Picture Books to use for literary elements lessons
Foreshadowing
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Patchwork Quilt by Valerie Flournoy
Knots on a Counting Rope by Bill Martin
Grandfather’s Journey by Allen Say
The Stranger by Van Allsburg
Character
Owen by Kevin Henkes
Agnes the Sheep by William Taylor
Henry and Mudge books by Cynthia Rylant
Plot
Doctor DeSoto by William Steig
Three Billy Goats Gruff by Janet Stevens
Stellaluna by Janell Cannon
The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig by Eugene Trivas
Setting
Dreamplace by George Ella Lyon
When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant
The Potato Man by Megan McDonald
Irony
The Frog Prince Continued by Jon Scieszka
The Fortune Tellers by Lloyd Alexander
Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
Grandfather’s Journey by Allen Say
Personification
The Tree That Would Not Die by Ellen Levine
Click, Clack, Moo by Doreen Cronin
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
Brave Irene by William Steig
Ant Bully by John Nickle
Point of View
Barefoot by Pamela Duncan Edwards
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka
Honestly, Red Riding Hood was Rotten by Trisha Shaskan
Seriously, Cinderella Is So Annoying by Trisha Shaskan
Simile
Quick as a Cricket by Audrey Wood
The Girl Who Loved Horses by Paul Goble
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
The Rough Faced Girl by Rafe Martin
Encounter by Jane Yolen
Come on Rain by Karen Hesse
Knots on a Counting Rope by Bill Martin
Black Cat by Christopher Myers
Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Martin
Dragonwagon by Jemima Remembers
The Bicycle Man by Allen Say
There’s a Frog in My Throat by Loren Leedy
Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young
Night Noises by Mem Fox
Diary of a Worm and Diary of a Spider by Doreen Cronin
Metaphor
The Girl Who Loved Horses by Paul Goble
A Turkey for Thanksgiving by Eve Bunting
Mrs. Spitzer’s Garden by Edith Pattou
Alliteration
A My Name is Alice by Jane Bayer
Four Famished Foxes by Pamela Duncan Edwards
Animalia by Graeme Base
Alison’s Zinnia by Anita Lobel
Hyperbole
How Much Can a Bear Bare? by Brian P. Cleary
Comes a Wind by Linda White
Shrek by William Steig
Library Lil by Suzanne Williams
The Bunyans by Audrey Wood
Onomatopoeia
Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin
Alison’s Zinnia by Anita Lobel
Stellaluna by Janell Cannon
Idioms
More Parts by Tedd Arnold
The Sixteen Hand Horse by Fred Gwynne
A Little Pigeon Toad by Fred Gwynne
Amelia Bedelia series by Herman Parish
Circular Stories
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff
Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg
Flotsam by David Weisner
The Napping House by Audrey Wood
Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum by Lisa Wheeler
Black and White by David Macauley
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin
It Wasn’t My Fault by Helen Lester
Round Trip by Ann Jonas
Welcome Comfort by Patricia Polacco
My Lucky Day by Keiko Kasza
The Ox Cart Man by Donald Hall
No Jumping on the Bed by Tedd Arnold
Tuesday by David Weisner
One Dog Canoe by Mary Casanova
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems
All in One Hour by Susan Stevens Crummel
The Great Fuzz Frenzy by Susan Stevens Crummel
Homophones
The King Who Rained by Fred Gwynne
Amelia Bedelia series by Peggy Parrish
Bunnicula by James Howe
Persuasive Writing
I Wanna Iguana by Karen Kaufman Orloff
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems
My Lucky Day by Keiko Kasza
Earrings by Judith Viorst
Click Clack Moo by Doreen Cronin
Dear Mrs. LaRue by Mark Teague
Hey Little Ant by Phyllis Hoose
Memoirs
Song and Dance Man by Karen Ackerman
More than Anything Else by Marie Bradby
So Far From the Sea by Eve Bunting
Wednesday Surprise by Eve Bunting
Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs by Tomie DePaola
Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox
The Lotus Seed by Sherry Garland
Through Grandpa’s Eyes by Patricia MacLachlan
Chicken Sunday by Patricia Polacco
The Butterfly by Patricia Polocco
The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polocco
Beginning, Middle, End
Beatrice Doesn’t Want To by Laura Numeroff
Henry and Mudge books by Cynthia Rylant
Cook-A-Doodle-Doo by Janet Stevens
No, David by David Shannon
Inferencing
Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears by Aardema
Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young
Click, Clack, Moo by Doreen Cronin
Bedtime for Frances by Hoban
Ben’s Trumpet by Isadora
Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg
Sweetest Fig by van Allsburg
Wreck of the Zephyr by Van Allsburg
The Wretched Stone by Van Allsburg
The Z Was Zapped by Van Allsburg
Weslandia by Paul Fleischman
Encounter by Jane Yolen
Symbolism
Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting
The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses by Paul Goble
Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
Theme
Blackberries in the Dark by Mavis Jukes
Dr. DeSoto by William Steig
Voice
The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch
Dialogue
Aunt Isabel Tells a Good One by Kate Duke