that it's not easy to find the right gift. Little does Lori know that the best gifts can come to us when we least expect them. Why is this the year of the best birthday party ever?

Tags

animals, birthday, celebration, church, dancing, decision making, dog, exercise, family, food, giving, language, market, mexican, multicultural, nutrition, party, presents, shopping, siblings, sleep, spanish, surprises, verbal communication

Mice twice

Low, Joseph

A cat gets hungry and askes a mouse over to eat for dinner. Mouse brings a dog with her. The mouse and the cat try to outsmart each other but the mouse wins in the end.

Tags

alligator, animals, cat, dog, friendship, mischief, mouse, reptiles, surprises

The lunch box surprise

Maccarone, Grace

Sam's mother forgets to pack his lunch for school. So Sam's first grade friends come to the rescue.

Tags

anger, feelings, food, friendship, helping, nutrition, sadness, school, surprises, unselfish

My tooth is about to fall out

Maccarone, Grace

A little girl describes her wiggly tooth and all the places where she doesn't want it to fall out. Then, while she is eating spaghetti, the tooth falls into her bowl and a giant hole is left in her mouth. That night, she places the tooth that fell out under her pillow, and the Tooth Fairy leaves her a nice little surprise for her in the morning!

Tags

accomplishment, appearance, behavior, body parts, conflict resolution, decision making, excitement, growing up, loss, missing, nonverbal communication, patience, storytelling, surprises, teeth, tooth fairy, verbal communication

A sweater for Duncan (Un sueter para Duncan)

Malone, Margaret

Little Duncan penguin is proud of his fuzzy coat. He sticks out his chest as he waddles among the other penguins. He knows he is the handsomest one in the frozen south. Trouble jumps in when his fuzz flies off in clumps and floats on the wind like butterflies. His mother agrees to knit him a sweater, but will that solve the problem? The sweater is just too small. What is he to do? Finally, his mother leads him to a mirror like a piece of ice, where a happy surprise awaits. He is all grown up and is again the handsomest penguin in the frozen south.

Tags

animals, antarctica, author's note, clothing, family, identity, knitting, language, mirror, multicultural, nonverbal communication, parents, penguin, problem solving, self confidence, self esteem, sewing, spanish, surprises

Buzzy bear's winter party

Marino, Dorothy

Buzzy bear wants to see his first snow fall. He helps the little woodland creatures and birds get food and then makes a surprise for his father when he returns home.

Tags

animals, bear, birds, chipmunk, creativity, feelings, food, happiness, love, rabbit, seasons, squirrel, surprises, weather, winter

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Browse Items (105 items total)