Large Family Picture Books

Kendra’s sharing of her collection of picture books about large families, several of which we also enjoy, inspired me to search our boxes to see what further titles we had to add, happily I found several:)


Princess Pam Fell Into the Jam – Cecilia Egan
“A jolly king and queen had twenty-four daughters..” A hilariously funny rhyme about Princess Pam and her naughty sisters, whom are unique individuals, each natural princesses, who end up having a massive food fight. A hit with the children.

The Story About Ping – Marjorie Flack
Ping the duck lives on the Yangtze River with his father, mother, two sisters, three brothers, eleven aunts, seven uncles and forty-two cousins.  One evening when he is late responding to the Master’s summons to return home, to avoid a spanking he hides out for the night. In the morning he embarks on many a dangerous adventure on the River, he returns gratefully to his family, to the security they offer, much wiser. A family favourite.

The Mouse With The Too-Long Tail – Bani McSpeden
“Mr and Mrs Mouse were the proud parents of fourteen children… but their fifteenth child was known as The Mouse with the Too-Long Tail..” In the beginning of ‘our’ mouse sees his tail as constantly interrupting his enjoyment of activities, next he spends time trying to disguise his tail in a variety of hilarious ways, finally he embraces his uniqueness and is happy with who he is.  Another favourite, ours has been read so often it is sadly falling apart.

The Five Chinese Brothers – Claire Hutchet Bishop
“Once upon a time there were Five Chinese Brothers and they all looked alike..” all very clever, each with an extraordinary ability which they use to convince a ruling judge of their innocence. Very wise brothers.

Tawny Scrawny Lion – Kathryn Jackson
A childhood favourite of mine, The Tawny Scrawny Lion who is hungry, feared and lonely is ‘adopted’ by a rabbit who takes him home to dine on carrot stew with his “five fat sisters and four fat brothers..” The lion has plans to dine on the rabbits not the stew but their hospitality wins him over.  We also have another, The Tawny Scrawny Lion and the Clever Monkey.

The Poky Little Puppy
The Poky Little Puppy, is inquisitive and marches to his ‘own drum’.  His escapades lead him along with his four brothers, exploring into the ‘wide, wide world’. We also have The Poky Little Puppy’s Naughty Day, both classic Golden Book childhood favourites.

Surprise for Mrs Bunny – Charlotte Steiner
Eight little bunnies want to surprise their mother with painted eggs for her birthday.  Each decide what colour they want to paint their eggs, finding colour inspiration from colours in the natural world.  Poor Jolly was sad as he did not have a coloured egg for Mama’s basket but then, his egg had the biggest surprise of all.  So much love into each gift:)