MAY BOOK LIST
This post may contain affiliate links, so I receive a small commission when you purchase through them.
Thank you for supporting This New Day and our little family.
MY TOP FIVE
FAMILY READ ALOUD
by Robert McCloskey
From those famous ducklings to Homer Price's delicious donuts, generations of children have grown up delighting in the timeless stories of Robert McCloskey.
by Marsha Diane Arnold
It's springtime and Badger is ready to plant the perfect garden. He has spent months gathering and sorting seeds. It's been a lot of work but it's worth it. His friends Red Squirrel, Dormouse, and Weasel come to help. They weed. They rake. And finally they plant. Afterward, everyone celebrates. But then a rainstorm comes and washes away the beautiful seeds. Badger's perfect garden is ruined. Or is it?
by Elly MacKay
Mip and Pip are two fairies who live in a beautiful forest near a waterfall. One day, Mip has a brilliant idea to build a tree house and decides to make it into a contest: whoever can build the tallest tree house the fastest wins! The two friends must learn to appreciate each other's talents to save the day-and to build the tallest tree house in the forest.
by Matthew Cordell
Evergreen the squirrel is afraid of many things: thunder, hawks, and the dark paths of Buckthorn Forest. But when her mother tasks Evergreen with delivering soup to her sick Granny Oak, the little squirrel must face her fears and make the journey.
​
​
​
​
by Alison Mitchell
Based on the healing of the officialÂ’s son in John chapter 4, this wonderful storybook will teach children about the instant power of the words of Jesus, and that they should trust Jesus because he is GodÂ’s Son.
​
by Don Freeman
When Dandelion gets an invitation to a party, he's excited. The invitation is extra fancy, so Dandelion decides to get himself all dressed up. But when he gets to the party, no one recognizes him!
​​
​
by Jan Brett
Mei Mei has the six happiest hens in China. But one of the hens, Daisy, is not always so happy. The other hens pick on Daisy and push her off the perch every night, knowing that she is too small to stand up to them. Then one day Daisy accidentally drifts out onto the river in a basket and must quickly learn how to survive. When Daisy finds her way home, this plucky little hen is no longer afraid.
​
by Emily Jenkins
Four families, in four different cities, over four centuries, make the same delicious dessert: blackberry fool. This richly detailed book ingeniously shows how food, technology, and even families have changed throughout American history.
by Leanne Hatch
Violet is ecstatic when she earns her very own super big box of eighty-four crayons all matching in length, perfectly pointed, each in their smooth, uniform wrapper. There’s even one with her name on it. She can’t stop imagining all the wonderful things she can draw with them.
by Jerry Spinelli
When Mama Seeton whistles, her children run home for chocolate cake, hugs, kisses, and shared memories. But as time passes, they travel farther and farther away from the familiar sound. Can mama's whistle be heard all over the world, and bring her children home one more time?
by Mem Fox
Harriet doesn't mean to be pesky. Sometimes she just is. And her mother doesn't mean to lose her temper. Sometimes she just does. But Harriet and her mother know that even when they do things they wish they hadn't, they still love each other very much.
by Jonathan Bean
​join a girl and her family as they pack up their old house in town and set out to build a new one in the country. Mom and Dad are going to make the new house themselves, from the ground up. From empty lot to finished home, every stage of their year-and-a-half-long building project is here.
by Terry Fan
One day, William discovers that the tree outside his window has been sculpted into a wise owl. In the following days, more topiaries appear, and each one is more beautiful than the last. Soon, William’s gray little town is full of color and life. And though the mysterious night gardener disappears as suddenly as he appeared, William—and his town—are changed forever.
by Janet Stevens
Once a upon a time, there was a lazy Bear and a clever Hare. Bear had lots of money and lots of land but all he wanted to do was sleep. Hare had nothing but hungry children, so he came up with a plan to convince Bear to split his land down the middle—tops and bottoms. Hare can work all day and Bear can sleep.
by Anne Renaud
​Gwendolyn longs for a pet. What kind? Any kind! How many legs? Two, four, ten--she's not picky! But her parents have other ideas, and instead they give her . . . a box of dirt. "It smells of swamp," Gwendolyn says--but her parents say it smells of possibilities. And once Gwendolyn gets savvy about seeds and soil, sun and shade, she finds they are right.
by Shirley Hughes
​A collection of stories and poems starring Alfie as he discovers the wonder of life in the great outdoors with various family members, including his sister Annie Rose, Grandma, and Dad.
by Kirsten Hall
With zooming, vibrant verse by Kirsten Hall and buzzy, beautiful illustrations by Isabelle Arsenault, this celebration of the critically important honeybee is a honey-sweet treasure of a picture book.
by Laura Alary
Grace thinks Larry’s garden is one of the wonders of the world. In his tiny backyard next door to hers, Larry grows the most extraordinary vegetables. Grace loves helping him — watering and weeding, planting and pruning, hoeing and harvesting. And whenever there’s a problem — like bugs burrowing into the carrots or slugs chewing the lettuce — Grace and Larry solve it together.
by Janeeen Brian
Thursday is Bruno’s birthday, and he wishes it didn’t have to end. But Friday is coming, and he knows his special day will be gone in the morning. What will happen to Thursday during the night? Where will it go? And can Bruno and his friend Bert find it in time to say goodbye?
​
​
by Henry Cole
Two beavers find a stream, build a dam, and raise a family in their new lodge. When the dam is threatened by storms, the beavers work hard to rebuild it. Building is what beavers do best.
​
​
​
​
by Jamie Deenihan
​In this imaginative take on that popular saying, a child is surprised (and disappointed) to receive a lemon tree from Grandma for her birthday. After all, she DID ask for a new gadget! But when she follows the narrator’s careful—and funny—instructions, she discovers that the tree might be exactly what she wanted after all.
by Dorothea Warren Fox
Why did Miss Twiggley live in a tree? Why did she send her dog, Puss, out to do the shopping? Why did she always run away and hide when people came to visit? And it was rumored that Miss Twiggley had even more peculiar habits...
by Jim Arnosky
Using gentle, rhythmic text and gorgeous watercolor paintings, Jim Arnosky invites young readers to imagine what wondrous things animals are doing across the globe. While you might be sweating in the middle of the afternoon, an owl has found a cool hiding place inside a cactus. It's an amazing world out there-at this very moment.
by Barbara Cooney
Marian called it Roxaboxen. There across the road, it looked like any rocky hill—nothing but sand and rocks, and some old wooden boxes. But it was a special place. And all children needed to go there was a long stick and a soaring imagination.
by Megan Alexander
A tree branch tapping on a window, a pretend sword breaking in two, the skreeeetch of a school bus door: one more hug by mom is always needed to comfort and reassure a young boy that he has the inner confidence to carry on. As time passes, and he outgrows his childhood fears, he returns the favor by giving his mother one more hug as he goes on his way.
by Oge Mora
​Sophie listens and watches for the signs of spring. Day after day, the same snow is frozen outside her window and the skies above are as gray as the day before. And then Sophie thinks will spring ever come and how will I know it is here?
​
by Ann McGovern
Peter thinks his house is noisy until the village wise man teaches him a lesson in perspective.
​
​
​
​
by Barbara Cooney
Alice Rumphius longed to travel the world, live in a house by the sea, and do something to make the world more beautiful. The countless lupines that bloom along the coast of Maine are the legacy of the real Miss Rumphius, the Lupine Lady, who scattered lupine seeds everywhere she went.
by Doris Burn
Andrew Henry has two younger brothers, who are always together, and two older sisters, who are always together. But Andrew Henry is in the middle--and he's always with himself. He doesn't mind this very much, because he's an inventor. But when Andrew Henry's family doesn't appreciate him or his inventions, he decides it's time to run away.
by Karma Wilson
Upon overhearing the story of how springtime rain and sunshine nurture little seeds to grow into great big green plants, Mortimer is skeptical but decides to plant one of his seeds, just to see if such a miracle really can happen. Mortimer finds a perfect sport to plant the seed, and then...he waits.
​
by Rachael Ignotofsky
Budding backyard scientists can start exploring their world with this stunning introduction to these flowery show-stoppers--from seeds to roots to blooms. Learning how flowers grow gives kids beautiful building blocks of science and inquiry.
​
​
​
​
by Emmy Paine
Katy is distressed because she doesn't have a pocket so she can't carry her little joey around. How do other mom's carry their babies? Nothing works, so Katy is determined to find a pocket.