Early Years (ages 2-6)

Four Hens and a Rooster

Four hens live on a chicken farm. A little rooster lives there, too. “What a nice little rooster you have here,” everyone says when they come to visit. Indeed, it seems so for a while. But then the rooster begins to take more food for himself, and the hens get less. When the hens try talking to him about fairness, they’re not prepared for his reaction. The rooster turns into an egotistical barnyard bully, and the hens are worse off than before. Finally, the oldest hen puts her foot down: “We can’t go on like this. We must do something.”

Feathers Like a Rainbow: An Amazon Indian Tale

The birds in the forests surrounding the Amazon River all have dark feathers until they decide to steal some colors from the Hummingbird.

Baya, Baya, Lulla-by-a

The baya bird of India weaves its nest of grasses and flowers. In this dramatic yet lulling lullaby of a book, such a bird also saves a baby girl’s life.

Pitschi

On Lisette’s farm there are many animals. Lisette loves her animals and they are all very happy–except Pitschi, the smallest kitten. Pitschi wants to be something different. It takes a terrifying night in a strange place and a warm homecoming for Pitschi to discover that what she really wants is to be a kitten after all.

On Ramon’s Farm: Five Tales of Mexico

All of Ramon’s farm animals make a unique sound as he tends to them. Every animal has its own silly story, but Ramon has the last word At the end of each one, he makes up a verse that sums up each lovable animal’s personality. Full color.

Nutmeg

Everything is always the same for Nutmeg, her Uncle Nicodemus, and her Cousin Nesbit. They eat the same thing for breakfast, lunch, and supper everyday, and nothing new ever happens. Until the day Nutmeg decides to take a walk. And that’s when everything starts to happen: a mysterious genie gives her a mysterious spoon that whips up a feast for supper—and they have something different to eat! But the spoon keeps on whipping, and soon it’s whipped up the house and everything in it, and the whole house sets sail. To where, they don’t know, but the promise of something different for breakfast and lunch helps them realize that different isn’t always bad.In this wholly original story about coping with changes, David Lucas has created a kindred spirit to his debut picture-book character, Halibut Jackson.

Waiting for Mama

This tender story was first published in a newspaper in 1938. This tale from Korea is universal–a small child waits for Mama at the station, asking the conductor if he has seen her. The conductor hasn’t, but cautions the child to wait a little farther from the tracks. It is cold and snowy but the child waits patiently until finally Mama comes.

It is an English-Korean bilingual picture book. The Korean edition book is also available.

Read more about Waiting for Mama in WOW Review.

Mama’s Favorite

Muri loves his mama, and Mama loves him. But being one of seven, he sometimes wonders who is Mama’s favorite. He thinks maybe she loves his baby sister the most, but whenever he acts like the baby, Mama doesn’t like it. Then he wonders if she loves his oldest sister the most, because she lives far away. But when he threatens to run far away, Mama doesn’t appreciate it. Even when Muri pretends to be sick, Mama is wise to his ways. But when the two of them encounter a fearsome cat out in the yard, Mama grabs Muri and scampers to safety, and Muri finally understands that Mama loves them all the same.

There’s No Such Thing as Ghosts!

When we moved to our new neighborhood, I had to promise my mother that I would not go near the strange old house on the corner. People say it’s haunted, she whispered. There is no such thing as ghosts! But if there is, I am going to catch one!

The Gift of the Sun: A Tale from South Africa

In this witty book based on an African folk tale, Thulani prefers sitting in the sun to doing his chores. Tired of milking the cow, he trades her in for a goat. When the goat gets into the corn seed, he trades it for a sheep. Sick of shearing, he buys some geese, which then get exchanged for some sunflower seeds. With each trade, his hard-working wife gets more and more exasperated.