18 Picture Books Starring Animal Characters

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This batch of newly published picture books (2016) stars a dinosaur, peacocks, a skunk, a bear, dogs, and a panda. Those are just a few of the animal characters these picture book authors and illustrators dreamt up for their characters. Do your kids like animal characters?

Latest Picture Books Starring Animal Characters

Samanthasaurus Latest Picture Books Starring Animal Characters
Samanthasaurus
by B.B. Mandela, illustrated by Suzanne Kaufman
Samanthasaurus Rex isn’t your typical T. Rex, and her parents don’t see how capable she is until disaster strikes. This is a wonderful story for the unique, looking for acceptance child in every family.

Flor and the Peacocks Latest Picture Books Starring Animal Characters
Flora and the Peacocks
by Molly Idle
Flora is back for her most beautiful lift-the-flap, wordless green and blue dance experience ever! As she dances with two gorgeous male peacocks and a fan, the peacocks become territorial of the fan which makes Flora very sad. Luckily, the peacocks realize they need to change their behavior so it all ends up okay. I love Idle’s illustrations and how each of the wordless books in this series are thematic by color!

Snail & Worm Latest Picture Books Starring Animal Characters
Snail & Worm
by Tina Kugler
Snail and worm crack me up with their simple but fun adventures. Adventures like climbing up a flower or finding a lost pet which turns out to be . . . um, you’ll see. You’ll enjoy the writing and the playfulness.

Lion & Tiger & Bear Tag! You're It! Latest Picture Books Starring Animal Characters
Lion & Tiger & Bear Tag! You’re It!
by Ethan Long
Lion is trying to paint — but his friends want to play tag. He’s exasperated, trying everything to get some peace and quiet. Very funny, especially for those of us who often feel like Lion does. 🙂

Snappsy The Alligator Did Not Ask to Be in This Book Latest Picture Books Starring Animal Characters
Snappsy The Alligator Did Not Ask to Be in This Book
by Julie Falatko, illustrated by Tim Miller
Although this is a bit of a recent fad, kids will enjoy this silly conversational story between an alligator and the busy-body narrator.

Horrible Bear! Latest Picture Books Starring Animal Characters
Horrible Bear! by Ame Dyckman, illustrated by Zachariah OHora
The girl is so mad that the bear broke her kite that she calls him a “horrible” bear. Bear feels upset. He decides to show her what horrible really is!! Until he meets her face to face and the girl apologizes. There is nice emotional resonance in this relatable picture book. I liked the lovely ending where the two work out their differences.

Ursa's Light Latest Picture Books Starring Animal Characters
Ursa’s Light
by Deborah Marcero
Ursa, a bear, loved imagining. And she imagined she could FLY! She builds a flying suit, a rocket bike, and even bat-like wings. Could it be that she really can’t? Of course not! She finds a most unique and perfect way to persevere and FLY. Go, Ursa!!

The Chameleon That Saved Noah's Ark Latest Picture Books Starring Animal Characters
The Chameleon That Saved Noah’s Ark
by Yael Molchadskby, illustrated by Orit Bergman
The chameleons aren’t eating and Noah is worried. He’s even more worried when his wife finds worms in the fruit that the humans are supposed to eat. Luckily, the chameleons want to eat the worms, solving two problems at once. (Divergent solutions!) This picture book provides rich opportunities for discussions and life lessons. Gorgeous folk-art illustrations.

Wolf Camp Latest Picture Books Starring Animal Characters
Wolf Camp
by Andrea Zuill
In this what-do-dogs-think-about story, Homer the dog gets to go to wolf camp. He’s SO excited to learn how to be a wolf — to mark, howl, track, and hunt (yuck– hair!) He eventually adjusts and is even sad to leave. Now he will always be an honorary wolf.

Douglas You Need Glasses Latest Picture Books Starring Animal Characters
Douglas, You Need Glasses! by Ged Adamson
Isn’t this cover hard to look at? Douglas the dog is so near-sighted that he sometimes he goes home to the wrong house, or chases right past the squirrels, or misses important signs. So his person, Nancy, takes him to the eye doctor. There he finds glasses and realizes how amazing life is when you can SEE! Richly illustrated.

The Perfect Dog Latest Picture Books Starring Animal Characters
The Perfect Dog
by Kevin O’Malley
A crazy romp of adjectives describing dogs (big, bigger, biggest . . long, longer, longest hair, etc.) ensues when the girl’s parents say she can get a dog. Because she plans to find the perfect dog. That is until the perfect dog finds her. The perfect book for dog lovers.

Giraffe Meets Bird Latest Picture Books Starring Animal Characters
Giraffe Meets Bird
by Rebecca Bender
This tells the story of how two animals, Giraffe and Bird, became friends. As they build a friendship and a home together, rich describing words are emphasized in larger text. I love the warm acrylic illustrations.

The Midsummer Tomte and the Little Rabbits Latest Picture Books Starring Animal Characters
The Midsummer Tomte and the Little Rabbits
by Ulf Stark and Eva Ericsson
This is a collection of stories about a grumpy, lonely tomte (from the Swedish tradition) named Grump whose lonely life is enriched (much to his irritation) with the wonderful antics of the woodland animals around his house.

skunk on the string Latest Picture Books Starring Animal Characters
Skunk on a String
by Thao Lam
Wordless, because we don’t need words in this detailed paper collaged story, we follow a skunk who has been tied to the tail of a balloon and drifts all over the city. How can he get down? When he finally unties himself, . . . he misses flying! So what do you think he does? Finds more balloons.

Treat Latest Picture Books Starring Animal Characters
Treat
by Mary Sullivan
All this dog wants is a treat — he’s in endless pursuit. Treat? Treat? Treat? Finally, the sisters make him the best surprise treat cake of all time. Cute and silly!

Grumpy Pants Latest Picture Books Starring Animal Characters
Grumpy Pants
by Claire Messer
Penguin is in a bad mood. He tries to shake it off but it isn’t until he takes a bath that he can wash away the grumps. And hope tomorrow is a better day. Who can’t relate to that!?

Two Mice Latest Picture Books Starring Animal Characters
Two Mice
by Sergio Ruzzier
You’ll love this simple book about two mice who have a scary adventure and manage to escape. Two mice. One escape. Minimal text.

Bob the Artist Latest Picture Books Starring Animal Characters
Bob The Artist
by Marion Denchars
Bob is teased about his skinny legs. He frets about this until . . . he finds his joy in creating art –on his beak.
There Is a Tribe of Kids Latest Picture Books Starring Animal Characters
There Is a Tribe of Kids
by Lane Smith
Explore the groups of animals with a little boy who visits, watches, and plays with an assortment of different animal groups until one day, he finds his tribe — a tribe of kids.
fun picture books starring animal characters, 2016
KEEP READING

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