According to Wikipedia, The New York Times Best Seller list began in 1931 and is known as the leading best seller list of books in the United States. In the last few decades, the list has spawned different categories of list, categorized by fiction and non-fiction, and different genres. The books in this post are from the NYT Bestseller Children’s Picture Books from January to August 2016.
Willems, M. (2016). The Thank You Book. New York, NY: Hyperion Books for Children.
In this 25th and last installment of the Elephant & Piggie series, Piggie is on a journey to thank all those that are important to him. Gerald is sure Piggie will forget someone. While Piggie is a "thanking machine", Gerald does have to remind Piggie to thank the most important person to them.
As always, Mo Willems delivers an outstanding book for children. Thankfulness and being grateful is the greatest tool we can teach young students and this book illustrates the virtue perfectly. This book will be loved by young readers from 2 to 10.
To see other books in the Elephant & Piggie series, visit pigeonpresents.com
Rinker, S. D. (2017). Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books LLC.
This sweet tale describes the daily rituals of all the equipment at the construction site. All the machines work very hard throughout the day and all must rest at night to prepare for the next day.
This book is perfect for children who have a hard time winding down at night. The rhythmic pattern of the book is very soothing and will help those hesitant sleepers to drift off to sleep. I recommend this book to preschoolers and young elementary students.
Visit sherririnker.com to see more works from Rinker.
Rubin, A. (2012). Dragons Love Tacos. New York, NY: Dial.
In this hilarious children's picture book, the title says it all. Dragons love taco. They really, really love tacos! The narrator instructs a young boy and his dog how to win over dragons. That means lots of taco and absolutely no spicy salsa. Things are going perfectly for the young boy and his dog at the taco party they threw for all the dragons until he sees that the dragons added spicy salsa to their tacos. This results in fire breath which causes the boys house to burn down. The dragons help the boy rebuild his house with the promise of more tacos of course.
This amusing book is perfect for any dragon and/or taco lover out there. Every dragon is uniquely illustrated and the premise of them loving tacos is a funny notion for young readers. This book will be read again and again. I recommend this for young readers to 10 years old.
To learn more about the author and see his other works, visit, penguinrandomhouse.com/adam-rubin.
Mattick, L. (2015). Finding Winnie: The True Story of the Worlds Most Famous Bear. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company.
This book is the true story of the origins of the Winnie the Pooh. In it, Cole request his mother tell him a true story about a bear. The mother and narrator of the book is the great-granddaughter of Captain Harry Colebourn, who was the man who found a bear at a train station and bought him for $20 during World War I. He named her Winnie after his beloved hometown Winnipeg. This bear became the mascot of his regiment and even followed them to England. Winnie was getting too big and the war was getting more dangerous, so Captain Colebourn decided it was best to place Winnie in a zoo in England. This is where a young boy named Christopher Robin and his father, author Alan Milne, saw Winnie. The boy and the bear became best of friends and this inspired Milne to write a series of books on their make believe adventures.
This was a delightful book with beautiful illustrations. The writing gave colorful life to this nonfiction tale that young children will appreciate. I found the album at the end of the book fascinating. The album shows real life pictures of Captain Colebourn, Winnie, Christopher Robin, Alan Milne and the author (narrator of the story) and her son Cole. I also found the tie in of seeing something special in someone (or some bear) to be really heartwarming and sweet. I would recommend this book for all elementary students.
Visit Finding Winnie to view the book preview.
Beaty, A. (2017). Rosie Revere, Engineer. New York, NY: Abrams Books for Young Readers.
Rosie Revere is a shy, quiet 2nd grader but when no is watching, she tinkers and invents creative gadgets. She wants to be an engineer when she grows up but fears her inventions will fail and not work. Her great great Aunt Rose tells Rosie of her days fixing airplanes and her regret of never flying. Rosie attempts to make this dream come try for her aunt but her invention doesn't quite works how it is supposed to. Rosie is completely discouraged and thinks she is a failure. Her Aunt Rose reminds her you only fail if you quit.
I love the book's theme of persevering through failure. This lesson is essential for students and this book demonstrates how necessary failure is to success. The illustrations are colorful and vibrant and Rosie's inventions are so creative and visually interesting. I recommend this book for students of all ages.
Visit andreabeaty.com to see more of her works.
Novak, B. J. (2016). The Book with No Pictures. London, England: Puffin.
This "picture book" warns you right away that there will be no pictures in this book. Does that mean it will be a serious, boring grownup book? No way! Playing with color and fonts, this book delivers on being fun book for kids.
The intention of this book is to be an interactive experience with a parent or adult. The fun of the book is the funny and silly words the narrator must say aloud to the listener. My son had quite a few laugh at some of the absurd things I read to him.
To learn more about the author and this book, visit thebookwithnopictures.com.
Yamada, K. (2016). What Do You Do With a Problem? Seattle, WA: Compendium.
In this thought provoking book, a young boy is approached with a problem. He is overwhelmed with this lingering problem. He ignores it, hides from it and hopes it will go away on his own. Finally when he can take it no more, he confronts his problem only to discover it was not as awful as he has built it up to be.
This is a great book to discuss with children. It gives great strategies to face problems head on and an assurance that problems are not as bad as they appear. I also appreciate how the book demonstrates that problems create opportunities and growth. All aged elementary students can gain a lesson from this book.
Visit Book Preview to learn more about the book.
Parsley, E. (2015). If You Ever Want to Bring an Alligator to School, Don't! New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company.
In this silly cautionary tale, an elementary student named Magnolia is instructed to bring something from nature to show and tell. She decides to bring an alligator which she almost immediately regrets. The alligator causes nothing but mischief all school day and Magnolia is paying the consequences. She warns the audience again and again, "If You Ever Want to Bring an Alligator to School, Don't!"
This book was an irreverent and hilarious. All aged elementary students will find it extremely amusing and entertaining. The illustrator did a great job of making the alligator look mischievous but not scary. I found this book to be very fun to read aloud.
Visit Book Preview to see a preview of the book.
Martin, E. W. (2015). The Wonderful Things You Will Be. New York, NY: Random House.
From the moment your child is born, you imagine what your child will be like. This book narrates how parents envision all the traits and characteristics their child may have and what the future hold for them. Most importantly, this book reminds children that their parents will always love them, no matter what.
I really recommend parents read this book to their children. I found that it perfectly words how parents hopes and dreams for their children knows no bounds and a parents love is never ending. Young readers and preschoolers will especially love the simple and classic illustrations.
Visit publishersweekly.com to learn more about this book and it's author.
Daywalt, D. (2016). The Day the Crayons Quit. London, England: HarperCollins Childrens Books.
In this funny and silly story, a young boy named Duncan opens his crayon box only to discover letters from his crayons. They are all very disgruntled and each color describes their upset feelings to Duncan in their letters. Some are used too much, some too little, and some want to be used in more unique ways. These letters inspire Duncan to create his best crayon drawing yet.
This story came from the unique perspective of a crayons' point of view when creating and coloring pictures. I believe the lesson of thinking outside of the box and looking at things from a different angle are great virtues for children to learn. The illustrations in this book perfectly complement this story. All elementary aged students will enjoy reading this book.
Visit crayonspicturebooks.com/day-crayons-quit-activities for some fun activities that go with this book.
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