2024 Blogging A to Z Challenge: Picture Books

This was such a fun list to pull together and one that was hard to stop at just twelve picture books! There are so many adventurous picture books in the world, but I controlled myself to offer you just twelve titles that make great read alouds for storytime, classrooms, and at home with the family. With a little bit of everything on this list, kids will find new favorites whether it’s about animals, dinosaurs, brave characters, imaginative worlds, and so much more!

Remember, reading aloud doesn’t have to stop, even when kids grow old enough to read themselves. You’d be surprised that by leaving picture books around the house, kids will pick them up, even if they’re “too old” to be reading picture books. Because picture books are for everyone, not just the littlest readers.

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2024 Blogging A to Z Challenge: Picture Books

Bear Came Along by Richard T. Morris

Once there was a river flowing through a forest. The river didn’t know it was capable of adventures until a big bear came along. But adventures aren’t any fun by yourself, and so enters Froggy, Turtles, Beaver, Racoons, and Duck.

These very different animals take off downstream, but they didn’t know they needed one another until thankfully, the river came along.

Bo the Brave by Bethan Woollvin

Bo wants to be just like her brothers and capture a fearsome monster, but Bo is small—too small to catch a monster. Or so her brothers say. Luckily, Bo isn’t one to take no for an answer, and so she sets off on a quest to catch a monster of her own. Can she defeat the furious griffin, conquer the hideous kraken, and triumph over the monstrous dragon? Or are the real monsters lurking closer than she thinks?

Chalk by Bill Thomson

A rainy day. Three kids in a park. A dinosaur spring rider. A bag of chalk. The kids begin to draw…and then…magic! The children draw the sun, butterflies, and a dinosaur that amazingly come to life. Children will never feel the same about the playground after they experience this astounding wordless picture book and the power of the imagination.

Everything & Everywhere by Marc Martin

From Hong Kong to Reykjavik, Ulaanbaatar to New York City, this beautifully illustrated, fact-filled adventure book will take curious kids on a lush and unexpected journey around the globe to discover what makes each place unique. Sleepy sloths, colorful cows, staggering skylines, and terrible traffic—countless surprises await globetrotting children of all ages. All you and your child need is a good travel guide and a big imagination. Let’s go!

• Kids will have fun while they learn about different cultures
• Features facts about 15 places and cultures for a great introduction to the world
• Instills curiosity about the world and respect for others

The Fantastic Bureau of Imagination by Brad Montague

Every day, special figment agent Sparky delivers all the mail the FBI receives to the proper department, like the Office of the Unexplainable or the Department of Dreams. It’s a big job, but Sparky keeps everything running smoothly . . . until disaster strikes when the Cave of Untold Stories overflows and threatens to topple the whole bureau. It turns out too many people have been holding in their big ideas, and now Sparky must recruit more agents to share their dreams, songs, and stories with the world.

Finding Wild by Megan Wagner Lloyd

There are so many places that wild can exist, if only you know where to look! Can you find it? Two kids set off on an adventure away from their urban home and discover all the beauty of the natural world. From the bark on the trees to the sudden storm that moves across the sky to fire and flowers, and snowflakes and fresh fruit. As the children make their way through the woods and back to the paved and noisy streets, they discover that wild exists not just off in some distant place, but right in their own backyard.

How to Find an Elephant by Kate Banks

What to do on a dull gray day? Head into the wilds and look for an elephant. You will need a pair of binoculars, a blanket, a flute, some food, a little imagination, and a lot of curiosity. Look and listen closely, because elephants can be anywhere. And watch out, because if you’re not careful, the elephant may find you first!

Once Upon a Book by Grace Lin

Once upon a time, there was a girl. She went to a place alive with colors, where even the morning dew was warm.

Alice loves to imagine herself in the magical pages of her favorite book. So when it flaps its pages and invites her in, she is swept away to a world of wonder and adventure, riding camels in the desert, swimming under the sea with colorful fish, floating in outer space, and more! But when her imaginative journey comes to an end, she yearns for the place she loves best of all.

See You Later, Alligator by Sally Hopgood

A departing tortoise has his bags packed and is almost ready to set out on an adventure, but he can’t leave until he says good-bye to each of his animal friends. The tortoise stops for every last timid mouse and bumblebee, shouting his rhyming good-byes, making you wonder if, perhaps, he’s stalling the start of his trip.

His animal friends appear startled as he suddenly pops up on each page to say adieu—especially the perplexed rhinoceros the tortoise mistakes for a unicorn! With each farewell, the tortoise’s good-byes get sillier and more creative. When will the good-byes end and the adventure begin?

T. Rex Time Machine by Jared Chapman

When two hungry dinosaurs jump into a time machine, they’re transported to an unbelievable, magical, surreal future: RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW! On the T. Rexes’ madcap voyage into the unknown, they encounter the many wonders of the modern world: Police cars! Phones! Microwaves! They don’t know how they’ll get home—but why would they want to? Acclaimed author and illustrator Jared Chapman combines two favorite kid topics—time travel and dinosaurs—with bold colors, big jokes, and a hilarious escapade. This raucous, laugh-out-loud adventure will delight the very young and keep older readers giggling long into the future.

Tomorrow I’ll Be Brave by Jessica Hirsche

Tomorrow I’ll be all the things I tried to be today:
Adventurous, Strong, Smart, Curious, Creative, Confident, & Brave.
And if I wasn’t one of them, I know that it’s OK.

Journey through a world filled with positive and beautifully hand-lettered words of widsom, inspiration, and motivation. As this book reminds readers, tomorrow is another day, full of endless opportunities–all you have to do is decide to make the day yours.

Vroom! by Barbara McClintock

Join a little girl as she zooms―
past fields and forests,
up mountains,
over rivers,
through deserts,
home again,
and into bed in this playful picture book about the power of imagination.

2024 is my ninth year participating in the Blogging A to Z Challenge. This year, I chose as my theme: Adventurous Readers with a focus on providing book lists focused on all types of adventures for readers from birth to teens. Each letter of the alphabet will focus on different sub-genres or age groups and will provide twelve titles of books. This theme coincides well with the summer reading theme for many libraries which is “Adventure Begins at Your Library” and no matter what type of books the kids in your life like, there is sure to be something they’ll find interesting over the course of the month. Stop by daily to check out the new books and other posts that I’ll be sharing in April.