Children's Picture Book Database at Miami University

My best friend | by Fogliano, Julie

Two girls become friends and realize that they are able to make each other smile and laugh. They both enjoy doing the same gardening and creative gardening and creative activities and, despite some of their differences, they value each other's company. They are best friends and their relationship will continue to grow for many years to come.

Keywords: body parts, drawing, feelings, food, friendship, games, garden, kindness, love, plants, play, tree, writing

One little bag: An amazing journey | by Cole, Henry

Beginning as a tree in the forest, a paper bag is made and given to a little boy as he shops in the market. Over time, the boy reuses this bag, meets his wife, and has a baby. One day, the baby's grandfather passes away, and instead of carrying the bag around, they plant a tree in it to honor the family member they lost.

Keywords: art, bedtime, car, children, emotions, forest, grandparents, instruments, library, love, music, photograph, plants, reading, recycling, symbols, transportation, tree, truck, wedding, woods

The coquies still sing: A story of home, hope, and rebuilding | by Gonzalez, Karina Nicole

After a terrible hurricane, the family garden is gone and there's no electricity or running water. The mango tree still stands brown and bare, and the native tree frogs stop singing their song. As the family starts the island clean up around their Puerto Rican home, the native coqui's song begins a slow resurgence months after the devastation of Hurricane Maria.

Keywords: amphibians, animals, author's note, books, destruction, electricity, emergency, feelings, frog, garden, grandparents, hope, hurricane, illustrator's note, light, love, neighbors, plants, puerto rico, radio, rain, seed, song, stars, tree, weather

Farmhouse | by Blackall, Sophie

A farmhouse reveals many adventures and memories where twelve children once grew up, worked, and played. There are many reasons to enjoy the farmhouse during the changes of the seasons -- and many stories that will continue to be told through this book.

Keywords: activities, animals, art, author's note, bedtime, books, chores, conflict, correspondence, cow, farm, food, home, instruments, music, photography, plants, playing, seasons, siblings, sleep, tree

A different pond | by Phi, Bao

A young boy accompanies his dad to catch fish for food before the sunrises and before other family members awake. The dad tells the bait man at the all-night store that he is starting a second job. The boy meets a Hmong man and a black man who are also fishing -- but this time, it is just the boy and his dad under the starlit sky. The boy learns to make a fire and to bait his hook and to honor the stories of his Dad as he explains how life was in Vietnam when he was a boy. When they return home, the dad and mom head to work while the boy looks after his brothers and sisters.

Keywords: african american, author's note, bicycle, bodies of water, counting, feelings, fire, fishing, food, hard work, hmong, illustrator's note, language, learning, loss, morning, multicultural, photograph, pond, poverty, refugee, responsibilities, sadness, siblings, sleep, storytelling, teeth, tree, vietnamese, war, work

From the tops of the trees | by Yang, Kao Kalia

Four year old Kalia wants to know what is beyond the fences of the Ban Sinai Refugee Camp where many Hmong families are held in Thailand after fleeing the Secret War in Laos. Kalia and her cousins play together by racing with chickens and riding a pet dog. One day, Kalia's father picks her up to hold her in his arms as he climbs a tall tree in the camp. This gives Kalia a chance to see a new and different world.

Keywords: animals, body parts, clothing, Days of the Week, dog, fear, feelings, food, hmong, hygiene, perspective, refugee, sewing, Thailand, travel, tree, war

Lily's garden of India | by Smith, Jeremy

Lily's adventure through her mother's garden provides her with a discovery of plants and trees from India. Indian festivals and a glossary of plants are shared after her journey.

Keywords: africa, bodies of water, body parts, celebration, clothing, Diwali, festival, france, fruit, garden, glossary, hindi, india, language, multicultural, plants, river, storytelling, symbols, temple, tree

Ain't nobody a stranger to me | by Grifalconi, Ann

As a girl and her grandfather walk to the family’s apple orchard, grandfather shares his experiences as a slave to explain how the apple orchard came to be. Her grandfather traveled north in pursuit of freedom and encountered members of the Underground Railroad who helped their family by providing food, shelter, and transportation. This allowed her grandfather, grandmother, and mother to cross the Ohio River and gain freedom, working until they had enough money to buy land and start their own apple orchard.

Keywords: ambition, bodies of water, challenges, courage, freedom, future, grandparents, growth, happiness, hard work, helping, kindness, memories, neighbors, plants, progress, protection, river, shelter, slavery, tree, underground railroad

Hopper's treetop adventure | by Pfister, Marcus

Hopper the rabbit meets a young squirrel searching for his buried nuts. Hopper agrees to help the squirrel find his nuts if he agrees to what they find. The rabbit and squirrel find more then just hazel nuts; they find friendship. Each had to give and take in order to grow their friendship.

Keywords: animals, baby, compromise, conflict resolution, deer, discovery, family, fear, feelings, friendship, goal setting, parents, problem solving, rabbit, seasons, self esteem, sharing, spring, squirrel, tree, verbal communication, woodpecker

What planet are you from, Clarice Bean? | by Child, Lauren

Clarice Bean is having a hard time coming up with an idea for her project on the environment. To make matters worse, she is paired up with her tag-along neighbor, Robert Granger. Her situation looks hopeless until her brother becomes an ecowarrior in an effort to free the tree from being cut down in their neighborhood. Robert and Clarice become ecowarriors themselves, saving the tree and their project.

I have an olive tree | by Bunting, Eve

On Sophia's seventh birthday, her grandfather gave her an olive tree. Sophia is a little disappointed by the gift and doesn't understand why her grandfather would give her an olive tree that she can't even see. After all, it is Greece and she lives in California! It isn't until her grandfather passes away that Sophia truly understands the importance and meaning of the gift when she and her mother visit the olive tree in Greece.

Keywords: appreciation, birthday, communication, community, culture, customs, dedication, disappointment, emotions, exploration, family, feelings, generations, geology, giving, grandparents, greece, greek, grief, immigrants, instruments, language, learning, loss, love, memories, memory, misunderstanding, music, parents, plants, presents, resentment, sadness, traditions, travel, tree, understanding, verbal communication

Saying goodbye to Lulu | by Demas, Corinne

A young girl copes with the death of her childhood dog. She loves the dog very much. She remembers when the dog was younger. She overcomes the loss of her dog and remembers him, even shares her memories with her new puppy.

Keywords: aging, animals, blindness, deafness, death, dog, emotions, feelings, health, love, loyalty, memories, parents, sadness, tree

Summersaults | by Florian, Douglas

Through the use of many rhyming and descriptive words, each poem highlights good, bad, fun, and crazy times during the summer.

Keywords: bee, colors, flowers, fly, insects, nonverbal communication, poetry, rhyme, seasons, summer, swinging, tree, vocabulary

Our tree named Steve | by Zweibel, Alan

A father writes a letter to his children about the tree that they named Steve years ago, which they has insisted on not cutting down when building their new home. The children had formed a strong bond with Steve and now, years later, the tree has fallen down in a storm. Through the friendship with Steve, the children learned about the importance of home, family and relationships.

Keywords: aging, animals, appreciation, camping, caring, change, closeness, community, correspondence, critical thinking, death, decision making, dedication, destruction, emotions, family, friendship, goal setting, home, rain, relationship, seasons, storm, tree, verbal communication, weather

One small place in a tree | by Brenner, Barbara

A bear scratches the bark of a tree; beetles form small openings; a woodpecker eats the beetles; bacteria takes over the tree and a small hole is formed. Although the tree is dying, this small hole is still a home for many animals. Both living and dying trees are important as shelter and home to living organisms.

Keywords: aging, amphibians, animals, autumn, bear, beetle, birds, birth, bluebird, change, critical thinking, death, frog, home, insects, mouse, nature, nonverbal communication, rain, safety, seasons, snake, snow, spider, spring, squirrel, summer, tree, weather, wildlife, wind, winter, woodpecker

Big jabe | by Nolan, Jerdine

Momma Mary goes back in time and tells stories of a unique young man named Jabe, who is responsible for creating magic among the slaves of the Plenty Plantation. He is described as a hero with the strength of fifty men, a big heart, and a wondrous gift at leading slaves away to freedom.

Keywords: african, african american, animals, bee, chicken, cow, fable, fantasy, feelings, fish, fishing, flood, food, freedom, generations, happiness, heroism, horse, hunger, magic, multicultural, mystery, nonverbal communication, plants, recreation, river, slavery, storytelling, tornado, tree, uniqueness, unselfish, weather, wind

Chicka chicka 123 | by Martin, Bill Jr. & Sampson, Michael

Numbers 1 through 20 race to the top of the apple tree. Then they joined by 30,40, and so on until 90 reaches the top of the tree. Just as the fun is about to continue, bumblebees return to their tree and tell the letters to get out. The letters quikly scurry from the tree in reverse order leaving 10 at the top of the tree. 0 decides to be brave and leaps to join 10 at the top of the tree to make 100.

Keywords: bee, counting, insects, numbers, rhyme, sequence, tree

Hip, hug, hooray! | by Tangvald, Christine

Do you know how many types of hugs there are? Look and learn how hugs are imporatant everywhere and everyday.

Keywords: activities, affection, animals, baby, bath, beach, bedtime, birds, birthday, books, caring, celebration, church, cleanliness, climbing, dog, family, feelings, food, friendship, glasses, god, grandparents, happiness, hygiene, lake, library, love, night, parents, party, picnic, playground, rabbit, rain, reading, religion, sand, seasons, sheep, snow, soccer, sports, squirrel, storytelling, summer, swimming, tree, umbrella, weather, winter

Best best colors | by Hoffman, Eric

Nate finds it difficult to decide which color is his favorite. Every time he sees a new color, he likes it better than the other. He learns that he can have more than one favorite color.

Keywords: animals, art, author's note, birds, bluejay, cat, caterpillar, clothing, colors, comparisons, conflict, conflict resolution, differences, dreams, family, fight, fish, flood, flowers, language, ocean, picnic, rabbit, rainbow, rocks, shopping, sky, spanish, stereotypes, tiger, tree, turtle, whale

May'naise sandwiches & sunshine tea | by Belton, Sandra

Big Mama shares family memories of her childhood with her grandchild about a special friendship she had with Bettie Jean. Little Miss and Big Mama share the pages of a scrapbook which tells the favorite story of May'naise sandwiches and sunshine tea.

Keywords: african american, books, careers, clothing, dancing, dentist, doctor, dreams, flowers, food, friendship, garden, hunger, imagination, memories, nutrition, parents, photograph, picnic, play, rain, running, school, sun, teaching, technology, telephone, tree, water

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