I’m looking for picture books with boy protagonists that are mostly art, not too wordy. You know “Where the Wild Things Are”. That’s about the right level of words to pictures for my guy.
I know Doper parents will know some great ones!
just formerly Miss Tess the Library Story Lady.
For a great imagination starter, try “The Mysteries of Harris Burdick” by Chris Van Allsburg.
And “Animalia” by Graeme Base is the greatest alphabet book ever.
A kid could spend hours and hours with either of these.
Dr Seuss’ FOX IN SOX for a laugh riot
Judith Viorst’s ALEXANDER AND THE HORRIBLE, TERRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY
Father of six hare…300+ kids books on the shelved behind me
Audrey Wood’s Sweet Dream Pie and Jubal’s Wish are two of my favorites by her. But check out anything by her.
Robert MCClosky’s Time of Wonder is IMHO one of the best picture books ever. Again, check out anything by him.
David Wiesner has done several beautifully drawn, dream-like, wordless (or almost) books. My favorite is Tuesday, which features flying frogs.
Flying Jake by Lane Smith (of Stinky Cheese Man fame) has a little boy protagonist who has an adventure with his pet bird. It appears to be out of print, though. It’s told entirely in pictures, like a comic book.
Ah, picture books! I love them. Try Stellaluna, If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, A Pocket For Courderoy or – my favorite – Arrow To The Sun. If you’re willing to read to him, the Magic Schoolbus books are great. And, of course, there are a zillion books on dinosaurs, if he’s one of the million five year old boys who like dinosaurs. For art (though the story is advanced), you can’t beat Dinotopia. My five year old nephew likes the “Arthur” books but does not like the “Olivia” or “Frances” books, because Olivia and Frances are girls (yuck). It depends on what your little boy likes.
I just bought Haper Collins Treasure of Picture Books for my 4 year-old last week…although I’m a bit ashamed to admit I paid full price. Even at list, this book is truly a treasure. It’s giant (like I fondly remember story books from my childhood) hardbound, and contains 12 classics in their original format. Caps for Sale, Harold and the Purple Crayon, Goodnight Moon, George Shrinks… Most of the stories in this collection fit your wishlist.
A Dark Dark Tale, by Ruth Brown. My son loved it at that age. I remember him hollering out the words on the last page with glee.
Richard Scary’s Best Storybook Ever. It was my favorite book when I was five. Not only are there nice stories with beautiful paintings, there are pictures of trains. Lots of trains and and airplanes. I’ve never met a little boy who didn’t think trains and airplanes were not cool.
Check the Caldecott Winners. (I just went to Amazon.com and typed in Caldecott.)
The Caldecott medal is for picture books with extraordinary art. The most recent winner is The Man Who Walked Between The Towers by Mordecai Gerstein…a true story about Phillippe Petit, who was an aerialist and put a rope between the World Trade Center Towers in NYC and performed. This happened in 1974 when they were being built.
Anyway, some of the books already mentioned have won…like Tuesday and Where the Wild Things Are
I second anything by Richard Scarry and Dr. Seuss.
Also,
*Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel
The Five Chinese Brothers*
and there is the whole Berenstain Bears series, which are great for that age.
Wiesner is amazing! I adore his work, and give his books out to all my munchkin cousins. Definitely find some of his books.
or you oculd go for my favorite book when I was that age: Harold and the Purple Crayon.
Daniel
Some very good mentions here. I’d also suggest that you and try and intersperse a couple like Iron Giant and The Mouse and the Motorcycle that don’t have a lot of pictures but do have simple, easy to follow story lines and subjects that many little boys would find interesting. Give him a chapter a day before bedtime and he should be able to handle it. It’s a nice way to make a transition from pictures to words.
Our son is 6 . All the above mentioned books are well loved here and I felt it was time to expand and see if he could follow a basic story line.
Usborne Young Reading Series Features basic story lines to such classics as:
Gulliver’s Travels
Treasure Island
Aladdin
King Arthur
Robinson Carusoe
Hercules, Aesop’s Fables
Jason and the Golden Fleece
Ulysses
And other lesser stories that the kids like:
Animal legends
Dinosaurs next door
Giants
Gnomes and Goblins
Princes & Princesses
The Monster Gang
and a few others
They are $5.95 a peice, cheaper if you buy an entire set. I have to say that I’ve only bought used books or Scholastic books for my two, but these have been a most welcome addition. Just enough to grab their attention, with nice basic cartoony drawings incorporated into every page.
Well worth the cash, IMHO.
You can buy usborne books on line at: UBAH . It’s the lady I bought mine from. Nice lady.
I babysat a seven-year-old boy who particularly enjoyed Officer Buckle and Gloria.
IANAP but I used to coordinate a preschool literacy program, so… I know what kids that age like 
The Mitten (and if he likes it The Hat) by Jan Brett
Who Hops? by Katie Davis (to tickle his funny bone)
Parts by Tedd Arnold " "
Click Clack Moo by Doreen Cronin (good for adult amusement too!)
Toot and Puddle (there are five books about these pigs) by Holly Hobbie
The Napping House by Audrey Wood
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? / Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr (you must “accidentally” say the wrong animals so the kids can correct you. They love that.)
For scary (not too terrifying for a 5-year-old) stories you should read
The Little Old Lady Who was not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams
What Was I Scared of? by Dr. Seuss
Go Away, Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley
I would like to draw your attention to a somewhat obscure writer whose books have been around since the 30’s and has a faithful following with each generation: Maj Lindman who has the most delightful sets of triplets:
Ricka, flicka & dicka ( girls) and snipp, snapp & snurr ( boys) sweet, gentle stories about either the girls or the boys back in a small town can-do attitude. My library has all these books and I was surprised that my kids would sit still for them. I could read every one of them ( I think there are at least 8 per triplet set). some of the story lines have some things that are inappropriate for now a-days, like letting three girls go off in the woods to pick strawberries alone, but sometimes you need to take things at face value and watch for the lesson being learned, which every story has a Life Learning Lesson.
Thank you so much everyone! We’ll have a lot of fun exploring all of these suggestions.