Alison Doherty is a writing teacher and part time assistant professor living in Brooklyn, New York. She has an MFA from The New School in writing for children and teenagers. She loves writing about books on the Internet, listening to audiobooks on the subway, and reading anything with a twisty plot or a happily ever after.
From Peter Rabbit to the Hungry Caterpillar, animals have made excellent subjects for picture books for generations. Children love animals, and they love reading picture books about animals. And as a former teacher and current toddler parent, I love reading picture books about animals too.
There are so many iconic animal characters from classic picture books. But new picture books about animals are coming out all the time. These five picture books are new favorites. They range from silly to educational to spooky.
These picture books about animals will introduce readers to a silly game of two friends pretending to be dogs, an emotionally intelligent cat, a story for older kids about a fox and a mole, a stressed-out squirrel who can’t find his nuts, and a prairie dog that’s tired of being mixed up with a dog. You can read more about each of them below.
All Access members, read on for five new picture books about animals.
Alison Doherty is a writing teacher and part time assistant professor living in Brooklyn, New York. She has an MFA from The New School in writing for children and teenagers. She loves writing about books on the Internet, listening to audiobooks on the subway, and reading anything with a twisty plot or a happily ever after.
If We Were Dogs by Sophie Blackall
This is a very sweet follow-up to 2023’s If I Was a Horse from the Caldecott-winning author and illustrator, Sophie Blackall. It imagines two friends playing a game of pretend, but what happens when the friends don’t agree on what they want to be? Besides having a great message, this book is just so charming and fun to read. My 15-month-old is obsessed with dogs right now, and we are reading this book together all the time!
Shibu’s Tail by Tess Thomas, illustrated by Kamwei Fong
Sometimes a picture book character just jumps off the page and seems to be a living, breathing, three-dimensional being. Shibu the cat, with his very special tail, is exactly one of those characters. Shibu’s tail expresses his emotions very clearly and loudly. But when he notices this makes him different, he tries to hide what he’s feeling. From the happiness of a new milk delivery to the fear of a thunderstorm, Shibu stifles his emotions until they get so big he literally can’t keep them inside anymore. A hilarious cat plus an important lesson about emotional intelligence is a winning combination.
The Slightly Spooky Tale of the Fox and the Mole by Cecilia Heikkilä, translated by Polly Lawson
This Swedish picture book in translation is wonderful for older readers who can handle a scary story. Mole and Fox are friends, but they don’t treat each other equally. Fox works hard and is a generous neighbor. But Mole is self-centered and doesn’t do much for other people. Little by little, Fox becomes tired of Mole taking advantage of him. He reads a story about a raccoon that turns into a monster. And when Mole forgets Fox’s birthday, Fox might turn into a bit of a monster, too. This is such a charming, cozy Autumn book. But take the warning of a spooky story seriously before you read this with anyone prone to nightmares.
Gray Squirrel Loses It by Cassandra Federman
Grayson the squirrel loses his nut. He will do anything to find it, including accusing many different creatures from the forest of being a nut pirate. But things get dangerous when he tries to blame a black bear for the theft. The narrator helps remind him of where he hid the nut, only for Grayson to discover that a tree is already beginning to grow. This picture book feels graphic novel-inspired, from the funny illustrations to the mix of narration with speech bubbles.
Not a Dog by Claudia Guadalupe Martínez, illustrated by Laura Gonzalez
This nonfiction picture book describes the habits and habitat of the Mexican prairie dog using both English and Spanish vocabulary. Readers will learn about this rodent and enjoy stating emphatically that, despite its name, the animal is NOT A DOG! They will also discover the ways that modern agriculture has threatened the prairie dogs’ habitat, turning it into an endangered species. There’s a lot of information and concepts packed into this picture book. It’s perfect for animal-lover readers who want to learn a lot about a lesser-known species.
I hope you read and love these picture books as much as I do! If you want some more magical animal picture books to read about, take a look at this list of picture books about dragons or this one featuring unicorn children’s books.
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