Book picks similar to
Kappa's Tug-of-War with Big Brown Horse: The Story of a Japanese Water Imp by Dorothy W. Baruch
picture-books
folklore-myths-tales
folktale
grade-k-3
Ant and Grasshopper
Luli Gray - 2011
But Ant finds Grasshopper's music and whimsy more catchy than he'd like, and soon he's distracted by his own rhyming and doodling! When the harsh winter hits and Ant finds Grasshopper cold and hungry in the snow, he can't help but bring him inside. Only after opening his home to Grasshopper does Ant realize that music, dancing, and laughter have their place in his life, too. Luli Gray's funny twist on this fable will have readers giggling and singing. With Giuliano Ferri's lush and whimsical illustrations, this book is both heartwarming and lovely to behold.
Baboushka and the Three Kings
Ruth Robbins - 1960
The Russian folktale about an old woman's endless search for the Christ child.
Zen Shorts
Jon J. Muth - 2005
"There's a really big bear in the backyard." This is how three children meet Stillwater, a giant panda who moves into the neighborhood and tells amazing tales. To Addy he tells a story about the value of material goods. To Michael he pushes the boundaries of good and bad. And to Karl he demonstrates what it means to hold on to frustration. With graceful art and simple stories that are filled with love and enlightenment, Jon Muth -- and Stillwater the bear -- present three ancient Zen tales that are sure to strike a chord in everyone they touch.
Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep
Eleanor Farjeon - 1937
By the time she’s seven, the tireless girl can even outskip the fairies and is rewarded with a gift of rare and lasting value. Can she use it many years later to save the children’s fabled skipping grounds from a greedy, factory-building lord? Charlotte Voake’s exuberant art pairs with Eleanor Farjeon’s unforgettable tale for a match made in picture-book heaven.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Tiger and Turtle
James Rumford - 2010
Through pages of glorious color, Tiger and Turtle continue their argument. They're worthy opponents . . . as a tiger's claws could not harm a turtle's shell any more than a turtle's feet could outrun a tiger's. The battle intensifies, as does the artist's palette: from golds to fiery reds to luxuriant blues, as the two resolve their conflict and become friends."Tiger and Turtle" is a 2011 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.
Serafina's Stories
Rudolfo Anaya - 2004
In January 1680 a dozen Pueblo Indians are charged with conspiring to incite a revolution against the colonial government. When the prisoners are brought before the Governor, one of them is revealed as a young woman. Educated by the friars in her pueblo's mission church, Serafina speaks beautiful Spanish and surprises the Governor with her fearlessness and intelligence.The two strike a bargain. She will entertain the Governor by telling him a story. If he likes her story, he will free one of the prisoners. Like Scheherezade, who prevented her royal husband from killing her by telling him stories, Serafina keeps the Governor so entertained with her versions of Nuevo Mexicano cuentos that he spares the lives of all her fellow prisoners.Some of the stories Serafina tells will have a familiar ring to them, for they came from Europe and were New Mexicanized by the Spanish colonists. Some have Pueblo Indian plots and characters--and it is this blending of the two cultures that is Anaya's true subject.
Salt (The Barbarians Book 1)
E.J. Lowell - 2021
His ambition drives him like an angry goose as he tries to live up to his duty on a perilous journey over the grass.Between them they will be asked to decide between justice and honor, between truth and mercy.Between the salt and the grass.
Hurry, Hurry, Mary Dear
N.M. Bodecker - 1976
Not a moment to be lost, in a minute we get frost! In an hour we get snow! Drift like houses! Ten below!" So begins this hilarious nonsense rhyme by a much-loved writer who won wide critical acclaim and a devoted audience during his lifetime. Now this poem has been illustrated in full color by Erik Blegvad, an old friend of Bodecker's and the only person besides himself that he would allow to interpret work.Poor Mary is the person who must make all the preparation for winter in a frenzied crescendo of activity -- "Churn the butter, smoke the hams, can tomatoes, put up jams" -- leading up to a very funny, very fitting, ending.Illuminated by Bodecker's rare imagination, his glorious sense of the absurd, and his firsthand knowledge of country living, all beautifully matched by Erik Blegvad's wonderous watercolor paintings, this is a book to delight young readers and their elders again and again.
Everyone Knows What a Dragon Looks Like
Jay Williams - 1976
Because of the road sweeper's belief in him, a dragon saves the city of Wu from the Wild Horsemen of the north.
Goldilocks and the Three Martians
Stu Smith - 2004
After touring all the planets (and finding something wrong with each of them), she finally lands on Mars and is soon ringing the doorbell of a Martian house. You guessed it&150no one's home, but some tasty alien stew is cooling on the table. After a little nap and a narrow escape from the returned occupants, Goldilocks heads for Earth, which suddenly feels . . . just right after all. With a terrific rhyming text that's great fun for out-loud reading, this bright picture book offers a wacky twist on an old favorite.
Alfred's Book of Monsters
Sam Streed - 2019
. . . Its one blood-red eye burns with an undying rage.After reading about the slimy Nixie, the angry Black Shuck, and the creepy Lantern Man in his beloved Book of Monsters, Alfred decides to invite the monsters to teatime with his crusty old aunty, who thinks monsters are an improper obsession for a respectable young boy.
Smile: How Young Charlie Chaplin Taught the World to Laugh (and Cry)
Gary Golio - 2019
His dad long gone and his actress mother ailing, five-year-old Charlie found himself onstage one day taking his mum's place, singing and drawing laughs amid a shower of coins. There were times in the poorhouse and times spent sitting in the window at home with Mum, making up funny stories about passersby. And when Charlie described a wobbly old man he saw in baggy clothes, with turned-out feet and a crooked cane, his mother found it sad, but Charlie knew that funny and sad go hand in hand. With a lyrical text and exquisite collage imagery, Gary Golio and Ed Young interpret Charlie Chaplin's path from his childhood through his beginnings in silent film and the creation of his iconic Little Tramp. Keen-eyed readers will notice a silhouette of the Little Tramp throughout the book that becomes animated with a flip of the pages. An afterword fills in facts about the beloved performer who became one of the most famous entertainers of all time.
Fiona's Luck
Teresa Bateman - 2007
"Children will delight in the cunning way that Fiona triumphs over the leprechaun king, as well as in the rhythmic language of this well-told tale." - Kirkus Reviews
A Big Mooncake for Little Star
Grace Lin - 2018
But she's not supposed to eat any yet! What happens when she can't resist a nibble?In this stunning picture book that shines as bright as the stars in the sky, Newbery Honor author Grace Lin creates a heartwarming original story that explains phases of the moon.
Holly Claus: The Christmas Princess
Brittney Ryan - 2007
Bedrick. With fanciful characters and evocative imagery, this epic story pays homage to the great fairy tales in a richly imagined tale of the life of the daughter of Santa Claus.