Awards List: Theodore Geisel Winners or Honors

Theodore Geisel Winners/Honors

The Theodore Seuss Geisel Award is to celebrate the most distinguished American books for beginning readers.

Penny and Her Marble

Henkes, K. (2013). Penny and her marble. Greenwillow Books.

This is a great title for beginning readers and it is divided into 4 nice chapters. Penny takes her doll for walk in her neighborhood and finds a marble in Mrs. Goodwin's yard. Penny takes the marble and brings it home, but starts to worry and loses her appetitie and dreams about her neighbor demanding the marble back. Penny takes her doll for another walk and puts the marble back, only to run into Mrs. Goodwin who suggests Penny takes the marble becuase she put it out there for her.

Kevin Henkes is an American writer and illustrator of children's books. He has many popular titles including; Lily's Purple Plastic Purse, Chrysanthemum, and Sheila Rae, The Brave.

Snail & Worm Again

Kugler, T. (2017). Snail & worm again. HMH Books for Young Readers.

This book has simple illustrations and is divided into three little stories. The endpages are bright yellow with white line leaves drawn throughout. The author made the illustrations with acrylic paint on pastel paper, collage, and digital media. Snail and worm use their friendship to works through the three stories. 

Tina Kugler is an artist, visual storyteller,  children's book author, and illustrator. Check out some of her other titles like The Great Bunk Bed Battle and Who Ate My Book?

What About Worms?

Higgins, R.T. (  2020  ). What about worms? Hyperion Books for Children. 

The endpapers are decorated with Mo Willems' characters Elephant and Piggie holidng What About Worms? book. The book starts with Elephant and Piggie disucssing this book and then dives right into the story. The tiger loves flowers, apples, and books but ends up destroying all of the items because tiger is afraid of worms. Some worms arrive upon the mess made by the tiger and saw all their favorites; flowers, apples, and books. They were frightened of the tiger but decided tiger left all their favorites, so they went to thank the tiger. The tiger ran off, still afraid of worms. This is an easy read for beginning readers and would bring those readers some laughs. 

Ryan T. Higgins is an author and illustrator of titles like; We Don't Eat Our Classmates, Mother Bruce, and Be Quiet!

Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons

Litwin, E. (2012). Pete the cat and his four groovy buttons. HarperCollins.

The endpages of this book are bright blue with colorful buttons adorning the pages. All of the pictures throughout the book are large and bright colorful pictures. Intertwined in the story is a song Pete the Cat sings. As the story continues Pete loses a button at a time and then there is a subtraction sentence on display for each time he loses a button. This would be a great mentor text for a subtraction lesson and even subtraction sentences. 

Eric Litwin is an American author, storyteller, and musician. His body of works include Pete the Cat series and The Nuts Keep Rolling.

Go, Otto, Go!

Milgrim, D. (2016). Go, Otto, go!. Simon Spotlight.

Go, Otto, Go! is a great text for an early reader. Otto is a simple robot who works on a rocket and travels all over, his rocket breaks, and Otto is back home. Otto's friends are happy to have him back. The words are simple and repetitive which makes a great for an early reader.

David Milgrim is an author, illustrator, and cartoonist. See Santa Nap and My Mum Goes to Work are other titles of David Milgrim.

The Watermelon Seed

Pizzoli, G. (2013). The watermelon seed. Brown Books for Young Readers.

The endpages pull the theme together with red and black watermelon seeds. This story of a crocodile who has loved watermelon even as a baby has her swallow a seed, panics, burps it up, and swears of watermelon. That is until she sees watermelon again. This book has very simple illustrations and a straight forward simple story. This would be a great mentor text for onomatopoeia with, "Chomp, chomp, chomp", "Slurp", and "Grumble."

Greg Pizzoli is an author and illustrator of titles like Goodnight Owl and This Story is For You. 

Henry and Mudge and The Great Grandpas

Rylant, C. (2006). Henry and Mudge and the great grandpas. Simon & Schuster.

This story of a boy named Henry and his dog named Mudge is full of colorful illustrations. This book is part of a series which have great books for beginning readers. I used to have a collection of these for my students when I taught kinder, first grade, and second grade. The 4 chapters features Henry and Mudge enjoying nature and played by grandpas house, wearing skivvies to swim, laying in the sun and telling stories, and eating spaghetti together at the end of the day. 

Cynthia Rylant is an American author and librarian. Her list of titles includes The Henry and Mudge series and Poppleton. 

Tales For Very Picky Eaters

Schneider, J. (2011). Tales for very picky eaters. Clarion Books.

On the inside of the jacket flap is a quiz for picky eaters which shows the book is gingg to have some creativity and humor. A boy is offered some typical foods like brocolli, mushroom lasagna, milk, oatmeal, and eggs. Each time there is a food the boy does not want to eat his dad comes up with some crazy alternatives or a silly story of why the boy should eat the food. Finally for the last food the boy comes up with the crazy ideas himself. He ended up eating the foods each time it happened. The book is full of funny illustrations to match the story. Kids would enjoy the gross alternatives and stories in this book. As a parent I can relate to dabbling in story telling and creative challenges for my little picky eaters.

Josh Schneider is an author and illustrator who also wrote You'll Be Sorry and Princess Sparkle-Heart. 

Charlie & Mouse

Snyder, L. (2017). Charlie & Mouse. Chronicle Books.

This title has 4 small chapters and is great for a beginning reader. Charlie is the bigger brother and Mouse is the little brother who are best buds. They have adventures like waking their parents up early, getting ready for a neighborhood party, sell rocks, and make a banana bedtime. This are simple and relatable characters any young reader would enjoy.

Laurel Snyder is an American poet and writer. Bigger Than a Breadbox and The Forever Garden are part of Laurel Snyder's written collection. 

Jazz Baby

Wheeler, L. (2007). Jazz baby. HMH Books for Young Readers.

This is a rhyming book abot a family that makes all sorts of jazz sounds and the baby hears them and loves them. There are pictures of musical notes throughout the book. This would be a great mentor text for a lesson on rhyming or onomatopoeia. The jazz words are great for a lesson on onomatopoeia. The illustrations in the book were not my favorite. 

Lisa Wheeler is an author who has received a Parent's Choice Recommended Award. Other titles for Lisa Wheeler are One Dark Night and Farmer Dale's Red Pickup Truck.