Picture Books I Recommend for Older Readers

In a previous blog I promised to recommend picture books for older readers. There are thousands available, but not all of them are well crafted. Following are a very few of the books that I recommend. They are of the highest quality.

Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting provides a child’s view of what it is like to be homeless. The story poignantly illustrates the difficulties and effort it takes to survive. It is often assume that homeless people are lazy, and Bunting’s book helps dispel that myth as it follows the day-to-day life of a father’s efforts to raise his son while living in an airport.

Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney is one of my all-time favorite books. Each year when I was teaching elementary school I used it as a springboard for a yearlong project where my students and I made a strong commitment to each day to make the world a better place through simple acts of kindness.

White Socks Only by Evelyn Coleman tells the story of an African-American child who thinks that the water fountains labeled “Whites Only” means that as long as she has on her white socks is it all right for her to take a drink. The firestorm that results strikes a blow against bigotry.

Ride Like the Wind: A Tale of the Pony Express by Bernie Fuchs is a richly illustrated story that makes the life of a Pony Express rider come to life. There also is an essay in the back that provides factual historical information about this short-lived method for moving the mail.

Train to Somewhere by Eve Bunting tells the story of the “Orphan Trains” that transported children from New York City to adoptive families in the West. The trains operated from the 1850s to the 1920s.



Atlantic by G. Brian Karas paints in words a lovely picture of the Atlantic Ocean. This book is an excellent choice to use a model for teaching students to write.

The Man who Made Time Travel by Kathryn Lasky tells the story of an ordinary man who solved an extraordinary problem—how to measure longitude. An obscure English clock worker with tenacity and stubbornness succeeded.

Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki tells about his family’s relocation to the Minidoka internment camp in Idaho during World War II. Surrounded by guards, fences, and desert, baseball gave him a purpose for surviving.



The Gardener by Sarah Stewart tells the story of a young farm girl who is sent to live with relatives in the city when her family falls on hard times during the Depression and can no longer afford to care for her. Through her indomitable spirit and love for plants, she gets through this difficult time by transforming the roof of her uncle’s apartment building into a garden.

Porcupining: A Prickly Love Story by Lisa Wheeler is one of my favorite picture books. It seems I am always giving it as a gift to someone, mostly older children or adults because many of the puns would most likely not be understood by young readers. The story is sweet and tells how Cushion finds his own true love.

Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco is set during the Civil War and tells the true story of how a young slave finds a wounded soldier and takes him home so that his mother can nurse him until he heals. The boys are faced with hard decisions when the Confederate Army arrives.



Mississippi Morning by Ruth Vander Zee tells of a young boy’s friendship with an African American boy and his having to come to terms with his father’s secret life as a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

Encounter by Jane Yolen is a moving story of Columbus’s interaction with the gentle Taino culture of the West Indies.

Galimoto by Karen Lynn Williams tells the story of an indigent African boy who collects junk and castoffs to create a toy. The gentle text highlights the boy’s persistence and joy in creating something out of throwaways.

A Prairie Boy’s Summer by William Kurelek is thirty years old but the story is timeless. It details the day-to-day life of a young boy who lives on the prairie years ago.

Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters by Patricia McKissack and Frederick L. McKissack gives parallel accounts comparing how the slaves celebrated Christmas versus how the plantation owner’s family did so. The two stories are woven together in a way that helps young readers understand the two cultures and the economic status of each.



Nettie’s Trip South by Ann Turner recounts the true story of a girl who accompanies her brother, a newspaper reporter, on a trip to Richmond during slavery times. There she witnesses a slave auction and other aspects of Southern culture that greatly impact her. The book is organized as a series of letters to her friend, Addie.



Goin’ Someplace Special by Patricia McKissack made me cry the first time I read it. ‘Tricia Ann is finally old enough to make the trek into town to visit the place she considers most special. Along the way the black girl endures some of the worst abuses of segregation. The book ends on a positive note and with a subtle message.

Odd Boy Out: Young Albert Einstein by Dan Brown captures the essence of the boy who became one of the greatest scientific minds of all time.

The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson relates the clever way two girls—one white and one black—figure out how they can play together when their parents have told them they cannot cross the fence into the other’s yard.