I first wrote about using picture books to teach literary analysis skills to my secondary English students several years ago. In fact, it was my very first session at Keeping the Wonder Workshop back in 2018. I even wrote my own picture book The Magic of Wonder filled with literary, poetic, and rhetorical elements to teach secondary ELA students literary analysis skills.
Still, I often get questions about book recommendations for teaching specific literary and rhetorical concepts and devices. In this article, I’m going to list my top ten favorite picture books to teach literary devices.
Of course, there are thousands of picture book selections that could work for this post so narrowing it down to just ten is based on 1) books my three kids have loved over the past ten years and 2) books that worked well with my secondary ELA students over the same stretch of time. I also attempted to select picture books that were written for a variety of ages, from board books to hardbacks.
For each picture book, I’ll provide a brief summary, the literary elements I highlight with the picture book, and rationale. I’d love for you to include your favorites in the comments.
Picture Book 1: Giraffes Can’t Dance Written by Giles Andreae and Illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees
Picture Book Summary
This book tells the story of Gerald, an awkward giraffe who loves dancing, but feels a little out of step. This is made obvious when his other animal friends are hosting a big dance party, and Gerald is singled out and teased for his so-called awkward dance moves. With the help of a little musical friend, Gerald finds music he loves and discovers his rhythm. Gerald learns to block out the noise of others and trust himself to find peace and harmony.
Literary Device(s): Rhyme and Rhythm
This book is perfect for teaching imagery. The setting and dance styles are beautifully described, and there is distinct auditory imagery that plays into the rhyme and rhythm. I love pairing this text with the Myth of Music by Rachel M. Harper poetry prompt from the 2017 AP English Literature and Composition Exam.
Picture Book 2: Llama, Llama Red Pajama Written and Illustrated by Anna Dewdney
Picture Book Summary
Mama Llama tucks in Baby Llama and says goodnight, but the room looks and feels a lot different when he’s all alone. As Mama Llama does the dishes and talks on the phone, Baby Llama starts getting nervous wondering what his mother is doing. This turns into an all out panic, when he worries Mama Llama is gone. Mama Llama rushes back to his bedroom just in time to teach him a valuable lesson: Mama Llama is always near even if you can’t see her.
Literary Devices: Tone and Tonal Shifts
Llama Llama Red Pajama is a classic board book for good reasons. The message in this book is perfect to teach little ones about object permanence (for my parents out there), but it’s even better (in my opinion) to teach secondary ELA students tonal shifts. Little Llama starts off very calm, but intrusive thoughts of his mother disappearing soon creep in. The reader experiences these changing feelings through several very distinct tonal shifts. It’s a shared experience that we’ve all likely experienced at one time or another, so the changing feelings are something we can all relate too. Plus, the images perfectly capture the shift to help students recognize the impact of this change. Putting all of this together, students can identify how the tonal shift from calm to panicked highlights the object permanence lesson all kids have to learn.
Picture Book 3: The Day the Crayons Quit Written by Drew Daywalt and Illustrated by Oliver Jeffers
Picture Book Summary
Duncan, an elementary student, is ready to color a beautiful picture. When he goes to get his crayons, he finds letters in their place. Each letter lists grievances his crayons have with what and how he colors. The book provides each letter and in doing so provides a great opportunity to discuss tone.
Literary Device: Tone and Point of View
This multiple perspective picture book is perfect for teaching tone. Each crayon has a different set of grievances (and some have none at all), so the tone of each letter and crayon is different. This picture book gives you an opportunity to discuss how tone is related to the way the speaker (the crayon in this case) feels about the subject (Duncan’s coloring). Sometimes, students struggle differentiating between mood and tone, and I’ve found this book very helpful to associate tone with speaker. As you read, students can track the tone for each crayon, just be sure to read each character with a different voice that matches their tone!
Picture Book 3: Pig the Pug Written and Illustrated by Aaron Blabey
Summary
Pig the Pug is a children’s picture book written and illustrated by Aaron Blabey. The story follows a greedy, selfish pug named Pig who loves nothing more than to eat and sleep. When he refuses to share his toys with his dachshund brother Trevor, he learns his lesson through an unfortunate albeit comedic event.
Literary Devices: Idioms, Foreshadowing, Puns, Exaggeration, Understatement
Pig the Pug is a funny story that teaches a very distinct lesson: don’t be selfish. There are several follow up books about naughty pig and his sweet brother Trevor that follow the same pattern but teach a different lesson. I like this book because it’s perfect for highlighting the elements of humor. There are clever idioms and exaggerations. Students will be able to connect the purpose of the humor: to teach kids not to be like pug. This series pairs well with “The Dog That Bit People” by James Thurber.
Picture Book 5: The Good Egg Written by Jory John and Illustrated by Pete Oswald
Picture Book Summary
The Good Egg tells the story of a good egg who literally cracks under the pressure of always trying to be good. Frustrated with trying to manage his misbehaving friends, the Good Egg leaves his carton to find himself. He takes time for himself and discovers his cracks start healing, and he feels less scrambled. When he goes back to the carton, he realizes he doesn’t have to be perfect and neither do his friends.
Literary Devices: Narrative Style and Symbolism
The Good Egg teaches students how to cope with perfectionism through a unique character: an egg who looks and acts like a person. Hence, this book is great for teaching anthropomorphism. (As a side note, personification is strictly figurative, while anthropomorphism is directly giving objects human qualities. In this sense, I think anthropomorphism is the better term to describe the egg.) It is also told in first person from the Good Egg’s perspective.
Anthropomorphism is interesting here because the reader can connect the symbolism of the cracking egg to the pressure of being perfect, the message. This unique narrative style in combination with personification/anthromorphism and symbolism highlights the theme, making it perfect for teaching these literary devices. Plus, it’s a great read aloud. The illustrations perfectly represent the symbolism.
Picture Book 6: All the World Written by Liz Garton Scanlon and Illustrated by Marla Frazee
Picture Book Summary
All the World is a poetic cataloging of the big and small things that make up our wonderful world. It abstractly follows a circle of family and friends from morning to night and beautifully describes all the things that make the world magical: from the majesty of the sky to the delicateness of a shell to the embrace of a parent and child.
Literary Devices: Pacing, Diction, and Syndeton
This picture book is one of the most poetic on this list. It uses intentional diction to describe all of the big and small things that make up the world. To do this, the writer plays with pacing with asyndeton and polysyndeton. Most of the book uses asyndeton (no conjunction) for fast-paced descriptions of observable objects. However, at the end, polysyndeton is used to describe abstract things that make up the work “Hope and peace and love and trust.” The slower pacing and, therefore, focus on these elements is a great concept for students to explore.
The overall message is summarized in the last line, “All the world is all of us.” But, what does that actually mean? Students can explore the universal connections, and it might even be fun for students to play with pacing through asyndeton and polysyndeton by writing their own poem in the same style.
Picture Book 7: Of Thee I Sing by Barack Obama and Illustrated by Loren Long
Picture Book Summary
This picture book by President Obama is a poetic letter to his daughters. In it, he asks a question and follows it up with an exemplar of thirteen outstanding Americans. Each section follows a recognizable pattern and highlights the contributions of the person to American culture. The conclusion honors the diversity of Americans from all backgrounds and walks of life.
Literary Devices: Repetition and Rhetorical Questioning
Of Thee I Sing uses a unique and effective structure, which makes it great for studying repetition and rhetorical questioning. The repetition and rhetorical questions work together. Each section starts with a question that follows this pattern: “Have I told you that…” These questions lead into a pattern that highlights a groundbreaking American. At the end, the word people is repeated to illuminate the overall message. As a bonus, this picture could be used as inspiration for a research unit on groundbreaking Americans. I have had great success pairing this picture book with the Abigail Adams letter to her son from the 2014 AP English Language and Composition exam.
Picture Book 8: Love Written by Matt de la Pena and Illustrated by Loren Long
Summary
Love by Matt de la Pena and illustrated by Loren Long (who also wrote our selection) is a poetic celebration of love. Using rich imagery and shared experiences, Love is the perfect picture book to connect imagery and theme.
Literary Devices: Metaphor and Imagery
The universal theme is obvious in this picture book because it shares the title. Still, what makes this book special is the rich imagery used to describe the universal experiences tied to love. Each page uses distinct imagery to create an elaborate metaphor. The metaphor compares these shared experiences and feelings to love, or at least an expression of what love means. The beautiful illustrations enhance the imagery and lead readers to their own personal definition of love.
Picture Book 9: Dreamers Written and Illustrated by Yuyi Morales
Picture Book Summary
Dreamers by Yuyi Morales is a picture book memoir that tells her and her son’s journey from Mexico to the United States and how she discovered her passion for storytelling when she found a local library. The story is told in lyrical verse and symbolic illustrations. It also includes a brief autobiographical essay at the end.
Literary Devices: Simile, Metaphor, Personification, and Symbolism
This unique memoir style is perfect for connecting the rhetorical situation to creative writing. Students can use the essay at the end to establish the rhetorical situation and then analyze the figurative language in the picture book to symbolically represent the factual aspects of the story. To take this further, students can make a literary argument to defend their take on the theme based on the text itself and the author’s autobiographical letter at the end.
Picture Book 10: The Magic of Wonder Written by Jenna Copper, Ashley Bible, Abby Gross, and Staci Lamb and Illustrated by Madeline Shearer
Picture Book Summary
The Magic of Wonder (written by yours truly) is a whimsical rhyming picture book that explores the magic of the mind, inviting readers to embrace curiosity, surprise, freedom, and inspiration. Inspired by our bestselling k-12 education handbook Keeping the Wonder, the Magic of Wonder was written to inspire readers of all ages to find wonder in the world.
Literary Devices: Alliteration, Repetition, Tonal Shift, Rhyme, and Symbolism
I couldn’t write a list of picture book recommendations of teaching literary devices and leave out The Magic of Wonder! Obviously, I wrote it, but unlike all of the other books on this list (to my knowledge), The Magic of Wonder is the only picture book that was written with the intention of teaching literary devices. It’s true! Because I’ve been using picture books to teach literary analysis, I wanted to write a picture book that would intentionally teach those devices. The Magic of Wonder is perfect exploring all of these devices (and more). Here’s one way to do it:
- Put students in groups.
- Give each student a different literary device.
- Ask them to define the device and then find an example of the device in The Magic of Wonder.
- Explain how the example of the device illuminates an important theme of the book. (I did this for some of the picture books above.)
- Share!
Learn More
If you’d like to learn more about using picture books in secondary ELA, you can view my session (among many other awesome sessions) at Keeping the Wonder Virtual Workshop. You can also find more creative literary analysis activities in Keeping the Wonder: An Educator’s Handbook for Magical, Engaging, and Joyful Learning.
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