BOOKS
Upcoming: When the Rain Came Down (FSG 2023)
and...
Back to the Woods (Kiwico)
2020 Ultimate List of
Diverse Children’s Books
Are Your Stars Like
My Stars?
Written by Leslie Helakoski
Illustrated by Heidi Sheffield
Published by Sterling Kids
Goodreads:
“We look at the world every day.
You and me.
Do we see the same things?
Do you see what I see?”
In beautiful, evocative rhyme, this lovely picture book helps children consider the colors of their everyday lives . . . and imagine how others around the world experience the very same things.
Kirkus Review..., the book’s timely message of universality among diversity is a highly relevant one.
Woolbur Returns!
Written by Leslie Helakoski
Illustrated by Lee Harper
Published by HarperCollins, June 2018
Woolbur is ready for school, but is everyone else? Woolbur takes on common fears of new students as only he can.
Doggone Feet!
Written and illustrated by
Leslie Helakoski,
Boyds Mill Press
A dog's tale about a growing family and life under the kitchen table. Selected as best math book by Scholastic Magazine.
Big Pigs
Written and illustrated by
Leslie Helakoski
Boyds Mill Press
Sibling piglets compete to see who is the biggest pig.
Hoot & Honk
Written and illustrated by
Leslie Helakoski
Sterling Publishers
A tale of two eggs placed in the wrong
nests after a storm, an owlet and a gosling struggle with out-of-sync sleep patterns.
Big Chickens
Dutton, ISBN: 0-525-47575-3
Illustrated by Henry Cole
Four fearful chickens go for a walk in the woods and allow their fear to get them in trouble again and again. Ultimately they find they can use their chicken abilities to get themselves out again and again. The unique language allows for lessons in opposites, alliteration and internal rhyme.
Check out what other schools are doing with Big Chickens.
Big Chickens Project Blog
Big Chickens Activities
Awards
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Winner, 2007 Michigan Reads! One State One Picture Book
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A 2006 Junior Library Guild selection
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Kirkus (starred review)
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Great Lakes Great Books Award 2007
State Book Awards nominee:
North Dakota
South Carolina
Big Chickens Fly the Coop
Dutton
Illustrated by Henry Cole
ISBN: 978-0-525-47915
The big chickens are back and this time they consider always staying inside the coop where it is nice and safe. But to get what they want, they must face the fear-filled farmyard.
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Kirkus starred review
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Kansas State Reading Circle
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New Hampshire State Book Award Nominee
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Bill Martin Jr. Picture book award nominee
Big Chickens Go To Town
ISBN 978-0-525-42162-7
Dutton Children’s Books
Illustrated by Henry Cole
The big chickens fall out of the pick-up truck and are stranded in a scary new world--town. Strange food, strange noises and strange birds make for an uproarious time on the streets of New Orleans.
Fair Cow
ISBN: 9780761456841
Marshall Cavendish Books
(Available on Amazon)
Written and Illustrated by
Leslie Helakoski
As Effie prepares for the state fair
with help from a pig, she finds something
is wrong with her hair, her shape, her tail and more.
Review from Kirkus: Helakoski's first solo effort shows off her goofy acrylics, which are a terrific match for her frisky farm fable. A good addition to collections in need of some new barnyard or self-esteem titles.
The Smushy Bus
Illustrated by Salvadore Murdocca
Millbrook Press (out of print but available on Amazon)
Lots of math fun as a driver has to figure out how 76 kids will fit on one very small bus.
Woolbur
Harper Collins
ISBN:978-0-06-084726-5
Illustrated by Lee Harper
The fun-filled story of a sheep that bleats to his own beat. Everyone has trouble with Woolbur from the shearer to the spinner to the weaver.
Woolbur has his own ideas about being a sheep,
will his family survive?
See what other schools are doing with Woolbur at this link.
Awards
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2008 Book Sense Hot Pick
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Great Lakes Book Award finalist
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Gift of Literacy Oregon Book Choice
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2013 Michigan Reads! One State, One Picture Book Award
Nominated for following state book awards:
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Vermont
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North Dakota
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Nevada
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Florida (Honor Book)
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South Carolina
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North Carolina
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Arizona
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Washington
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Nebraska