Great Picture Books to Read Aloud

I ran across a great linky party about books! Denise at Sunny Days in Second Grade is showcasing favorite books for her most recent Show & Tell Tuesday theme. 

I just love a good read-aloud, so I'm linking up and sharing some of my personal favorites. Some of these books are linked to blog posts I've written that describe activities to go along with them. All of the following are picture books that have been kid-tested and approved by my students this school year! 

"Pierre the Penguin" by Jean Marzollo

This is a must-have for your penguin unit! It's the true story of a penguin who lost his feathers and the brilliant solution that helped to restore them. Pierre just celebrated his 30th birthday and still lives at the California Academy of Sciences, which features live penguin cams on their website to show your students after reading the story.

"Moe the Dog in Tropical Paradise" by Diane Stanley

A great book to read in winter-time when you're wishing for warm weather! Click here for my blog post on this story.

"Little Granny Quarterback" by Bill Martin Jr.

You don't come across too many books about a football-playing grandmother! Click here for my blog post on this story (scroll to the end of post to see activities my students did with the book).

"There is a Bird on Your Head" by Mo Willems

Another hilarious Elephant and Piggie adventure! I read Elephant's lines using an elephant mask with a bird attached to the top and the kids were enthralled! This just might be my favorite book in the series.

"Little Dog Lost: The True Story of a Brave Dog Named Baltic" by Monica Carnesi

This is the true story of a dog rescued from an ice floe in 2010. Students can see pictures of Baltic and a video of his actual rescue on the author's blog! 

"Snowflake Bentley" by Jacqueline Briggs Martin

This is a beautiful picture book biography of Wilson Bentley, a farmer born in 1865 who photographed and studied snowflakes. Students can use Wilson Bentley's pictures as inspiration for making or drawing their own snowflakes.

"How Rocket Learned to Read" and "Rocket Writes a Story" by Tad Hills

Rocket's got reading and writing covered! See my blog posts here and here for ideas and activities.

"Senorita Gordita" by Helen Ketteman
This book is a Southwestern-style retelling of "The Gingerbread Man" and is so fun to read aloud! Kids will join in the refrain with enthusiasm ("with a flip and a skip and a zip-zoom-zip"), and comparisons to the original Gingerbread Man fairy tale are sure to follow. Spanish words are sprinkled throughout the book, so an introduction to a few of them before reading it will have your students thinking about language and making predictions based on prior knowledge of the original story.

"Porkenstein" by Kathryn Lasky
 A fun Frankenstein-esque story to read at Halloween. Throw on a lab coat and safety goggles and start conducting science experiments after reading this book!

"The Library Dragon" by Carmen Agra Deedy
A librarian has serious issues with kids checking out or even touching the library books in this awesome story. Click here for my blog post on "The Library Dragon".


Be sure to check out other great picture book recommendations at Sunny Days in Second Grade's linky party here!

~Swersty