Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type
by Doreen Cronin
illustrated by Betsy Lewin
(Simon & Schuster, 2000)

Cows have their needs, too. And in that barnyard comedy, they type them to the farmer: “Dear Farmer Brown, The barn is very cold at night. We’d like some blankets. Sincerely, The Cows.” Cows that type? Yes, indeed. “Click clack, moo.”
And when Farmer Brown refuses, well, those cows write back “no milk.” When the hens, too, are refused blankets, they refuse eggs. “Cows that type. Hens on strike! Whoever heard of such a thing!” The cows are wild-eyed goofy, the chickens totally determined, and Farmer Brown must call in Duck to mediate the labor problem. What fun.
Also available in Spanish.

Count
by Denise Fleming
(Henry Holt, 1992)

Talking about numbers has never been more fun—all because of the artistry of Denise Fleming, who creates her handmade papers from cotton rag fiber and pigments, and her stenciled shapes from her vivid imagination. The result has the vibrancy and abandon of children’s art, but the movement, balance, and simplicity of a master. So, count with children—by one’s, and someday by ten’s—matching the objects with the numerals, all the while relishing the splashes of color and shape.
Also available as a board book.

Dr. De Soto
by William Steig
(Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1982)

Animal dentist Dr. De Soto and his wife, who serves as his assistant, have a very strict policy: they will treat no patients who could be dangerous to mice. After all, Doctor DeSoto himself is a mouse, and his job often requires him to crawl into patients’ mouths. But when a fox with a toothache begs for treatment, the kindly couple take pity. Even so, the De Sotos concoct a plan to outsmart the fox should temptation to bite become too great. The story talk will be about trust, kindness, trickery, and cleverness.
Also available in Spanish.

Ella Sarah Gets Dressed
by Margaret Chodos-Irvine
(Harcourt, 2003)

One morning in her sheep pajamas, Ella Sarah announces what she wants to wear for the day—her “pink polka-dot pants,” “dress with orange-and-green flowers,” “purple-and-blue striped socks,” “yellow shoes,” and “red hat.” Her parents and sister make suggestions, but Ella is insistent, repeating her own colorful choices. Like determined preschoolers everywhere, Ella Sarah dresses herself. At story’s end, she answers the doorbell to three playmates, all of whom share Ella Sarah’s tastes in colors and hats. A Caldecott-honor book, the pictures are oversize, the colors and feelings warm.

Gingerbread Baby
by Jan Brett
(G.P. Putnam’s, 1999)

No traditional gingerbread boy tale here. Jan Brett’s lush paintings wrap you in heavy knit sweaters, and tuck you into a cozy, tiled kitchen on a snow-capped Swiss mountain. Now, isn’t it logical that if Matti undercooks his gingerbread boy, it’s a gingerbread baby? “I am the Gingerbread Baby,/ Fresh from the pan./ If you want me,/ Catch me if you can.” What an attitude this little guy has. He runs away from danger much like his longer-baked relatives, but this little guy doesn’t get eaten all up. Known for the decorative borders that frame her art and contribute to the story line, Jan Brett frames these illustrations in cookie tiles, piped with frosting. In gingerbread-boy shaped cut-outs within the borders, Matti makes a perfect gingerbread house for the cookie baby who is eluding capture. So, dive in and talk about a cookie that gets his just “desserts.”

How I Became a Pirate
by Melinda Long
illustrated by David Shannon
(Harcourt, 2003)

Told in first person with a bit of a swagger and a touch of bravado, brave Jeremy Jacobs is “borrowed” by pirates who need a good sand digger like him to help bury some treasure. So, since his parents are too busy to alert, off goes Jeremy to join the grungy, green-teethed, but harmless, pirate crew. [He feels sure it’s okay, just as long as he’s home for soccer practice]. Jeremy quickly takes to the pirate life, complete with pirate talk (“shiver me timbers” and “scurvy dog”), pirate table manners (with no vegetables and no please or thank you), and no unnecessary toothbrushing or baths. Even so, Jeremy Jacobs learns that pirates don’t get tuck-ins or bedtime stories, and when a storm hits, he decides not to be a pirate after all. So, Jeremy draws a map to show just where to bury the treasure—in his own backyard! Off go the pirates, leaving Jeremy to guard (and go to soccer practice). Yo ho ho!

Joseph Had a Little Overcoat
by Simms Taback
(Simon & Schuster, 1972)

Children know what happens when they love a blanket for a long time. It frays, it thins, it changes shape and color. Joseph’s overcoat, in its bold brown plaid, becomes worn, frayed, and patched. But, no problem. A worn overcoat can be cut into a jacket. And when a jacket’s worn out? Well, Joseph can make a…vest, and down and down, smaller and smaller, until a coat finally becomes…a button. Best of all, the shape of the item to come is cut into the page—signaling what Joseph will make next. A Caldecott medal winner (the artwork in splendid), this one makes for great conversation. The message is simple, too: Make something from nothing.

Hairs Pelitos: A Story in English and Spanish from The House of Mango Street
by Sandra Cisneros
illustrated by Terry Ybáñez
(Alfred Knopf, 1994)

Everyone in this family (like all families) has different hair—(“My papa’s hair is like a broom all up in the air/ El pelo de mi papá es como una escoba/ todo parado de punta”). The paintings of each family member are bordered in bold colors with hints of their likes and personalities tucked around. Best of all is Mama’s hair—“like little candy circles” and the warm smell of baking bread. One line of Spanish and English accompany each brilliant painting. The conversation will surely be about the hair of the people you love.

A House is a House for Me
by Mary Ann Hoberman
illustrated by Betty Fraser
(Viking, 1979)

No one can ever look at a house in the same way again after sharing this lyrical rhyming book with a special message: Almost anything can be a house to somebody. “A glove is a house for a hand, a hand/A stocking’s a house for a knee/A shoe or a boot is a house for a foot/ And a house is a house for me.” Satisfying, informing, rich with detail, and sure to pull readers and talkers back to the topic again and again to share your own ideas for houses: A drawer is a house for a spoon? A pillow’s at home in a bed? The one concern is that Eskimo and Native American homes are depicted historically rather than in a contemporary setting, possibly perpetrating stereotyped images.

The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and THE BIG HUNGRY BEAR
by Don and Audrey Wood
(Child’s Play International, 1994)

“Shhh,” signals the mouse on the cover, his ladder balanced precipitously against a giant ripe strawberry. Something tells us this little mouse is somewhere he isn’t supposed to be, and that he is ready to nibble something he isn’t supposed to…. And the talk begins—with the narrator/reader addressing the mouse directly, giving advice about how to save a delicious strawberry from a hungry bear. No, burying it won’t hide it. No, locking it in chains won’t do. When children know the story well, the talk changes. But the mouse’s determination (and expressions), as well as his delightful home, will make for conversations over many readings. Was that Mouse tricked? What do you think?

Lunch
by Denise Fleming
(Holt, 1992)

Never has lunch been so much fun. Or so boldly colored. Or so chomped and nibbled and strewn. As a ravenous mouse sniffs lunch on the table, readers get clues as to what vegetable he’ll devour next. Two words describe the visible tip of the food: “crisp, white….” First, make your guesses, and then turn the page to discover the turnip (and then the carrots, corn, peas, grapes, berries, apples, watermelon, and more). Young listeners and emerging readers just have to learn colors when they enter these pages, have to laugh at the smeary mess the mouse creates all over himself and the tablecloth, have to love the mouse all labeled with the foods that cover him, and have to talk about everything.
Also available as a board book.

More More More Said the Baby
by Vera Williams
(Holt, 1992)

Three little babies, each of them different and each of them alike, is loved and cuddled, caught up and kissed, and each of them wants…”More!” Little Guy, Little Pumpkin, and Little Bird are the apples of the eye of the parent or grandparent who loves them. Rendered in vibrant colors, the text is gently cadenced. Lucky the children who shares this book again and again with someone who knows exactly what makes them say, “More.”
Also available as a board book.

The Neighborhood Mother Goose
by Nina Crews
(Greenwillow, 2004)

What an imaginative version of Mother Goose rhymes! Children “of the neighborhood” are photographed against cityscapes, playing out the rhymes. Computer-inserted images allow the cat to play the fiddle, and the cow to jump the moon, while a very real African-American child’s face registers pure joy. Two girls do handclaps for “Pat-a-Cake” right in front of the bakery, and Jack? Well, he jumps over a birthday “candlestick” right on the top of a giant cupcake. Two little guys take a close look at Humpty Dumpty on the wall, as Humpty sits firm (with the rest of his dozen visible in the egg carton). These are pictures to talk about—and to find yourself in. Just wait until you see Peter Piper and his peck of pickled peppers!

Owen
by Kevin Henkes
(Greenwillow, 1993)

“Owen had a fuzzy yellow blanket. He’d had it since he was a baby. He loved it with all his heart.” With words chosen as precisely as poetry, Kevin Henkes offers one of his dearest little mouse characters, Owen, whose love for his blanket makes him an instant friend. The first illustration says it all: Owen sits cuddling his blanket—eyes closed, thumb in mouth—serene. “Fuzzy” goes where Owen goes, plays what Owen plays, and takes on life’s trauma’s—like haircuts and dental visits—by Owen’s side. The trouble comes in two forms. The first is Mrs. Tweezers, the neighbor who insists that Owen is getting too old for his blanket, and proposes all sorts of ways to extract it from him—such as the vinegar trick. The second problem is that school is starting soon, and Mrs. Tweezers says, “Can’t bring a blanket to school.” Luckily, Owen’s mom has “an absolutely wonderful, positively perfect, especially terrific idea.” Whew. Owen (and all of us) can say, “Hooray!”
Also available in Spanish.

Petunia
by Roger Duvoisin
(Random House, 2002)

A silly goose indeed—one who discovers a book in her meadow, and is fairly certain that owning a book will make her wise. But believing she is wise, of course, makes silly Petunia prouder and prouder—confident enough to give “wise” advice to all her animal friends. Before Petunia learns that books are for reading, not for carrying around, she creates some near disasters in the barnyard. This one is reissued. Fifty years later, it still makes children laugh, talk, and feel superior to Petunia.

A Pig is Big
by Douglas Florian
(Greenwillow, 2000)

On a deep blue watercolor background, with just the edge of a pink-peachy ear in view, Douglas Florian asks kids and their grown-ups, “What’s big?” Don’t turn the page until children offer a few ideas (giants, dinosaurs, firetrucks). But, that pink ear was the clue: “A pig is big./ A pig is fat./ A pig is bigger than my hat.” The whole piggy face now occupies the spread, complete with orange hat. At the far bottom right comes the next question: “What’s bigger than a pig?” Then, step-by-step, bigger and bigger, grow the answers to the riddles (and even the questions increase in font size), until, at book’s end, the answer to the last riddle tells what is bigger than the whole wide earth: “The universe is wide in girth./ It is the biggest thing of all./Compared to it all things seem small.” Again, as with the book’s opening, the spread is deep blue, the planet earth and its sun are tiny, and even the print grows small to help children sense the vastness of the universe. Turn the last page to see the pig as a constellation in the night sky. How satisfying.

Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever
by Richard Scarry
(Simon & Schuster, 1972)

Across these busy pages, children can locate, name and describe actions, objects, animals, scenes —everything! What fun for vocabulary building all under the guise of playfully finding and talking. Each two-page spread is a vocabulary “category” from “fire equipment” to “houses’ to “musical instruments.” Scenes to look at and talk about that require no particular order. It’s a book of discovery meant for dipping into rather than reading straight through. Best of all, it lasts and lasts and lasts. An older book, it’s still a wise investment.

Rosie’s Walk
by Pat Hutchins
(Simon & Schuster, 1972)

Seemingly unaware that a hungry fox sees a tasty meal in his grasp, Rosie the hen leads the fox into one accident after another – around the pond, over the haystack, through the fence as this clueless fox falls in the pond, lands on the pitchfork, and is chased away by the bees! It will be the pictures that get the talk going here—and the spatial concepts (around, under, over)—will slide into the talk as smoothly as Rosie eludes the fox.
Also available in Spanish.

Suddenly! A Preston Pig Story
by Colin McNaughton
(Harcourt, 1995)

If the children you read to love Rosie (Rosie’s Walk by Pat Hutchins), they will love to compare her with Preston! Like Rosie, Preston is oblivious to impending danger. Preston’s nemesis is a stalking wolf who threatens his innocent errands about town. But “suddenly,” with a quick turn, a change in direction, an inadvertent move, Preston is always saved from disaster—while the wolf, in the best of Looney Tunes style, crashes onto the sidewalk, dive bombs off the school roof, or slams into a wall. Depending upon the children, they may find it very funny when Preston arrives home to announce, “Mom, I’ve had the strangest feeling that someone has been following me.” Then “suddenly,” Preston’s mom delivers a huge hug. The end-paper shows the bandaged wolf on a stretcher being rushed to Wolf Hospital. The wolf paramedics make a siren sound in their speech balloon (‘nee-naa-nee-naa-nee-naa…”). The child talk will be “describing” talk about the cartoon-style illustrations.
Also available in Spanish.

Swimmy
by Leo Lionni
(Alfred A. Knopf, 1963)

Sometimes, it’s the simplest of plots with just one perplexing problem and a surprising solution that gets talk flowing for young children. Swimmy is a small black fish whose ocean is threatened by big fish that eat tiny ones like him and his brothers and sisters. In lyrical language (the eel’s tail is desribed as “almost too far away to remember,” ) and transparent colors, Lionni creates a perfect underwater world for an enterprising fish like Swimmy to discover how little fish can work together to solve big problems.
Also available in Spanish.

When Sophie Gets Angry—Really, Really Angry…
by Molly Bang
(Scholastic, 1999)

Everyone gets angry. Just how would you feel if you wanted to play with Gorilla, and mom said it was your sister’s turn? And then—just as you’re trying hard to hang onto it, you trip over the truck. Well, Sophie felt fiery-red mad. And, brilliant red is the color Molly Bang uses to register Sophie’s anger. “She kicks. She screams. She wants to smash the world to smithereens.” But she doesn’t. When Sophie gets angry, really, really angry, she runs. When she can’t run anymore, she walks, and then she cries a little. By then, she is surrounded by things natural and welcoming—rocks, trees, ferns, a breeze, the sounds of birds. For Sophie, “The wide world comforts her.” Reds shift to greens and blues, with highlights of yellow. Sophie is calmed, and heads for home. She isn’t angry any more. Knowing how anger feels and looks--and that it can be talked over--is a bonus of sharing this book with toddlers and preschoolers.
Also available in Spanish.