Are you looking for picture books with clever characters? This post shares popular children’s books for kids that elementary teachers often use as read alouds. All of the picture books on this list lend themselves to exploring clever characters. Take a peek below to learn more about these picture books with clever characters!
3 Picture Books with Clever Characters
Below is a list of some of our favorite picture books with clever characters. Check them out below!
1. My Lucky Day by Keiko Kasza
My Lucky Day by Keiko Kasza is about a fox thinks that it’s his lucky day when a piglet shows up on his doorstep. He doesn’t even have to go out hunting! His food has come and found him. He pulls the piglet inside and prepares to eat him. Now this piglet is a very smart piglet. He gets the fox to bathe him, feed him, and massage him. It makes the fox feels so sleepy that he falls asleep and the piglet escapes with his cookies. When the piglet gets back home, he relaxes by the fire, eats his cookies, and figures out who he will visit the next day.
Check out these My Lucky Day Lessons and Activities to help you plan and deliver highly engaging interactive read aloud lessons!
2. The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson
The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson is about a small mouse who goes for a walk through the forest. During his walk, the mouse runs into several larger animals that want to make a meal of him. The clever mouse tricks each animal by saying he is off to have lunch with a gruffalo, a made up creature that scares each animal off.
To the mouses surprise, he encounters the gruffalo on his walk. With quick thinking, the mouse takes the gruffalo on his walk and introduces him to the other animals. In the end, the mouse scares the gruffalo off and is able to enjoy a snack.
Check out these The Gruffalo Lessons and Activities to help you plan and deliver highly engaging interactive read aloud lessons!
3. The Wolf’s Chicken Stew by Keiko Kasza
The Wolf’s Chicken Stew by Keiko Kasza is about a very hungry wolf! He has a craving for chicken stew and is pleased when he sees a chicken walk by him. He decides that this chicken will be perfect for his stew, but first he needs to fatten her up.
The wolf brings the chicken pancakes, doughnuts, and a cake. He leaves them at her door. When the wolf decides the chicken must be fattened up, he goes to eat her.
When wolf gets to the chicken’s house, she opens the door and brings the wolf inside. She tells her chicks that the wolf brought them the food and they jump on him with joy and thank him. The wolf does not eat the chickens, and instead has developed a friendship with them.
Check out these The Wolf’s Chicken Stew Lessons and Activities to help you plan and deliver highly engaging interactive read aloud lessons!
Or Get All of the Activity Packets for 600+ Picture Books!
Starts with a Story is a collection of hundreds of book companions based on high quality children’s literature that support you in delivering highly-engaging interactive read alouds with follow up activities. Each book companion includes:
- reading comprehension questions with sample student responses
- 30 writing prompts targeting 10 different types of writing
- SEL lesson ideas based on character and events from each story
- printable student activities
- editable teaching slides with book-based clipart
- and more.
Learn how to get unlimited access to all 600+ book companion packets below!
One Last Thing Before You Go… Grab this Free Reading Resource!
If you want to get more book ideas to read aloud to your elementary students, then grab this reading freebie for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classroom teachers. It includes:
- seasonal read aloud books lists for teachers
- printable reading logs to track students’ reading
- monthly reading challenges to motivate students to read more
It will have you covered for the entire school year, as well as the summer months! Grab this free elementary reading packet now!
In closing, we hope you found this list of picture books with clever characters helpful! They are part of our Starts With a Story collection.
