Picture Books & Early Reader Titles
Free full-length stories to download, print, and read
Here are this month's featured stories:
There's a Crocosaurus in my Closet!
What do you get when you have a rambunctious child with an overactive imagination? A menagerie of made-up monsters, that's what. But could there really be such a thing as an Octopotamus? Or, what about an Upscares-Downscares?
Recommended for ages: 3-8 
|
Three Sailor Pigs
| ||
Excerpts from my Picture Books and Early Reader Stories
The following are brief summaries and samples from children's picture book stories I have written. If interested in seeing more, please Contact Me.
The Absurdly True Tale of a Wee Woman, a Loaf of Bread and a Tornado
Summary: This is the story of how, many a year ago on the road to El Paso town, I went for a ride in a tornado.
Ages: 3-7
Listen up, young’uns, for this is the story of how, for lack of a loaf of bread, I happened to get myself sucked right up into a tornado.
It was a fine morning, many a year ago, and I was walking along a dusty dirt road on my way to El Paso town, when suddenly I came across a wee woman just a-running as fast as she could go....
Summary: This is the story of how, many a year ago on the road to El Paso town, I went for a ride in a tornado.
Ages: 3-7
Listen up, young’uns, for this is the story of how, for lack of a loaf of bread, I happened to get myself sucked right up into a tornado.
It was a fine morning, many a year ago, and I was walking along a dusty dirt road on my way to El Paso town, when suddenly I came across a wee woman just a-running as fast as she could go....
Agatha Zystery and the Lost Student Mystery: A Puzzle of Alphabetic Proportions
Summary: Agatha Zystery is one cool teacher. Her credentials include Egypt and fencing and cheese. But when one of her students turns up missing after recess, how will she ever figure out who it is?
Ages: 3-8
Miss Agatha Zystery was known throughout History for never losing a child.
She told them, "No talking,"
As they practiced their walking,
well mannered and all single filed....
Armadillo Slim and the Tenpin Terrapins: A Tall Tale of Tens
Summary: A former tenpin champeen teaches turtle two-some, Tim and Twyla, a handful of tricks to win the Tempe Tenpin Tournament. Uses word and math sentences to help children understand tens relationships.
Ages: 4-8
I was deep in terrapin country, fresh off a Tallahassee tournament where I’d been trounced by the Bowlinball Turkeys. I decided I needed some new talent, some able-bodied ball-slingers to teach my bag of tricks to.
That’s when I came upon that turtle twosome tickling the hardwood at the Tenth Street Bowl-A-Rama.
Their names were Tim and Twyla. And they were just terrible....
The Ballad of Amanda Lurleen
Summary: Amanda's fear of dirt almost imprisons her...until one day, when she meets someone a lot like her, except totally the opposite.
Ages: 4-8
When Amanda Lurleen was brand spanking new,
the first thing she noticed was a smelly--
“PEE-YEWW!”
She cried on unendingly (WAAA!)
until she was clean.
So passed the first hours of Amanda Lurleen.....
Be Quiet!
Summary: After a hard day, all poor Mister Bumbershoot wants is to sleep. But the neighbors, upstairs and down, are making much too much noise. He tells them to “Be quiet!” And then he starts hearing the cars outside and the
birds in the eaves. After shouting them into silence too, the sounds of the building settling—even the bugs in the garden and the worms in the dirt—conspire to keep him awake.
Ages: 3-7
It’s late in the evening, and darkness is deep,
but poor Mister Bumbershoot can’t get to sleep.
The neighbors upstairs make a loud clomping sound,
like a herd of wild buffaloes stomping around.
Mister Bumbershoot bangs his boots on the ceiling.
I bet you can guess just how mad he was feeling.
“Be quiet!”....
Bodaciously Blue
Summary: When the kangaroo announces that Beulah Baboon is feeling bodaciously blue, what do the other zoo animals do? They try to cheer her up, of course. But despite the chimpanzee’s and the hippo’s and the polar bear’s
hilarious antics, nothing seems to be able to change Beulah’s mood.
Ages: 2-7
Beulah was feeling unbearably blue, or so was decided by the old kangaroo.
“The most sickly, ickly blah kind of blue. The bluest of blues I’ve yet seen in this zoo.”
The chimpanzee chattered. “What should we do?”...
Captain Davie's Close Shave: A Hair-raising Pirate Tale
Summary: When some familiar-looking pirates capture playground seafarer Captain Davie and his crew on the last day of summer, they say they're after his gold. But what do they really want?
Ages: 3-8
Crazy Hair Davie was the wiliest, tough-as-nails-biting, buccaneer-fighting, summertime sailor the world ever knew. From the middle of June, till August was through, he traveled the seas with the daringest dippity-do...
There’s a Crocosaurus in my Closet
Summary: A rambunctious child with an overactive imagination lays the blame for a series of mishaps on a menagerie of made-up monsters. But could there really be such a thing as an Octopotamus? What about an Upscares-Downscares?
Ages: 3-8
A googly-eyed creature once lived in my closet.
Crocosaurus was his name.
He had jam-covered claws and muddy sneakers like mine.
He broke half my toys, then lost all the rest.
Don’t ask where he came from—I really can’t say.
(He must have been already here.)
He marked up the walls, threw my clothes on the floor.
And I was the one who got blamed.
Frog: Four Seasons in Haiku
Summary: Cycle of life runs hand-in-hand with the seasons in this story told in haiku. As in traditional forms of haiku, romanized kigo ("season words") are used with same-page translations. The western convention of 5, 7, 5 metered feet is employed.
Ages: 3-8
How silent the stream
beneath her frosty blanket--
Sekai is sleeping. (Sekai = the World)
SPRING
Icicles plip, plip:
Kōri sculpts magical shapes. (Kōri = ice)
Ripples seen through glass....
Froggie Went a Baseballing
Summary: The unlikely tale of the wedding 'tween Mister Frog and Miss Mouse has been celebrated in song for well over four centuries. Now, in this modern adaptation, this mismatched pair of beloved characters is stepping out (and onto the ball field).
Ages: 3-8
Mr. Frog went a baseballing and he did swing.
Stee-rike!
Froggie went a baseballin' and he did swing.
Stee-rike!
Froggie went a baseballin' and he did swing.
My how he wanted that bat to sing.
Stee-rike!
"Three strikes, no hit, you're out!...
Froggie Went a Cricketing
Summary: The "English" translation of Froggie Went a Baseballing for all you cricket fans.
Ages: 3-8
Mr. Frog went a cricketing and he did swing.
No run!
Yeah, Frog blocked his wickets when he did swing.
Don’t run!
Froggie went a cricketing and he did swing.
My, how he wanted that ball to sing.
Mid off!
“Dot ball, no score..."
From My Bedroom Window
Summary: From my bedroom window I see... and hear... and smell the world. From my bedroom window, I am home. A multicultural experience.
Ages: 3-8
From my bedroom window, I see bricks and an alleyway,
metal stairs and neon lights, tall skyscrapers and taxicabs,
my father in a suit and tie, people busily moving about.
From my bedroom window, I see a city
alive and humming...
The Legend of the Smallest and the Tallest: Part One of The Great Meadow Chronicles
Summary: In this simple tale, the first chronicling a place called the Great Meadow before the shadow of the Old Stone Mountain fell upon it, an unlikely hero finds that one’s true measure depends not on your size or where you stand, or even how high you reach, but how you got there.
Ages: 6-10
Once, there was a place called the Great Meadow, long ago and far away from the very spot where you now sit.
Insofar as that place was filled with all manner of living things, the Great Meadow was never still, or silent, or unchanging. In fact, that ancient place gave meaning to the word life, for it surely was, in every sense of the word, as vivid and bright as anything you have ever seen....
Leticia Small Plays Ball
Summary: All Leticia Small wants is to play ball. Unfortunately, her father doesn't want her to fall or get hurt or—Heaven forbid!—get sweaty.
Ages: 3-8
Leticia Small was the apple of her father's eye. Whenever he'd ask her to play, she'd sit down at her piano and play.
"That's my sweet, dainty, little princess," he'd say, even though she wasn't very good...
Leticia Small Hogs the Ball
Summary: Leticia Small was a very good ball player, that's why she was captain of her baseball and basketball and soccer teams. But she wasn't captain of her volleyball team. And that was a problem.
Ages: 3-8
Leticia Small was the apple of her father's eye. At least, most of the time she was.
Most of the time he'd tell people, "That's my hard-playing princess."
But, sometimes, Leticia Small didn't act like a princess at all...
Little Possum and the Big Swoon
Summary: Being a superhero is what Little Possum wants most of all, but his fainting makes him feel like a super zero...until he uncovers a plot by the notorious Hamster Twins to steal from the art museum.
Ages: 3-8
Little Possum wanted to be a superhero. He wished he could be just like DynaMole, the
Dynamic Digger, who saved the world every week on TV.
DynaMole had super tunneling powers.
DynaMole was brave...
Moon Freckles
Summary: When a mother-soldier leaves for duty, her son worries she'll forget him.
Ages: 2-10
The bags sat in a heap by the door.
“One, two, three,” the little boy counted. “Mom, why do you have to go?”
His mother smiled and knelt down beside him.
“Because it's my job, honey,” she told him....
Mrs. Lumpkin Grew a Pumpkin
Summary: Poor Mrs. Lumpkin, bored with her pumpkin breads and muffins, her cakes and her stuffin's. But after a garden gnome offers to trade some magical seeds for her last ordinary orange pumpkin, she begins to wonder if she made a poor decision.
Ages: 3-8
Mrs. Lumpkin grew a pumpkin.
It was a large pumpkin.
A very large,
very round,
very ordinary-looking orange pumpkin...
Never Bring a Giraffe to a Picnic
Summary: If you've ever wondered whether it would be nice to bring a giraffe to a picnic, think again. Or invite a moose in for dinner. It's not easy trying to bubblewrap a chandelier.
Ages: 0-6
Would you welcome a giraffe to your picnic?
Would you show it the sandwiches you made?
Won't it step on your basket?
Won't it eat up your shade?
Would you ask a bear, "Please wipe off your feet..."
Once Upon a Slime
Summary: A new twist on a well-known fairytale reminds us that slime doesn't pay.
Ages: 2-7
Once upon a slime, in the Kingdom of Slugs, there lived a fair—and soggy—queen.
Now, this particular queen was very sad, for she had no children...
Pigs Don't Fish!
Summary: When Stilton comes upon a pig wearing underpants he's soon beside himself with so much nonsense that he’s sure to lose sleep over it. As he struggles to make sense of the pig’s behavior, he thinks he’s finally made sense
of it all. Except for one little thing....
Ages: 3-7
Stilton had always been a very sensible boy. He hated when something didn’t make sense.
Sometimes, wondering about the silliest things left him awake at night.
For example, he wondered why toothpaste didn’t make your teeth stick together...
Prince Higbert's New Hanky
Summary: After a thief foolishly absconds with Prince Higbert's hanky, the king offers gold for a new one. But he turns up his nose at a Frenchman bringing Le Mouchoir, a Spaniard bearing ElPañuelo, and so on. It takes an inventive beggar to get the king's gold...and, in the bargain, start an irritating new trend that continues to this very day.
Ages: 3-8
Prince Higbert of Pollen was tall, dark and lanky. His nose ran so often he needed a hanky.
One night came a bandit, daring and handsome, who foolishly thought he’d hold it for ransom.
He thought he would profit from his heinous crime, until he discovered it was covered in slime.
He fled from the kingdom, threw that hanky away.
And no one’s since seen him, not once to this day...
Prince Higbert Sniffles No More
Summary: Prince Higbert's nose just wouldn't stop running, so while out hunting the dragon Ragwede, his trusted advisor provides His Majesty with a couple of corks. And that's when things get totally out of hand.
Ages: 3-8
The young Royal Highness, Prince Higbert the First, suffered from allergies, and they were the worst.
He snuffled and sniffled, sniggered and snogged,
but nothing could help get his poor head unclogged...
Shaggy Dog's Shadowy Chase
Summary: After Shaggy Dog quietly, carefully sneaks across town, he's chased by a shadowy figure all the way back to his front porch, where he must confront his pursuer. What happens next will have you rolling over with laughter and begging for more.
Ages: 2-6
Early one bright, sunny morning, Shaggy Dog peeked out from behind his squeaky screen door.
First, he looked up the street.
There was Mrs. Vance, putting letters into a mailbox.
There was Mr. Wilson, trimming the honeysuckle hedges.
Shaggy Dog looked down the street...
Stubborn Pie
Summary: In this reflection on bygone times, of courtship and dances at the Harvest festival, of fishermen and responsibility, a man tells his granddaughter of the power of a mystical pastry, whose secret has been handed down from one generation to the next.
Ages: 4-9
Stephanie had never seen such a tall pie before, nor one as round as a basketball.
Grandpa handed it to her father. “Surely, you’ll stay for dessert.”
“Sorry, Dad. We’ve a long drive, and the snow’s coming down hard.”
“We never get to spend the night,” Stephanie pouted.
Grandpa put a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s get your coat, honey. Your grandmother’ll know what to do
with her sweet stubborn pie..."
Three Sailor Pigs and the Big Bad Storm
Summary: As Junior Wolf tries to read the newspaper article about three foolish pigs going out to sea, Grumpa Wolf keeps insisting that's not how the story goes.
Ages: 3-8
Three Sailor Pigs went out to sea:
Hey Diddle,
Hi Diddle,
Ho Diddledee.
One in a yacht,
One in a tub.
The last went out in a military sub.
“Just a gull snarn minute!” Grumpa B.B. Wolf exclaimed...
Tin Can Alligator
Summary: An ancient alligator made from discarded metal parts makes a last important journey across a junkyard world.
Ages: 0-8
In the Reclamation Swamp on the fringe of the City lives a carbide creature with heavy gauge skin—Tin Can Alligator.
Tin Can Alligator creeps. He crawls on his claws. Slowly he climbs up and out of his metal muck home.
His nickel-plated knuckles are scratched and worn.
Clicka, clicka, clack-clack they tap...
Trouble is a Foot: A Fable about a Foolish Wish
Summary: When a foolish snake pleads with a magical meerkat for help in granting his greatest wish - to be able to run - he gets a lot more than he bargained for.
Ages: 4-8
Long ago, in the hot, dry desert, there lived a snake who desired only one thing:
He wanted to run.
It wasn’t so he could catch his dinner or escape his enemies better.
It was because, of all the desert creatures, he was the only one without feet.
But feet are a foolish thing for a snake to want....
The Truth, Straight from the Toad's Mouth
Summary: We've all seen Diary of a Worm. Why is it that we never hear the story from the frog's point of view? Well, Larry isn't a frog, he's a misunderstood toad, and he's here to set the record straight about himself and his boy Freddy.
Includes end material comparing and contrasting frogs and toads.
Ages: 0-8
When Freddy found me, I was four weeks old and had already lost my tail.
I didn’t have a name then—I’d never needed one before—but Freddy decided I better have one. So, he called me Larry.
Larry the Frog.
It had such a nice ring to it that I just couldn’t tell him that I’m not a frog at all.
I’m really a toad.
It’s not the only mistake people make about us toads....
Copyright KJHowe 2011. All rights reserved.
.
.
