Pretty Cool Books for Preschoolers & Kindergarteners

Picture books

• Bonwill, Ann. I Don't Want to be a Pea! 2011.
  

  Hugo Hippo and Bella Bird are best friends, but a disagreement over costumes may prevent the two from attending the annual Fairytale Fancy Dress Party.

• Beaumont, Karen. Shoe-La-La! 2011.
  

  Four girls go in search of the perfect pair of party shoes.

• Chabon, Michael. The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man. 2011.
  

  A young superhero describes his awesome powers, which he then demonstrates as various foes arrive on the scene.

• Czekaj, Jef. Cat Secrets. 2011.
  

  Important secrets about how best to live a cat's life will be revealed only to those who can prove that they are genuine cats.

• Finlay, Lizzie. Little Croc's Purse. 2011.
  

  When Little Croc and his friends find a purse filled with money, they must decide whether to spend the money or turn in the purse.

• Freedman, Deborah. Blue Chicken. 2011.
  

  An enterprising chicken attempts to help an artist paint the barnyard and accidentally turns the whole picture blue.

• Krosoczka, Jarrett. Ollie: The Purple Elephant. 2011.
  

  Ollie the purple elephant is delighted to move into the McLaughlin family's New York City apartment, but their cat, Ginger, is not pleased and devises a plan to send Ollie away with the circus.

• LaReau, Kara. Mr. Prickles: A Quill-Fated Love Story. 2012.
  

  Excluded by the other forest animals for not being cute, cuddly and playful, a porcupine feels lonely and angry until he finds a prickly companion, Miss Pointypants.

• Litwin, Eric. Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes. 2011.
  

  Pete the cat wears his school shoes when visiting the library, the lunchroom, the playground and more, all while singing his special song.

• London, Jonathan. Froggy Builds a Tree House. 2011.
  

  Froggy and his friends build a treehouse, while avoiding help from his little sister, Frogilina.

• McMullan, Kate and Jim. I'm Fast! 2012.
  

  A freight train and an automobile race each other on the way to Chicago.

• Menchin, Scott. What if Everything Had Legs? 2011.
  

  Feeling too tired to walk the rest of the way home, a little girl wonders why the house cannot have legs to come to her and her mother, then imagines what else would change if everything had legs.

• Merlin, Christophe. Under the Hood. 2011.
  

  A mechanic welcomes the reader to his garage where he will try to fix his car, but first needs help in finding his friends, Mouse, Crocodile and Bird under lift-up flaps and fold-out pages.

• Rinker, Sherri Duskey. Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site. 2011.
  

  At sunset, when their work is done for the day, a crane truck, a cement mixer and other pieces of construction equipment make their way to their resting places and go to sleep.

• Rosenthal, Amy Krouse. Plant a Kiss. 2012.
  

  One small act of love blooms into something bigger and more dazzling than Little Miss could have ever imagined.

• Schmid, Paul. Petunia Goes Wild. 2012.
  

  Petunia decides to stop being a human child and start living the life of a wild animal, much to her parents' displeasure.

• Shea, Bob. Dinosaur vs. the Library. 2011.
  

  Dinosaur is going to one of his favorite places, the library, and on the way he encounters a series of animals, including a cow, baby chicks, a turtle and an owl, and shares his roars with each.

• Shea, Bob. I'm a Shark. 2011.
  

  A boastful shark is not afraid of anything, which impresses his underwater friends until they ask about spiders.

• Smallcomb, Pam. I'm Not. 2011.
  

  A young girl discovers that best friends can enjoy and do well at different things as long as they are good at being friends.

• Staake, Bob. Look! A Book! 2011.
  

  Easy-to-read, rhyming text invites the reader to search for items on a different theme on each page, while celebrating the wonder of a picture book.

• Wilson, Karma. Bear's Loose Tooth. 2011.
  

  When Bear discovers he has a loose tooth, his friends try to help make it fall out.

Readers

• Catrow, David. Max Spaniel: Best in Show. 2011.
  

  Max Spaniel outperforms all of the other entrants in a dog show.

• Farley, Robin. Mia and the Dance for Two. 2011.
  

  When Mia's best friend can't make it to dance class, she has to find a new partner.

• Kohuth, Jane. Ducks Go Vroom. 2011.
  

  Relates three silly ducks' rather impolite visit to their Auntie Goose's house, introducing simple action and noise words.

• Willems, Mo. Happy Pig Day! 2011.
  

  Piggie celebrates her favorite day of the year, but Gerald the elephant is sad, thinking that he cannot join the fun.

revised May 2012