Robert McCloskey and Some Great Books for Girls

If you are in search of great picture books for girls, give Caldecott Medal -winning Robert McCloskey a try. His classic stories feature curious, sweet characters who are portrayed through detailed illustrations and lyric prose that is perfect for read aloud.

Start with Blueberries for Sal, with beautiful illustrations that are tinted a deep blue. Adorable Sal spends goes blueberry picking with her mother -- only to inadvertently end up trailing a mama bear who is out with her cub doing the very same thing.

Both Sal and the cub are so engrossed in eating their juicy treasures that they don't even realize the mix-up. It's a funny story with a satisfying ending -- a tribute to girls who love adventure -- and filling their tummies!

My personal favorite McCloskey book is One Morning in Maine, the perfect book for girls who happen to be losing their teeth! Sal again makes an appearance as an older girl whose loose tooth disappears in a sandy pile of clams. Now she has nothing to make a wish on (ah, the good old days, when the Tooth Fairy didn't have to dig in the bottom of her purse for four quarters!)

After a futile search, Sal finds a gull feather and realizes that, like her tooth, the gull has lost something that will grow back. She decides to make a wish on the gull's lost feather.

The rest of the morning is spent running errands with her father and her cute baby sister, Jane in their quaint Maine village. You'll get plenty of warm fuzzies meeting the characters who inhabit the town -- hearkening back to a Norman Rockwell-like era.

You'll love it -- and your girls will love it too -- especially when Sal's wish comes true. Enjoy these two great books for girls by Robert McCloskey -- whose stories and illustrations are just utterly charming (he also wrote the timeless classic Make Way for Ducklings -- definitely worth a read!)

One Dark Night: A Picture Book Tale of Friendship

I love One Dark Night, a picture book by rhyme and rhythm master author Lisa Wheeler. It's a fun book to read aloud and a great plot for girls who like a little suspense with their storytime.

Mouse and Mole live in a "wee little house, in a wee little hole," while a beastly bear lives nearby in a "BIG GIANT lair." When the two tiny friends happen to leave their home One Dark Night, they face their fear of the mysterious woods together.

Meanwhile, BIG bear is tromping around his lair, seemingly impatient and very, very hungry. The tension builds as Mole and Mouse realize they are lost in the woods. Mouse must climb a tree where he spies a cave with a light on inside. Bear emerges from the cave, hungry as ever, fed up and baring his big teeth.

Mouse and Mole tremble in fear as they listen to the strange "SNARL-SNUFF-A-SNUFF" coming their way.

Will Bear find the good friends and gobble them up whole?

Kids will love this tension and the meter of the rhymed text that leads to a very satisfying ending. (Don't worry, no rodents were harmed in the making of this entertaining, well-written picture book).

With sweet illustrations by Ivan Bates, girls will be cooing over the depictions of Mouse and Mole (oooh, they are so cute!).

If you can pull off a tiny woodland animal voice (consider sucking on a helium balloon), you'll be even better off.

Enjoy One Dark Night, this is a guaranteed "Read it again, Please!" book that is sure to become a favorite in your house.