Great Books for Kindergarten and First Grade

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Picture Books

The Adventures of Bert by Allan Ahlberg  32 pages

  • Bert is a friendly chap who has many strange and exciting adventures. For instance, one morning as he struggles to put on a shirt, Bert falls down the stairs, out the door, and into the back of a truck, which takes him on an unplanned journey to Scotland. Check our catalog

Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard  32 pages

  • The kids in Room 207 take advantage of their teacher's good nature until she disappears and returns disguised as an overbearing substitute teacher. Check our catalog

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judith Barrett 32 pages

  • Tells the story of the town of Chewandswallow where it rains soup and juice, snows mashed potatoes, and blows storms of hamburger--until the weather takes a turn for the worse. Check our catalog

No David! by David Shannon   32 pages

  • A young boy is depicted doing a variety of naughty things for which he is repeatedly admonished, but finally he gets a hug. Check our catalog

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Burton 44 pages

  • Under pressure to show Mary Anne, his steam shovel, at her best, Mike digs the foundations of the town hall of Popperville, and in his haste forgets to leave a way out. Mary Anne is then converted into a furnace and Mike, her masster, retained to keep her and the boiler warm. Check our catalog

Stellaluna by Janell Cannon   48 pages

  • After she falls headfirst into a bird's nest, a baby bat is raised like a bird until she is reunited with her mother. Check our catalog

I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato by Lauren Child 32 pages

  • A fussy eater decides to sample the carrots after her brother convinces her that they are really orange twiglets from Jupiter. Check our catalog

Ella Sarah Gets Dressed by Margaret Chodos-Irvine    32 pages

  • Despite the advice of others in her family, Ella Sarah persists in wearing the striking and unusual outfit of her own choosing. Check our catalog

Red-Eyed Tree Frog by Joy Cowley   32 pages

  • This frog found in the rain forest of Central America spends the night searching for food while also being careful not to become dinner for some other animal. Check our catalog

A Fine, Fine School by Sharon Creech  32 pages

  • When a principal loves his school so much that he wants the children to attend classes every day of the year, it's up to his students to show him free time is a good thing, too. Check our catalog

Click Clack Moo: Cows that Type by Doreen Cronin 32 pages

  • When Farmer Brown's cows find a typewriter in the barn they start making demands, and go on strike when the farmer refuses to give them what they want. Check our catalog

Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert

  • Every spring, butterflies emerge and dazzle the world with their vibrant beauty. But where do butterflies come from? How are they born? What do they eat--and how? Check our catalog

Weslandia by Paul Fleischman   32 pages

  • Wesley's garden produces a crop of huge, strange plants which provide him with clothing, shelter, food, and drink, thus helping him create his own civilization and changing his life. Check our catalog

Alphabet Under Construction by Denise Fleming  32 pages

  • A mouse works his way through the alphabet as he folds the "F," measures the "M, " and rolls the "R." Check our catalog

How My Parents Learned to Eat by Ina Friedman  30 pages

  • An American sailor courts a Japanese girl and each tries, in secret, to learn the other's way of eating. Check our catalog

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff  32 pages

  • Relating the cycle of requests a mouse is likely to make after you give him a cookie takes the reader through a young child's day. Check our catalog

Kitten’s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes  32 pages

  • When Kitten mistakes the full moon for a bowl of milk, she ends up tired, wet, and hungry trying to reach it. Check our catalog

Zelda and Ivy by Laura McGee Kvasnosky  42 pages

  • In three brief stories, Ivy, the younger of two fox sisters, goes along with her older sister's schemes, even when they seem a bit daring. Check our catalog

The Ugly Vegetables by Grace Lin   32 pages

  • A little girl thinks her mother's garden is the ugliest in the neighborhood until she discovers that flowers might look and smell pretty but Chinese vegetable soup smells best of all. Includes a recipe. Check our catalog

Swimmy by Leo Lionni   30 pages

  • A little black fish in a school of red fish figures out a way of protecting them all from their natural enemies. Check our catalog

Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey  67 pages

  • A family of ducks makes its home in the middle of Boston's Public Gardens. Check our catalog

Goin' Someplace Special by Patricia C. McKissack  36 pages

  • In segregated 1950s Nashville, a young African American girl braves a series of indignities and obstacles to get to one of the few integrated places in town: the public library. Check our catalog

I Stink by Kate McMullan   34 pages

  • A big city garbage truck makes its rounds, consuming everything from apple cores and banana peels to leftover ziti with zucchini. Check our catalog

Yo! Yes? by Christopher Raschka   29 pages

  • Two lonely characters, one black and one white, meet on the street and become friends. Check our catalog

Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann  32 pages

  • The children at Napville Elementary School always ignore Officer Buckle's safety tips, until a police dog named Gloria accompanies him when he gives his safety speeches. Check our catalog

Abiyoyo by Pete Seeger   47 pages

  • Banished from the town for making mischief, a little boy and his father are welcomed back when they find a way to make the dreaded giant Abiyoyo disappear. Check our catalog

Happy Hocky Family by Lane Smith   61 pages

  • Introduces readers to the world of the happy Hocky family--Baby Hocky; his brother Henry, who chases his sister with a dead spider; and Holly, who awakens her brother with a tuba blast. Check our catalog

Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe  32 pages

  • Mufaro's two beautiful daughters, one bad-tempered, one kind and sweet, go before the king, who is choosing a wife. Check our catalog

Dear Mrs. LaRue: Letters from Obedience School by Mark Teague  32 pages

  • Gertrude LaRue receives typewritten and paw-written letters from her dog Ike, entreating her to let him leave the Igor Brotweiler Canine Academy and come back home Check our catalog

Mailing May by Michael O. Tunnell   32 pages

  • In 1914, because her family cannot afford a train ticket to her grandmother's town, May gets mailed and rides the mail car on the train to see her grandmother. Check our catalog

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst      32 pages

  • Recounts the events of a day when everything goes wrong for Alexander. Check our catalog

The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson

  • Two girls, one white and one black, gradually get to know each other as they sit on the fence that divides their town. Check our catalog

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Easy Readers

Young Cam Jansen and the Dinosaur Game by David Adler  32 pages

  • When eight-year-old Cam Jansen and her friend Eric go to a birthday party, she uses her photographic memory to solve the puzzle of the dinosaur count. Check our catalog

Prairie School by Avi    48 pages

  • In 1880, Noah's aunt teaches the reluctant nine-year-old how to read as they explore the Colorado prairie together, Noah pushing Aunt Dora in her wheelchair. Check our catalog

Sam, the Minuteman by Nathaniel Benchley  62 pages

  • An easy-to-read account of Sam and his father fighting as minutemen against the British in the Battle of Lexington. Check our catalog

Old Hat, New Hat by Stan & Jan Berenstain  29 pages

The Shortest Kid in the World by Corinne Demas Bliss 48 pages

  • Emily is unhappy with her size until a new girl in class helps her see that being short can have its advantages. Check our catalog

The Golly Sisters Go West by Betsy Byars  64 pages

  • May-May and Rose, the singing, dancing Golly sisters, travel west by covered wagon, entertaining people along the way. Check our catalog

Biscuit's New Trick by Alyssa Capucilli  24 pages

  • A puppy does all sorts of tricks in the process of learning the one his master is trying to teach him. Check our catalog

Minnie and Moo Go to the Moon by Denys Cazet  48 pages

  • Two cow friends, Minnie and Moo, decide to drive the farmer's tractor all the way to the moon. Check our catalog

The Josefina Story Quilt by Eleanor Coerr  64 pages

  • While traveling west with her family in 1850, a young girl makes a patchwork quilt chronicling the experiences of the journey and reserves a special patch for her pet hen Josefina. Check our catalog

Baseball Ballerina by Kathryn Cristaldi  48 pages

  • A baseball-loving girl worries that the ballet class her mother forces her to take will ruin her reputation with the other members of her baseball team. Check our catalog

Get Ready for Second Grade, Amber Brown by Paula Danziger 48 pages

  • Amber is nervous about starting second grade with a new teacher, but despite being in the same class as mean Hannah Burton, things turn out just fine. Check our catalog

Mercy Watson to the Rescue by Kate DiCamillo  68 pages

  • Breaking the Watson's bed is only one of the adventures that their adored pig Mercy gets into. Check our catalog

Iris and Walter by Elissa Haden Guest  43 pages

  • When Iris moves to the country, she misses the city where she formerly lived; but with the help of a new friend named Walter, she learns to adjust to her new home. Check our catalog

Lionel at Large by Stephen Krensky  56 pages

  • Lionel faces such ordeals as having to eat green beans, going to the doctor, and looking for the snake his sister lost in his room. Check our catalog

Captain and Matey Set Sail by Daniel Laurence  64 pages

  • Despite their frequent disagreements, two pirates share many adventures . Check our catalog

Days With Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel  64 pages

  • Five more stories about Frog and Toad and their happy adventures. Check our catalog

Fox Outfoxed by James Marshall   48 pages

Little Bear by Else Holmel Minarik   63 pages

  • Little Bear's four adventures include taking a trip to the moon and having a birthday party. Check our catalog

Swing Otto Swing! by David Milgrim  32 pages

  • When Otto has trouble learning to swing on vines like his monkey friends, he decides to make his own swing set instead. Check our catalog

Three Stories You Can Read to Your Dog by Sara Swan Miller 48 pages

  • Stories addressed to dogs and written from a dog's point of view, featuring such topics as a burglar, bones, and running free. Check our catalog

Gus and Grandpa by Claudia Mills   48 pages

The Drinking Gourd : a Story of the Underground Railroad by F.N. Monjo  62 pages

  • When he is sent home alone for misbehaving in church, Tommy discovers that his house is a station on the underground railroad. Check our catalog

Bravo, Amelia Bedelia! by Herman Parish  40 pages

  • From the time she is sent to pick up the guest conductor to the final bow by the orchestra, Amelia Bedelia's confusion causes quite an uproar at the school concert. Check our catalog

High Rise Private Eyes: The Case of the Missing Monkey by Cynthia Rylant      48 pages

  • While having breakfast at their favorite diner, two detectives, Bunny and Jack, solve a mystery that is not what it seems. Check our catalog

Puppy Mudge Has a Snack by Cynthia Rylant  30 pages

In a Dark, Dark Room, and Other Scary Stories by Alvin Schwartz  63 pages

  • Seven scary stories to tell at night in front of a fire or in the dark, based on traditional stories and folklore from various countries. Check our catalog

Nate the Great by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat  60 pages

Later, Rover by Harriet Ziefert   32 pages

  • Everyone in Andy's family except the dog has an excuse for not playing with him, but playing with Rover tires Andy to the point where he has to make excuses to the dog. Check our catalog

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Chapter Books

Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus by Barbara Park 69 pages

  • In her own words, a young girl describes her feelings about starting kindergarten and what she does when she decides not to ride the bus home. Check our catalog

Dinosaurs Before Dark by Mary Pope Osborne  68 pages

  • Meet Jack and Annie as they travel back to the time of the dinosaurs in this first book of the Magic Tree House series. Check our catalog

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Folk & Fairy Tales

The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka      52 pages

  • Young subversives everywhere will love these ten fractured fairy tales. Check our catalog

Toads and Diamonds by Charlotte Huck  32 pages

  • Two step-sisters receive appropriate gifts for their actions: one's words are accompanied by flowers and jewels, the other's by toads and snakes. Check our catalog
  • Head, Body, Legs: a Story from Liberia by Won-Ldy Paye 32 pages
  • In this tale from the Dan people of Liberia, Head, Arms, Body, and Legs learn that they do better when they work together. Check our catalog

Seven Chinese Brothers by Margaret Mahy  40 pages

  • Seven Chinese brothers elude execution by virtue of their extraordinary individual qualities. Check our catalog

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Non-Fiction

How Much is a Million? by David Schwartz  40 pages

  • Text and pictures try to make possible the conceptualization of a million, a billion, and a trillion. Check our catalog

Actual Size by Steve Jenkins

  • Discusses and gives examples of the size and weight of various animals and parts of animals. Check our catalog

Koko’s Kitten by Francine Patterson  32 pages

  • The real life experience of Koko, a gorilla in California who uses sign language, with a young kitten whom she loved and grieved over when it died. Check our catalog

You Can't Taste a Pickle With Your Ear by Harriet Ziefert

  • A fun look at each of the five senses and how they help us explore our world. Check our catalog

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Poetry

Insectlopedia by Florian Douglas  47 pages

  • Presents twenty-one short poems about such insects as the inchworm, termite, cricket, and ladybug. Check our catalog

You Read to Me and I'll Read to You: Very Short Fairy Tales to Read Together by Mary Ann Hoberman   32 pages

  • Eight favorite fairy tales in very short tellings, told in two voices to allow reading together. Check our catalog

A Pet for Me: Poems Selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins 44 pages

The Frogs Wore Red Suspenders by Jack Prelutsky 63 pages

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Biography

Wilma Unlimited by Kathleen Krull  44 pages    X92 RUDOLPH

  • A biography of the African-American woman who overcame crippling polio as a child to become the first woman to win three gold medals in track in a single Olympics. Check our catalog

updated 9/5/07