Picture books for Older Students

Most of the time middle grade students shy away from picture books thinking they are for babies. This is simply not the case. Librarians call the section with picture books “Everybody Books” because they are for everyone. There are some books that are difficult to place since they have wonderful information or stories but they happen to be shorter and have illustrations. We usually end up putting them in the “E” section and guide the older student there when they need a book on that particular subject. Our students are now getting used to finding good information in the “Everybody Books” section. Here is a nice selection of books that you might also find interesting for your middle graders or even older students.

Jerry Palotta’s ABC books are stuffed to the gills with information. Read one to your class and challenge them to make their own ABC book.

Patricia Polacco writes wonderful stories; many of them about her childhood and other historical time period. Try reading “Thank You, Mr. Falcker” without crying. I cannot. “Mr. Lincoln’s Way” is about a school principal of an integrated school. Betty Doll, An Orange for Frankie, Butterflies, the list goes on and on. You may want to steer clear of Welcome Comfort. It is a Christmas story about a boy who is teased and who ends up becoming Santa Clause. There may be others that you might not want, but most of her books are on our shelves.

Allen Say writes mostly for young children and I particularly enjoy his stories about his childhood. There are two that I do not read to the younger children. The Sign Painter and Home of the Brave. The subject matter is a bit too mature for kindergarteners.

Myron Uhlberg grew up as a hearing child with deaf parents. He tells the story of his father and other deaf workers in a printing press. His father noticed a fire and was able to warn the others to leave in the book The Printer. He also wrote again about his father in Dad, Jackie and Me.

Crow Boy is an old book by Taro Yashima. It is much longer than traditional picture books, therefore is suited more for older students and the subject is also for older students. The story is about a Japanese boy who is an outcast at school.

Faithful Elephants: A True Story of Animals, People and War by Yukio Tsuchiya. I will not read this to any class younger than fifth grade. The story is about a zoo in Japan during the war. The government was concerned about the possibility of animals escaping during a bombing and therefore ordered that the animals in the zoo be killed. The trained elephants were the last to be killed. Their hide was too tough for bullets, they were too smart to eat the poisoned food, and finally were starved to death. They were doing their tricks to try to earn food and the keepers were devastated with the whole situation. When I read this to a class, I couldn’t keep from crying. It gives another picture to what war does to a country and innocent.

Louise Borden has written two books that I love. Across the Blue Pacific about World War 2 and The Greatest Skating Race which is also a World War 2 story from the Netherlands.

Karen Hesse is known for her World War 2 stories. She has taken a wonderful story of young people who are able to outwit the Nazis and put it in a picture book. The Cats in Krasinski Square is enjoyed by everyone I have ever read it to.

If you aren’t tired of World War 2 stories yet, I have one more for you. Christmas in the Trenches by John McCutcheon. This is the story you may have heard of the German side singing Christmas carols and the American side joining in with them. My copy has a CD with the author reading the story and music along with it. It is wonderful to put the CD in a player and sit and turn the pages.

At Ellis Island: History in Many Voices by Louise Peacock tells a story and also includes a secondary section with historical information and photos and drawings. It is a like a scrapbook.

Silent Music: A Story of Baghdad by James Rumford. Take Arabic calligraphy, a young boy who loves to draw the calligraphy and put them together for a unique look at the culture of Iraq.

Across the Alley by Richard Michelson is the story of a white boy who has to take violin lessons but longs to lay baseball and a black boy who plays baseball and has no money for music lessons. They live across an alley and throw a ball back and forth between their windows. The story ends happily as each boy gets his wish.

Fannie in the Kitchen by Deborah Hopkinson is the story of Fannie Farmer and how she wrote her cookbook. That line I just wrote sounds like it is a boring book, but it really is a delightful story.

If you have some books that you would like to share, send them along to me and I will post them in the next week or two. We can work together to make our libraries grow.