11 Picture Books for Kids with March Birthdays

Crow Call, by Lois Lowry and Bagram Ibatoulline
Lois Lowry, an author best known for her Newberry Award-winning middle-grade books Number the Stars and The Giver, will celebrate her 81st birthday on March 20. Crow Call was her first picture book, and it tells a personal story inspired by an early-morning adventure with her father, who had just returned from serving in World War II. “I sit shyly in the front seat of the car next to the stranger who is my father,” Lowry writes. In Crow Call, young Liz gets to know her Daddy as they venture out to scare crows away from their crops, and she tells him that her favorite thing to eat is cherry pie. She loves it so much that she had it for her birthday instead of cake. So her Daddy buys her two slices of cherry pie for breakfast.

I Can be Anything, by Diane Dillon
Diane Dillon, who will celebrate her 86th birthday on March 13, spent her career illustrating picture books in collaboration with her husband, the late Leo Dillon, winning Caldecott Medals and Coretta Scott King Awards along the way. I Can be Anything is the first picture book she wrote herself, based on an idea that came to her in the year after her husband died. According to the biographical note, both Diane and Leo “were discouraged from becoming professional artists—Diane because shew as female, and Leo because he was black.” I Can be Anything is Diane’s answer to the naysayers, and to the nagging voice of doubt that creeps into a child’s mind. Its protagonist, the exuberant Zoe, declares she can be anything she wants to be, from a paleontologist to a librarian.

How to Catch a Leprechaun, by Adam Wallace and Andy Elkerton
Kids with March birthdays are surely gifted with just a smidgen more luck when it comes to catching a leprechaun than kids born in other months. But as this book shows, catching the little green guys is very tricky. Watch the leprechaun evade every mousetrap, net, cage, and Rube Goldberg-like contraption as he spreads his mischief all around the neighborhood.

Who Would Win? Polar Bear vs. Grizzly Bear, by Jerry Palotta and Rob Bolster
Jerry Pallotta, author of the popular Who Would Win series, was born on March 26, 1953. In the series, Pallotta answers many questions that curious kids have posed, providing facts to help readers decide if a Tyrannosaurus Rex would best a Velociraptor or a lion would triumph over a tiger. In this book, Pallotta sizes up polar bears and grizzlies, and finds them very evenly matched. Maybe instead of fighting they should just sit down and share some cake.

Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening, by Robert Frost and Susan Jeffers
Robert Frost, one of America’s all-time most beloved poets, was born March 26, 1874. Susan Jeffers’ illustrated version of his poem “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening” allows readers to savor every line of this classic in which the speaker stops to admire snow falling in a forest. This is the perfect book for birthday kids who live in parts of the country that are still snowy in March—to help them appreciate the magic of snowflakes even as they’re longing for spring greenery.

The Snowy Day, by Ezra Jack Keats
This classic book of winter magic is just right for kids whose birthdays fall in the first half of the month like that of the author, Ezra Jack Keats, who was born on March 11, 1916. In his iconic cut-paper illustrations, Keats illustrates one splendid day in the life of a boy named Peter, who wakes up to discover a snow-covered world, and heads out to play. Here’s wishing your March birthday kid a snow day off from school for their present!

In Like A Lion Out Like A Lamb, by Marion Dane Bauer
This rhyming book explores the perpetual duality of March, a month when winter and spring fight for control of the weather. A little boy is stuck inside due to bad weather when the March lion scratches at his door. The boy makes the mistake of letting the lion in, with his snowy, muddy paws. The lion is even a bit sassy—Bauer writes, “‘Were you expecting spring?’ he snickers. ‘Reach for your slickers.'” But then one day the trees bloom and the birds return, and with them the March lamb, who sends the lion off for a nap—until next March!

Happy Birthday to You!, by Dr. Seuss
March kids share their birthday month with a very special author: Dr. Seuss, who was born March 2, 1904. He wrote this book in celebration of the birthday festival that every kid should have, modeled after the parties they throw in Katro. Parents, you just have to round up a traveling smorgasbord, forty Who-Bubs, fifty Hippo-Heimers, a time-telling fish, and fifty-three hamburger stands. It shouldn’t be much harder than renting a bouncy castle, right?

The Dumb Bunnies’ Easter, by Dav Pilkey
March 4 is the birthday of kid-pleaser extraordinaire Dav Pilkey, author of the Captain Underpants and Dog Man series of graphic novels, as well as the irresistibly improper Dumb Bunnies picture books. In this book, the Dumb Bunny family confuses Christmas with Easter—and just about every other holiday—as they attempt to celebrate Easter on December 24. Momma bunny, in her brassiere and skirt, stuffs a turkey—right through a basketball net, while Poppa Bunny nails valentines to the wall. When Baby Bunny flings a vat of eggnog on some surprised carolers, you know this Easter-Christmas-Thanksgiving-Valentine’s Day-Halloween party is going to come off in style.

Sumo Mouse, by David Wisniewski
David Wisniewski, born March 21, wrote and illustrated children’s books whimsical and imaginative enough to befit someone who dropped out of regular college to join the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College, as he did in 1973. Sumo Mouse introduces readers to a superhero like none they’ve ever seen, a “chubby champion of justice” who keeps the mouse citizenry of Tokyo safe from evildoers, all of whom happen to be shady-looking cats.

La La La, by Kate DiCamillo and Jaime Kim
Kate DiCamillo, whose birthday is March 25, is best known for her books for middle-grade readers with a whole lot of words in them, such as Newberry Medal-winning The Tale of Desespereaux and Flora & Ulysses. But she also wrote this charming picture book that contains just one syllable, repeated: “La!” A little girl sings her song, and goes on a quest through nature to find another singer to answer her in this book Jaime Kim illustrates in lush watercolors. After you sing your kid happy birthday, take them out to sing “la, la, la,” at the moon like the protagonist of this story.