Book picks similar to
Monkey on the Run by Leo Timmers


wordless
picture-books
picture-book
animals

Door


Ji-Hyeon Lee - 2017
    Here she takes readers on another journey into an unexpected world. Delicate drawings transform from grays to vivid color as a curious child goes through a mysterious door and discovers that open-mindedness is the key to adventure and friendship.

The Only Child


Guojing - 2015
    USA Today  declared it “a compelling and melancholy debut from an important new talent" as well as "an expansive and ageless book full of wonder, sadness, and wild bursts of imagination.” And like Shaun Tan's The Arrival and Raymond Briggs's The Snowman, it is quickly becoming a modern classic.   A little girl—lost and alone—follows a mysterious stag deep into the woods, and, like Alice down the rabbit hole, she finds herself in a strange and wondrous world. But... home and family are very far away. How will she get back there?   In this magnificently illustrated—and wordless—masterpiece, debut artist Guojing brilliantly captures the rich and deeply-felt emotional life of a child, filled with loneliness and longing as well as love and joy.

The Wanderer


Peter van den Ende - 2019
    The little boat is all alone, and while its aloneness gives it the chance to wonder at the fairy-tale world above and below the waves uninterrupted, that also means it must save itself when it storms. And so it does.

Ice


Arthur Geisert - 2009
    Arthur Geisert's ingenuity engages the child's imagination as well as the adult's through seamless storytelling and zany wit. Invested as always in his porcine universe, here Geisert tells the story of a community of pigs that is suffering from the heat. Rather than be sapped of energy and miserable, they go on an adventure in search of ice. The pigs' inventiveness and great can-do spirit create a joyful tale of change and adventure. The illustrations bring the action to life, making this a real page-turner and a great read-aloud book!Arthur Geisert's pigs are legendary in the world of children's books. They carve ice sculptures, teach Roman numerals, create ingenious machines and get up to all kinds of antics. Did Arthur grow up on a farm? No. He grew up in Los Angeles and claims not to have seen a pig until he was an adult. Trained as a sculptor in college, Geisert learned to etch at the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles. Geisert has published just about a book a year for the past thirty years, and every one of his books has been illustrated with etchings. His work has appeared in The New Yorker and the Horn Book Magazine, and he has won The New York Times' Best Illustrated Award. A resident of Galena, a community in northwest Illinois, for decades, he now lives in a converted bank building in Bernard, Iowa.

Are We There Yet?


Dan Santat - 2016
    And when things get boring, time slows down. In this book, a boy feels time slowing down so much that it starts going backward--into the time of pirates! Of princesses! Of dinosaurs! The boy was just trying to get to his grandmother's birthday party, but instead he's traveling through Ancient Egypt and rubbing shoulders with Ben Franklin. When time flies, who knows where--or when--he'll end up.

Shadow


Suzy Lee - 2010
    A light bulb. An imaginative little girl.Internationally acclaimed artist Suzy Lee uses these simple elements to create a visual tour de force that perfectly captures the joy of creative play and celebrates the power of imagination. Stunning in their simplicity, Lee's illustrations, in just two shades of color, present an adventure that begins and ends with the click of a light bulb.

Tea Rex


Molly Idle - 2013
    . . like providing comfortable chairs,and good conversation,and yummy food.But sometimes that is not enough for special guests,especially when their manners are more Cretaceous than gracious . . .Introducing Tea Rex, a guest that just about any child would love to have to tea!

Wait


Antoinette Portis - 2015
    The boy sees a dog, a butterfly, and a hungry duck while his mother rushes them toward the departing train. It's push and pull, but in the end, they both find something to stop for. Acclaimed author/illustrator Antoinette Portis' signature style conveys feelings of warmth, curiosity, humor and tenderness in this simple, evocative story. A Neal Porter Book

A Ball for Daisy


Chris Raschka - 2011
    Any child who has ever had a beloved toy break will relate to Daisy's anguish when her favorite ball is destroyed by a bigger dog. In the tradition of his nearly wordless picture book Yo! Yes?, Caldecott Medalist Chris Raschka explores in pictures the joy and sadness that having a special toy can bring. Raschka's signature swirling, impressionistic illustrations and his affectionate story will particularly appeal to young dog lovers and teachers and parents who have children dealing with the loss of something special.

Fox's Garden


Princesse Camcam - 2014
    Chased away by the grown ups, Fox takes shelter in a greenhouse. A little boy sees this from his window. Without hesitating, he brings a basket of food to the greenhouse, where he leaves it for the fox. His gift is noticed and the night becomes a garden of new life, nourished by compassion and kindness.Princesse Camcam's cut-paper illustrations, along with the beautiful lighting of the sets she creates, make the experience of looking at these illustrations both touching and transcendent. Their beauty and essential simplicity reflect the beauty of the story. The reader is left charmed by the fox and the child and thoughtful about the emotional lives of both humans and other creatures.Princesse Camcam was born in Paris in 1982 as Camille Garoche. Having spent her childhood in southwest France, she left to study the graphic arts at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Cergy. She created her first illustrated book in 2006 and has been living in Germany since 2007.

A Boy, a Dog, and a Frog


Mercer Mayer - 1967
    A boy and his dog go walking in the swamp.They spot a frog in the water.Can they use a net to catch him?

And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street


Dr. Seuss - 1937
    A plain horse and wagon on Mulberry Street grows into a story that no one can beat! In this tale, Young Marco allows his imagination to run riot as he travels home from school one day, to the extent that a horse and cart is soon transformed into a chaotic carnival of colourful creatures in his own mind.

La La La: A Story of Hope


Kate DiCamillo - 2017
    "La la la . . . la." A little girl stands alone and sings, but hears no response. Gathering her courage and her curiosity, she skips farther out into the world, singing away to the trees and the pond and the reeds -- but no song comes back to her. Day passes into night, and the girl dares to venture into the darkness toward the light of the moon, becoming more insistent in her singing, climbing as high as she can, but still there is silence in return. Dejected, she falls asleep on the ground, only to be awakened by an amazing sound. . . . She has been heard. At last.

Lion Lessons


Jon Agee - 2016
      There are seven steps to becoming a proper lion, including Looking Fierce, Roaring, Prowling Around, and Pouncing. Our young hero, a rather meek and scrawny human boy, does his best to learn the necessary skills during his training with a master instructor (who just happens to be a real lion). After a grueling set of lessons, the boy discovers that that the final step—Looking Out for Your Friends—is the most important of all. That’s how any kid can earn his lion diploma (not to mention the affection of every cat in town).

Blown Away


Rob Biddulph - 2014
    In this brilliantly captivating and gloriously illustrated story, a brave young penguin takes a kite flight to a tropical paradise. But in the end, he realizes that home is where his igloo is.