March book madness ·Feb 22, 2024

March Book Madness 2024

I am thrilled to share our family's choices for this year's March Book Madness! This has become one of our favorite yearly traditions to encourage a love of reading.

My children and I have carefully selected 16 picture books from various genres that we hope you'll love, and we've put them into brackets in a printable format.

Here's how it works: Download a bracket here. Print it out, then during the month of March, read the books aloud at your own pace. Let your children vote on their favorites, and add each favorite to the line in the next round. Keep reading and voting until you agree on an overall winner!

Check these out from your local library, or purchase from Amazon (see affiliate links below) or another bookseller of your choice. Hopefully, some of these titles become beloved family favorites! These books are primarily for ages 5-10, but there's a little bit of everything here. My children are 4, 6, 9, and 11 and enjoy all of these stories.

You can also print out a blank bracket if you want to use books you already have! I would love to see your brackets. If you choose to participate, tag @brighterdaypress on social media.

Who's in??

HERE ARE THE BOOKS WE CHOSE:

True duck-inspired stories

Gertie, the Darling Duck of WWII by Shari Swanson
Mr. McCloskey's Marvelous Mallards: The Making of Make Way for Ducklings by Emma Bland Smith

Tales about gathering friends

Pokko and the Drum by Matthew Forsythe
Thank You, Omu! by Oge Mora

Stories about brave journeys

9 Kilometers by Claudio Aguilera
Yoshi, Sea Turtle Genius by Lynne Cox

Books about meaningful pursuits

A Family for Louie by Alexandra Thompson
The Search for the Giant Arctic Jellyfish by Chloe Savage

Stories about courageous birds

The Courage of the Little Hummingbird by Leah Henderson
Feathers Together by Caron Levis

Books about families working together

Brothers at Bat by Audrey Vernick
Grandpa Cacao by Elizabeth Zunon

Stories about the long lives of trees

The Tree and the River by Aaron Becker
The Oak Tree by Julia Donaldson

Inspiring stories set in libraries

Madeline Finn and the Library Dog by Lisa Papp
Thomas Jefferson Builds a Library by Barb Rosenstock

In the event that you're not able to find all of these at your local library, here are a few more options (that I've recommended previously) you may enjoy!

Gorgeous nature-inspired books