Book Finder

A brightly colored and intricately detailed space shuttle prepares for liftoff, then shoots into space, leaving Earth’s atmosphere and going into orbit.

The individual cars of a long freight train — each a different color — travel through the country and past cities. Building speed as it goes, colors blur until the train again slows. This seemingly simple book provides a memorable journey for young readers.

Mother duck needs help to find her mischievous missing duckling in this Caldecott Honor Book. She asks the other pond animals for help (though the missing one is never lost, only cleverly concealed in each picture).

Celebrate Mother’s Day every day. This celebration of the bond between mothers and their babies can be shared at naptime or bedtime or whenever it is time to say “I love you.”

Miss Clavel has her hands full with her young students: twelve little girls of whom the youngest is Madeline. Madeline’s fearlessness often causes Miss Clavel great consternation as they travel around Paris in two straight lines!

This story of an Inuit child testing the limits of her independence, and a mother who reassuringly proves that a parents love is unconditional and everlasting. Beautiful illustrations of Alaska and the characters convey the cultural richness of this timeless story.

What will happen when the sheep go trick-or-treating? Could there be wolves lurking in the woods, hoping to waylay them as they return home with their bags full of goodies? In crisp verse and whimsically eerie pictures, Nancy Shaw and Margot Apple tell the lively story of a remarkable Halloween adventure. Simple sentences, rhyming text, and a humorous tone make this the perfect treat for beginning readers.

It’s bedtime for an ewe and her lamb, a cow and her calf and for a mother and her child. Watercolor illustrations show mothers and their babies settling in for the night.

That silly puppy Spot! He’s hiding from his mom right before supper and so she — with the reader’s help — must find him by looking in, under, and behind commonplace objects. Start the search by lifting sturdy flaps until Spot is found.

A day in the life of parent and child-full of smiles and giggles, messes and meals, boundless energy and well-earned rest. Not to mention lots of love. Here, in simple rhyming verse accompanied by colorful, playful illustrations by world-renowned artist Satomi Ichikawa, is one such day. Share it with others and treasure the memories.

Have you ever wondered what a small red puppy might do on Halloween? Read this story about young Clifford to find out.

Follow Clifford the Small Red Puppy as he experiences Valentine’s Day for the first time.

Clifford the Big Red Dog is everyone’s best friend. Now, when it’s time to go to school, Clifford will be right there beside you, learning about colors, numbers, shapes, and the letters of the alphabet. Clifford’s Schoolhouse is a big house-shaped board book with more than 60 flaps to lift.

When a boy’s toy dinosaurs come to life, a whole new world is created in his bathtub. No words are needed as the adventure grows and then recedes when his mother brings him back to the real world. Black lines on crisp white pages effectively convey the child’s fantasy and his reality. Dinosaur names appear on the endpaper to the book.

Delightful dinosaurs strut, jaunt, and parade across the sturdy pages of this book to the rhythm of a gently rhyming text. Young children respond to the lively language and illustrations in which dinosaurs introduce new words and ideas.

Some dinosaurs have long necks, some have long tails. Some dinosaurs are large, some are quite small. All are introduced in broad, simple shapes and bright colors with a minimum of text to create a non-threatening introduction to a broadly appealing subject.

A bear family raises an American flag before they travel to New York City, Washington, DC, and points in between. Ultimately they return to their own “home sweet home” wrapped in a cozy bear hug. First published in 1938, the classic song “God Bless America” is illustrated in this unabashedly patriotic picture book in a humorous but respectful way. Designed to inspire and enlighten, the book is also accompanied by a CD of the song performed by Barbara Streisand.

In each of these three short, colorfully illustrated stories, the grandmother loves her Little Pumpkin as only a doting grandmother can. Chubby, multi-ethnic children are brightly portrayed in sparkling watercolors.

A boy and his father, shown as African Americans in warmly hued illustrations, enjoy doing everyday activities together, from laundry to sharing a book and more. The simple pleasures of family life are conveyed affectionately through easy but flowing language and realistic paintings in a sturdy format.

Daisy, a winsome young duck, never looses faith that her new sibling will emerge from the egg, despite her mother’s warning that some eggs just don’t hatch. Daisy’s perseverance pays off when her new brother Pip finally pokes his way out of the shell. Cozy illustrations capture Daisy’s child-like confidence in an appealing story of determination and loyalty.

A farmer dreams that his farm and his five animals get covered by a fresh blanket of Christmas snow. But when he awakens, he discovers that real snow – not dream snow – has fallen, making his Christmas dream come true.

Cutouts preview each dazzlingly colored fish as they swim through the pages of this appealing counting book.

Children will wiggle, whirl, romp, and stomp along with the animals in this engaging and radiantly illustrated board book. The easy text encourages verbal and physical participation.

This is a great bedtime story for reading with your children or, in my case, my grandchildren. This lovely book has become a reference point for expressing our love for one another. Sometimes, Alexis says “I love you all the way up to my toes.” And, sometimes, Kasie says “I love you right up to the moon.” And sometimes I say “I love you right up to the moon… and back.”