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

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Papa's magical water-jug clock

Trejo, Jesus

Papa is working today so Jesus tags along to help him with planting, cutting grass, and trimming trees. The family business works on Saturdays too so Jesus is in charge of filling Papa's big water jug. The two work around the neighborhood with all the tools rattling in the work van, stopping to work in 14 yards. Does the water hold out for them even though Jesus splashes some water on his face and gives water to some animals. Even though Jesus panics when the water is gone by 10:30 am, Papa explains that Jesus is still part of the family business. At the end of the day, Papa says "Time and water are precious. We don't want to waste them".

Tags

animals, beverage, birds, calendar, community, counting, Days of The Week, family, fun, garden, hard work, humor, language, multicultural, neighbor, numbers, nutrition, parents, peacock, spanish, teamwork, tools, water

Dancing hands: A story of friendship in filipino sign language

Que, Joanna//Marquez, Charria

The new neighbors do not use their voices to speak. Their hands move in a rhythm to express their thoughts and feelings. Mai teaches her friend to communicate using her "hands to dance". The girls share their dreams and their aspirations for careers. Sam and Mai become best friends.

Tags

author's note, birds, body parts, butterfly, careers, communication, deafness, differences, disability, dreams, earth, filipino, friendship, gestures, insects, language, learning, multicultural, nature, neighbors, observation, plan, rhythm, sign language

Going fishing

McMillan, Bruce

A young boy from Iceland enjoys time with both of his grandfathers while fishing for two kinds of fish: Atlantic cod and Lumpfish. Photographs of the boats and fishing process bring the true joy of catching fish alive. The stamps and coins showing the two kinds of fish are emblematic of the Icelandic culture.

Tags

birds, boat, bodies of water, careers, clothing, correspondence, doctor, fish, fishing, geography, grandparents, Iceland, icelandic, language, money, numbers, ocean, photograph, seagull, sizes, stamps, transportation

Happy feet: The savory ballroom lindy hoppers and me

Michelson, Richard

A father loves to dance. He also loves to retell the story about the opening of the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. He works hard and saves money so he can put up a shoe shine sign for his own business. When his son is born that day, the new club opens to a sharp-dressing, happy-dancing people from all backgrounds with black people and white people dancing together. The son is named Happy Feet, and he too dreams of dancing at the legendary ballroom someday.

Tags

african american, author's note, body parts, business, car, cleanliness, clothing, community, dance, dancing, feelings, friendship, happiness, hard work, history, language, multicultural, music, new baby, party, performance, shoes, signs

A different pond

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.

Tags

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

Still dreaming = Seguimos sonando

Martinez, Claudia Guadalupe

Many workers from Mexico leave their homeland with their families to a land of opportunity where they dream to live a life without borders. A young boy and his parents drive their car far away until there are no city lights. Papa sings a sweet sad song on the side of the road where there are other people at a campfire. The boy eventually learns that the laborers worked in Alaska, Los Angeles, Michigan, Minnesota, Kansas, and Chicago, and they cross the border together to find answers to their dreams.

Tags

america, author's note, border, butterfly, California, car, farmer, fishing, food, geography, hard work, history, immigrants, language, maps, Mexico, moon, music, neighbors, newspaper, ship, sleep, spanish, stars, train, transportation, travel

A land of books: Dreams of young Mexihcah word painters

Topnatiuh, Duncan

Aztec artists living in Mesoamerica painted beautifully crafted books to keep the knowledge, culture, and history of the Mexihcah (also known as the Aztec). The process of making paper and obtaining dyes from plants, animals, and rocks is explained, then the way that a painter of words and images will share their work to be sung by a reader in a land of books.

Tags

art, author's note, books, calendar, careers, colors, culture, history, images, interpretation, language, native american, nature, sequence

Lily's garden of India

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.

Tags

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

Big dreams, small fish

Cohen, Paula

In this New York neighborhood, a store sells gefilte fish but no one wants to buy it. Shirley's family thinks she is too young to help market the gefilte fish. In a timely moment, Shirley gives a surprise to each customer who buys something from the store. The customers come back eager for gefilte fish - much to her parents' surprise.

Tags

animals, author's note, cat, cleanliness, culture, family, fish, food, glossary, Jewish, language, leadership, market, money, neighbors, numbers, photograph, problem solving, recipe, Yiddish

Nouns and verbs have a field day

Pulver, Robin

Mr. Wright’s class has a field day away from school! While the children are gone, the nouns and verbs want to play. At first, the nouns make teams with other nouns and the verbs make teams with other verbs. Both sides found out that they had to work together so the nouns formed teams with the verbs and the verbs formed teams with the nouns. They continued to play many games until Mr. Wright’s students came back from field day.

Tags

activities, adventures, cartoons, creativity, games, language, learning, literacy, relationship, school, signs, support, teaching, teamwork, writing

The great poochini

Clement, Gary

The Great Poochini lives with his owner, Hersh, and leaves at night to sing in the opera. Due to his talent, the Great Poochini is the lead singer and, on the night of the premiere, he is unable to leave his home. Then, after a robber breaks into Hersh's home and the Great Poochini scares him away, he makes it to the opera just in time for the show.

Tags

animals, italian, language, music, opera, performance, photograph, practice, robbery, shadows, singing

I am you: A book about ubuntu

Moahloli, Refiloe

Ubuntu is an ancient philosophy from many African cultures. The word promotes the idea that a person is known through other people - a concept of shared humanity, compassion, and oneness. Observe the many ways that we are all connected.

Tags

caring, community, dancing, differences, friendship, home, kindness, language, listening, love, lyrics, publisher's note, similarities, song, teasing, vision, walking

My father's shop

Ichikawa, Satomi

Mustafa's father sells beautiful carpets from all over the world in his shop. One day, a small hole was discovered in one of the carpets so Mustafa asks his father for that rug to play with. In order to get it, Mustafa has to learn different languages from his father so he can make successful sales with the customers. As different foreign customers walk by the colorful carpet over Mustafa's body outside the shop, he crows like a rooster in different languages. He is excited to run back to the shop to tell his father that he can speak rooster in five languages. And all the tourists follow right behind Mustafa into his father's shop!

Tags

careers, decision making, goal setting, language, market, money, multicultural, onomatopoeia, parents, problem solving, shopping

Nana, Nenek, & Nina

Ferneyhough, Liza

Nina enjoys her visits to her two grandmothers in Malaysia and in England. Nina compares the similarities and differences between the two and enjoys the special time with Nenek and Nana.

Tags

comparisons, england, family, grandparents, language, malaysia, travel

Seven spools of thread

Medearis, Angela

Whether working on their family farm or eating dinner, the seven Ashanti brothers always fight amongst themselves to the dismay of their father. However, when their father passed away, the seven Ashanti brothers were tasked with creating gold from seven different color spools of thread. After completing this seemingly impossible task by working together, the brothers taught their community the value of the lessons they learned.

Tags

african, argument, author's note, colors, communication, community, culture, fable, farm, ghana, language, peace, problem solving, siblings, success, support, teamwork, vocabulary, weaving

Escargot

Slater, Dashka

Escargot the snail is on its way to eating a beautiful salad while trying to convince others to say that snails are their favorite animal. Escargot is sad because, most of the time, people do not pick snails as their favorite. Even though snails leave a slimy trail, snails can be fast, they can be fierce, and they can be beautiful.

Tags

animals, behavior, body parts, caring, communication, conversation, courage, food, french, language, mollusks, recognition, relationship, sadness, shells, similarities, snail

The key from Spain: Flory Jagoda and her music

Levy, Debbie

Just as her ancestors were forced to leave Spain during the Inquisition, Flory flees Europe for a new life in the United States, bringing with her a precious harmonica and a passion for Ladino music.

Tags

american, Bosnian, christians, Croatian, dancing, generations, gymnastics, history, instruments, Jewish, ladino, language, multicultural, music, muslim, neighbors, numbers, prayers, pretend, refugee, sewing, ship, singing, song, spain, storytelling, time, train, transportation, war

We all play

Flett, Julie

Just as humans do, animals play and sleep too! Rabbits love to hide and hop while bears love to wiggle and wobble. As a result, all living things are connected and everyone maintains the responsibility to look out for each other.

Tags

activities, alliteration, animals, baby, bat, bear, birds, buffalo, colors, fox, goose, language, multicultural, native american, rabbit, seal, snake, turtle, wolf

At the dentist

Schuh, Mari

Lena goes to see Dentist Doug and Deb, the hygienist, because her teeth need a checkup. During her appointment, Deb explains good dental hygiene to Lena and, soon after, Deb takes x-rays of her teeth and cleans them. After Dentist Doug checks for cavities, Lena goes home and continues to brush and floss every day in order to maintain her healthy smile.

Tags

body parts, careers, child care, cleanliness, dentist, english, health, home, hygiene, language, protection, routine, spanish, teeth

Harmonica

Johnston, Tony

A young boy and his parents fill their home singing with the gramophone using music as a language of family love. When the Nazis invade Poland, the family is separated by adults and children into two concentration camps. The boy plays a harmonica his father gave him to bring back memories of this parents dancing to music by the composer Schubert. A commandant orders the boy to play his harmonica which he does, but not for the commandant. He tries to play loudly to comfort the starving people in the concentration camp.

Tags

conflict resolution, dancing, history, hunger, instruments, language, love, memories, music, nonverbal communication, parents, Poland, separation, singing, war

Vegetable dreams

Jeffers, Dawn

Erin dreams about having a garden. Her parents allow her to share a garden with her neighbor, Mr. Martinez. Erin cares for her garden everyday and enjoys eating and canning the fresh food with her family. She learns that she loves learning and the friendship developed with Mr. Martinez more than the vegetables themselves.

My food: Mi Comida

Emberrley, Rebecca

A colorful food is labeled in English and Spanish words. Do you like bananas, broccoli, plums, bread, and apples? Have you ever tasted eggs, cereal, tomatoes, noodles, and grapes? I like peanut butter and celery. Do you?

Tags

colors, food, fruit, identification, language, nutrition, spanish, vegetables, vocabulary

When it's six o'clock in San Francisco: A trip through time zones

Omololu, Cynthia Jaynes

Starting at 6 a.m. in San Francisco, travel across each time zone to learn what is going on in that location. Each time zone holds a descriptive excerpt about a life of a kid living there, accompanied by details of a meal that is eaten there too!

Tags

activities, africa, australia, bedtime, beverage, china, clock, comparisons, Days of The Week, europe, food, french, grandparents, language, morning, multicultural, nonfiction, north america, numbers, onomatopoeia, pakistan, rain, sequence, soccer, south america, sports, time, united states, weather, zone

What will you be, Sara Mee?

Avraham, Kate Aver

Cho, a young boy, wonders what his little sister Sara Mee will be? They celebrate Sara Mee's first birthday with a feast and music from Korea. Cho continues to try to figure out what his sister will be when she grows up.

Tags

america, author's note, bath, birthday, body parts, celebration, cleanliness, clothing, correspondence, customs, drawing, family, feelings, food, game, gender, generations, grandparents, growing up, imagination, Korea, korean, language, love, money, music, neighbors, new baby, nutrition, onomatopoeia, parents, party, prediction, sadness, siblings, toys, verbal communication, writing

The story of paper

Compenstine, Ying Chang

Paper is invented by three boys who had the need to write something down. The boys use bugs to make symbols in the dirt. Combining different home techniques such as making rice cakes and scrapping clothes, paper was invented. The three boys are successful and praised.

Tags

ant, author's note, body parts, chinese, counting, fable, fabric, fruit, game, grasshopper, insects, inventions, language, math, multicultural, numbers, recipe, siblings, symbols, teaching, toys, trees, village, water, work, worm, writing

Pastry school in Paris: An adventure in capacity

Neuschwander, Cindy

A family and their children travel to Paris and visit a pastry academy. The kids work with others to practice baking. When a situation arises, the kids are called to save the day by making brownies for the competition.

Papa's pastries

Toscano, Charles

Miguel and his father set out to sell their homemade pastries in the near by villages. Since money was scarce, Miguel's father decided that kindness was more important than money and was later repaid.

Tags

baby, body parts, careers, clothing, dancing, encouragement, faith, family, feelings, food, god, kindness, language, money, multicultural, parents, poverty, prayer, rest, sharing, singing, spanish, trust, village, worry

Home for Navidad

Cohen, Santiago

Rosa has not seen her mother in three years. Rosa's mother works to save money in America until she is finally able to come home for Navidad. The whole family can now celebrate the Christmas holiday in the small town in Mexico.

Tags

america, christmas, correspondence, dreams, family, farm, food, goal setting, grandparents, hard work, holidays, hope, language, market, math, mexican, Mexico, money, multicultural, nonverbal communication, numbers, parents, plants, poverty, pretend, routine, school, secrets, singing, sleep, song, spanish, sun, telephone, transportation, travel, truck, verbal communication, writing

Time to pray

Addasi, Maha

Yasmin visits her grandma for an unexpected visit that was very special. Yasmin learns about the traditional Muslim prayers. Yasmin receives a special gift that will help her remember the visit forever.

Tags

airplane, arabic, author's note, body parts, clothing, counting, fabric, family, grandparents, islam, language, market, mosque, muslim, numbers, patterns, prayer, sewing, sleep, transportation, travel

Can you say peace?

Katz, Karen

All different in their own language kids from around the world say peace differently in their own language. The international day of peace is worldwide and all the children spread peace. At the end of the day peace is universal.

Tags

america, bolivia, celebration, china, feelings, food, ghana, hope, india, iran, japan, language, maps, Mexico, peace, russia, safety, school

Beatrice's goat

McBrier, Page

Beatrice lives in Uganda and helps her mother care for her younger siblings. Money is scarce until Mugisa, a goat arrives. Mugisa provides milk, and the family is nourished by it. Mugisa's milk and babies provide enough money so Beatrice and her family can live a better life. Beatrice can afford her dream of attending school. This story has an afterwords by Hillary Rodhman Clinton.

Tags

africa, animals, birds, chicken, conflict resolution, dug, family, food, future, garden, goal setting, goat, hard work, helping, hope, hunger, language, leadership, learning, market, maturity, money, multicultural, poverty, presents, respect, school, siblings, uganda, village

Henry's first-moon birthday

Look, Lenore

Jenny is in charge of helping her grandmother prepare for the one-month birthday party of her baby brother, Henry. Henry's party is a Chinese celebration! Food and decorations are made to bring good luck, health, and happiness to Jenny's mother and brother. Each member of the family attends in celebration of Henry's first month of life.

Tags

baby, birth, birthday, body parts, celebration, chinese, cleanliness, clothing, culture, drawing, family, feelings, food, grandparents, happiness, health, heritage, holidays, language, luck, moon, nutrition, onomatopoeia, parents, party, responsibilities, reunion, self esteem, siblings, traditions, verbal communication, writing

Julia, child

Maclear, Kyo

Best friends, Julia and Simca, are little girls who love the art of French cooking. They wish to stay young with little worries and lots of marvelous times. They decide to share their recipes for growing young with grown-ups. These adults fear the youthful food will not last, so the girls must make a dessert and cookbook to remind the adults to enjoy life. Note: References to Julia Child are fictionalized even though she was a famous chef in France and the U.S.

Tags

aging, book, careers, conflict resolution, cooking, dreams, food, french, friendship, fun, goal setting, growing up, hunger, language, learning, multicultural, nonverbal communication, nutrition, problem solving, recipe, tools, worry, writing

Tashi and the Tibetan flower cure

Rose, Naomi C.

Tashi's Papola becomes ill and is bedridden. Tashi remembers a cure from her family's homeland in Tibet. Tashi works hard to resemble the Tibetan flower cure and surround her Papola with many flowers and caring people. Although Papola argues that the cure wont work in America, neighbors work together to bring flowers to Papola and make him better.

Tags

author's note, body parts, caring, cure, emotions, family, feelings, five senses, flowers, grandparents, health, illness, immigrants, language, love, medicine, multicultural, music, neighbors, plants, sadness, tibet, village

The story of noodles

Compestine, Ying Chang

The Kang family decides to switch up their usual annual cooking contest recipe from dumplings to 'noodles' with the help from their three rambunctious sons.

Silent movie

Avi,

This black and white picture book vividly portrays a historical time when immigrants set sail for America. They hope for better lives and dream of prosperity. This journey comes from the immigrant's perspective, in the form of a movie, where language is a not a barrier.

Tags

america, author's note, family, feelings, film, history, hope, illustrator's note, immigrants, language, money, multicultural, nonverbal communication, parents, poverty, sadness, shelter, siblings, sizes, stress management, sweden, symbols, theatre

Clifford y el dia de accion de gracias

Bridwell, Norman

Emily goes to visit her grandmother for the Thanksgiving holiday. Clifford is staying with neighbors and becomes homesick. He decides to visit his mother as a surprise.

Tags

animals, bodies of water, dog, family, food, grandparents, holidays, homesickness, language, nonverbal communication, parents, river, spanish, thanksgiving, train, transportation

Arturo escribe un cuento

Brown, Marc

A teacher gives Arthur and his class a writing assignment. Arthur goes from one topic to the next, thinking each one is not exciting enough. Each new topic becomes more funny than the last, until he writes his last copy.

Tags

aardvark, animals, books, critical thinking, family, grandparents, language, letters, library, parents, rabbit, restaurant, school, siblings, spanish, writing

Halmoni and the picnic

Choi, Sook Nyul

Yunmi wants her grandmother, Halmoni to feel at home in New York City. However, Halmoni is having trouble adjusting to the American customs that differ so much from the customs of her native Korea. Yunmi's friends suggest that Halmoni chaperone the annual class picnic to Central Park. It may be an opportunity to open-up and feel comfortable in her new home.

I have an olive tree

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.

Tags

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

Ruby's wish

Bridges, Shirin Yim

Ruby is known for wearing red and being an exceptionally bright student. Even during a time in China when ...most girls were never taught to read and write. However, Ruby's grandfather hires a teacher to come to the house, making it possible for any grandchild living in the house to learn. This initiates a desire in Ruby to attend university, a place that women in China were not encouraged to go.\r\n*Based on a true story of the author's grandmother.

Tags

acceptance, accomplishment, ambition, appreciation, art, asian, assertiveness, beliefs, change, china, chinese, conflict, conflict resolution, courage, culture, customs, decision making, dedication, depression, determination, disappointment, emotions, encouragement, equality, excitement, family, frustration, generations, giving, goal setting, grandparents, happiness, independence, individuality, intelligence, kindness, language, learning, listening, new year, nonverbal communication, obedience, parade, patience, persistence, poetry, prevention, progress, reading, recognition, refusal skills, relationship, relief, resentment, resolution, role model, school, self confidence, self esteem, skills, stress management, support, symbols, sympathy, teaching, traditions, understanding, verbal communication, wealth, wish, writing

When Catherine the Great and I were eight!

Best, Cari

Sara, her mother, and Russian grandmother Catherine the Great, pile into Mr. Minsky's car along with a few of their other neighbors. They make their way to the beach to escape the heat of the hot summer day. Although they find it takes longer than planned to reach the beach, everyone has fun along the way.

Alicia has a bad day

Jahn-Clough, Lisa

Since Alicia is typically a very happy little girl that likes to be silly, she does not like the miserable feeling she experiences one morning. Alicia first handles her emotions by sitting and moping. Later she goes outside to write about her dark and dreary feelings in her notebook, only to be interrupted by a storm. After some alone time under her bed and a lick from her dog, Alizie realizes the world is not so lugubrious and goes outside to play.

Tags

anger, animals, awareness, clouds, coping, creativity, dog, emotions, feelings, hope, language, pets, playing, rain, sadness, weather, wood

Rachel, a Hutterite girl

Maendel, Rachel

A young Hutterite girl named Rachel explores her farm home. On her journey, she learns facts about the natural world as well as the social traditions and cultural customs of her Hutterite family and community.

Tags

animals, bull, chicken, cow, customs, dutch, family, farm, friendship, german, goose, grandparents, language, multicultural, neighbors, parents, pets, quakers, religion, responsibilities, siblings, unselfish

Dot, el perron bombero

Desimini, Lisa

Dot, a fire dog, lives everyday with the firefighters. She puts on gear with the firemen when the alarm sounds. She saves a kitten. She does everything the firemen do.

Tags

animals, careers, dog, fire, fire engine, language, multicultural, nonverbal communication, rescue, safety, spanish, stress management, transportation, water

Mathematickles

Franco, Betsy

Explore the magic of each season through mathematical equations. Discover things in nature that have mathematical qualities.

Tags

autumn, change, counting, critical thinking, cycle, decision making, education, language, learning, math, nature, numbers, poetry, problem solving, riddle, seasons, sequence, spring, summer, winter

One candle

Bunting, Eve

A Jewish family spends Hanukkah that same way every year. Traditions are passed from generation to generation. After a family meal, grandma and great-aunt Rose tell their story. One very special candle is lit in honor of their memories.

Tags

family, feelings, food, generations, grandparents, hanukkah, history, holidays, Jewish, language, memories, multicultural, nutrition, parents, prayer, sadness, siblings, stars, storytelling

Three cheers for catherine the great!

Best, Cari

A family moves from Russia to America. The grandma of the family has a birthday and she does not want presents. Her grand-daughter spends hours trying to figure out the perfect no present for her grandma.

Monsoon

Krishnawami, Uma

A young girl in India waits with her family and friends for the monsoon season to begin. The importance of the monsoon in her culture is revealed to the radio, television, newspaper, and stories of the people.

Tags

animals, author's note, cow, exercise, faith, family, feelings, food, games, hindu, india, language, market, monsoon, multicultural, newspaper, ox, radio, rain, seasons, taxi, television, temple, transportation, weather

The remembering stone

Russell, Barbara Timberlake

As Ana holds the speckled lava stone (the remembering stone) that her mother has given her, she falls asleep and dreams of being able to fly like the blackbirds in their garden to her mother's homeland of Costa Rica to see their family. She awakens in the morning and joins her mother as they greet the blackbirds in their garden. Ana can almost feel herself lifting off the ground as they take flight.

Tags

birds, blackbird, celebration, costa rica, culture, dreams, family, feelings, food, friendship, grandparents, hispanic, hope, jewelry, language, multicultural, nutrition, parents, spanish, travel, verbal communication, vocabulary, volcano

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