Picture Books for Teaching Personification

When writers give human qualities to an object or animal, it’s called personification. It’s delightful to read and very fun to use in your own writing. Use these picture books as mentor texts to teach the concept of personification. If you’re a teacher, these are perfect for writing workshop. They’ll most definitely be a way to inspire kids’ own personification stories.

Read one of these picture books aloud to your kids. Ask kids what was personified? How did they know? After sharing examples (objects with feelings, etc.), explain how they can use the story to inspire their own made-up stories.

When writing using personification, I’ve found that it often works best for kids to start within a category. For example, when you’re thinking of an idea, start with a category like furniture or food or classroom objects. So first pick what to personify. Then have kids think of the plot. What will happen to this object or animal? Talk through your plot out loud. Maybe do a plot graph or story map. Then write!

Picture Books for Teaching Personification

The Night Box by Louise Greig, illustrated by Ashling Lindsay
“Day is yawning” begins this story about day and night personified. When the boy unlocks the Night Box, Day goes to rest and Night comes out to play. Night welcomes the nocturnal animals, gives a moon to a pond, a branch to the owl, and for Max, Night makes sure he has a soft, warm bed. Later, when Night falls asleep, Max opens the box and Day sweeps back out. “Day breathes into the leaves, quiet flies out of the trees, yellow rises from the rooftops, and a new song begins.” Absolutely lovely.

What Do You Do With a Chance? by Kobi Yamada, illustrated by Mae Besom

You’ll love this abstract story about a very familiar and real situation — fear of failure. The author personifies the concept of a “chance” as a yellow origami butterfly. When the boy gets a chance, he feels unsure so the chance left. The next time the chance comes, he tries to grab it but misses. So, in his feelings of failure, he starts ignoring the chances that come his way. And the chances stop coming around anymore. The boy regrets his decision and hopes to find a chance again and prepares to be brave, even just for a moment. In fact, the boy is so brave, he goes looking for a chance. It’s a big one but he’s ready to grab hold!

“I now see that when I hold back, I miss out. And I don’t want to miss out. There’s just so much I want to see and do an discover. // So what do you do with a chance? You take it . . . because it just might be the start of something incredible.“

Lena’s Shoes are Nervous (A First-Day-of-School Dilemma) by Keith Calabrese, illustrated by Juana Medina
You know how kids express their feelings? It sometimes can be just like this… personifying something else to represent a feeling. What I really like is that Lena’s feeling BOTH nervous and outgoing which is also an accurate depiction of our emotions. (Her shoes are nervous but her dress is feeling outgoing.) Lena tells her dad about her shoes feeling nervous. (And can I just say how much I love that this story is all about a girl and her DAD, not mom!?) Her dad asks questions. (LOVE!) Then, Lena figures out that her headband can talk to her shoes. Her dad gives them some space. “The shoes say that school is big and loud and different and they’d really rather not go. / The headband is a good listener and understands.” The headband reminds the shoes of other times they all were scared and also brave. And that things worked out. Even though her shoes still feel a little nervous, they decide to be brave. And Lena is proud of them! Use this book to talk about feelings and personification. It’s a beautifully illustrated, emotionally truthful role model for us all.

Spoon by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Scott Magoon
Spoon feels “bent out of shape” lately. His friends seem to have more exciting lives than him — like Knife who can cut and spread, and Fork who goes everywhere practically, and Chopsticks who are so exotic. Spoon doesn’t realize that his friends think the same about him. Knife wishes people would be silly with him like they are with Spoon. Fork wishes she could measure stuff like Spoon. Chopsticks wish they could go places by themselves like Spoon. When Spoon’s mom reminds him of the wonderful things about being a spoon — diving into a bowl of ice cream, clinking against a cereal bowl side, and twirl around in a mug, Spoon feels much better about who he is.

The Dark by Lemony Snicket, illustrated by Jon Klassen
Most kids can relate to young Laszlo’s fear of the dark. In this unique picture book, the dark is an actual thing that lives in the basement, hides in the closet, and waits in the corners. One night, the dark comes to Laszlo’s room and speaks to him. Yikes! The dark wants to show Laszlo something. He shows Lazlo a nightlight in the basement. Now that Lazlo has a light, the dark never bothers Laszlo again.

Exclamation Mark
It’s not easy being seen. Especially when you’re NOT like everyone else. Especially when what sets you apart is YOU. Sometimes we squish ourselves to fit in. We shrink. Twist. Bend. Until — ! — a friend shows the way to endless possibilities. In this bold and highly visual book, an emphatic but misplaced exclamation point learns that being different can be very exciting! Period.

Powerful Picture Books with Personification

School’s First Day of School by Adam Rex, illustrated by Christian Robinson
Janitor tells the newly built school that soon teachers and children will be coming. Which makes School nervous. Find out what happens on the first day (a fire drill!) and how School loves his kids.

Little Pea
Little Pea is supposed to eat his candy! He must force down a few bites if he wants dessert which is spinach! This is a funny example of a situation in reverse.

E-mergency by Tom Lichtenheld, illustrated by Ezra Fields-Meyer
Remember Shark vs. Train? Well, this punny book is by the same author and even more clever. When E takes a tumble down the stairs, in order for E to heal, everyone must stop using her in all their words. O (who is so well-rounded) takes her place making this book hilarious and quite challenging to read out loud! AftOr all, wO usO thO lOttOr a lot! But, E doesn’t heal. Is someone still using the letter E? Like THE NARRATOR!?

Heart-Warming Picture Books, Winter 2015

Orion and the Dark by Emma Yarlett
“Mom, this is such a good book,” my 10-year old shared, handing it to me. Sure enough, she was right for the sweet friendship with the formerly scary DARK and the boy named Orion. We loved the captivating collage-like illustrations in this story that humanizes the dark making him a kind and adventurous friend for Orion, who was downright terrified of the DARK before. But one night, the Dark came to visit. The Dark wasn’t at all what Orion expected. Now that the Dark is his friend, Orion isn’t scared.

Picture the Sky by Barbara Reid
The best thing about this book is the three-dimensional, eye-catching artwork. But the text is also impressive — with how the author personifies the sky and gives readers metaphors that make us see the sky differently. Teachers, use this as a writing prompt.