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Long picture book suggestions...


Malenki
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My eldest is losing interest in most shorter picture books which of course makes sense with his age and the fact that we've read a slew of chapter books over the last few years.

 

But he has enjoyed some of those longer fairy tale books and things like Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (adapted slightly) in picture book format.

 

I'm hoping to extend our picture book days just a bit more, even if the books take 20-30 minutes to read each.

 

I can't find a list of similar length books but it's sort of a vague search term on Google. Does anyone have a website that lists longer picture books?

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Sometimes you can get densely illustrated books, like Peter Pan. (There's an edition that has lots of pictures.) I have a Helen Oxenbury illustrated Alice in Wonderland with lots of illustrations. Also try a search by your fav illustrator. Pinkney has lots of longer books he's illustrated. And for something your younger would enjoy and the older listens in on, try The Adventures of Teddy Robinson. It's not a picture book, but it's one of our favs from that age! :)

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Have you looked at the Holling C Holling books? They have great pictures and drawings and there are shorter chapters. They would take more than a day to read through, but, they are great. The stories are fun and my dc learned alot with them. They actually asked this year to do the geography study using those books again. He might really enjoy them.

 

Paddle to the Sea

A Tree in the Trail

Minn of the Mississippi

Seabird

Pagoo

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You might check the Five in a Row lists. Volumes 1-3 are used for ages 4-8, so there is a mixture of book lengths, but volume 4 is for only the oldest of the range. We have The Raft & Mailing May, and they are good longer picture books.

 

Here's the volume 4 list:

 

Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran

The Raft by Jim LaMarche

Mailing May by Michael O. Tunnell

Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin

The Gullywasher by Joyce Rossi

Arabella by Wendy Orr

Higgins Bend Song and Dance by Jacqueline Briggs Martin

Cowboy Charlie by Jeanette Winter

Grass Sandals by Dawnine Spivak

Albert by Donna Jo Napoli

The Hickory Chair by Lisa Rose Fraustino

Hanna's Cold Winter by Trish Marx

The Hatmaker's Sign Retold by Candace Fleming

The Pumpkin Runner by Marsha Diane Arnold

Angelo by David Macaulay

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These are illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger.

The titles we have are The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde and The Deliverers of Their Country by Edith Nesbit. (The Nesbit book is a fun dragon story.) Another from this series that we have read from the library is Little Red Cap by The Brothers Grimm.

 

I'm not sure if this book, The Matchlock Gun, would be considered a short chapter book or a longer picture book. But it has several pictures and the story really grabbed my 10 and 7 year old dds.

 

Hope these help, Cindy H. in NC

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They include:

"The Sneetches"

"The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins"

"Horton Hears a Who"

"How the Grinch Stole Christmas"

"The Lorax"

 

Other good 'longer' picture books that I really like include:

"Grandpa Bear's Fantastic Scarf"

"What Did Jesus Do?" (There are two books from Concordia Publishing House that start with this name--CC, obviously, but they are really good)

"The Very First..." books by Paul Maier (Christmas, Easter, Christians) (CC)

 

Biographies by Miriam Greenblatt are not really picture books at all, but are so lavishly illustrated that they almost work as very advanced picture books. She has written bios of many famous characters, including Hatshepsut, Charlemagne, Lorenzo D'Medici, Peter the Great, Elizabeth I, Alexander the Great, and Julius Caesar. These books include biographical information, a section on life and times, and some original writing of that setting.

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Michael Hague illustrated a bunch of unabridged classics with beautiful pictures- my kids love The Wizard of Oz especially. Another one my kids love is Jenny and the Cat Club, it's really a chapter book but has charming pictures. Some of Tomi dePaola's picture books are on the long side. The original Pooh stories can be long, if your son wouldn't think Pooh too babyish.

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Diane Stanley's historical biographies are packed with information and beautiful illustrations. They definitely take more than half an hour to read. Magic School Bus books are also good for early elementary (and not PK/K) because they have a lot of information packed in. You might also want to take a look at the Caldecott winners. Quite a few of them are "older" picture books with more mature themes and truly beautiful art, but this is something you'll have to judge for yourself.

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I just saw a book at the library that I almost checked out. It was a large picture book -- long too. It was some sort of living book approach to learning about the world -- like the story about the doll that went from person to person and through the story you learn history, but this was more geography. It was fictional, obviously. I think you were flying above the earth the whole time, or something.

 

I am going crazy trying to find the book on my library website, but I cannot find it. ugh

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Wow, thanks for all the great ideas! We've read many (but not all!) of the books suggested: Jean Fritz, McCloskey, FIAR books, Patricia Polacco, Holling, D'Aulaire, etc.

 

But we'll definitely look into Miriam Greenblatt and those books illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger!

 

I hadn't thought of looking for illustrated versions of classic books, either, although the Wizard of Oz version we read had tons of pictures and was loads of fun with them in there.

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And for something your younger would enjoy and the older listens in on, try The Adventures of Teddy Robinson. It's not a picture book, but it's one of our favs from that age! :)

 

Pinkney is wonderful. Our three year old loves his version of the Little Red Hen which we just had again for about 6 weeks before forced to return it finally to the library. It was read daily of course!

 

But I just had to comment that somebody else likes Teddy Robinson! Sometimes I begin to think we're the only ones who have heard of him. Love the hot water bottle story especially.

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It was some sort of living book approach to learning about the world -- like the story about the doll that went from person to person and through the story you learn history, but this was more geography.

 

If you figure it out, let me know! I'm guessing you're referring to "Hitty, Her First Hundred Years" right? (Which we read last summer and enjoyed a bunch.)

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We loved this book! We read it just a few months ago. He was entranced. In fact, we read it two or three times in one week he enjoyed it that much.

 

(Hopefully obvious that it was while the little guy was having his nap... he's still in the nursery tale stage, thankfully.)

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If you figure it out, let me know! I'm guessing you're referring to "Hitty, Her First Hundred Years" right? (Which we read last summer and enjoyed a bunch.)

 

Hitty was the book that this one reminded me of. Next time I go to the library, I will write down the title. I know exactly where it is in the library, but I cannot for the life of me figure out the title. :tongue_smilie:

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My two are really enjoying books by Roald Dahl right now. We finished James and the Giant Peach (a chapter book), and the Fantastic Mr. Fox (very short chapter book), and will start The Enormous Crocodile soon.

 

They have a dark sense of humor, so you might want to make sure they're appropriate for your kids. I never read them growing up- but that is one of the joys of homeschooling. It gives me the opportunity to discover books I missed along the way!

 

The Tim books by Edward Ardizzone are longer picture books that are very sweet. They are OOP, you might have to check your library

 

If he likes books about nature, Sandra Markle has a whole series of animal books (sharks, spiders, octopus...lots of others) that have lots and lots of pictures.

 

One Grain of Rice (Demi)

The Hero & the Minotaur (Robert Byrd)

Hercules (Robert Burleigh)

Bears on Hemlock Mountain (Alice Dalgliesh) short chapter book

The Selfish Giant (Oscar Wilde)

My Father's Dragon (Gannet) short chapter book

The Red Lion (Wolkstein)

King Midas & the Golden Touch (Charlotte Craft) we enjoy almost all her illustrated books.

The Firebird (Gennady Spirin)

It Could Always Be Worse (Zemach)

Alexander the Great (Bingham) short chapters

The Great Alexander the Great (Lasker)

Zachary Zormer, Shape Transformer (Resiberg)

 

Whew! I got a little carried away! Hope this helps- These are picture books or short chapter books that my son (7) and daughter (5) have enjoyed this year.

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I recently purchased a book entitled "Picture Perfect Childhood" by Cay Gibson. You can get it at Lulu's. The essence of the book is a collection of picture book lists according to topic as well as a history timeline. There is a monthly list of books about events that happened in history in that particular month or about a person that was born in that month. Also, each month has a Shakespeare, geography, music, fairy tale, myth and nature selection. These books are awesome. My 8 yr. old even enjoys them.

 

There is site (House of Literature) that has a similar list originally done by the author, but the list found in the book is more complete.

 

As I said before there are other lists there as well, but the history timeline list is the one that we use all of the time.

 

Also, the author of this book has a website that will feature a picture book author each month. May's featured author is Patricia Polacco.

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Ooh! I second Rhesa's recommendation of the Sandra Markle books... she has a series on animal scavengers, one on predators, and another on prey. She also has a few animal stories out, as well. These are illustrated beautifully, while the 3 series above are filled w/ wonderful photos. My boys *love* these and have learned a ton!

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