Book picks similar to
The Watertower by Gary Crew


picture-books
picture-book
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postmodern-picturebooks

Giggle, Giggle, Quack


Doreen Cronin - 2002
    'But keep an eye on Duck. He's trouble.' Bob follows the instructions in Farmer Brown's notes exactly to the letter. He orders pizza with anchovies for the hens, bathes the pigs with bubble bath, and lets the cows chose a movie. Is that giggling he hears? The duck, the cows, the hens and the pigs are back in top form in this hilarious follow-up to 'Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type'.

The Ghost of Graylock


Dan Poblocki - 2012
    But something went wrong. Several young patients died under mysterious circumstances. Eventually, the hospital was shut down, the building abandoned and left to rot deep in the woods.As the new kid in town, Neil Cady wants to see Graylock for himself. Especially since rumor has it that the building is haunted. He's got fresh batteries in his flashlight, a camera to document the adventure, and a new best friend watching his back.Neil might think he's prepared for what he'll find in the dark and decrepit asylum. But he's certainly not prepared for what follows him home. . . .Scary, suspenseful, and surprising, Dan Poblocki's latest ghost story will keep you turning pages deep into the dead of night.

The Frog and Toad Treasury: Frog and Toad are Friends/Frog and Toad Together/Frog and Toad All Year


Arnold Lobel - 1987
    Not much really happens in these stories. The illustrations are beautiful but rather small. The eponymous friends carry on their friendship through mild misunderstandings and misadventures, always ready to forgive each other and forget. These gentle stories are among my favorite kids' books. I have fond memories of Frog and Toad from my childhood, and I never tire of re-reading them to my 4-year-old daughter. She seems to like them, too.

Terrible Things: An Allegory of the Holocaust


Eve Bunting - 1980
    This unique introduction to the Holocaust encourages young children to stand up for what they think is right, without waiting for others to join them.Ages 6 and up.

Sidewalk Flowers


JonArno Lawson - 2015
    Each flower becomes a gift, and whether the gift is noticed or ignored, both giver and recipient are transformed by their encounter. "Written" by award-winning poet JonArno Lawson and brought to life by illustrator Sydney Smith, Sidewalk Flowers is an ode to the importance of small things, small people, and small gestures.

Hating Alison Ashley


Robin Klein - 1984
    But then Alison Ashley shows up, and right from the start, seems to threaten Erica's position. Can these classmates ever see past their difficulties and find friendship?

The Golden Compass Graphic Novel, Volume 1


Stéphane Melchior-Durand - 2014
      Lyra Belacqua is content to run wild among the scholars of Jordan College, with her dæmon familiar always by her side. But the arrival of her fearsome uncle, Lord Asriel, draws her to the heart of a terrible struggle—a struggle born of Gobblers and stolen children, and a mysterious substance known as Dust. As she hurtles toward danger in the cold far North, Lyra never suspects the shocking truth: she alone is destined to win—or to lose—this more-than-mortal battle.   The stunning full-color art offers both new and returning readers a chance to experience the story of Lyra, an ordinary girl with an extraordinary role to play in the fates of multiple worlds, in an entirely new way.   “Superb . . . all-stops-out thrilling.” —The Washington Post

The Snatchabook


Helen Docherty - 2013
    But books are mysteriously disappearing. Eliza Brown decides to stay awake and catch the book thief. It turns out to be a little creature called the Snatchabook who has no one to read him a bedtime story. All turns out well when the books are returned and the animals take turns reading bedtime stories to the Snatchabook.

The Storm in the Barn


Matt Phelan - 2009
    Thriller. Gripping historical fiction. This artful, sparely told graphic novel — a tale of a boy in Dust Bowl America — will resonate with young readers today.In Kansas in the year 1937, eleven-year-old Jack Clark faces his share of ordinary challenges: local bullies, his father’s failed expectations, a little sister with an eye for trouble. But he also has to deal with the effects of the Dust Bowl, including rising tensions in his small town and the spread of a shadowy illness. Certainly a case of "dust dementia" would explain who (or what) Jack has glimpsed in the Talbot’s abandoned barn — a sinister figure with a face like rain. In a land where it never rains, it’s hard to trust what you see with your own eyes — and harder still to take heart and be a hero when the time comes. With phenomenal pacing, sensitivity, and a sure command of suspense, Matt Phelan ushers us into a world where desperation is transformed by unexpected courage.

Stellaluna


Janell Cannon - 1993
    This award-winning book by Janell Cannon has sold over 500,000 copies and was on the bestseller list for more than two years.

The Three Golden Keys


Peter Sís - 1994
    He finds the way to his old home, but the house is dark, with three rusty padlocks on the door. A black cat with eyes of fire appears and leads him through Prague's silent streets and monuments in seach of the three golden keys that will open the door of his boyhood home and restore the city to life. In this reissue of one of his most personal works, Peter Sís recaptures the wonder of his own lost childhood in Prague and celebrates the city's wonderful cultural heritage, reborn after forty-five years of Communist rule. He wrote it for his young daughter, Madeleine, who is growing up in the New World, so that when she is old enough to understand it she will have a record of the strange and wonderful heritage that is her birthright. An utterly magical book on every level.

Mr Stink


David Walliams - 2009
    He also stunk. And if it was correct English to say he stinked, then he stinked as well…”It all starts when Chloe makes friends with Mr Stink, the local tramp. Yes, he smells a bit. But when it looks like he might be driven out of town, Chloe decides to hide him in the garden shed.Now Chloe's got to make sure no one finds out her secret. And speaking of secrets, there just might be more to Mr Stink than meets the eye… or the nose.

The Westing Game


Ellen Raskin - 1978
    Westing's will. And though no one knows why the eccentric, game-loving millionaire has chosen a virtual stranger—and a possible murderer—to inherit his vast fortune, one thing's for sure: Sam Westing may be dead ... but that won't stop him from playing one last game!

The Search for WondLa


Tony DiTerlizzi - 2009
    Eva's great desire is to go aboveground, and her wish comes true, though not as she had imagined. On the surface, Eva goes in search of other humans--she has never met one--and soon meets both friend and foe.

The Tea Party in the Woods


Akiko Miyakoshi - 2010
    When she arrives at a strange house in the wintry woods, a peek in the window reveals that the footprints Kikko had been following did not belong to her father at all, but to a bear in a long coat and hat! Alice in Wonderland meets Little Red Riding Hood in this charmed tale.