This list of Valentine’s Day picture books are great February read alouds to share with your elementary students the days leading up to and on Valentine’s Day. They are some of the best valentine books out there! Your students will thoroughly enjoy listening to these stories and engaging in thoughtful conversations about love, friendship, and the holiday. Check out the full list of Valentine’s Day picture books below!
This post highlights the following Valentine’s Day books:
7 Valentine’s Day Picture Books
Read the summaries of some of my favorite Valentine’s Day picture books below! They make great winter read alouds!
1. Roses Are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink by Diane deGroat
In Roses Are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink, it is Valentine’s Day and Gilbert is excited to write nice poems for all of his classmates. When he gets near the end, Gilbert only has two cards left to make, one for Lewis and one for Margaret. He doesn’t want to make nice poems for them because they had each been mean to him in the past. Gilbert writes a mean poem to both Lewis and Margaret and signs their names at the bottom.
At school, Gilbert opens his valentines and reads a nice note from each of his classmates. When Lewis and Margaret read their notes, they start fighting with one another. Eventually they realize that it was Gilbert who wrote the mean notes and Gilbert’s classmates are mad at him. After spending lunch and recess alone, Gilbert decides to make new poems for Margaret and Lewis and hands them out at the party.
Check out these Roses Are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink activities!
2. Somebody Loves You Mr. Hatch by Eileen Spinelli
Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch is a great story about kindness! Mr. Hatch has the same routine every day. He goes to work, eats lunch alone, gets the paper, goes to the grocery store, and heads home for the night. The people in Mr. Hatch’s down think that he keeps to himself.
One day, the postman brings Mr. Hatch a package. When he opens it up, he finds a box of chocolates and a note that says “Somebody Loves You.” Mr. Hatch is curious to find out who sent the mysterious package so he starts to walk through the town. He says hello to everyone he passes. Eventually, Mr. Hatch starts socializing with everyone and helping out his community. He throws parties and has the children over for brownies and lemonade.
Then, the postman returns to Mr. Hatch’s house looking very upset. He confesses to Mr. Hatch the he delivered the package to the wrong house. It did not belong to Mr. Hatch. This makes Mr. Hatch very sad and he goes back to his old ways. However, this time his community notices. They work together to bring balloons, candies, and a banner to his house! Mr. Hatch realizes that many people love him after all.
Check out these Somebody Loves You Mr. Hatch activities!
3. Love Monster and the Last Chocolate by Rachel Bright
When he gets back from vacation, the Love Monster finds a box of chocolates at his door. He is excited because he loves chocolate, and his mouth waters as he imagines what might be inside. Then, he thinks that maybe he should share the chocolates with his friends, but, since he thinks that they may take his favorite ones, he decides to take them inside for himself and not tell anyone about the gift he had received. Just as he is about to open the box, he has a change of heart and runs to find his friends to share the chocolates, but he finds that they had already shared the chocolates with him, and they had left him his favorite!
Check out these Love Monster and the Last Chocolate activities!
4. The Day It Rained Hearts by Felicia Bond
One day, in The Day it Rained Hearts, it started raining hearts, and Cornelia Augusta caught some. She thought that she would use those hearts to make cards for Valentine’s Day. While she was choosing which hearts to use, she noticed that each heart was a little different, so she hand-picked each one for each friend’s card. After making the cards, Cornelia put them in the mailbox. Even though it never rained hearts again, Cornelia Augusta continued to find ways to make Valentines.
Check out these The Day It Rained Hearts activities!
5. Valentine’s Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg
Mrs. Hartwell loves her students, so she wanted to throw a party to make her class feel extra special. Before the day, she asked her students for ideas and suggestions. They shared that they wanted lots of glitter, glue and ribbon. Some ideas she could use, and some ideas she couldn’t.
Then, she wanted to end with a big celebration. She decided to make a cake with lots of delicious frosting. But once the day came, all craziness broke loose. There was glitter all over, glue in hair, and candy hearts galore.
Finally, it was time for Mrs. Hartwell to bring out the exciting surprise- the cake. But- a piece was missing! Mrs. Hartwell felt very upset, and told her students she wanted to make the day special because they are. The students reminded her that she makes them feel special every day! They then help her clean up, give her a card, and say goodbye. They wonder how St. Patrick’s Day will go…
Check out these Valentine’s Day Jitters activities!
6. Love Monster by Rachel Bright
The story Love Monster by Rachel Bright is about a Monster who is very different than the world around him. Monster is a bit funny looking and lives in a world of cute, fluffy things that everyone loves. This makes life hard for Monster and he decides to solve his problem and set off to search for someone to love him.
Monster’s search becomes difficult as he can’t find anyone that looks like him. Right when Monster is about to give up, love finds him.
Check out these Love Monster activities!
7. The Love Letter by Anika Aldamuy Denise
Hedgehog, Squirrel, and Bunny are all good friends. One day, on his way to the meadow Hedgehog finds a love letter on the ground. Finding the letter makes Hedgehog oddly cheerful. He shares his lunch with Squirrel and walks Bunny home. After Bunny hugs Hedgehog goodbye, she finds a love letter on the ground.
Reading the love letter makes Bunny feel oddly helpful. She sets the table, sweeps the floor and heads over to Squirrel’s house to bring him acorns. After Bunny leaves, Squirrel finds the same love letter. Normally an anxious person, Squirrel feels carefree after finding the letter. Things that normally bother him did not. He thinks Bunny loves him.
The next day, the three friends arrive at the meadow and all feel shy. The friends realize they all received the letter and start arguing about who is belongs to. Suddenly, a Mouse appears. Mouse wrote the letter to her good friend the moon. Hedgehog, Squirrel and Bunny start reflecting on their friendship and how they argued. Mouse helps the friends to realize the mix-up wasn’t so bad because it made them all feel good.
Check out these The Love Letter activities!
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