I am so lucky to have an amazing first-grade teacher for my children. She’s the one from whom I got the Months of the Year rhyme. She has had this poem for days of the week, which is also great.
Days of the Week through Poem and Books
Today is ___________________.
Today is ___________________.
All day long! All day long!
Yesterday was ___________________.
Tomorrow will be ____________________.
Oh what fun! Oh what fun!
Days of the Week Picture Books We Love
Our Favorite Day of the Week by Ash
ley Franklin, illustrated by Rahele Jomepour Bell
ley Franklin, illustrated by Rahele Jomepour BellIn this sweet story, Musa and his friends share their favorite day of the week. Each of their special days is marked by family and friendships. Learn the days of the week from a diverse perspective, celebrating a multitude of cultures. [picture book, ages 4 and up]
Today is Monday by Eric Carle
I can’t help but hear the song in my head when I read this book. If I could actually sing on key, it would be a fun book to sing to the kids.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Days of the week, counting, and the life cycle of a butterfly are concepts that are included in this classic picture book! The food that the caterpillar eats on Saturday, though, is our favorite part!
May I Bring a Friend? by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers
A polite little boy brings a menagerie of animals to meet his friends, the king, and the queen. And it rhymes!
Ma Dear’s Aprons by Patricia C. McKissack
Little David Earl always knows what day of the week it is. He can tell by the clean, snappy-fresh apron Ma Dear is wearing — a different color for every day. Monday means washing, with Ma Dear scrubbing at her tub in a blue apron. Tuesday is ironing, in a sunshine yellow apron that brightens Ma’s spirits. And so it goes until Sunday, when Ma Dear doesn’t have to wear an apron and they can set aside some special no-work time, just for themselves.
In their first collaboration, Newbery Honor author Patricia McKissack and award-winning illustrator Floyd Cooper lovingly recreate a slice of turn-of-the-century Southern life as it was for a single African-American mother and her son.
Tuesday by David Wiesner
Technically, this isn’t a day of the week book but Caldecott multi-winner David Wiesner is one of my favorite author/illustrators. Perhaps you can use this nearly wordless picture book of a fanciful sci-fi-like amphibian adventure in which frogs ride into town at night on lily pads. You can turn it into a day of the week book by asking kids why they think the book title is Tuesday and what day of the week would be best for this kind of adventure.
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p.s. More great Days of the Week books from Growing Book by Book.
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My books:
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Barbed Wire Between Us by Mia Wenjen, illustrated by Violeta Encarnación
- ⭐ Starred review from Kirkus
- ⭐ Starred review from Publishers Weekly
- ⭐ Starred review from School Library Journal
- Kirkus: The Most Anticipated Children’s Books of Spring 2026
Free and downloadable guide:
Barbed Wire Between Us Teacher’s Guide
Bookshop.org / Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Bookshop.org / Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
- California Eureka Non-Fiction Gold Award
- Junior Library Guild Gold Selection
- Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People Winner (from National Council for the Social Studies and Children’s Book Council)
The Traveling Taco:
- California Eureka Non-Fiction Silver Award
- Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People Winner (from National Council for the Social Studies and Children’s Book Council)
- Reading Rockets’ Summer Reading Guide 2025
Bookshop.org / Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Bookshop.org / Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
We Sing from the Heart: How the Slants® Took Their Fight for Free Speech to the Supreme Court
- ALSC Notable Children’s Book
- 2025 Carter G. Woodson Book Award Middle Level Honoree
- Orbis Pictus Recommended Book for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children
- 2024 Julia Ward Howe Prize for Children’s Literature Winner
- California Eureka Non-Fiction Award Honor Book
- Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People Winner (from National Council for the Social Studies and Children’s Book Council)
- Bank Street Best Children’s Books of the Year 2025
- Recommended Reading for the Social Justice Literature Award 2025 (International Literacy Association)
- Pennsylvania Mountain Laurel Book Award Nominee 2026-27
- Junior Library Guild Gold Selection
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Bookshop.org / Amazon / Barefoot Books / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World
- ⭐ Starred review from School Library Journal!
- Junior Library Guild Gold selection
- Massachusetts Book Award Long List
- dPICTUS 100 Outstanding Picture Books of 2023
- Chicago Library’s Best of the Best
- 2023 INDIES Book of the Year Awards Finalist
- Green Earth Book Award Long List
- Nautilus Silver Winner, Nonfiction Children’s Picture Book
- Sunshine State Young Readers Award Orange Blossom List for Nonfiction
- Imagination Soup’s 35 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023 for Kids
Bookshop.org / Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Bank Street College’s The Best Children’s Books of the Year
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Great theme for a book list! Actually just quizzed my daughter to make sure she knows them! We like The Hungry Caterpillar – & the others look good esp. May I bring a Friend.
To Ann,
I love May I Bring a Friend. First my son loved it, then he got sick of it, but it’s such a cute rhyming story that does double duty to teach days of the week and animals.