100 Essential Picture Books for Primary Schools

The following titles were selected by Joan Gibbons in 1999. For more information about the list and the criteria used to select titles please see: Selection criteria for 100 Essential Picture Books.

Every good primary school library should have most of these books, and perhaps every good home where there are children should have most of them too. Almost all of the books are available in paperback editions, although libraries should consider buying them in hardback, because they are books whose quality will outlast wear and tear.

Find books by New Zealand authors by entering New Zealand Author in the search box and select: All of my keywords.

100 Essential Picture Books for Primary Schools
Every good primary school library should have most of these books, and perhaps every good home where there are children should have most of them too.

A story, a story : an African tale.
Haley, Gail E. New York : Atheneum, 1970.

Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
Viorst, Judith. London : Angus & Robertson, 1973.

Alfie gets in first.
Hughes, Shirley. London : Bodley Head, 1981.

Amazing Grace.
Hoffman, Mary. London : Frances Lincoln, 1991.

Angry Arthur.
Kitamura, Satoshi. London : Andersen Press, 1982.

Annie & Moon.
Smith, Miriam. Auckland, N.Z. : Puffin, 1990.

Apt. 3.
Keats, Ezra Jack. London : Hamish Hamilton, 1972.

At the crossroads.
Isadora, Rachel. New York : Greenwillow Books, c1991.

Bears in the night.
Berenstain, Stan & Jan. New York : Random House, 1971.

Black and white.
Macaulay, David. Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1990.

Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?
Martin, Bill. New York : Holt, Rinehart and Winston, c1970

Caps for sale.
Slobodkina, Esphyr. Tadworth, Surrey : Worlds Work, 1959.

Clown
Blake, Quentin. London : Cape, 1995.

Curious George.
Rey, H. A. (Hans Augusto), 1898-1977. Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company, 1969.

Drac and the gremlin.
Baillie, Allan. Ringwood, Vic. : Viking Kestrel, 1988.

Emily’s wonderful pie.
Cornish, Jane. Auckland, N.Z. : Scholastic, 1997.

Farmer duck.
Waddell, Martin. London : Walker Books, 1991.

Frog and toad all year.
Lobel, Arnold. New York : Puffin Books, 1984.

Gorilla.
Browne, Anthony. London : Julia MacRae,1983.

Grandfather's journey.
Say, Allen. Boston, MA : Houghton Mifflin, 1993.

Grandma McGarvey.
Hessell, Jenny. Auckland, N.Z. : Oxford University Press, 1990.

Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy.
Dodd, Lynley. Wellington, N.Z. : Mallinson Rendel, 1999.

Harry the dirty dog.
Zion, Gene. London : Bodley Head, 1960.

How Tom beat Captain Najork and his hired sportsmen.
Hoban, Russell. London : J.Cape c1974.

Huge Harold.
Peet, Bill. London : Deutsch, 1964.

Is it red? Is it yellow? Is it blue? : An adventure in color.
Hoban, Tana. New York : Greenwillow Books, c1978.

John Brown, Rose and the midnight cat.
Wagner, Jenny. Harmondsworth, Middlesex : Viking Kestrel, 1977.

Joseph's yard.
Keeping, Charles. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1969.

Katie Morag delivers the mail.
Hedderwick, Mairi. London : Fontana, 1986.

Little blue and little yellow : a story for Pippo and Ann and other children.
Lionni, Leo. Leicester : Brockhampton, 1962.

Looking for crabs.
Whatley, Bruce. Pymble, N.S.W. : Angus & Robertson, 1992.

Madeline’s rescue.
Bemelmans, Ludwig. London : Deutsch, 1953.

Make way for ducklings.
McCloskey, Robert. New York : Scholastic, c1941.

Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel.
Burton, Virginia Lee. London : Faber and Faber, 1975.

Millions of cats.
Gág, Wanda. Harmondsworth, London : Puffin in association with Faber and Faber, 1976.

Mirandy and Brother Wind.
McKissack, Patricia C. New York : Knopf, c1988.

Mr Gumpy's outing.
Burningham, John. London : Cape, 1970.

Mufaro’s beautiful daughters : an African tale.
Steptoe, John. London : Hamilton, c1987.

My cat likes to hide in boxes.
Sutton, Eve. London : Hamilton, 1973.

Noisy Nora.
Wells, Rosemary. New York : Scholastic Book Services, 1973.

Not now, Bernard.
McKee, David. London : Arrow, 1980.

On the way home.
Murphy, Jill. London : Macmillan, 1984.

Prowlpuss.
Wilson, Gina. London : Walker, 1994.

Queenie the bantam.
Graham, Bob. London : Walker Books, 1997.

Rose Blanche.
Innocenti, Roberto. Mankato, Minn., USA : Creative Education, c1985.

Rosie’s walk.
Hutchins, Pat. London : Bodley Head, 1968.

Round trip.
Jonas, Ann. London : Julia MacRae, 1983.

Rumpelstiltskin (Folk tale).
Zelinsky, Paul O. New York : E.P. Dutton, c1986.

Six dinner Sid.
Moore, Inga. London : Simon & Schuster Young, 1990.

Snow White in New York.
French, Fiona. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1986.

So much.
Cooke, Trish. London : Walker, 1996.

Something from nothing.
Gilman, Phoebe. Sydney : Ashton Scholastic, 1992.

Suddenly!
McNaughton, Colin. San Diego : Harcourt Brace, 1995.

Sunshine.
Ormerod, Jan. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England : Penguin, 1981.

Sylvester and the magic pebble.
Steig, William. London : Abelard-Schuman, 1972.

Taniwha.
Kahukiwa, Robyn. Auckland, N.Z. : Viking Kestrel, 1986.

The 3 robbers.
Ungerer, Tomi. London : Methuen Children's Books, 1961.

The carrot seed.
Krauss, Ruth. New York : Scholastic, [1971?], c1945.

The chick and the duckling.
Suteev, V. (Vladimir). New York : Macmillan Co., c1972.

The church mice at bay.
Oakley, Graham. London : Macmillan, 1978.

The duck in the gun
Cowley, Joy. Auckland, N.Z. : Shortland Educational, 1984.

The enormous crocodile.
Dahl, Roald. London : Cape, 1978.

The fish of Maui = Te ika a Maaui
Gossage, Peter. Auckland, N.Z. : Lansdowne, 1981.

The fisherman and the theefyspray.
Jennings, Paul. Ringwood, Vic. : Viking, 1994.

The giant devil dingo.
Roughsey, Dick. Melbourne : Nelson, 1984.

The great big enormous turnip.
Tolstoy, Aleksey Nikolayevich. London : Pan Books, 1972.

The great white man-eating shark : a cautionary tale.
Mahy, Margaret. London : Dent, 1989.

The house that Jack built.
Bishop, Gavin. Auckland : Scholastic, 1999.

The jolly postman, or, Other people’s letters.
Ahlberg, Janet & Allan. London : Heinemann, 1986.

The Kuia and the spider
Grace, Patricia. Auckland, N.Z. : Longman Paul 1981.

The little boat.
Henderson, Kathy. Cambridge, Mass. : Candlewick Press, 1995.

The little yellow digger.
Gilderdale, Betty. Auckland, N.Z. : Ashton Scholastic, 1992.

The magic pasta pot : an old tale.
De Paola, Tomie. London : Andersen, [1984?], c1975.

The mousehole cat.
Barber, Antonia. London : Walker Books, 1990.

The pear in the pear tree.
Allen, Pamela. London : Viking, 2000.

The rainbow fish.
Marcus Pfister. New York : North-South Books, 1992.

The story about Ping.
Flack, Marjorie. London : Bodley, 1935.

The story of Babar the little elephant.
Brunhoff, Jean de. London : Methuen Children's Books, 1955.

The story of Ferdinand.
Leaf, Munro. Harmondsworth, England : Puffin in association with Hamish Hamilton, 1967.

The sweetest fig.
Van Allsburg, Chris. London : Andersen, 1995.

The tale of Peter Rabbit.
Webb, Beatrice Potter. London : Warne, 1982.

The three bears : Goldilocks and the three bears.
Galdone, Paul. Kingswood, Surrey : World's Work, 1973.

The tiger who came to tea.
Kerr, Judith. London : Collins, 1968.

The true story of the 3 little pigs.
Scieszka, Jon. New York : Viking Kestrel, 1989.

The very best of friends.
Wild, Margaret. Sydney : Margaret Hamilton, 1989.

The very hungry caterpillar.
Carle, Eric. London : Hamish Hamilton, 1994.

The watertower.
Crew, Gary. Flinders Park, S.Aust. : Era Publications, 1994.

The wild washerwomen : a new folk tale.
Blake, Quentin. London : H. Hamilton, 1979.

The wolf.
Barbalet, Margaret. Ringwood, Vic.: Viking. 1991.

Thidwick the big-hearted moose.
Seuss, Dr., 1904- London : Collins, 1968.

Tikki Tikki Tembo.
Mosel, Arlene. New York : Scholastic Book Services, 1968.

Tuesday.
Wiesner, David. New York : Clarion Books, c1991.

Two by two.
Reid, Barbara. Richmond Hill, Ont. : North Winds Press, c1992.

War and peas.
Foreman, Michael. Harmondsworth, Middlesex : Penguin, 1978.

Way home.
Hathorn, Libby. Milsons Point, N.S.W. : Random House Australia, 1994.

We're going on a bear hunt.
Rosen, Michael. London : Walker, 1989.

When the wind blows.
Briggs, Raymond. London : Hamilton, 1982.

Where the forest meets the sea.
Baker, Jeanne. London : MacRae, 1987.

Where the wild things are.
Sendak, Maurice. London : Puffin in assoc. with Bodley Head, 1970.

Where’s my teddy?
Jez Alborough. London : Walker, 1993.

Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge.
Fox, Mem. Adelaide : Omnibus Puffin, 1987.