31 Days, 31 Lists: 2024 Simple Picture Books
It’s always a good idea to contrast the more extended lists I produce (board books, for example) alongside shorter ones like today’s. But first, let’s define our terms. To my mind, a simple picture book is a picture book for younger readers. Preschoolers, for example. Adults (particularly adult reviewers) are rather enamored of providing children with thoughtful, complex picture books. I include myself in that statement. It can be difficult to understand how truly praiseworthy simple picture books and their basic texts are, and how much good they do for the youngest of readers. Today, we celebrate those rarities.
You can get the full PDF of the list here.
If you’re interested in seeing other lists of simple picture book texts, I only started this category just two years ago. Here’s what we’ve done so far:
2024 Simple Picture Books
All the Rocks We Love by Lisa Varchol Perron and Taylor Perron, ill. David Scheirer
What can you do with a rock? And what kinds of rocks are out there? Join in the fun in this celebration of all things rocky. I love how the cover of this book pairs so well with the cover of All That Grows by Jack Wong. We search endlessly for simple picture books that can instill a love of nature at a very young age. I am pleased to announce that I’ve found a new one. This book focuses squarely on something near and dear to every small child’s heart: rocks. In simple language it describes each kind and then there’s just a little word at the bottom identifying what kind of rock it is. It rhymes, but not in an annoying way. I think this could be an ideal readaloud for anyone doing a rock unit with younger kids. Go, rocks, go!
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Aqua Boy by Ken Wilson-Max
Aaron just wants to be like his big sister Angel and be able to put his head under the water. When his family rescues an octopus while cleaning the beach, will he finally have the courage? Oh yes! Yes indeed, this is a great book. Sublime! Delightful! And who doesn’t adore the art of Ken Wilson-Max? There’s plenty of story outside of the ecological message, but look how neatly Wilson-Max works a love of nature into this book. Best of all? It’s for younger kids! Ken Wilson-Max is one of our top simple picture book creators. The man is clearly good at what he does. I’m just pleased that he’s started to create books with more environmental themes (Eco Girl, being his last one).
Are You Big? by Mo Willems
Are You Small? by Mo Willems
Are you big or are you small? To a cloud, our moon, the sun, or even a galaxy cluster you might be small, but as a little bug at the end reminds us, to an insect you’re big! A book on relative size brought by the man who created The Pigeon, Elephant & Piggie, and more. Mo Willems is trying his hand at nonfiction for our younger readers these days. Feels like that should be a bigger story (a lot bigger than the Pigeon getting a book about graduating anyway). I kind of had to calculate what the moment was where I was on board with these books. For me, I think it was when I was reading Are You Big? and Australia walked on, bold as brass, grinning widely. I’ve a natural affection for books that go to extremes, and any title for younger readers where a galaxy cluster gets to gather on a page like showgirls in a Vegas stage is going to have my attention. Part of what I like so much about these books is that they put impossible measurements into a child’s head and then explain how everything in this life is relative. You may be tiny but to some creatures you’re enormous. You may be large but there’s a galaxy out there that’s bigger. It’s kind of what Jason Chin’s been doing in some of his recent titles, but in a method that a Kindergartner might grasp. Whatever his reason for making these books, I like it!
Boy Here, Boy There by Chuck Groenink
You know, I have a “Science Fiction” list and a “Fantasy” list that often incorporates picture books, but I don’t really have a “Pleistocene” category and maybe I should think about it. Recently we’ve seen this incredible array, including everything from Afterwards Everything Was Different to Finding Fire. Of course, those books were both wordless. This book isn’t wordless. It isn’t even about homo sapiens. It is actually about a small band of Neanderthals, and since that’s a topic that is of perpetual interest to me, I was somewhat hooked from the get-go. For whatever reason I always thought that all Neanderthals were red-headed. In this book, however, they have many of the other traits. The Author’s Note at the end makes mention of this, and it’s a book that keeps rather closely to the facts as we currently know them, which is great. The story follows a boy with simple language. “Here is a family. Mama, papa, brothers, sisters and boy.” The family makes a home and the boy goes off to explore the wilderness. He runs into a baby woolly mammoth and then something much much stranger: another boy. Across a small river stands a human of our own making. As an adult my first instinct was to scream, “RUN, NEANDERTHAL BOY, RUN!!” But as this is a picture book, we’re not getting any violence here today. Instead you just get that strange moment of seeing someone like you and not like you. The backgrounds of the book are gorgeous, the storytelling so nicely simple, and the book itself lovely. I dare say this is Groenink’s finest title to date. A class act through and through and unlike any other title on the subject.
Bros by Carole Boston Weatherford, ill. Reggie Brown
Something about this book reminds me of the poem “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks. It’s not just the fact that it rhymes. Weatherford just eases into this natural feel you get when a group of boys bond together. I love the kids in this book. Illustrator Reggie Brown gives each one of them their own personalities, likes and dislikes. The more you read the book the more you recognize them from one page to another. Plus this is just a fun book to read out loud. “We stride. / We ride.” and “Bros fly / and cry.” It’s simple, smart, and the kind of book that has a purpose without bashing you over the head with didacticism. A title children will actually enjoy hearing. “Bros rise. / RECOGNIZE!”
Chooch Helped by Andrea L. Rogers, ill. Rebecca Lee Kunz
Lot to love in this one. Written and illustrated by a Cherokee author and artist, respectively, I hope we see more from them in the future. This is an exceedingly simple text, but one that packs a big punch. Sissy has had it up to HERE with her little “baby” brother (she would be quick to inform you that he’s actually two-years-old) Chooch. As far as she’s concerned, the kid gets away with murder. She then recounts all the times that Chooch has “helped” their various relatively, never effectively. When Chooch attempts to “help” Sissy as she makes a bowl, she explodes at him. This leads to a rather clever part of the book where it reads, “My parents yelled, ‘Shouting is no help!'” This is one of those under-the-radar titles that may well win things come award season. The art is an incredible mix of Cherokee iconography and traditional motifs and symbols, all worked seamlessly into the story. Part of the reason this book works as well as it does is that everything about Cherokee life is built into both the text and the art without having to tell rather than show. It’s an elegant book when you get right down to it.
The Pelican Can! by Toni Yuly
Young nonfiction? Easy book but with a picture book size? Straight up picture book, no questions asked? It’s always a bit tricky to figure out the best possible place to put a new Toni Yuly title. In the case of this book, it really does do a very nice early job of showing kids precisely what it is that pelicans are and what they do. I can envision this as a beautiful storytime for preschoolers, giving them their first taste of nonfiction. Not that any library’s gonna stick it in the 500s (where the bird books go) or anything. For that matter, there isn’t even any backmatter. But even so, it’s just a really nice title, introducing those younger folks to an animal that they may or may not have seen with their very own eyes before. Note: Just try to read the title without singing “The Candyman Can” to yourself.
That’s it for today! Be sure to stay tuned for more lists on 2024 titles. The full roster is here:
December 1 – Great Board Books
December 2 – Picture Book Readalouds
December 3 – Simple Picture Book Texts
December 4 – Transcendent Holiday Picture Books
December 5 – Rhyming Picture Books
December 6 – Funny Picture Books
December 7 – CaldeNotts
December 8 – Picture Book Reprints
December 9 – Bilingual Books for Kids
December 10 – Math Books for Kids
December 11 – Books with a Message / Social Emotional Learning
December 12 – Fabulous Photography
December 13 – Translated Picture Books
December 14 – Fairy Tales / Folktales / Religious Tales
December 15 – Wordless Picture Books
December 16 – Poetry Books
December 17 – Unconventional Children’s Books
December 18 – Easy Books & Early Chapter Books
December 19 – Comics & Graphic Novels
December 20 – Older Funny Books
December 21 – Science Fiction Books
December 22 – Fantasy Books
December 23 – Informational Fiction
December 24 – Gross Books
December 25 – Science & Nature Books
December 26 – Unique Biographies
December 27 – Blueberry Award Contenders (Celebrating the Environment)
December 28 – Nonfiction Picture Books
December 29 – Nonfiction Books for Older Readers
December 30 – Middle Grade Novels
December 31 – Picture Books
Filed under: 31 Days 31 Lists, Best Books, Best Books of 2024
About Betsy Bird
Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.
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I just love these lists. Even though I no longer work in a library I still look forward to them. I scroll through the upcoming days, getting excited for my favourite lists to come. Thank you for doing these. I try to spread the word every year!
In the spirit of “simple picture books that can instill a love of nature at a very young age,” I recommend checking out Forest by Christie Matheson 🙂
I’m honored that Chooch Helped is on this list! Thanks, Betsy, for including it.
Just read Bros and absolutely loved it! Thank you for introducing me to such a charming book Betsy!
The science and nature pdf doesn’t seem to open
Ah, thank you for letting me know. I saw that you were right and corrected it. Try it now!