Reading aloud to a child is a wonderful way to help him or her acquire the habit of reading. We hope that you will enjoy sharing some of the picture books on this list with your beginning reader.

Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears

An African "why" story that tell how mosquitoes came to have such an annoying buzz.

Black Is Brown Is Tan

Describes in verse a family with a brown skinned mother, white-skinned father, two children and their various relatives.

The Adventures of Burt

Bert is a victim–of the fates, of misunderstandings, of his two left feet–but he is also an agent of good, a man of pluck, ever an optimist.

A Bit More Bert

Bert receives a disastrous haircut, loses his dog, and discovers there are many other Berts in the worlds.

Feelings

Pictures, dialog, poems, and stories portray various emotions we all feel: jealousy, sadness, fear, anger, joy, love, and others.

Anno's Counting Book

This book begins with zero and shows a landscape in which details gradually accumulate and time passes as well.

Green Wilma

One morning Wilma wakes up and finds she has turned into a frog. Her parents don't know what to do with her and things are not much better at school.

Goose

Hatched far from the nest, a little gosling is loved enormously by her adopted family of woodchucks. Sometimes she feels sad and different, but everything changes when she finds out she can fly.

The Adventures of Taxi Dog

When a New York City taxicab driver befriends a stray dog, his life changes over-night from one of loneliness to days filled with happy adventures.

Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing

Pictures of animals wearing clothes show why this would be a ridiculous custom for them to adopt.

Madeline

This story of twelve little schoolgirls in Paris is told in rhyming couplets and illustrated boldly from a child's point of view.

The Five Chinese Brothers

A humorous picture book account of five brothers who evade execution because of their unusual physical traits.

The Case of the Scaredy Cats

When little ‘scaredy’ cat Annie disappears it’s another baffling case for detectives Wizard, Tubby, Skinny and Snitch.

Jim and the Beanstalk

This giant needs love and understanding, glasses, and a wig, and especially to be rescued by the valiant Jim.

Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper

A beautifully illustrated version of this classic tale.

Ashley Bryan’s ABC of African American Poetry

Exuberant, vibrant paintings illustrate this imaginative alphabet book designed to introduce readers to 26 African-American poets.

Cloudland

Hiking in the mountains with his parents, Albert trips and falls off a cliff. Luckily for Albert, the cloud children who teach him to jump, make music, swim, paint and race in the sky catch him.

Would You Rather?

A series of comical choices such as "Would you rather eat spider stew or slug dumplings or mashed worms?" ends with an invitation to bed.

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel, Mary Ann, feel useless but happily find a new home.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

The story of a winsome caterpillar who eats his way through holes in the book while introducing themes of counting, days of the week, and the life cycle of the butterfly.

Hooray For Me!

Explores an individual's relationship to family, friends, and even pets.

The Boy Who Didn’t Believe in Spring

Two skeptical city boys set out to find spring, which they’ve heard, is "just around the corner."

This book shows how two parents cherish their toy child even more after he has been lost and found.

Angelina and the Princess

Angelina is too sick to dance well during the tryouts for the lead in the "Princess of Mouseland" ballet, but when the leading ballerina sprains her foot, Angelina is ready to prove she is still the best dancer of all.

Big Mama’s

Welcome to Cottondale, where fun, adventure, and family love await. Down on Big Mama’s farm everything is just the same, and everything is just as it should be during the hot, endless, wonderful days of summer.

Don’t Need Friends

After his best friend moves away, Rat rudely rebuffs the efforts of the residents of the junkyard to be friendly, until he and a grouchy old dog decide they need each other.

Jamie O’Rourke and the Pooka

When Jamie O’Rourke’s wife leaves him alone for a week, it’s up to him to do the housework. When a magic Pooka arrives unexpectedly and starts to do the dishes and sweep the house, Jamie thinks that he’s maybe the luckiest man in Ireland.

When Strega Nona leaves him along with her magic pasta pot, Big Anthony is determined to show the townspeople how it works.

Was It a Good Trade?

Never satisfied with what he has, a man trades away a knife, a shoe, and even his wife, all the while wondering if he had made a good trade.

Abuela

While riding on a bus with her grandmother, a little girl imagines that they are carried up into the sky and fly over the sights of New York City.

Alligator Shoes

An alligator with an interest in footwear spends the night in a shoe store trying on the merchandise.

Feathers for Lunch

A humorous backyard adventure follows the foibles of a sneaky, hungry cat that attempts to catch some tasty birds for lunch.

Big Ben

When Ben’s sister Robin, in grade five, and his brother Joe, in grade three, bring report cards home from school, he feels left out because there are no report cards in pre-school.

Drummer Hoof

The text was adapted from a Mother Goose rhyme and concerns a boisterous group effort to fire off a cannon.

Angus and the Ducks

The story of a very young dog that is curious about many places and many things. The ducks, however, do not appreciate being the object of his interest.

Corduroy

The tale of a plain department store bear badly in need of a home. In order to present his best appearance, Corduroy searches the store after hours to replace a missing button on his overalls.

Millions of Cats

A lonely old man and a lonely old woman just want a kitten to love. The old man trudges over hills and valleys until he comes to a hill that is covered with cats. How can he choose which one to take home?

Rumplestiltskin

A strange little man helps the miller's daughter spin straw into gold for the king on the condition that she will give him her first-born child.

Not So Rotten Ralph

Sarah's mischievous cat, Rotten Ralph, is sent to feline finishing school, but Sarah finds she liked him better the way he was.

Why the Sky Is Far Away: A Nigerian Folktale

People used to be able to take a piece of the nearby sky to eat, but when they became wasteful, the angry sky moved upward, out of reach.

Night on Neighborhood Street

A collection of poems exploring the sounds, sights and emotions enlivening a city neighborhood during the course of one evening.

Grandpa and Bo

Young Bo spends the summer with his grandfather in the country and has a wonderful time.

Lily, the extroverted mouse with a red bow on her tail, stars in his hilariously funny, realistic portrait of sibling jealously.

One Afternoon

Minho and his mother have a busy afternoon doing errands in the neighborhood.

Bread and Jam for Frances

Frances insists on eating only her favorite food, bread and jam, until, gently guided by her parents, she decides that she prefers a more interesting menu.

26 Letters and 99 Cents

One half of the book presents the alphabet in glistening, brilliantly colored upper-and lower-case letters with photographs of one object for each letter. The other half depicts coins arranged to make up sums form one to ninety- nine cents.

This fine collection of poems celebrates virtually every kind of family possible. From large family to small, adoptive mother, single father, half brother, and stepsister--we're all included in this witty and thoughtful book.

Danny and the Dinosaur

When Danny goes to the museum a dinosaur miraculously comes to life, and he and the boy set out on a day's adventures.

The Garden that We Grew

Children plant pumpkin seeds, water and weed the garden patch, watch the pumpkins grow, pick them, and enjoy them in various ways.

The Leaf Men: And the Brave Good Bugs

When an old, old woman falls ill at the same time that her beloved rosebush grows sickly the garden’s good bugs take the advice of a toy and summon the Leaf Man.

The Wolf's Chicken Stew

A hungry wolf's attempts to fatten a chicken for his stewpot have unexpected results.

The Snowy Day

A young boy in his red snow suit discovers the fun of dragging a stick and making tracks in the snow.

Ferdinand

The story of a gentle young bull who prefers solitude and smelling flowers to the company of his fellow ruffian bulls. When stung by a bee his subsequent behavior is misinterpreted and he is quickly transported to Madrid for a bull fight.

A Is for Salad

Each letter of the alphabet is presented in an unusual way such as: "A is for salad" show an alligator eating a bowl of greens.

Frederick

A shy, poetic field mouse refuses to help harvest food for the approaching winter because he is busily gathering images and words to describe the seasons.

Harley

Because Harley, the llama, does not get along with other llamas, he becomes a guard llama, protecting the sheep from hungry coyotes and befriending a cantankerous ram.

The Arnold Lobel Book of Mother Goose

Frog, impulsive and sometimes bossy, and Toad, cautious and sometimes gloomy, may have contrasting personalities, but still find a way to be good friends to each other.

What! Cried Granny: An Almost Bedtime Story

When her grandson Patrick arrives for his first sleepover, Granny’s resourceful efforts to provide him with a bed, a pillow, and other necessities result in a sleepless night for both of them.

George and Martha

A collection of five vignettes about two hippopotamuses that have a unique friendship.

Pretend You're a Cat

Rhyming verses ask the reader to purr like a cat, scratch like a dog, leap like a squirrel, and bark like a seal.

Hondo and Fabian

Hondo the dog gets to go to the beach and play with his friend Fred, while Fabian the cat spends the day at home.

Blueberries for Sal

A bear cub and its mother look for blueberries on the same hill as Sal and her mother.

Milne, A.A.

A collection of poems.

The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash

In this very silly, cumulative tale, a class trip to a farm turns out to be anything but dull when young Jimmy brings his pet boa constrictor along!

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

Things come full circle in this chain of events which is begun when a young boy gives a cookie to a charming mouse.

Amelia Bedelia

Amelia Bedilia is a wacky, literal-minded housekeeper who constantly misinterprets instructions in the dozen or so books about her.

The New Kid on the Block

These poems are inhabited by unforgettable creatures such as the Slyne, the Gloopy Gloppers, and Baloney Belly Billy. Amusing and entertaining, they also lend expression the to difficulties and frustrations of childhood.

Curious George

Several books chronicle the adventures of this tailless monkey who cannot seem to stay out of trouble.

Horton Hatches the Egg

Horton, an elephant, agrees to sit on a bird's egg while the flighty, irresponsible mother takes a long vacation.

Nate the Great

Nate is a nine-year-old, pancake eating detective who solves neighborhood mysteries with the help of his faithful dog, Sludge.

Gregory, the Terrible Eater

Gregory, the goat, is a terrible eater. His parents try to give him well-balanced meals of rugs, old shoes, boxes, and bottle caps, but Gregory refuses to eat, stating he would prefer some fruits, vegetables, eggs, and fish.

Caps for Sale

A peddler falls asleep under a tree and finds that all of his caps have been stolen by some very mischievous monkeys who are unwilling to return them to their owner.

Window Music

A child and her mother ride a train from the country to the city in this book that is much more about the journey than the destination.

Joseph Had a Little Overcoat

Joseph had a little overcoat, but it was full of holes–just like this book.

The Polar Express

A boy who travels to the North Pole is given a bell that can be heard only by those who are willing to believe the impossible- that is, in Santa Claus.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Did you ever have one of those days where things just go from bad to worse? The boy in this story watches his day deteriorate before his very eyes.

Ira Sleeps Over

Ira has his first sleepover but can't decide whether or not to bring his teddy bear along.

Bunny Cakes

Max makes an earthworm cake for Grandma's birthday and helps Ruby with her angel surprise cake. At the store, the grocer can't read the entire shopping list, until Max solves the problem by drawing a picture.

Max's Dragon Shirt

On a shopping trip to the department store, Max's determination to get a dragon shirt leads him away from his distracted sister and into trouble.

Fireman Small

Every time he gets into bed, Fireman Small is called to rescue some animal in trouble.

The Emperor and the Kite

When the Emperor is imprisoned in a high tower, his smallest daughter, whom he had always ignored, uses her kite to save him.

How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon?

Laughter is the best medicine for pouting Parasaurolophuses to tricky Tropeognathuses and many other ailing dinosaurs.

How Do Dinosaurs Say Good-night?

Mother and child ponder the different ways a dinosaur can say good-night, from slamming his tail and sulking to giving a big hug and kiss.

Seven Blind Mice

Bold primary colors help depict the seven blind mice as they each set out to investigate the elephant that is standing near the pond.

Harry, the Dirty Dog

Harry hides his scrubbing brush and richly enjoys one totally dirty day.