Curriculum Center: Interactive Books

Step 1- Grab any small object or pick stickers from the back of the book. Step 2- Place them on the blank spots as you read along. Step 3- Laugh at the crazy story you've just created. Step 4- Pick new items and start all over again! Story time will take on a new dimension of play as kids use the stickers or scamper in search of the most hilarious items to occupy the blank spaces in the text.

In the napping house is a cozy bed piled high with a snoring granny, a dreaming child, a dozing dog, a snoozing cat, and a slumbering mouse. All is at peace until the appearance of an unexpected visitor, and before you know it no one is sleeping!

You might think a book with no pictures seems boring and serious. Except . . . here's how books work. Everything written on the page has to be said by the person reading it aloud. Even if the words say . . . BLORK. Or BLUURF. Even if the words are a preposterous song about eating ants for breakfast, or just a list of astonishingly goofy sounds like BLAGGITY BLAGGITY and GLIBBITY GLOBBITY.

In "The Book No One Wants To Read," a lonely book makes a deal with its reader: "You keep turning my pages, and I'll make it fun! The interactive jokes, puzzles, and imaginative activities that follow will keep your reluctant reader engaged.

There's only one rule in Larry's book: don't push the button. (Seriously, don't even think about it!) Even if it does look kind of nice, you must never push the button. Who knows what would happen? Okay, quick. No one is looking... push the button. Uh, oh.

What will you hear when you read this book to a child? Lots of noise! Children will chant the rhythmic words. They'll make the sounds the animals make. And they'll pretend tobe the zoo animals featured in the book!

This interactive bedtime story proves nighttime isn't scary at all. The gentle journey from sunset to sunrise shows even the youngest children the magic of the nighttime sky--and lets them make magic happen!

How do you make a garden grow? You will see how tiny seeds bloom into beautiful flowers. And by tapping, clapping, waving, and more, young readers can join in the action! Children engage with the book as they wiggle their fingers to water the seeds, clap to make the sun shine after rain, and shoo away a hungry snail.

Every book needs you to turn the pages. But not every book needs you to tap it, shake it, jiggle it, or even blow it a kiss. Innovative and timeless, Tap the Magic Tree asks you to help one lonely tree change with the seasons. Now that's interactive--and magical! It begins with a bare brown tree. But tap that tree, turn the page, and one bright green leaf has sprouted! Tap again--one, two, three, four--and four more leaves have grown on the next page. Pat, clap, wiggle, jiggle, and see blossoms bloom, apples grow, and the leaves swirl away with the autumn breeze.

Crunch is a lovely and quiet brontosaurus who has hidden himself in some shubbery and is rather shy. He would like to play, but it will require some gentle coaxing from you! If you are patient and encouraging, you will find yourself with a new friend!

This interactive retelling of the Three Little Pigs story allows the reader to play the part of the big bad wolf. Three interior die-cut holes invite readers to huff, puff, and blow the pigs' houses down! This fractured fairy tale ends sweetly when, rather than blowing down the third pig's brick home, the wolf/reader blows out the candles on a cake baked by the pigs!

On a simple trip to the park, the joy of music overtakes a mother and daughter. The little girl hears a rhythm coming from the world around her- from butterflies, to street performers, to ice cream sellers everything is musical! She sniffs, snaps, and shakes her way into the heart of the beat, finally busting out in an impromptu dance, which all the kids join in on!

This interactive book may seem to be on your side, reluctant sleeper -- but it's truly a bedtime book in disguise! New from New York Times bestselling author and illustrator Amy Krouse Rosenthal and David Roberts! Here's how it works: if you can avoid getting to the end of this book, you can avoid bedtime, simple as that. (It's a pretty sweet deal, actually.) But each time you blink, you have to turn a page. Those are just the rules. So whatever you do, DON'T BLINK!

Giraffes can bend their necks, monkeys can wave their hands, and donkeys can kick their legs. And so can you! Throughout this interactive book, the animals of From Head to Toe invite young readers to copy their antics as they play. Through Carle's vibrant collages and simple instructions, children will learn the importance of listening, exercising, and taking on a new challenge. Join the giraffes, monkeys, donkeys, seals, and more for a frolicking, fun adventure!

When Horace the elephant turns eleven, he celebrates instyle by inviting his exotic friends to a splendid costume party. But a mystery is afoot, for in the midst of the games, music, and revelry, someone has eaten the birthday feast. The rhyming text and lavish, detailed illustrations each provide clues, and it's up to the reader to piece them together and decide whodunit!

What if you picked out a book to read, but the characters weren't ready for you yet? Take a peek inside this book and you'll find some characters (though they're still a bit sketchy). They'll be perplexed to see you, so they'll quickly try to track down their author (who has a lot more work to do). What you won't find is a story, or a title, because -- guess what? The book isn't finished yet!

Enjoy a ride of color, shape, motion, and imagination: It's only a yellow dot...but what a dot it is! Readers won't be able to resist this jaunty, adventurous dot, nor its invitation to play along.

Press the yellow dot on the cover of this interactive children's book, follow the instructions within, and embark upon a magical journey! Each page of this surprising touch book instructs the reader to push the button, shake it up, tilt the book, and who knows what will happen next!

A mess-free way to learn about transforming colors and following directions: Accept Hervé Tullet's irresistible invitation to mix it up in a dazzling adventure of whimsy and wonder. Follow the artist's simple instructions and suddenly colors appear, mix, splatter, and vanish in a world powered only by the reader's imagination.

Hervé Tullet's I Have an Idea is at once a meditation on and a celebration of the magic of the birth of a simple idea. Sparkling with visual wit, it is a richly emotional exploration of the creative process, from the initial anticipation of the hunt for an idea, to the frustration of chasing the wrong idea, to the exhilaration of capturing just the right idea.

Say Zoop! encourages readers to explore and interact with the physical book in all its dimensions. The reward is tremendous: a journey of whimsy and sheer fun that extends well beyond the book's pages.

The Book with a Hole blasts a hole through the middle of the book itself. Sometimes the hole is an eye the reader can look through; sometimes it is a mouth and the reader's fingers make the teeth! The next minute it is a plate (with food drawn by the reader on a sheet of paper behind the book), an obstacle to jump across, or a saucepan. It's crazy! It's a Book with a Hole!

What kind of a face would you make if a tickly green bug were sitting on your nose? Or if it were--eek!--inside your shirt? Could you make a scary face to frighten it away? Or, even better, stand up and do the chicken dance? Yes? Then better get to it!

Hello, friend! It's time to play! We're taking care of pets today. There are lots of ways little hands can care for animals. Each page of this book invites readers to pet the cat, wash the puppy, brush the horse's mane, and more--no animals required!

For fans of Press Here, this new interactive picture book line invites readers to touch and move and "play" with the book. To start our show we need a band--maybeyoucan lend a hand! There are lots of ways little hands can make music. Each page of this interactive book invites readers to strum the guitar, slide the trombone, crash the cymbals, and more--no instruments required!

How many kisses does a tired baby need? Find out in this adorable kiss-and-count book.

Follow the line as it loops, curves, and winds across cityscapes, landscapes, buildings, animals, trees, sky, and water from early-morning traffic to night.

Readers are led on a journey, and, this time, the twists and turns take them around the globe. Children first meet the line on the cover where it sets the stage to travel from Kenya to Greenland, the Sahara Desert, the Amazon Rainforest, and other places before going into outer space.

Follow the line from the science corner to the library, from recess to show-and-tell. This new Follow the Line book takes children on a colorful, comforting, and altogether fun romp through the school day.

Follow the acrobatic line and rhyming text into a house and locate common items inside a toolbox, a refrigerator, a medicine cabinet, a toy box, etc. While the line challenges and trains the eye to follow it, the text poses some questions and suggests activities such as counting like objects, choosing clothing to wear to the beach or to a party, and deciding what foods are needed to make a sandwich.

The darling, dancing Flora is back, and this time she's found two new friends: a pair of peacocks! But amidst the fanning feathers and mirrored movements, Flora realizes that the push and pull between three friends can be a delicate dance. Will this trio find a way to get back in step?

Having mastered ballet in Flora and the Flamingo, Flora takes to the ice and forms an unexpected friendship with a penguin. Twirling, leaping, spinning, and gliding, on skates and flippers, the duo mirror each other's graceful dance above and below the ice. But when Flora gives the penguin the cold shoulder, the pair must figure out a way to work together for uplifting results.

In this innovative wordless picture book with interactive flaps, Flora and her graceful flamingo friend explore the trials and joys of friendship through an elaborate synchronized dance. With a twist, a turn, and even a flop, these unlikely friends learn at last how to dance together in perfect harmony.

What would you do if you were settling down for a quiet bedtime story and you realized that a crocodile had fallen into your storybook and was -- not to put too fine a point on it -- wreaking havoc? Would you slam that book shut and cram it back onto the bookshelf? Or would you be brave enough to peek?

A perfect introduction to yoga for toddlers Here is a playful introduction to nine simple yoga exercises for young children. Toddlers will enjoy moving along with Yoga Baby as they follow the basic poses.

From the very cover of this picture book, a funny blue monster pleads with readers not to keep reading. As his pleas grow more impassioned, however, readers will delight in doing exactly what they are asked not to do -- no matter the consequences for the blue monster!