Young Pele: Soccer's First Star by Lesa Cline-Ransome, paintings by James E. Ransome

From chapters.ca:
How did a poor boy named Edson - who kicked rocks down roads and dribbled balls made from rags - go on to become the greatest soccer player of all time? While other kids memorized letters, Edson memorized the scores of soccer matches. And when Edson finally played in a youth soccer tournament in the town of Bauru, Brazil, he focused on only one thing from the moment the whistle blew: the goal. Here is the story of the boy who overcame tremendous odds to become the world champion soccer star Pelé.

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

From chapters.ca:
People don’t just arbitrarily give you the name Maniac Magee. You really have to earn it. Born Jeffrey Lionel Magee, Maniac lost his parents at an early age; then his life changed dramatically. Kids today talk about how fast he could run and about his incredible in-the-park "frog" home run. But what the kids from the East and West sides talk about most is what he did for them all.

The Mitten: A Ukrainian Folktale adapted by Jan Brett

From chapters.ca:
When Nicki drops one of his new white mittens in the snow, he doesn't even notice it's missing. One by one, the woodland animals discover the mitten and crawl inside, each one larger than the last: a mole, a rabbit, even a big, brown bear!

The book has simpler text for younger readers than this version:
The Mitten

Alphabet Adventure by Audrey Wood, illustrated by Bruce Wood

From chapters.ca:
All the little letters of the alphabet are getting ready for a big adventure. They have learned their proper order, from a to z, and now they're ready to go to school. But something is wrong! Little i has lost her dot, and none of the letters can find it. Can you?

Welcome Song for Baby: A Lullaby for Newborns by Richard Van Camp

From chapters.ca:
Hey ya hey
Hey ya hey
Hey ya hey
Dear one
Cherished one
Loved one
You have made the world beautiful again.

From renowned First Nations storyteller Richard Van Camp comes a lyrical lullaby for newborns. Complemented with stunning photographs, this evocative board book is perfectly suited as a first book for every baby. Richard Van Camp is a proud member of the Dogrib (Tlicho) Nation from Fort Smith, NWT, Canada. His poems, short stories and novellas have been published in anthologies and journals since 1992.

Pirate's Passage by William Gilkerson

From chapters.ca:
Off the coast of Nova Scotia in 1952, fierce winds force a small boat into port. The boat's pilot, the eccentric Captain Charles Johnson, takes up residence at the small inn run by Jim and his mother. With each day, the captain's presence becomes more valuable to the family as they struggle to keep the inn open for business—and his background becomes more mysterious as Jim discovers how much he knows about the lives and battles of the old-time pirates. Who is this man whose compelling stories bring to life in such detail the day-to-day experience of sailing on a pirate ship? And how can he possibly know so much about how it feels to grow up among the Vikings; about how Francis Drake and Queen Elizabeth plotted their victories; about the loves of Grace O'Malley, the pirate queen of Ireland?

Lives of the Musicians: Good Times, Bad Times, and What the Neighbours Thought by Kathleen Krull, illustreated by Kathryn Hewitt

Biographies of some of the world's greatest composers accompanied by caricatures of each one.

The Eleventh Hour by Graeme Base

From chapters.ca:
When Horace the elephant turns eleven, he celebrates in style by inviting his exotic friends to a splendid costume party. But a mystery is afoot, for in the midst of the games, music, and revelry, someone has eaten the birthday feast. The rhyming text and lavish, detailed illustrations each provide clues, and it's up to the reader to piece them together and decide whodunit!

Lickety-Split by Robert Heidbreder and Dusan Petricic

The wonderfully imagined adventures of a boy are told with few words to his friend before they take off on their own adventures together.

Sure as Strawberries by Sue Ann Alderson, illustrated by Karen Reczuch

A young girl staying with her uncle on his farm for the summer longs to have his talent for divining water. When her uncle breaks his arm and there is a drought, she must see if she too can divine water.

My Building by Robin Isabel Ahrens, illustrated by Ilja Bereznickas

From chapters.ca:
Some country kids live in big, old farm houses. Some suburban children live in brick houses with front and back yards. Many city kids live in tall apartment buildings. So what is life like for city folks who have so many wonderful neighbours living nearby? Writing from the perspective of a child, Robin Isabel Ahrens and Ilja Bereznickas celebrate the joys of apartment living in My Building.

Too Many Frogs! by Sandy Asher, illustrated by Keith Graves

From chapters.ca:
Rabbit lives alone. He cooks for himself, cleans up for himself, and at the end of the day, reads himself a story. It's a simple life, and he likes it. But one evening, Froggie shows up at his door. He wants to listen to Rabbit's story, too. While eating a snack-or three. While lounging on a pillow-or ten. And bringing over his family-dozens and dozens of frogs! Rabbit has finally had enough; Froggie will have to go! But when he sits down alone to read himself a story, Rabbit realizes something is missing: someone to listen; someone to share a wonderful story.

Pig, Horse, or Cow, Don't Wake Me Now by Arlene Alda

From School Library Journal:
A companion to Alda's Sheep, Sheep, Sheep, Help Me Fall Asleep (Doubleday, 1992) that once again makes a connection between the animal and human world. Written in elementary rhyme, the story starts with a peacock calling for corn, and from there one creature's sounds wake up another-a calf, a lamb, a duck, etc.-in succession, until finally a boy is roused from his dreams. He races his mother down to breakfast, where he "ate like a pig and chomped like a horse." While the flow of the opening pages works well, the leap to the waking boy is less convincing. His exploits take up the latter half of the book, slowing the narrative considerably. Only very young children who delight in seeing photographs of real animals would find much of interest in this title. While the pictures are colorful and sharply focused, they are rather static. Only by moving back to the resplendent peacock does the book regain a sense of composure and closure.

I Stink by Kate and Jim McMullan

From chapters.ca:
Know what I do at night while you’re asleep? Eat your trash, that’s what! See those bags? I smell breakfast! With ten wide tires, one really big appetite, and an even bigger smell, this truck’s got it all. His job? Eating your garbage and loving every stinky second of it! And you thought nighttime was just for sleeping.

Souperchicken by Mary Jane and Herm Auch

Henrietta is not like the other chickens, she can read. When her aunts are sent on 'vacation' Henrietta thinks there is something strange and her fears are confirmed when she reads the side of the truck. Her aunts are being sent to a chicken soup factory! She must save them from being turned into lunch.

Out Came the Sun by Heather Collins

A book of nursery rhymes that take you through the day; from sun up to sun down.

Don't You Know There's a War On? by AVI

From chapters.ca:
World War II is on everyone’s mind and in every headline, and Howie Crispers has a hunch that his school principal is a spy. With a little snooping around, Howie finds out something even more alarming. Principal Lomister may not be a spy, but he is plotting to get rid of Howie’s favorite teacher. Howie’s dad is fighting Nazis overseas, and his mom is working hard to support the war effort, so Miss Gossim is the only person Howie can depend on. With the help of his friends, and a plan worthy of radio show superhero Captain Midnight, Howie intends to save Miss Gossim!

Wolf Academy by Jonathan Allen

From chapters.ca:
This award-winning book tells us about the plight of Mr. and Mrs. Wolf. They’ve just adopted an orphan wolf named Philip, but he’s not quite trained in wolfish ways. So the pack leader suggests that Philip goes to school. Wolf Academy shows how the young orphan tries to become the Big Bad Wolf his parents always dreamed of.

Yes by Jez Alborough

From chapters.ca:
Bobo's mother has no trouble getting her little chimp to take a bath. "Yes!" he shouts. But when it''s bedtime for Bobo, he responds with a definite "No." In this tale of two words, it takes some patient animal friends and plenty of splashing to alter one contrary little chimp's attitude.

Zoom! by Diane Adams, illustrated by Kevin Luthardt

From chapters.ca:
Click-click-clacking up the track.
Sinking lower, peering back.
Slowly climbing to the top.
Edging closer toward the drop.

A timid young boy joins his eager father for a ride on a roller coaster. After zigzagging through the line, the pair boards the DinoCoaster for a fast-paced ride that takes them lurching and tilting upside down, round and round. When the roller coaster finally comes to a stop, the excited young boy is ready for another ride...but his queasy father has other ideas.

Who Sank the Boat? by Pamela Allen

From chapters.ca:
Beside the sea, there once lived a cow, a donkey, a sheep, a pig, and a tiny little mouse. One warm, sunny morning--for no particular reason--they decided to go for a row in the bay. Do you know who sank the boat?

Who is the Beast? by Keith Baker

From chapters.ca:
Deep in the jungle, animals are fleeing from a mysterious beast, each describing a feature of the beast as he departs. A tiger, hearing their cries, realizes he is the beast they're running from and sets off to convince them that they can all be friends.

Poultrygeist by Mary Jane and Herm Auch

From chapters.ca:
Whoooooo! A tall ghostly being is frightening the farm animals right out of the barn. It could only be the legendary "Poultrygeist." The animals are terrified to sleep inside the barn, but they''re freezing out in the yard. What should they do? It's up to two smart-alack roosters who suspect fowl play to uncover the surprising secret behind the Halloween haunting in this hilarious tale.

This Little Piggy's Book of Manners by Kathryn Madeline Allen, illustrated by Nancy Wolff

There must be better books of manners, but parents might find this one helpful.

From chapters.ca:
It's easy for young children to sometimes forget their manners, especially when there are so many to remember-'close your mouth while eating,' 'always say please and thank you,' 'share your toys.' What might happen, then, when an occasional manner gets forgotten? CHAOS! And that's putting it mildly. Here's a refreshingly jaunty picture book that will make the experience of learning manners more fun than ever imagined.

Did You Say Pears? by Arlene Alda

From chapters.ca:
“If horns played cool music, and pants were just clothes....”
Horn, pants, nails, trunk, pitcher — all words that can mean more than one thing. Arlene Alda has put together words and images in a delightful and witty book of photographs as inviting as a pair of juicy pears. Did You Say Pears? takes a playful and very clever look at words that sound the same but have different meanings. Young readers will love to hone their budding sense of language with the deceptively simple text and the irresistible photographs that offer a first taste of the richness of words. A useful information page explaining the wordplay is included.

Open Wide! by Tom Barber

From chapters.ca:
Like many of us, Sam doesn’t like going to the dentist at all. Using a humorous approach, Open Wide! [may] help children overcome their fear of going to the dentist.

Old Black Fly by Jim Aylesworth, illustrated by Stephen Gammell

From chapters.ca:
Mama, Sister, Baby, and Gamma chase an old black fly through the house--and the alphabet--as it coughs on the cookies and nibbles on the noodles and pesters the parrot. It'll take a nasty trick to get rid of this old black fly and these are just the folks to think it up.

Moondance by Frank Asch

From chapters.ca:
Bear dreams of dancing with the moon, and when he sees his reflection in a puddle, he makes his dream come true.

Mr McGee and the Big Bad of Bread by Pamela Allen

Mr. McGee wakes up one morning and needs something to do. So he grabs a big bag of bread and goes to the zoo. There, although the sign says not to feed the animals, he does, and quickly learns why one should not feed the animals

Effie by Beverley Allinson and Barbara Reid

Effie the ant has a very loud voice. So loud, that she blows all her friends away. One day, however, her voice turns out to be just what is needed and she saves her community.

Dmitri the Astronaut by Jon Agee

From chapters.ca:
Dmitri the space hero has returned from the moon, but nobody seems to remember him. If only Dmitri knew that Lulu, his loyal lunar pal--who stowed away in his sack of moon rocks--has now become an overnight sensation. The whole city is puzzling over Lulu's crayon drawings of a mysterious figure--who on earth could it possibly be?

Chopsticks by Jon Berkeley

From chapters.ca:
On a restaurant on a boat, in faraway Hong Kong, lives a little mouse. This enchanting story tells of his adventures when, one New Year's night, he magics a carved wooden dragon into life and together they fly through midnight skies, over lands you and I only dream of.

The Chimpanzees of Happytown by Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees

From chapters.ca:
The chimpanzees of Drabsville are miserable. The wicked mayor won't allow them to have any fun! Playgrounds, trees, and colours other than grey are outlawed in their gloomy town. However, when a traveller named Chutney dares to plant a tree, Drabsville begins to blossom into a colourful land of dancing, playing, and laughing. There's only one name for such a place--Happytown!

Changes by Marjorie N. Allen, photos be Shelley Rotner

A book of photographs that show the changes in nature and people. Minimal text.

The Bravest Ever Bear by Allan Ahlberg and Paul Howard

May contain too much violence for some parent's tastes.

From chapters.ca:
Once upon a time there was a bear. No, three bears. No, four and twenty black bears. Let's start again. Once upon a time there was a penguin. No, a sausage. A sausage? That can't be right. Once upon a time there was a perfectest ever princess, a wolf, a troll, a dragon and a ... sausage (again). Who wrote this stuff? Once upon a time there was ... Oh, we give up.

If you really want to know who there was and what they did, you'll just have to read Allan Ahlberg's funny and ridiculous stories for yourself! With lively illustrations by Paul Howard, this collection of false starts, revisionist fairy tales, and familiar -- yet joyously eccentric -- characters is a tribute to storytelling and a toast to silliness. Join in the fun!

The Book of ZZZs by Arlene Alda

From chapters.ca:
Pigs and puppies, cats, and meerkats, babies and grown-ups – all creatures sleep, but even so, sleep can take us by surprise. With an artist’s eye, Arlene Alda has created a remarkably warm and intimate collection of images that capture the peace and magic of dreams. Young children will delight in the realization that no matter where or what we are, every living thing shares the same need for comfort, safety, and renewal. Perfect for anytime, but especially at bedtime, The Book of ZZZs will help little ones accept that rest is as natural as play, and that there is time for both in a busy day. Minimal text, perfect for fledgling readers, whispers quietly along with the images and adds a poetic quality to this visual treat.

And My Mean Old Mother Will be Sorry, Blackboard Bear by Martha Alexander

The boy in this story thinks his mother is mean, so he runs away with the blackboard bear to make her sorry. He soon discovers that he misses his home and goes back.

No Moon, No Milk by Chris Babcock, illustrated by Mark Teague

Martha's great-great grandmother was the Cow Who Jumped Over the Moon. Now Martha is bored with her ordinary cow life and wants to 'cow around on the moon'. She refuses to give milk until she's allowed to visit the moon like her great- great- grandmother.

Once Upon a Banana by Jennifer Armstrong, illustrated by David Small

This is a fantastically illustrated book with tons to look at. The story is told very briefly through rhyming street signs, allowing the reader to fill in the gaps and tell the story him/herself.

Wanda and the Wild Hair by Barbara Azore, illustrated by Georgia Graham

From chapters.ca:
Wanda has a problem: she loves her wild hair dearly, but it drives all the adults in her life to distraction. She loves the way it feels when she touches it. She loves the way it looks when she pats it in front of the mirror. But her mother always nags her to wash it, her father wants to take her to the poodle parlour for a trim, and her teacher threatens to ask the principal to cut it off. What can poor Wanda do? A series of mishaps with a magpie, a cat, and a large English sheepdog finally convince Wanda that her beautiful hair has to be changed. Kids who love their hair will identify with Wanda’s playful solution to make her adults happy.

When Sophie Gets Angry - Really, Really, Angry... by Molly Bang

From chapters.ca:
Everybody gets angry sometimes. For children, anger can be very upsetting. Parents, teachers, and children can talk about it. People do lots of different things when they get angry.

My Five Senses by Aliki

A simple examination of the five senses and what they are used for.

Hana's Suitcase by Karen Levine

This book received a lot of press when it came out, and rightly so. The story of the directory of a small Holocaust museum in Japan and her quest to discover more about an artifact that the children who visited her museum were curious about. Hana's story unfolds along with that of the director's quest for information about her. A beautiful and well done story.

Goodnight Sweet Pig by Linda Bailey, illustrated by Josee Masse

From chapters.ca:
In this swine-stuffed count-along bedtime book, one Rham-bunctiouss pig after another comes crowding into poor Pig Number One's bedroom--each one with his own special way of keeping her awake.

Stellaluna by Janell Cannon

An adorable story about a baby bat who, when separated from her mother, lands in a birds nest. Stellaluna is adopted by the birds turning both their life and hers upside down.
There is factual information about bats at the back of the book.

Parts by Tedd Arnold

From chapters.ca:
First, his hairs started falling out. Then skin started peeling from his toes. Some stuffing came out of his belly button, and a piece of something gray and wet -- his brain? -- fell out his nose. Is this normal? Or is this boy coming unglued?

Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi

From chapters.ca:
A nameless thirteen year old boy, known to all as "Asta's son" becomes an orphan when his mother, Asta, dies. When he is declared a "wolf's head" [no longer human - to be killed on sight] for a crime he did not commit, he is forced to flee his town of Stromford. He takes only two things with him: his baptismal name - Crispin and his mother's cross of lead.

M is for Music by Kathleen Krull, illustrated by Stacy Innerst

From chapters.ca:
Music and the alphabet have always gone together. Don't kids learn their letters by singing the ABCs? But you've never seen--or "heard"--a musical alphabet like this one. Beloved tunes. Unusual instruments. Legendary virtuosos. From anthems to zydeco, the language of music and the music of language harmonize in one superb symphony. It's a funky fusion for songsters of all ages!

Sing a Song of Mother Goose

A book of nursery rhymes illustrated by Canada's beloved Barbara Reid

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald, illustrated by Hilary Knight

Honestly, while I enjoyed the names like Mrs. Moo Head and Mrs. Piggle Wiggle's upside down house, I have to say that, unless you live in a 'Leave it to Beaver' world, the book was horrid. I don't usually mind dated books, but this one really got to me.

From chapters.ca:
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle lives in an upside-down house ans smells like cookies. She was even married to a pirate once. Most of all, she knows everything about children. She can cure them of any ailment. Patsy hates baths. Hubert never puts anything away. Allen eats v-e-r-y slowly. Mrs Piggle-Wiggle has a treatment for all of them.