In this Magic Tree House book, siblings Jack and Annie time travel to ancient Greece to help Alexander the Great, successfully read by the book’s author.
Stallion by Starlight
There’s something for every member of the family in this carefully selected and expertly performed poetry by a well-known mother-daughter team.
Treasury for All Seasons: Poems and Songs to Celebrate the Year
Anna Hibiscus and her life in contemporary Africa come to life occasionally using authentic-sounding accents to create a strong sense of place.
Hooray for Anna Hibiscus
The four easy readers, modern classics, are effectively read by their author and sprinkled with music and sound effects.
Frog and Toad
Who’s hiding? Lift the flap to find out! Sturdy pages and flaps combine with simply shaped, brightly colored illustrations for a playful game even for the youngest child.
Who’s Hiding?
Fast and sluggish, over and under, in and out as well as other concepts are simply demonstrated by a cheerful, quick duck and a comical, slow snail in companion board books. Also see Quick Duck (opens in a new window) by the same author.
Slow Snail
Carefully placed holes create eyes for different creatures, real and imaginary, in a series of questions and answers. Young readers are sure to respond aloud as they finger the die-cuts.
Peekaboo!
Taylor loves her tutu so much she wears it every day and everywhere — that is until she trades it in for pink bunny slippers. Sprightly illustrations and text present a familiar family occurrence.
Not that Tutu!
Monkey Ono longs for a beach day and ultimately gets there with help from family pets and a bit of creativity. Colorful collages and bright text combine for an inspired beach day to remember!
Monkey Ono
Mary’s little lamb is well known, but Maria lives in Peru and has a fleecy llama. The well-known cadence in English and Spanish and fresh illustrations present the familiar in a lively new setting.
Maria Had a Little Llama / Maria Tenia una Llama Pequena
Mama Hen looks for just the right place to lay her egg, safe and away from other animals. Jaunty, comical illustrations animate the straightforward text and its cozy conclusion.
Mama Hen’s Big Day
Maisy and her friends plant a garden, tend it, and watch the vegetables and flowers grow. Pull tabs on sturdy pages let young readers see the results in this participatory garden tale.
Maisy Grows a Garden
Whether in the den or a log, in the water or lodge, young animals are kept safe and sound by their parents. Soft illustrations and a gently rhyming text present a comforting tale.
I Will Keep You Safe and Sound
Dinosaurs of many colors zoom, splash, chug, and more in different kinds of vehicle in order to get to a special birthday celebration for the smallest dinosaur in this lively, fresh adventure.
Dinosaurs Zoom!
Cats don their hard hats and go to the site where they use big trucks to build a playground. Simple illustrations and language are sure to appeal to construction and truck aficionados!
Construction Kitties
998 of the 999 frogs (who were once 999 Tadpoles (opens in a new window)) awaken their big brother for an action-packed spring. Simple, childlike illustrations on open backgrounds leave plenty of room for imagination as the frog family and other animals celebrate the season.
999 Frogs Wake Up
Clementine is looking forward to the school field trip to Plimoth Plantation and other signs of spring her family’s Annual Spring Walk Through Boston Common. But things don’t always go the way the lively 3rd grader anticipates in the latest story about likeable, energetic Clementine.
Clementine and the Spring Trip
Dawson has been collecting and reusing everything ever since he was a baby but he must rescue the world from his robotic creation, the Vacu-Maniac! Recycling is gently imbedded in Dawson’s outrageous adventure detailed in intricate (and labeled) illustrations.
Awesome Dawson
Soft illustrations and brief, patterned language suggest a special pleasure from January to December, just right for sharing. After all, each month of the year is a “time for fun with new friends!”
A Year with Friends
Homographs make sense in context. A word wall of words that are spelled alike but are pronounced differently (depending on the context in which they are used) may be developed inspired by this funny animal-filled “zoo.”
Zoola Palooza: A Book of Homographs
There are many kinds of sounds. Use this book as a jumping off point for loud sounds, onomatopoeic sounds, or use The Quiet Book (Houghton) for the opposite of loud. These books might also inspire a word wall for emotions (e.g., how does this kind of quiet/loud make you feel?).
The Loud Book
Are animals and their familiar animal sounds really trying to say another word in English? (For example, “When a hoses says NEIGH,/does she really mean HAY?”) Word walls could be made of rhyming words (or word families) or of animal sounds in English as well as what animals say in other languages.
Say What?
Basic geometry is introduced in this story about children who accompany their parents on a trip to Egypt. A word wall of geometric shapes and terms would enhance a math study.
Mummy Math: An Adventure in Geometry
When a young donkey named Sylvester comes across a magic pebble, he saves himself from a confrontation with a lion by wishing himself into a rock. Frantic parents search for Sylvester until they stop for a picnic on a large rock. Rich language and humorous cartoon illustrations make this a memorable classic.