K-2 Picture Books

Discover the joy of Piggie and Elephant stories and the wonderful early readers by Mo Willems. This book makes me smile, laugh and fall in love with Mo Willems' creative characters that are full of personality.  This text is a great tool for teaching problem/solution thinking, too.  Click here for a full listing of Piggie and Elephant titles. Enjoy! 

All Duncan wants to do is color, but his crayons have had enough!  Blue is tired of only coloring water.  Orange and Yellow argue that they each are the color of the sun.  Beige feels left out because kids choose Brown first.  Black complains that all he gets to do is make an outline.  And they are all tired of having their wrappers pulled off.  So…the crayons quit! How can Duncan get the crayons to cooperate so he can color?  5 stars because I predict this book will become a classic to be read for decades to come.  Use this book for class discussion on how we can accomplish more when we work together and appreciate each person's contribution to the "picture."  Listen to the entire story by clicking here.

What is a book in today's technical world?  Watch and listen to this delightful description that will make you smile by clicking here.  Let's never lose the joy of a book!  4 stars for creativity and relevance. 

Clara's imaginary world takes her and her pet fish through various adventures.  There are plenty of wordless pages in this beautiful picture book for beginning writers to orally and physically write the text to match the story.  Gorgeous photos by Caldecott winner Eric Rohmann.  5 stars for imagination. 

Based on a true story, Katje organizes her town to send supplies to families in Holland during World War II.  A delightfully positive tale about helping others that appropriately introduces students to the consequences of war.  4 stars for historical teaching and inspiration. 

Through simple but creative pics and text, students learn the use of the exclamation mark! As the exclamation struggles to find his purpose amongst the period and the comma, he soon learns from his friend the question mark that "everyone" has a purpose and place in this world. So much more than a lesson on punctuation!  5 stars for creativity.  This book just makes me want to write exclamatory sentences.

Jack wants to surprise the princess with a special gift, so he bakes her a special birthday cake.  As he travels with the cake to her party, he is attacked by crows, and various unfriendly people and animals from a troll to a bear to a castle guard who eats the "succulent" strawberry on top.  So, Jack tells the princess the story of his travels to her, and she rewards him with her friendship for telling such a clever story.  What would you and your students be willing to go through to bless someone else?  Fairy tale elements such as magic and trolls are part of this delightful story. 4 stars for a valuable lesson.

Caldecott winner Eric Rohmann presents a sweet tale of four cuddly kittens. Three of the kittens are anxious about winter coming, not knowing what to expect.  But the fourth kitten can't wait for winter to arrive, and when it does, he is the first one to enjoy the snow.  A great story to use for talking about the unknown and what we might discover with new experiences.  Click here to learn more about this book from Eric himself.  4 stars for just plain old cuteness.  Now can I adopt a cat?