Picture Book Resources
Chu is nervous about the first day of school. Will they like him? Everyone starts sharing their names and what they like to do. What should Chu share?
Adam Rex did a fantastic job with the illustrations in this book from putting so much emotional expression into faces to comedic timing. He made me laugh out loud reading this book. Of course, Gaiman set the stage well for him. Chu is adorable, and if his potentially, epically catastrophic first day at school went well for him, anyone can be reassured they can survive too. A great one to read to nervous first day of schoolers. (Or just read it for fun.)
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- First Day(s) of School: This is a great one to read during those first days of school and break the ice. It provides an opening to talk about expectations and fears about what the coming year will bring, and hopefully, teachers/parents can help calm students down. It should also put kids at ease, there’s no way their first day of school can be worse than Chu’s and he survives just fine.
- Animal Fans: There’s a great assortment of animals common and rare in the Chu books, perfect for animal lovers.
- Humorous Read: This is a fantastically fun read. If you need a good laugh, pick it up.
- Psychology: Rex does quite a bit in this book to get readers to laugh. This would be a fun book to look at and analyze for how art and facial expressions can affect us.
- Physics: Ok, so this one is good for any and all of the books in this brainstorm. Figure out the speed of the air generated by Chu’s sneeze and force it has.
- Writing Prompt: (This could be used with any of the books below.) Imagine some other creature or person sneezing. Where will their epic sneeze take your story?
Chu’s Day at the Beach (Chu, #3) by Neil Gaiman, ill. by Adam Rex
Chu goes to the beach with his family. All is going swimmingly until Chu sneezes...and breaks the ocean. All the animals are trying to get Chu to sneeze again to fix it, but nothing seems to work.
This little panda has one powerful sneeze! They should have named him Moses. I love the vast assortment of critters at the beach, both real and fantasy. (There's a pangolin! When's the last time you saw a pangolin in a picture book?) A funny story for kids with good imaginations.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Vacation Read: I know our school is starting back early and many out there are still on vacations, this is perfect for reading while on the way to the beach.
- Literary/Biblical Parallels: I mentioned Moses up above in my review. Have students figure out why I said he should have been called Moses.
- Animal Lovers: As mentioned before, superb assortment of animals in the Chu books!
- Physics: Once again, this could be a fun one to look at the effects and calculate just how powerful Chu’s sneeze would have to be to render get these kinds of results.
- Humorous Read: Get your dosage of laughter for the day with Chu!
The Flea's Sneeze by Lynn Downey, ill. by Karla Firehammer
Everyone's sleeping in the barn, when the flea coughs. Everyone's still sleeping when he gets a tickle. But when the flea sneezes everyone wakes up!
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Beginning Readers: This is a great choice for emergent readers as the rhyming and repetitive text should make it easy for kids to be able to "read" along as the story goes on.
- Humorous Read: Kids should enjoy the drawings and crazy antics of the animals after the flea sneezes.
- Rhyming Words: If you’re learning about rhyming words, this book is an option.
- Story Plotting: If you’re teaching students to diagram the plot of a story, you could easily use this one as an example or starting practice. It is very easy to recognize the building action to the climax of the sneeze and then the denouement.
- Domestic Animals: Pick this one up for kids learning about the animals found on a farm.
- Little Things’ Importance: We often dismiss the importance of little things, but as this book illustrates, even little critters can have a big impact. Use this as a discussion starter for talking about how little things can have a huge impact, and people who feel little in stature or importance can still do so too.
Pigs Make Me Sneeze (Elephant & Piggie, #10) by Mo Willems
Gerald can't stop sneezing, and he's afraid it is because he has developed an allergy to pigs. He goes to the doctor, and he sneezes there too! So maybe he is allergic to pigs and cats! But the doctor has a much more logical explanation that allows Gerald and Piggie to remain friends, even if they're both sneezing now.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Humorous Read: Kids should get a big kick out of how Gerald's sneezes practically blow Piggie and the doctor into the next county (I know I did). And if you're looking for a fun book to cheer up a little sneezing one, this could be just the medicine they need.
- Jumping to Conclusions: Gerald’s panic perfectly illustrates the danger of jumping to conclusions. He almost decided he couldn’t be friends with Piggie any more! Great time to discuss how to avoid jumping to conclusions.
- Sneeze Etiquette/Health Safety: Gerald also provides a nice lesson on why we should cover our sneezes. If you need to talk to a child or a whole class about health safety, Elephant & Piggie make the medical advice go down easier.
Mr. Reez's Sneezes by Curtis Parkinson, ill. by Sami Suomalainen
Mr. Reez gets a nose full of pepper and out comes a sneeze so epic it sends him around the world on an unforgettable adventure.
A humorous adventure/tall tale set off by a bit of pepper.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Humorous Read: If you're looking for a fun humorous read, try this one out.
- Tall Tale: There are some wild sneezes out there (as this post capitalizes on), but Mr. Reez may take the cake for the wildest.
- Physics: This sneeze will probably provide the most fun in physics calculations. What force of a sneeze would be needed to put someone flying at the speed of sound? And perhaps more importantly, could a human even survive such speed without a suit or aircraft? (Or the lungs survive expelling such force?)
- Anatomy: You can get in on the action with the physics classes here on figuring out if Mr. Reez could realistically survive his flight and sneezes.
The Mitten by Jan Brett
Brett's modern classic adaptation of a Ukrainian folktale in which a little boy loses his mitten, which soon becomes the coveted warm shelter of a growing crowd of animals, until the tiniest critter tickles the bear's nose and a sneeze returns the mitten to the boy.
I love how Brett's illustrations not only have the big main picture but sidebar illustrations of what is happening at the same time elsewhere. In this story, the main illustration features the mitten and the animals smooshing themselves into it together, while the sidebars show the boy looking for his lost outerwear. And of course, Brett's illustrations are this fantastic combination of realism with just the right touches of animation and subtle nods to the culture featured.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Ukrainian Studies: If you’re looking at the country of Ukraine, why not explore some of their folklore?
- Folktales: Also a good pick if you’re doing a folklore unit.
- Predictions: Practice making predictions with children when reading this. Can they guess who will try to squeeze into the mitten next?
- Animal Lovers: This is a great pick for animal lovers, with Brett’s fantastic illustrations of forest animals.
- Compare/Contrast: There's another picture book adaptation of this folktale out there The Mitten: An Old Ukrainian Folktale retold by Alvin Tresselt & ill. by Yaroslava that's great for compare/contrast activities.
No Dragons for Tea: Fire Safety for Kids by Jean E. Pendziwol, ill. by Martine Gourbault
A little girl makes a new friend, a dragon! They have great fun at the beach and then she invites him over for tea. But during tea the pepper starts tickling noses, and you can just guess what happens when a dragon sneezes. Fire! The little girl and her mom know just what to do, but have to teach the dragon a few things about fire safety. Fire safety talking points are included in the back.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Fire Safety: We’ve seen a lot of sneezes today, but a dragon sneezing is certainly the most dangerous. It also provides a fun way to talk about fire safety.
- Dragons: Here there be dragons, isn't it wonderful!
- Fun Read: The book is written in catchy rhyme, and the illustrations are attractive. I can see kids asking for this story to be reread because they think it is fun; the educational component is just a happy bonus for parents.
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