Children's Books

Good Books That Teach Children How to Live

Anger Management

Mouse was Mad

"Mouse was Mad" by Linda Urban - Mouse finds all kinds of different ways to show he is mad, such as hopping, stomping, and screaming, but every time he shows his anger another animal shows him how to do it better. He tries to improve his own technique, but it only ends in making him even angrier. Finally mouse discovers a way to show his anger that none of the other animals could beat, but after so many attempts mouse realizes that he is no longer mad.

This is a great book to use to help your child deal with anger. After reading the book discuss different ways in which your child can express his anger instead of having a temper tantrum.

Make a "Use Your Words" Mouse Craft- After reading this book have your children make a paper mouse. Have them write words they might say to express themselves, instead of having a tantrum.

Being Different

"Violet's Music" by Angela Johnson

Violet was different from other children. From the day she was born she loved music. She would make music all day long. She tried to get her family to make music with her, but she couldn't. She didn't give up; she kept on looking for someone to play along with her. She wondered if there were other children like her in kindergarten, but she found that no one wanted to play music all day long, so she played all alone. Finally one day while she was playing her guitar in the park she heard someone beating a drum, someone else playing the saxophone, and someone singing. They got together and became a band.

This is a great book for any child who feels different and all alone. It gives them hope and encourages them to not give up.

"A Color of His Own" by Leo Lionni

A chameleon looks at other animals and realizes he is different because he doesn't have a color of his own. Parrots are green, elephants are gray, and pigs are pink, but he changes color wherever he goes. Chameleon tries to be like the other animals by staying on one leaf, but he soon finds that leaves don't stay the same. When he meets an older and wiser chameleon they become friends and chameleon learns that what is on the inside and having a friend is more important than having a color of his own.

Art - Practice mixing colors - Give each child a set of watercolors and have them practice mixing color to match objects that you have brought in such as leaves, crayons, balls, etc.

The Little Peacock's Gift

The Little Peacock's Gift

The Little Peacock's Gift: A Chinese Folktale (Picture Corgi) by Cherry Denman - This is a beautiful story about a little peacock who cared more about others than himself. Children learn through this story that what is on the inside, or what you do, is more important than how you look or dress.

The Peacock Fairy had to pick one peacock to whom she would teach her magic, but all the peacocks looked alike. She told them to try to make themselves look different and to come back after midnight so that she could then choose one of them. The Little Peacock thought he was far too small and ordinary to be chosen by the Peacock Fairy so it didn't bother to try to look different. While all the other peacocks were decorating their tails with sapphires and emeralds, the Little Peacock was helping others. He met a old man who was very hot so he gave him some of his feathers to fan himself. He met a young girl who had nothing pretty to wear to a dance so he gave her some of his feathers to put in her hair and on her dress.

Finally he met a young boy who was sick. The doctor told him that he would be well again when spring came. The boy looked forward to the Spring Festival when there would be fireworks like peacock feathers in the sky. The Little Peacock wished he could help, but he didn't have any feathers left. He decided to go to the Peacock Fairy to ask her for help. When he found the Peacock Fairy all the other peacocks where there. He stood out among all the peacocks because he was the only one who didn't have any tail feathers. The Fairy chose him and showed him how to make a firework display with his new tail feathers. When the sick little boy saw the display he became well again. And every year, when the Spring Festival comes, the Little Peacock's tail can be seen dancing among the fireworks in the night sky.

Cooperation

The Tooth Fairy Meets El Ratón Pérez

The Tooth Fairy and El Ratón Pérez show up at the same house and both claim the same tooth. In their fight to claim their prize, the tooth is lost and the Tooth Fairy and El Ratón Pérez have to work together to retrieve it.

This book introduces children to cultural differences and similarities. The Spanish speaking mouse introduces children to Spanish phrases.

Created for a
Purpose

"Because of You" by B. G. Hennessy

This lovely book lets children know that they are important and were created for a purpose. They were created to be loved and to love others, to be cared for and to care for others, and to be helped and to help others.

"When two people help, care, share, and listen to each other, they are friends.

When people all over the world "help, care, share, and listen to one another, it is called peace. Even something as big and important as peace begins with something small and precious. It might begin because of you."

Fear

"Scaredy Cat" by Joan Rankin

There are a lot of things to be scared of for a little kitten who doesn't understand the world. But Mama Meow explains to little kitten why he doesn't have to be afraid. When little kitten does feel just a little brave and takes a chance, he learns that things aren't always what they seem to be.

This book can be used with the "Scaredy Cat" Bible Lesson about Daniel in the Lion's Den on The Resource Room complete with crafts and activities to reinforce the lesson.

Kindness
Helping Others

"The Kindness Quilt" by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace

Minna, a little bunny, goes to school and hears the classic Aesop's Fable, " The Lion and the Mouse". After the story the teacher tells the children they are going to do a "Kindness Project". She asks them to draw a picture of something they do that is kind. Minna does four things that she thinks are kind, but can't decide which to draw a picture about. She ends up using all four for her picture. When she shows her picture to the class they all think it looks like a quilt. They decide to put all the pictures together on the wall to make one big quilt. Other classes get involved and the kindness quilt keeps growing and growing.

Have your children make their own kindness quilts.

Friendship

"Sunshine & Storm" by Elisabeth Jones and James Coplestone

(Preschool - Second Grade) Sunshine and Storm are very different in just about every way, but they are best friends. Sunshine, the cat, is described as "light behind a cloud" and looks like a bright orange and yellow sun. Storm, the dog, is a "shadow on a bright day" and looks like a dark storm cloud. One day it was raining and Storm was so overjoyed that he forgot that his friend, Sunshine, didn't like to get wet. He made Sunshine very angry when shook himself dry and got her all wet. Storm was scared by her reaction and ran away. He "felt as if his heart hand been struck by lightening" and he was sorry for what he had done. Later they make up by giving each other licks. They realized that "like the weather, feelings change fast, but best friends are forever."

This books is a great way to get your children thinking about friends and what it means to be a friend. Talk to them about respecting other people's feelings, and saying sorry when you make mistake.

Art - The watercolors in this book are simple, yet very expressive. The artist used a large brush and big strokes and very few colors. This is a great book to teach children simple water color techniques, and the use of color and words to express emotions.

Before starting to read this book flip through the pages and ask your child what emotions they think the animals might be feeling and ask them why they think so.

You can also talk about how different objects cause our emotions to change. Write the words "sunshine" and "storm" on a piece of paper and have your child think of words that might describe how these things make him or her feel.

The Snow Child

"The Snow Child" - Written by Debi Gliori

This is a great story for children who have a hard time making friends. It is a story about a little girl who just didn't seem to fit in. All she wanted was to join in and be part of the circle, but her timing was always off. No one ever invited her over to play.

But one day all that changed when she decided to be herself and do what she wanted to do instead of trying to fit in.

"Chicken Sunday" - Written by Patricia Polacco

This is a great book about cultural diversity, kindness, truthfulness, and friendship.
The main characters are three children from different backgrounds who become
friends. They want to get an Easter hat for the grandmother of two of the
children. When they realize they don't have enough money for the hat they
decide to talk to the shop owner to see if they can earn the rest of the
money. When they get to the shop, some older children throw eggs at the
shop and the shop owner thinks that the three children are the ones who
threw the eggs. He calls the grandmother and she confronts the children.
When they tell her it wasn't them she tells them that they will have to
figure a way to show him that they weren't the ones who threw the eggs.
They decide to make him beautiful Russian colored eggs. When he sees the
eggs they remind him of his homeland, and he asks the children to have tea
with him. He suggests that they make more eggs and sell them in his shop.
The children do, and make enough money for the hat.

You can find more information about this book and other on the author's web site. Take a quiz about the story, print out a mini-poster and make a postcard with pictures from the book.

Happiness

How Full Is Your Bucket? For Kids - Written by Tom Rath and Mary Reckmeyer

Have You Filled a Bucket Today: A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids , Written by Carol McCloud

Fill a Bucket: A Guide to Daily Happiness for the Young Child - Written by Carol McCloud and Katherine Martin

All three of these books have the same theme: Everyone of us has an invisible bucket that needs to be filled. The invisible buckets hold good thoughts and good feelings. If our buckets aren't filled, we are not happy. The more love we receive, the fuller our buckets are, and the happier we are. But receiving love from others is not the only way to feel happy. Buckets are like magic: The more love we give out, the more we receive.

Carol McCloud has a web site called Bucket Fillers where you can find all kinds of ideas to reinforce the concepts in her books including printable awards, T-shirts, 'coloring pages, and a newsletter with weekly ideas.

After reading these books, your children can practice filling buckets using a folded paper bucket. Directions and printable cards with loving sayings are available on the members only section of this site.

Manners

"Mary Louise Loses Her Manners" - Written by Diane Cuneo

Everyone, including Mary Louise, is shocked when she loses her manners one morning because she forgot to pay attention to them. Instead of saying, "Thank you very much", she says, "Spank you very much". And instead of saying, "I'm sorry", it comes out as a burp. Mary Louise sets out to find her manners. She looks everywhere: in her pockets, up her nose, between her toes and inside her shoes. When she doesn't find them there, she searches through the neighborhood to look for them; and everywhere she goes she displays bad manners. She finally finds them under a heap of newspapers in the library.

This is a great book to teach and remind your child about proper manners. The illustrations and the book are comical, and are refreshing ways to teach a not so exciting subject.

Language Arts - You can also use this book to teach your child about idioms - phrases whose meaning cannot be deduced from the literal definition.

Examples: Mind your manners means to practice good manners, angry as a bear means you are very angry, and back to the drawing board means you go back to the beginning and start all over again. You will find hundreds of idioms on the Dictionary of English Idioms web page.

"Please is a Good Word to Say" by Barbara Joosse

Curly haired Harriet knows a lot about manners. She knows when and how you should say "please", and that there are lots of ways to say "thank you" like giving someone a great big hug.

Harriet also knows why we should have good manners -- They make everyone happy!

Your children will learn a lot from Harriet, and they'll love looking at the cartoon-style pictures of Harriet practicing good manners.

Visit Barbara Joosee's web site and find out more about this book and others she has written.

Scared of the Dark

"Cat and Mouse in the Night" by Tomek Bogacki

(PreK - First Grade) In this series of books Cat and Mouse learn that the night is as scary as it seems. Cat and Mouse are left behind by the others and it soon gets dark. At first they are very scared, but soon they learn from the owl that the night can be very beautiful.

The pictures in this book are so charming. This look like stuffed animals that have come alive.

The cat and mouse shapes in this book are simply drawn. Children would enjoy trying to drawing animals like these.

Self-Reliance

"The Little Engine That Could" - Written by Watty Pipe

A classic tale of how a little engine using positive thinking was able to push a much larger train over a mountian to save the day.

Make "I'm a Can Do Kid" cup holders.

Spanish

"Skippyjon Jones" by Judy Schachner

Skippyjon Jones is a rambunctious little Siamese cat that loves pretending to be Skippito Friskito an adventure-loving Chihuahua. He rides his stick-horse mouse to old Mexico where he meets a band of chihuahuas named the Los Chimichangos. Skippito helps the chihuahuas fight El Blimpo Bumblebeeto Bandito who stole all the Chihuahua's beans and now was coming for them because they are full of beans too.

This book introduces children to Spanish words through a delightful story. Don't miss the other Skippyjon Jones books in this series. If possible get the CD that comes with the book. Children will love listening to the story read by the author while you flip the pages of the book. Children who are not familiar with Spanish may have a difficult time following the story because it is read very fast. You may want to go over some of the Spanish words used before listening to the CD.

Tolerance

"Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr."

This is a great book to introduce children to the story of Martin Luther King, Jr's life. Martin learned at a young age of the importance and power of words. He grew up listening to his father's sermons and saw how they changed people's lives. He decided at a very young age that he would "get big words too". He changed the world with his words and they continue to live on even today.

You will find a Bible lesson that goes along with this book with crafts and activities on The Resource Room.

"The Crayon Box that Talked" by Shane DeRolf

This short story is about a bunch of crayons that couldn't get along, but at the end of the story, when they see a beautiful picture with all the colors in it, they realize that each one them is important and beautiful in their way.

Make a crayon box display and move the crayons as they speak in the story.

“I don’t like Red!” said Yellow,
And Green said, “Nor do I!
And no one here likes Orange,
But no one knows just why.”

At the end of the story the crayons realize that they are all very important when they see a beautiful picture being drawn by the author. You can also draw the picture as you tell the story.

You will find a Bible lesson that goes along with this book with crafts and activities on The Resource Room.

"A Pig is Moving In" by Claudia Fries

A Pig is Moving In is about animals who live in an apartment building. When an apartment becomes vacant they find out that a pig is moving in. They are all very worried because everyone knows that pigs are messy. They all decide before the even meet him that they don't like him. On moving day each of the animals see Pig at different times while he is moving in. They don't talk to him, but do notice the messes he is making. What they don't notice is that he comes back each time to clean up his mess. They tell each other about all the messes Pig makes, getting very upset. They decide to confront Pig and tell him he needs to behave properly if he wants to live in their apartment building. When they get to his apartment and Pig opens the door a sweet smell of cinnamon floats out. When they tell him that they noticed the messes, he apologizes and says he hopes he cleaned them all up properly. All the animals were very surprised and embarrassed that Pig had picked up the messes. Pig invited them in for tea and cookies, and they learned not to judge others before getting to know them.

Peg (Blue Bananas)  

Peg

"Peg" by Maddie Stewart - ISBN 0-7787-0841-1

This is a great book about compassion and loving others the way they are. Peg is a book about a one legged hen.  A farmer doesn't want Peg because she only ahs one leg. He leaves her behind for the fox to find.  Lucky for Peg, Benjamin Bottomly finds her and takes her home to his father’s farm.  Peg wants to be a mother so Benjamin gets her a very large egg to hatch.  When it hatches the baby is an ostrich who thinks Peg is a wonderful mother.  Benjamin keeps bringing home eggs from different types of birds for Peg too hatch.  When one of the beautiful hens makes fun of Peg for being floppy, lame, and plain, Peg's children all say "That is our mother and we love her!" 

Harriet Dancing

Children of all ages will love Harriet Dancing by Ruth Symes. The pictures are simple and adorable, and the story will touch their hearts.

Harriet the hedgehog sees hundreds of butterflies dancing in the sunshine, and can't help but stop and dance with them. She twists and turns and skips and hops. She is the happiest hedgehog in all the world. But then she notices that the butterflies have stopped dancing, and she is dancing all alone. She asks the butterflies to dance with her, but they say they don't want to because they only dance with butterflies. This made Harriet very sad. Harriet hurries away as fast as she can so the butterflies won't see her crying.

Later she meets her friends and they start dancing together. The butterflies see how much fun they are having and ask if they can join in. Harriet says, "Of course!" without hesitation,
"Dancing's for everyone, BIG and small. Dancing's for sharing with one and all."

After reading this story make the dancing hedgehog craft below and talk about discrimination.

See the Hedgehog Crafts and Learning Activities Page for crafts and Activities to go along with this book.