Books in English or Spanish for your 1st grader

The hook: Corduroy, a teddy bear who has always wanted a friend, goes searching all around the department store where he lives for the missing button on his overalls. Happily, his new friend Lisa finds him, delivers him to his new home, and sews on a new button. In all of his little adventures into the big world, Corduroy finds the wonder in everyday things — even mattresses and laundry mats.

Perfect for the curious little bears in all of us.

Find our favorites at your local library: Corduroy, Corduroy Goes to the Library.

A kindly lion comes to town one day to buy a hat. The townspeople are afraid and chase him away, but Iris isn’t afraid of lions. She sneaks him into her house and hides him from her mom and dad. A big lion can’t stay hidden forever, but the lion ends up winning over the townspeople and getting his hat after all. The gentle story and sweet illustrations feel timeless. Young readers may want to cuddle up with their own soft animal friend while they listen.

Perfect for: Kids who love animals.

Find How to Hide a Lion at your local library.

Early one morn­ing, a teeny tiny mos­quito is swal­lowed by a frog. The frog is swallowed by a fish. As each animal gets swallowed by the next, the tiny mosquito keeps singing, until something surprising happens. This sing-song rhyming book introduces kids to the concept of a food chain. You may think of mosquitoes as annoying, but you’ll be rooting for this one in the end.

Perfect for: Curious kids.

Find Song of the Teeny-Tiny Mosquito at your local library.

A little girl wants to make something magnificent. She and her dog scheme and plan and hammer and glue, and then meet with frustration — her creation is not what she envisioned at all! If your creative child has ever had a big idea that didn’t come out the way he or she wanted, they will relate to this story of frustration and perseverance.

Perfect for: Makers and visionaries.

Find The Most Magnificent Thing at your local library.

Who wants to help me build something, Ruby asks her brothers. When they refuse, saying “you don’t know how to build anything!” Ruby declares, “Then I’ll learn!” One fabulous fort later, her brothers have changed their tunes, so Ruby lets them paint and plant flowers and build a mailbox. Soon they all have a wonderful place to play. This retelling of The Little Red Hen will delight siblings, makers, and kids with big ideas.

Perfect for: Kids who persist.

Find The Little Red Fort at your local library.

Have you ever had a day that you’d rather forget? Then you will certainly be able to relate to poor Alexander when his day starts bad and gets progressively worse as the day goes on. From the moment Alexander wakes up, with gum in his hair, to the disappointment of not getting a surprise in his cereal box, Alexander keeps you laughing as he complains about his horrible day. This is a great book for parents and teachers to read to children when they are having “one of those days!”

Perfect for: Kids who like realism.

Find Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day at your local library.

This funny satire of the personalities and feuds in East Los Angeles features a cool cat named Chato who can’t believe his luck when a delicious-looking family of mice moves in next door. Chato hopes to trick them into becoming his next meal by inviting them over for dinner. He’s the one surprised, though, when the mice arrive with a family friend from their old neighborhood, who just happens to be a dog. The book is peppered with Spanish words. The illustrations are amusing, broadly drawn send-ups of the characters.

Perfect for: Inner-city children living in lively neighborhoods.

Find Chato’s Kitchen at your local library.

Dead center in the fish-eye lens on the cover of this fantastic visual voyage floats another lens centered in the face of an old-fashioned brownie-style box camera. Nary a word is needed to tell the story of a young boy’s trip to the beach, the discovery of a camera washed up by a rogue wave, a trip to the one-hour film developers, a set of mysterious underwater images, and a final photograph showing a child who is holding a picture of a child who is holding a picture of a child who is holding a picture of a child and so on… It’s an intriguing metaphor for looking at history through a progressive series of lenses. A treat from beginning to end.

Perfect for: Kids who like fantasy stories.

Find Flotsam at your local library.

The hook: Frances is a precocious preschool badger who doesn’t understand why she has to do silly things like go to bed, eat anything but bread and jam, or have a baby sister. But with the help of her patient parents and a few rhymes, she learns how to overcome each new challenge. This gentle series tackles small problems that feel big for little kids, like trying new foods, making friends, and falling asleep. And the lyrical language and Frances’ silly songs get young readers excited about words.

Perfect for: Kids who like silly songs.

Find our favorites at your local library: Bread and Jam for Frances, A Birthday for Frances, Best Friends for Frances.

En el aula de Lola en Manhattan, todos los niños son de otros países. Cuando la maestra les pide a los estudiantes que hagan un dibujo del lugar de donde emigró su familia, Lola no puede porque sus padres se fueron de la República Dominicana cuando ella era una bebé. Entonces ella le pide a su familia y a sus vecinos en Nueva York que le cuenten sobre la isla. A través de sus vívidos recuerdos, ella conoce la belleza tropical, la comida y la cultura del hogar original de su familia. Cuanto más aprende, más se da cuenta de que la isla es parte de ella, a pesar de que no puede recordarla.

Perfecto para: Niños que quieren aprender más sobre lugares lejanos.

Encuentra Lola en tu biblioteca local o en Amazon. Encuentra el libro en inglés, Islandborn, en tu biblioteca local.

Three mouse brothers are wandering in the forest when they find a gold key. Their search for what it opens takes them on a gentle adventure and eventually brings them home to their little cheese-shaped house, where they are very happy. Originally written in Spanish, the illustrations in this great read-aloud story have lots of chunks of cheese and keyholes to find.

Perfect for: Kids who love animals.

Find The Little Golden Key at your local library.