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12 Days of Picture Books!

12 Days of picture books! Some great picture books to read with elementary school aged children.

This month, Penguin Kids is running a very fun 12 Days of Picture Books giveaway of some of their top picture books for US readers! These are all wonderful picture books to read with elementary school aged children. The giveaways are very easy to enter – you simply leave comments on the daily threads on the Penguin Kids Facebook page. I have been sharing those daily threads on my Facebook page, also, and I will continue to do so throughout the giveaway series. Books make wonderful gifts for kids, and besides running this fun giveaway they have created a Penguin Young Readers Holiday Gift guide. I’m happy to say that this year my kids drew names and opted to give one another books for Christmas!

Penguin generously sent me copies of some of the books that they are featuring in this giveaway so that I can give you a sneak peak of what is in store. Here are my reviews of the books we were sent:

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Little Tree is a wonderfully thoughtful story about the importance of letting go as part of the growing up process. The story feels very gentle, and the illustrations are charming.


Are you sending your child on a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa’s house? Or maybe just a day there on their own? Either way, Llama Llama Gram and Grandpa is a wonderful book to read through with them first, and to then send along for the big day.

Aptly named The Nonsense Show, this book is likely to be a big hit with any child who appreciates abstract humor.

Six-year-old Lily and Seven-year-old Johnny (turning eight tomorrow!) think this book is H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S. I think the idea is quite clever, but I don’t adore reading it over and over (and over). Thankfully, the kids who are old enough to appreciate the humor in this book are also likely to be old enough to want to read it – silently or (even better) out loud to a sibling or friend.

The Day the Crayons Came Home is a fun and clever read that my six-year-old daughter was askign to buy before we were lucky enough to receive a review copy. Your kids will look at their crayons with a new level of appreciation after reading this book.

Are you interested in entering the giveaways for this series? We are a few days in, but there are still plenty of books you can win – and more copies are given away every day! Here is the full schedule:

December 2nd: Dewey Bob by Judy Schachner (1 copy)

December 3rd: Pom Pom Panda Gets the Grumps by Sophy Henn (2 copies)

December 4th: Happy by Pharrell Williams (3 copies)

December 7th: Little Tree by Loren Long (4 copies)

December 8th: Mitford at the Fashion Zoo by Donald Robertson (5 copies)

December 9th: Robo-Sauce by Adam Rubin and Daniel Salmieri (6 copies)

December 10th: I am Amelia Earhart  (Ordinary People Change the World series) by Brad Meltzer and Christopher Eliopoulos (full series set!)

December 11th: Ladybug Girl and the Best Ever Playdate by Jacky Davis and David Soman (8 copies)

December 14th: Llama Llama Gram and Grandpa by Anna Dewdney (9 copies)

December 15th: The Nonsense Show by Eric Carle (10 copies)

December 16th: The Book With No Pictures by BJ Novak (11 copies)

December 17th: The Day the Crayons Came Home by Dew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers (12 copies)

On December 18th, there will be one final giveaway for a full set of all of the books above plus the Ordinary People Change the World gift box set with the entire series!

Have you read any of these books with your kids? Which ones would you include in a 12 Days of Picture Books celebration?

MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.

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