5 Picture Books that Ask Existential Questions
Piglet “How do you spell love?”
Pooh: “You don’t spell it, you feel it.”
—Winnie The Pooh
Young children never cease to astound me, the way they grasp the meaning of existential issues, such as:
What does love feel like?
How can one person make a difference?
What does a true friend do?
Sometimes, it’s the children in our lives who ask the simplest, deepest, most meaningful questions. And sometimes, the most insightful authors do their best to provide answers.
Here are some of our family’s treasured picture books that ask existential questions.
A Sick Day for Amos McGee
Hardcover $19.99
A Sick Day for Amos McGee
By
Philip C. Stead
Illustrator
Erin E. Stead
In Stock Online
Hardcover $19.99
A Sick Day for Amos McGee, by Philip C. Stead and Erin Stead
On my recent trip to the library with my kindergartner, we discovered one of our new favorite books, which so clearly illustrates the existential question, What is love?
A Sick Day for Amos McGee, by Philip C. Stead and Erin Stead
On my recent trip to the library with my kindergartner, we discovered one of our new favorite books, which so clearly illustrates the existential question, What is love?
In A Sick Day for Amos McGee, every morning starts out the same: Amos McGee wakes up, gets dressed in his zookeeper uniform, and takes the bus to the City Zoo. Amos loves his animals.
He plays chess with the elephant, races the tortoise, sits quietly with the penguin, blows the rhino’s runny nose, and tell stories to the owl when it gets dark.
Until the day that Amos gets sick and has to stay in bed. The animals soon realize Amos won’t be coming to work, so they decide take the bus to his house to take care of him and share a pot of tea. Even the shy penguin keeps Amos’s feet warm.
I adore this everything about this story, especially its message of how important it is to care and be present for others. Bonus: illustrator Erin E. Stead’s woodblock prints are so stunning!
The Odd Egg
Hardcover $18.99
The Odd Egg
By
Emily Gravett
Illustrator
Emily Gravett
In Stock Online
Hardcover $18.99
The Odd Egg, by Emily Gravett
This story might be sparse on words, but it’s such a witty take on nature-vs.-nature and the question, Who am I?
The Odd Egg, by Emily Gravett
This story might be sparse on words, but it’s such a witty take on nature-vs.-nature and the question, Who am I?
An odd duck is jealous of all the mama birds snuggling with their eggs, so when he finds an odd egg with green spots that match his feathers, he adopts it.
The other birds make fun of him, as their own eggs hatch with a tweet and a honk, until finally the duck’s mystery egg cracks open…. and an alligator emergences with snapping jaws!
Moreover, it’s an alligator that acts like a duck This story gives an amazing explanation on the meaning one’s existence. My favorite page shows the alligator waddling — in booties that look like a duck’s webbed feet—after the skinny duck, saying “Mama.”
Too Tall Houses
Hardcover $18.99
Too Tall Houses
In Stock Online
Hardcover $18.99
Too Tall Houses, by Gianna Marino
Another one of our family’s favorite picture books asks, “What is friendship?”
Too Tall Houses, by Gianna Marino
Another one of our family’s favorite picture books asks, “What is friendship?”
Rabbit and Owl have been friends for ages, but now there’s a problem: Rabbit’s garden is growing so tall, Owl can’t see the forest.
In his frustration, Owl adds another story to his home, which makes Rabbit angry. He retaliates and builds higher, and off they go, trying to outdo each other, until they’re hovering above the Earth.
“Soon they had / the tallest houses in the world”… until, a “whooosh” wind blows so hard, and both animals fall to the ground with nothing. In the end, they realize what a true friendship means: cooperating, not competing. (Oh, and Marino’s full-bleed gouache and pencil spreads are so striking!)
I Wish You More
Hardcover $14.99
I Wish You More
By
Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Illustrator
Tom Lichtenheld
In Stock Online
Hardcover $14.99
I Wish You More, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld
What’s the meaning of life? This is the question behind I Wish You More, which begins with two kids racing across a green field, with a tiny red kite trailing overhead: “I wish you more ups than downs.”
I Wish You More, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld
What’s the meaning of life? This is the question behind I Wish You More, which begins with two kids racing across a green field, with a tiny red kite trailing overhead: “I wish you more ups than downs.”
This simple sweet book is a string of hopes for a child’s future. It reassures the reader that you will always be loved. For example, “I wish you more will than hill,” Lichtenheld shows a boy sweating as he carries a heavy sapling uphill.
This is a story of connection and kindness, and it brings to mind Martin Luther King when he said, “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”
The Lorax
Hardcover $16.99
The Lorax
By Dr. Seuss
In Stock Online
Hardcover $16.99
The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss
Unless someone like you, cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, it’s not.
– The Lorax
The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss
Unless someone like you, cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, it’s not.
– The Lorax
This classic picture book by Dr. Seuss asks the important existential question, “Can one person change the world?”
First published in 1971, the Lorax’s warning to save our planet couldn’t ring truer today.
In brilliantly whimsical rhymes, the Lorax speaks for the trees and implores us to protect the environment and save the earth. This story is still a must-have for every bookshelf.
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