14 Interactive Children’s Books that are NOT Stories
First, I want to clarify this is a list of print books that encourage reader participation. Not a list of books that have been formatted or designed for digital devices.
Interactive books like this are a subcategory of children’s picture books that speak directly to readers (as “you”). These books typically don’t have a narrative in the traditional sense. Instead, they ask readers to participate in something more than just reading. Often they’re used to teach basic concepts to young readers.
A good example of an interactive picture book that teaches a concept is Hervé Tullet’s Mix It Up. Here’s a short video explanation by the author himself. (His accent is terrific.)
Why Am I Making This List?
I’ll be completely honest with you. I just finished writing an interactive book for children, called Do NOT Read This Book At Bedtime. (Spoiler alert: It’s meant to lull kids into falling asleep.)
So I’d like for people to know about the book, as well as the interactive sub-genre in general.
Also, if you click through to Amazon.com from any of the links below and make a purchase, Amazon will pass along a very small percentage of the cost to New Growth Publishing. That will help me and my illustrator, Jacob Wenzka, to continue making more children’s books.
So let’s get into it!
Anything by Hervé Tullet
French author and illustrator Hervé Tullet is the undisputed master of interactive books for kids. Press Here (2011) was his breakthrough. A fun book that had children pressing finger-painted dots and turning the pages to see how they would move or multiply. He built on the concept (and even improved it) in follow-up titles like Mix It Up (2014, Let’s Play (2016)), Say Zoop (2017) and several others. Great stuff!
The Monster at the End of This Book
Super Grover was my favorite Sesame Street sketch as a kid. This book is clearly another greatest hit for the beloved character as several friends wrote to me about it how they loved it as a kid, and now their kids love it. I didn’t remember it specifically, but it came back to me when I watched this video. Grover’s a hoot. Love him.
Imagine by Alison Lester
This is one of my favorite books and an inspiration for my new book. It invites readers to imagine different scenes, from a farm to a jungle, to an ocean reef. Then it depicts each scene with terrific two-page spreads crammed full of dozens of different animals. The names of all the animals are printed around the border of the pages, so you can try to determine which is the wombat or the Tasmanian devil, and so forth. After several years, my daughter and I still love examining this book!
The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novak
Comedian B.J. Novak (perhaps best known for his role in the TV series “The Office”) knocked it out of the park with his first children’s book. It’s so clever and fun that it became an instant classic. (And I was instantly jealous I hadn’t come up with the idea.) In short, the book makes the reader—presumably an adult reading aloud—say a bunch of silly, goofy stuff kids love to hear. All without pictures. Here’s a video of Novak reading the book to a room full of kids.
Do Not Lick This Book by Idan Ben-Barak and Julian Frost
Here’s a cool book that uses microscopic images, cartoonish characters, and reader participation to teach about germs. The concept of germs has always intrigued my daughter and I think she would really dig the microscopic images in this book, which include the surfaces of a tooth, a t-shirt and the inside of a belly button (OK, that last one skeeves me out a little…) Here’s a really well-produced video version.
Touch the Earth by Julian Lennon
Yes, that Julian Lennon—musician, photographer and son of John. I like the quality of the illustrations in this book a lot, and it teaches kids some simple concepts about navigation and the importance of water on our planet. If you’re interested to know what Lennon’s been up to since this 1984 hit, you may be interested in this long interview with him from 2017, shortly after the publication of the book.
Do Not Open This Book Again by Andy Lee
At first, I thought this was just a knock-off of Grover’s Monster at the End of This Book. It definitely borrows the concept and a couple of the gags, but it also builds on it and is a fun remake of an old classic. I think there’s plenty of room on a bookshelf for both of these, but you can watch this video and decide for yourself.
The Yellow Balloon by Charlotte Dematons
This book is as wonderful as it is simple. There’s no text at all. Just beautiful, richly populated illustrations of scenes from around the world, each with a tiny yellow balloon hidden somewhere in the mix. It’s the kind of book kids love to study over and over, even after they’ve found the ballon. This quick video will give you an idea of how fantastic these illustrations really are.
Can You Make a Scary Face? by Jan Thomas
My seven year-old would love this one. It’s a bossy lady bug telling the reader to stand up, sit down, pretend you swallowed a bug, and so on. Definitely a good time to be had here, but probably not at bedtime. Check it out.
Little Yoga: A Toddler's First Book of Yoga by Rebecca Whitford
If you’re looking for a way to introduce a child to basic yoga poses, you’ll want to check this out. It’s very simple, and might be limited to really young kids. But with that said, I know my seven-year-old would get into it, because she likes to pretend she’s still a baby. Review it here before you spring for it.
How to Put Your Parents to Bed by Mylisa Larsen
This book is terrific. It flips the script on the parents-kid dynamic at bedtime. It carries the concept throughout the entire bedtime routine in a way that kids will recognize both their own behaviors and adult behaviors. Also, like The Book with No Pictures, I think kids will simply get a kick out of having this silliness read aloud to them. Speaking of silly, check out “Storytime with Ryan and Craig” for a zany reading of the book.
There Are Cats in this Book by Viviane Schwarz
I’m a cat person, so I’m probably not completely objective on this one. But this may be the cutest book ever to depict cats and cat behavior. And the use of interior page flaps is really clever in the way it engages the reader with the antics of the three cat characters. Take a look here.
From Head to Toe by Eric Carle
I began the list with a master of the genre, and here’s another. This book by the author and illustrator of classics like Brown Bear, Brown Bear and The Hungry Caterpillar, challenges children to do their best impressions of a giraffe, a gorilla, a penguin and a bunch of other zoo animals, all illustrated in Carle’s unique style. Video preview here.
Do NOT Read This Book at Bedtime by me (Bart King)
Last, but (I hope) not least. I’d like to make one more plug for my newest book with the amazing illustrator, Jacob Wenzka. It’s a tongue-in-cheek approach to getting a child to lie still and use visualization and a focus on the breath to fall asleep. I’ll add a video preview link and pre-order Amazon page soon. Sign up below for the email list, if you’d like to receive notification when the book’s available.
In the meantime, here’s just the opening pages to give you a sample:
