When their mother bakes a dozen cookies, Sam and Victoria plan to have six each. Then the doorbell rings — again and again! Just when it seems that there aren’t enough cookies, grandma saves the day!
The Doorbell Rang
Christine recalls growing up with her brothers (known as M.L. and A.D.) in a family in which laughter and love were celebrated. She describes a pivotal moment in their childhood when her brothers are told by the white boys who live across the street that they can no longer play together because the King’s are “Negroes.” The story provides insight into the child M.L. King was, and the man he would become. Realistic watercolors evoke the era and events of this well-told memoir.
My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up With the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
While on a family vacation in California, the Gridleys stay in an old hotel where a mouse named Ralph finds a toy motorcycle and meets Keith, the youngest Gridley. Thus begins a friendship and a memorable adventure of a mouse on a motorcycle. Ralph’s adventures continue in Ralph S. Mouse (1982).
The Mouse and the Motorcycle
A Chinese family goes out for dim sum (“little dishes”), choosing their favorites off the restaurant cart and sharing with each other. The illustrations evoke the textures and patterns in this traditional meal, and an endnote provides background on the cultural history and customs surrounding dim sum.
Dim Sum for Everyone!
More than just delicious food comes from Granny Torrelli’s kitchen. The recipes for friendship and family are there in abundance for Rosie and her pal Bailey as they listen to Granny’s timeless tales.
Granny Torrelli Makes Soup
Two children prepare for a backyard adventure, taking with them a rainbow of necessities: a blue backpack, a yellow book, even a multi-colored blanket to serve as their tent when they take a nap. The simple adventure is told in uncomplicated sentences presented in Spanish and English, and is illustrated in richly hued, swirling images.
Siesta
Even the bedtime rituals don’t subdue the dramatic baby llama and the nighttime fears that descend when Mama Llama leaves his room. Young readers (and their parents) will see their own behavior in the rhyming text and expressive and winning illustrations.
Llama Llama Red Pajama
Oscar and his inter-racial family celebrate his half birthday with a joyful picnic in the park. Families are likely to recognize Oscar’s slightly cluttered home, the pleasure sister Milly takes in wearing her fairy wings (made from coat hangers), and the happiness in sharing a day together in the lighthearted illustrations and subtle text.
Oscar’s Half Birthday
A fuzzy green ball is accidentally dropped by a large lumpy dog into a hole inhabited by prairie dogs. All of this causes great excitement. The prairie dogs not only make fashion statements, but discover that fancy fuzz can cause trouble. Spirited illustrations in a large format are as vivacious and funny as the text.
The Great Fuzz Frenzy
Soonie’s great grandmother was only seven-years-old when sold to the big plantation. A quilt that showed the way to freedom and chronicled the family’s history connects the generations, and continues to do so. Idealized illustrations and the poetic text provide an unusual family story.
Show Way
The window at Nanna and Poppy’s house looks like a regular window, but it’s really a doorway to the child’s world and a celebration of the special bond between grandparents and grandchildren. Celebrate family with this 2006 Caldecott Medal-winning book.
The Hello, Goodbye Window
Lucy Rose realizes she is a “smart cookie,” but is still thrown by the changes in her life, which include a move to Washington, D.C., where her grandparents live. She narrates her own story in this fresh, fast, often funny, and always plausible novel. Her story continues in Lucy Rose: Big on Plans.
Lucy Rose: Here’s the Thing About Me
Meet the “stair and step” girls, Ella, Henny, Charlotte, Sarah, and Gertie who live with their parents on the Lower East Side of New York at the turn of the nineteenth century. Though the girls lived long ago, their fears as well as their triumphs are a celebration of everyday doings and remain as fresh today as when the girls were first introduced more than 50 years ago.
All-of-a-Kind Family
Pictures of Miss Spider’s family are presented in an album format on sturdy pages. The Sunny Patch characters continue to engage young children as they learn about family relations.
Miss Spider’s Family Album
Bitty, the smallest mouse in the family is sure that her mother won’t miss her when she follows the big kids to school. Of course Bitty’s mom misses her but Bitty is taken into school and becomes the teacher’s helper until her worried mom comes to pick her up. The author/illustrator has newly added a minimal text to this once wordless but still winning tale of the younger sibling left behind.
School
Sal and her mother set off in search of blueberries for the winter at the same time as a mother bear and her cub. A quiet comedy of errors ensues when the young ones wonder off and absentmindedly trail the wrong mothers.
Blueberries for Sal
Max and Ruby prepare for Grandma’s birthday as they bake a cake and look for the perfect present in these companion books. The distinct personality of each bunny sibling comes through loud and clear in these humorous stories that introduce important concepts.
Bunny Cakes
All families have their own way of doing things; sometimes some people consider these unique. But the Robinsons have a very unusual home and a very particular way about them. Humor abounds in the contrast between the text and illustrations for a memorable day. Be sure to see the film adaptation that came out in 2007.
A Day with Wilbur Robinson
While on a family excursion to Africa, the Lazardos find a dinosaur and bring him home to their small town. Dinosaur Bob becomes part of their family and the town’s best baseball player.
Dinosaur Bob and His Adventures with the Family Lazardo
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).
Have You Seen My Duckling?
Eight-year old Joe is about to become a big brother when he meets Mika from planet Eljo, where children hatch out of eggs and life in general is quite different from what Joe knows. The importance of questioning everything, from what’s a pancake to religious beliefs, makes this gentle story fun to read as well as eye-opening.
Hello, Is Anybody There?
A collection of poetry conveys the joys of a young girl.
Honey I Love and Other Poems
A day in the life of a special little bear is vividly presented in an exuberant rhyming text and warm, full-color illustrations, in the first volume, in the popular series featuring the irrepressible Jesse Bear.
Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear?
Lily storms home to her mother one day, demanding a real family. It’s Family Fun Night at school, and she’s positive they’ll be the weirdest family there. Her single-parent mom doesn’t seem overly fazed, reminding her daughter that they are a “small kind” of family, but real nonetheless. Lily isn’t convinced. She seeks refuge in the noise and pillow fights of her friend Melissa’s crowded house until it’s time for the school event, where, surprise! it turns out her little family isn’t unusual at all.