Make a Splash: Read!
Picture Books and Easy Readers

Allen, Pamela. Who Sank the Boat?
Readers guess who causes the boat to sink when five animal friends of varying sizes decide to go for a row. E ALL

Appelt, Kathi. Bubba and Beau Meet the Relatives.
While preparing for a visit from some relatives—and even after they arrive—Bubba and Beau want nothing more than to sink their paws into the squishy, squashy mud hole. E APP

Arnosky, Jim. Otters Under Water.
Two young otters frolic and feed in a pond. E 599.769 ARN

Bania, Michael. Kumak’s Fish: A Tall Tale from the Far North.
On a beautiful Arctic morning when Kumak and his family go ice fishing, Kumak hooks what seems like an enormous fish, and the entire village gets involved. E BAN

Barrett, Judi. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.
Life is delicious in the town of Chewandswallow where it rains soup and juice, snows mashed potatoes, and blows storms of hamburgers—until the weather takes a turn for the worse. E BAR

Bergman, Mara. Snip Snap! What’s That?
Three siblings are frightened by the wide mouth, long teeth, and strong jaws of the alligator that has crept up the stairs—until they decide they have had enough. E BER

Best, Cari. Goose’s Story.
A young girl finds a Canada goose with a badly injured foot and looks for her each day to see how she is doing. E BES

Burningham, John. Mr. Gumpy’s Outing.
Mr. Gumpy accepts more and more riders on his boat until the inevitable occurs. E BUR

Buzzeo, Toni. Little Loon and Papa.
Motivated by a challenging situation and his supportive father, Little Loon finally learns to dive. E BUZ

Carle, Eric. Mister Seahorse.
After Mrs. Seahorse lays her eggs on Mr. Seahorse’s belly, he drifts through the water, greeting other fish fathers who are taking care of their eggs. E CAR

Casanova, Mary. One-Dog Canoe.
A girl and her dog set out in their canoe one morning, only to be joined by a series of animals, large and small. E CAS

Casanova, Mary. Utterly Otterly Day.
After a day out on his own, Little Otter realizes that he still needs his family no matter how big he grows. E CAS

Clarke, Jane. Stuck in the Mud.
In this cumulative, rhyming story, a little chick needs help from all his farmyard friends to get out of the mud. E CLA

Cleary, Brian. Peanut Butter and Jellyfishes: A Very Silly Alphabet Book.
An alphabet book whose highly unique illustrations feature collage, hidden letters, and word pictures. E 372.4 CLE

Cobb, Vicki. I Get Wet.
Picture book format offers easy experiments with water to do with preschoolers. E 553.7 COB

Cousins, Lucy. Hooray for Fish!.
Little Fish has all sorts of fishy friends in his underwater home, but loves one of them most of all. E COU

Cousins, Lucy. Maisy Takes a Bath.
When Tallulah comes to visit twice at bath time she finally decides to join Maisy in the bath to play. E COU

Crimi, Carolyn. Get Busy, Beaver!
While the other beavers in his family furiously flip-flap their tails and chomp-chomp their teeth to make a new dam, young Thelonious takes a moment to smell the flowers. E CRI

Eagle, Kin. It’s Raining, It’s Pouring.
This expanded version of the traditional rhyme shows what happens to the old man in all kinds of weather. Includes music on the last page. E EAG

Falwell, Cathryn. Turtle Splash: Countdown at the Pond.
As they are startled by the activities of other nearby creatures, the number of turtles on a log in a pond decreases from ten to one. E FAL

Fleming, Denise. In the Small, Small Pond.
Illustrations and rhyming text describe the activities of animals living in and near a small pond as spring progresses to autumn. Caldecott Honor Book. E FLE

Frazee, Marla. A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever.
Friends James and Eamon enjoy a wonderful week at the home of Eamon’s grandparents during summer vacation. E FRA

Galloway, Ruth. Fidgety Fish.
Sent out for a swim in the deep sea, Tiddler, a young fish who just can’t keep still, sees many interesting creatures and one very dark cave. E FAL

George, William T., and Lindsay Barrett George. Box Turtle at Long Pond.
On a busy day at Long Pond, Box Turtle searches for food, basks in the sun, and escapes a raccoon. E GEO

Geist, Ken. The Three Little Fish and the Big Bad Shark.
In this spoof of “The Three Little Pigs,” Mama tells her three little fish that it’s time to seek their fortunes. Jim builds a house of seaweed and Tim builds a house of sand, but it’s up to Kim to find the house that will stop the big bad shark’s munching and crunching. E GEI

Greenburg, Melanie Hope. Mermaids on Parade.
A young girl participates in Coney Island’s Mermaid Parade to celebrate the opening of the ocean during the summer. Includes directions for making a simple mermaid tail. E GRE

Hurd, Edith Thacher. Starfish (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science).
A simple introduction to the appearance, growth, habits, and behavior of starfish. E 593.9 HUR

Jonas, Ann. Splash!
A little girl’s turtle, fish, frogs, dog, and cat jump in and out of a backyard pond; constantly changing the answer to the question, “How many are in my pond?” E JON

Jones, Sylvie Michelle. Who’s in the Tub?
Willie John Jones is stalling before taking his bath, but when a variety of animals join him, his mother has a hard time getting him out of the bathtub. E JON

Kalan, Robert. Jump, Frog, Jump!.
A cumulative tale in which a frog tries to catch a fly without getting caught itself. E KAL

Kennedy, Kim. Pirate Pete’s Talk Like a Pirate.
In search of a crew, Pirate Pete and his parrot look for “stanky scallywags” who possess certain conversational skills. E KEN

Kimmel, Eric A. Anansi and the Magic Stick.
Everyone’s favorite trickster Anansi steals a magic stick to do his chores for him. But when he falls asleep while watering his garden, the stick keeps watering and creates a flood that threatens the neighborhood. E 398.2 KIM

Kraft, Jim. The No-Good, Do-Good Pirates.
When Captain Squint and his band of pirates are sentenced to do a good deed, they have problems figuring out just what that means. E KRA

Lester, Helen. Tacky in Trouble.
Tacky the exuberant penguin accidentally goes sailboarding and winds up on a tropical island, where he meets an elephant who demands proof of Tacky’s identity. E LES

Leuck, Laura. I Love My Pirate Papa.
A pirate’s son shares the things he loves about his father, including climbing the mast together to yell “Land ho” and sharing the booty when they find buried treasure. E LEU

Lies, Brian. Bats at the Beach.
On a night when the moon can grow no fatter, bats pack their moon-tan lotion and baskets of treats and fly off for some fun on the beach. E LIE

Lionni, Leo. Swimmy.
A little black fish in a school of red fish figures out a way of protecting them all from their natural enemies. E LIO

McCloskey, Robert. Time of Wonder.
Two children spending their summer on an island off the coast of Maine experience a hurricane. E MCC

McDonnell, Flora. I Love Boats.
A little girl lists all the boats she loves to play with in the bath. E MCD

McPhail, David. Edward and the Pirates.
Once Edward has learned to read, books and his vivid imagination lead him to adventures. E MCP

McPhail, David. The Puddle.
A boy sets out to sail his boat in a puddle and is joined by a frog, a turtle, an alligator, a pig, and an elephant. E MCP

Paye, Won-Ldy and Margaret H. Lippert. Mrs. Chicken and the Hungry Crocodile.
When a crocodile captures Mrs. Chicken and takes her to an island to fatten her up, clever Mrs. Chicken claims that she can prove they are sisters and that, therefore, the crocodile shouldn’t eat her. E 398.2 PAY

Pirotta, Saviour. Turtle Bay.
Taro and his sister Yuko help old Jiro-San prepare for the sea turtles that are about to lay eggs. E PIR

Polacco, Patricia. Thunder Cake.
Grandma finds a way to dispel her grandchild’s fear of thunderstorms. E POL

Quigley, Mary. Granddad’s Fishing Buddy.
A young girl and her grandfather go fishing and always meet up with the heron that helps them find fish. E QUI

Rey, H. A. Curious George Rides a Bike.
George the monkey goes riding on his new bicycle and runs into unexpected adventure. E REY

Rohmann, Eric. Clara and Asha.
Young Clara would rather play with her imaginary giant fish, Asha, than settle down to sleep. E ROH

Roth, Susan L. The Biggest Frog in Australia.
In this tall tale, when a thirsty frog drinks up all the water in Australia, the other animals must think of a way to make him give it up. E ROT

Root, Phyllis. One Duck Stuck.
One stuck duck must rely on the help of friends to free him in this muddy, mucky, and lively counting book. E ROO

Sayre, April Pulley. Trout, Trout, Trout!: A Fish Chant.
A jaunty, fun, rhyming chant and tribute to freshwater fish. E SAY

Schaefer, Lola M. An Island Grows.
Lava flows, waves pound, sands mound, and an island is born; and as it grows, life thrives. E SCH

Schubert, Ingrid. There’s Always Room for One More.
Beaver builds a raft so that his friends can go for a ride with him. E SCH

Sierra, Judy. Counting Crocodiles.
In this rhymed retelling of a traditional Asian tale, a clever monkey uses her ability to count to outwit the hungry crocodiles that stand between her and a banana tree on another island across the sea. E SIE

Sendak, Maurice. Where the Wild Things Are.
Max is sent to bed without supper and imagines sailing away to the land of Wild Things, where he is made king. E SEN

Sherry, Kevin. I’m the Best Artist in the Ocean.
A squid creates a masterpiece full of ocean creatures . . . on the body of a whale. E SHE

Slater, Dashka. The Sea Serpent and Me.
One day a small sea serpent falls from the faucet into the tub as a child is about to take a bath, and as the serpent grows, the child realizes that he needs to go back to the sea where he belongs. E SLA

Sloat, Teri. I’m a Duck!
A duck marvels at how wonderful it is to be a duck, with feathers, webbed feet, and wings that can fly, from the time he is hatched until he becomes a dad. E SLO

Sloat, Teri. There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Trout.
An old lady swallows a variety of marine life in this play on the traditional song, “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.” E SLO

Stewart, Amber. Little by Little.
Otto is a young otter who can do many things well, but swimming is not one of them until his older sister tells him to start small and, little by little, he is able to reach his goal, adding swimming to his “I can do” list. E STE

Sturges, Philemon. This Little Pirate.
Two bands of pirates fight over a box, but when they raise the white flag and open the box together, they find a treasure to share. E STU

Tafuri, Nancy. Have You Seen My Duckling?
A mother duck leads her brood around the pond as she searches for one missing duckling. E TAF

Tafuri, Nancy. Whose Chick Are You?
Goose, duck, hen, bird, and the little chick, itself, cannot tell to whom a new hatchling belongs, but mother swan knows. E TAF

Trapani, Iza. The Itsy Bitsy Spider.
A book version of the nursery rhyme. E 782.42 TRA

Tucker, Kathy. Do Pirates Take Baths?
Humorous rhyming answers to eleven questions about the life of pirates with illustrations by Nadine Bernard Westcott. E TUC

Watt, Melanie. Scaredy Squirrel at the Beach.
Scaredy Squirrel’s afraid to go to the beach so he makes his own “safe” beach under his tree. But can he resist the real thing? E WAT

Williams, Judith. Why Is It Raining?
Simple questions and answers about raindrops, snow, clouds, and water vapor with a rain gauge experiment at the end. E 551.577 WIL

Wood, Audrey. King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub.
Despite pleas from his court, a fun-loving king refuses to get out of his bathtub to rule his kingdom. Caldecott Honor book. E WOO

Wood, Audrey. Ten Little Fish.
Ten little fish swim along an ocean reef, each finding a different reason to leave until there is only one left. E WOO

Yaccarino, Dan. The Birthday Fish.
Cynthia has always wanted a pony for her birthday, but when she blows out the candles on her cake this year, she gets a surprise. E YAC

Yolen, Jane. Dimity Duck.
Dimity Duck and Frumity Frog have a fun day together in the pond, and then go home when it gets dark outside. E YOL

Zion, Gene. Harry by the Sea.
Harry, a friendly little dog on a visit to the seashore, is mistaken for a sea serpent when a big wave covers him with seaweed. E ZIO