Picture Books for Use with Older Readers
The list below should not be taken as exhaustive. It is more a personal collection of picture books, some in print, some only available through libraries or
online second hand booksellers, which I have found to be engaging, interesting, challenging and fun to use with readers who are older than the traditional
picture book reader. Some themes emerge throughout this list. Picture books are a brilliant introduction to difficult, complex or personally challenging
subjects, the good ones provide masterclasses in the art of writing, they can introduce more complex literary concepts, and they can provide deceptively
simple texts for developing critical literacy skills. This is a starting point – I am sure you will have books of your own to add to this list!
Title
Author
Knuffle
Bunny; a
cautionary
tale
Mo
Willems
Window
The Snow
Lambs
Jeannie
Baker
Debbie
Gliori
Publisher
isbn
Walker Books
978-184428-0599
Walker books
Scholastic
978-0-74459486-7
0-59019548-4
Reason
A number of reasons - the mixed media in which the book illustrated and perspective on the cover and
the way this works as a multimodal text (photos are black and white, drawings are colour and very child
like), the representation of family and Trixie's relationships with her mum and dad are interesting, as are
the gender roles assigned to the parents, in terms of critical literacy and questioning the story, it is also a
useful tool for thinking about communication - verbal and non-verbal and how language develops, and
finally some though about the subtitle.
Great book for visual literacy, for non-verbal storytelling for looking at how to tell a story only with
pictures and how we find clues and construct narrative. Also beautifully made collage and an
inspirational idea for expressive arts work, excellent for exploring our impact on our environment and
the speed of development with children
Excellent for shared reading - lots of discussion can be fostered between younger and older children,
particularly interesting to look at for multimodal texts and the juxtaposition between narrative through
text and narrative through illustration - this is a book that certainly would convey a lot less without the
illustration!
Again visual literacy - how do we make sense of what is going on in this book? The contrast between a
very realistic illustration style and the fantastical events it shows. writers craft - why the title and why
the text used (particularly when there is so little text) Great for visual gags particularly. Also mood. A
great stimulus for creative writing.
Tuesday
David
Wiesner
Clarion Books
978-0-39587082-2
Me and
You
Into the
forest
The Wolf's
Story;
what
really
happened
to little
red riding
hood
Little
Mouse's
Big Book
of Fears
The Stinky
Cheese
Man and
other
fairly
stupid
tales
Anthony
Browne
Anthony
Browne
Random
House
Children's
Books
Walker Books
978-0-55255910-2
978-184428-5594
Multi modal text showing different perspectives on the same story, inverting of expectations from wellknown fairytales, pictures with text and without as a means of constructing narrative, critical literacy
about different types of families represented (lack of father with Goldlilocks, colour in images, clothing
choices - all set up expectations - and how those representations fit with our expectations of the
traditional tale
Critical literacy - looking at the gaps in the text, what isn't being said, the story we are being invited to
imagine and construct about the father's absence, expectation of genre, how stories build fear and
things that we are scared of in the real world, expectation of story, particularly of fairytale, how what we
read is informed by what we have read before and how we use previous reading experience to make
meaning of new narrative, and how the writer can use this to subvert our expectation of genre
Unreliable narrator, genre expectations, contrast of text and quite traditional fairytale illustration.
toby
forward
and Izhar
Cohen
Emily
Gravett
walker Books
Macmillan
978-1-40630162-5
978-0-23001619-4
Multi modal text - lots of different forms of text to read here - map, newsprint, poster, etc. The idea of
meta text - what the book is meant to be, Emily Gravett's big Book of Fears, and what little mouse has
done with it, play with language - names for fears, making up names for fears ; structure and subversion
of expectations, collage storytelling and character construction
Character (just see the back blurb to start with), possibly the most post-modern story book ever, plays
with format, narration, expectation, character etc.
Jon
Scieszka
and Lane
Smith
Puffin
978-0-14054896-9
The
Rabbits
John
Marsden
and
Shaun
Tan
Lothian
978-0-73441136-5
Critical literacy - looking at colonialisation, assertion of power, industrialisation - but also worth
questioning the very strong and prevailing point of view put across is this book - how is the reader being
guided to making a value judgement, illustration adding levels to text, looking at animal fable (which
essentially is what this is) as a means of exploring complex political issues
Multimodal text - four stories simultaneously which may or may not intersect, contrasting tones and
modes.
Black and
White
David
Macaulay
Farther
Grahame
BakerSmith
Wolves
Emily
Gravett
Denver
The Island
The
Incredible
Bookeating Boy
David
McKee
Armin
Greder
Miffilin
0-39552151-3
Templar
978-184877-1338
Macmillan
978-1-40505362-4
Andersen
Press
Allen and
Unwin
978-184270-9634
978-174175-2663
A really lovely way of exploring mental health, loss, grief, family and identity. A text that asks the reader
to construct meaning from an apparently simple story - great for exploring allegory, writers craft and
inferred meaning.
Simply great for exploring multimodal texts - the counteraction of text and image to tell two very
different aspects of a story.
This is a book that provides a very specific moral and political take on the world - very useful for critical
literacy work for developing questioning of assumptions contained within a book, to challenge the ethos
presented and to identify the how the writer seeks to persuade towards a specific value system. the
illustrations also provide opportunity to examine the relation of the society represented in the book
with their experience of society around the them.
For older children only - and please make sure you read it first - a challenging text examining
xenophobia, isolationism, intolerance and immigration. Powerful and moving stuff, but may also be
disturbing.
Great for reading together with younger children - particularly if older children have some responsibility
for fostering motivation to read with their younger peers.
Oliver
Jeffers
Harper Collins
Childrens
Books
0-00718227-9
Zoo
Michael
Rosen's
Sad Book
Imagine a
Place
Diary of a
Wombat
The Man
Who
Walked
Between
the
Towers
Mirror
Anthony
Browne
Michael
Rosen
and
Quentin
Blake
Sarah L
Thomson
and Rob
Gonsalves
Jackie
French
Red Fox
978-0-09921901-9
Again great for juxtaposition between words and pictures - also great for looking at writers craft with
construction of character.
The most sensitive exploration of grief, loss and the way that feeling sad can overwhelm a person.
Honest, straightforward, but never simple. A great, safe way to explore these issues.
Walker Books
0-74459898-2
Really useful images and text as a stimulus for creative writing.
978-1-4169simonsayskids 6802-3
Harper Collins
Childrens
Books
Useful for exploring character and perspective - good for writers craft, particularly using diary to invent
and flesh out character.
978-0-00721207-1
A great example of a non-fiction book. Writers craft of making a narrative out of fact. Also a wayin to
talking about the twin towers.
Mordicai
Gerstein
Jeannie
Baker
Macmillan
Walker Books
978-0-31236878-4
978-1-40630914-0
Storytelling through pictures - but this time with some text to put context around it. A book that is
presented in English and Arabic, and respects the book format for both languages and uses difference to
provide a mirrored narrative that shows difference but highlights similarity. Excellent for exploring
different cultures, sharing cultures etc.
A fantastic stimulus for creative writing.
The
Mysteries
of Harris
Burdick
Chris Van
Allsburg
Andersen
Press
978-184939-2792
Dear Mrs
LaRue;
Letters
from
Obedience Mark
School
Teague
Free to a
Good
Home
Darkness
Slipped IN
Don't let
the Pigeon
Drive the
Bus
The
Arrival
Unreliable narrator - exposed through juxtaposition of illustration to text.
Scholastic
0 439 97716
9
Random
Colin
House
thompson Australia
ella
burfoot
Macmillan
978 1 74166
319 8
978-0-75341845-1
Mo
Willems
978-184428-5136
Shaun
Tan
Walker Books
Hodder
Children's
books
A book about the wisdom of older people, good for exploring what makes up a family, also for
questioning the relation between the text and the illustrations (which feel somewhat sinister in
comparison to the rest of the story, but in a way that is not really acknowledged or resolved).
A great book for shared reading with younger pupils - fun to read aloud, lots to talk about and lots to do.
You either love this or hate this. Here to look at writer's craft and character voice - all of the text is
speech.
Beautiful wordless picture book examining the full experience of the immigrant family.
978-0-34096993-9
Writers craft, playing with words and rhyme, subversion of genre - playing with a well-known fairytale.
Spells
The
Silence
seeker
the Black
Book of
Colours
Voices in
Emily
Gravett
Ben
Morley
and Carl
Pearce
Menena
Cottin
and
Rosana
Faria
Anthony
Macmillan
978-0-23053136-9
A book which explores a child's understanding of what it is to be an asylum seeker and how we can go
about welcoming strangers into our communities.
tamarind
Books
978-1-84853003-4
Explores colour, sense, sight and how we understand the world through text, braille and black on black
illustration - which is amazing! Also useful as an inspiration piece for writers craft with descriptive
language.
walker books
Random
978-1-40632218-7
978-0-552-
Four different voices tell the story of the same walk in the park. Use to introduce different character
the Park
Browne
Ernest
Catherine
Rayner
Again
Emily
Gravett
House
54564-8
Macmillan
978-0-23071255-3
Macmillan
978-0-33054403-0
perspectives and voices, critical literacy skills - questioning the preconceptions that characters have of
one another, and to query whether the text contains inherent value judgements about any of those
character perspectives.
Writers craft - looking at how format and layout become part of the story in a picture book.
The Red
Tree
Black Dog
Orange
Pear
Apple
Bear
Press Here
tusk tusk
Shaun tan
Levi
Pinfold
Lothian
978-0-73441137-2
978-184877-7481
Herve
Tullet
David
McKee
A book for exploring emotions, and what how it feels when they overcome us - with a central message
about where emotional resilience can come from.
A book about confronting your fears, and how we magnify each other's fears - a fantastic allegory for
talking about a difficult subject.
Templar
978-0-33051267-1
Emily
Gravett
Writers craft - book within a book as a conceit of storytelling, fun for reading with younger peers particularly for initiating conversations about excitement around books, routines for reading at bedtime.
A very simple book to use with older kids - but wonderful and included here for three reasons. It most
effectively illustrates the dialogue between text and illustration and how the combination of the two can
be much more than the individual parts, it is the most pared back exercise in writers craft you will find
almost anywhere and it is the best way of learning about effect of using commas properly!
Macmillan
Chronicle
Books
Andersen
press
978-0-81187954-5
978-184270-579-7
A playful book which looks at how books can do all that touch screen technology can - just using
imagination. Great to start a discussion about how we interact with books as a physical thing and as
something that allows our brains to make up the narrative.
Older readers will find this book a masterpiece in explaining a complicated subject, in this case
intolerance, very simply. Use as a source text for writers craft, particularly in thinking about writing for a
particular audience.
Varmints
This is Not
My Hat
This
Moose
Belongs to
Me
Helen
Ward and
Marc
Craste
Jon
Klassen
Oliver
Jeffers
A great companion piece to the Rabbits - similar stories about the impact of incoming colonial power here focussing very strongly on the environment. This has a more hopeful ending but the two books
could be used together to look at writer's choices, contrasting illustrations, themes and resolution.
Walker
978-184011-3235
978A lovely example of the illustrations and text telling a different story/ presenting different character
1406343939 perspectives.
HarperCollins
978A very nice example of the narrator’s voice, character voice and illustrations all telling a different
0007263905 perspective on the story for comic effect.
Templar