Kate Banks

Author Information
Kate Banks's Latest Book

Newest Release

  • Bibliography:
    45 Books (1 Series)
  • First Book:
    September 1991
  • Latest Book:
    October 2022
  • Author Rating:
  • Share:

Full Series List in Order

A Monkey Reader

Monkeys and Dog Days (Aug-2008)
Monkeys and the Universe (Apr-2009)

Book List in Order: 45 titles

  • The Bunnysitters

  • Peter and the Talking Shoes

  • Alphabet Soup

    Illus. in full color. "A fantasy-adventure takes place at the lunch table when a disgruntled boy refuses to eat his soup and daydreams instead. His reverie is shaped by the letters he pulls out of his soup, forming words that come alive: bear, sword,...

  • Spider, Spider

    As a young boy watchers a spider crawl across the floor and tells his mother he will become a spider, he and his mother tease each other back and forth about what he will do once he becomes a spider, and what she will do to him....

  • The Bird, the Monkey and the Snake in the Jungle

    This is a story in words and pictures about a bird, a monkey, and a snake who have an adventure together. Along the way they meet a family of squirrels, a hungry alligator, an enormous spider, a fierce tiger, and a friendly frog--and they find a new ...

  • Howie Bowles and Uncle Sam


    Is Howie in trouble with the IRS?

    On the same day that Howie Bowles finds out that he was born on Friday the thirteenth, his teacher tells him that he should pay more attention to numbers. Then he gets a phone call from the Internal Revenu...

  • The Night Worker

    Going to the job site with DadWhen darkness falls and bedtime comes, Papa tucks Alex in, then puts on his hard hat and goes to work. Papa is an engineer who works at night. "Take me with you," Alex says. "Not tonight," says Papa. But one night Papa h...

  • Howie Bowles, Secret Agent

    It's hard for Howie Bowles when his family moves to a new town -- what if the kids at school don't like him? "Just be yourself" is his mother's advice, but wouldn't it be easier to be somebody else? Howie doesn't plan on making his classmates believe...

  • A Gift from the Sea

    "Banks and Hallensleben make beautiful books together." -- American Bookseller

    A boy picks up a rock that he finds on the beach. He holds it in his hand, and admires it. He doesn't know that the rock has been on a great journey through time in...



  • Mama's Little Baby

    Baby coos loudly. He clucks his tongue. Mama clucks back. "You're a little chick," she says. In this lyrically, rhythmic text, a mother plays with her baby, copying the sounds and sights of his new world: the softly blowing wind, the sound of falling...

  • The Turtle and the Hippopotamus


    A fresh twist on trust and friendship

    In this rebus book, a turtle won’t swim across the river because she is afraid of the hippopotamus standing in the middle of it. She asks a bird, a grasshopper, some ants, and a possum what to do, bu...

  • Close Your Eyes

    A little tiger takes an imaginative journey

    The little tiger lay on his back in the tall grass.
    "Close your eyes, little tiger," said his mother, "and go to sleep."

    But the little tiger is worried about what sleep might bring.
    H...

  • Mama's Coming Home

    Mama’s back from work!

    “Mama’s coming home,” says Papa. And that’s all it takes to get this rambunctious household " two boys, a baby, a dog, and a cat " to settle down. As they pitch in, preparing dinner and straightening up the...

  • Baboon

    On his first trip into the world, a baby baboon meets a very slow turtle and concludes that the world is slow. But then, as his mother takes him farther afield, he sees much more: he watches a hungry crocodile, a thundering herd of elephants, a sw...

  • The Cat Who Walked Across France

    An unforgettable tour of France

    The cat and the old woman have lived happily together for many years in the stone house by the sea. But when the old woman dies, the cat is packed up with her belongings and sent north to the village where she...

  • Dillon Dillon

    What kind of parents would name their child Dillon Dillon?

    For his tenth birthday, Dillon's parents give him a red rowboat with his name painted on the stern: Dillon Dillon. Why did his parents give him a name like that? To Dillon, it seems ...

  • The Great Blue House

    An award-winning team again join their talents When summer ends, a family pack their suitcases and bid the big blue house farewell. All seems quiet. But soon the leaves change color; then comes the snow. A cat creeps into the house and curls up in th...

  • And if the Moon Could Talk

    It is night. Inside a house, a child is getting ready for bed. A hall light is switched on, toys and animals are settled in their places. Papa reads a story, Mama comes in to say good night, dreams wait to enter sleep...And if the moon could talk,...

  • Friends of the Heart

    A friendship transcends distance and time
    Ollie is a great whistler, while Lucrezia can’t whistle at all. Ollie has traveled the world, but Lucrezia is afraid of the dark and hates goodbyes. Yet, despite their differences, Ollie and Lucrezia hav...



  • Max's Words

    Max's brothers have grand collections that everyone makes a big fuss over. Benjamin collects stamps and Karl collects coins, and neither one will share with their little brother. So Max decides to start a collection of his own. He's going to colle...

  • Fox

    Against the rhythmic background of turning seasons, a little fox learns that there is a time for everything. The rain, the clouds, the days all come and go as the little fox, guided by his wise and loving parents, learns to hunt on his own and bur...

  • Lenny's Space

    Nine-year-old Lenny Brewster is captivated by the world - the mysteries of machines, the magic of snow, the pure joy of a perfect ride down a slippery slide. He knows a lot, but not how to share it with others. Of course, it doesn't help having an ab...

  • Max's Dragon

    Max is looking for words that rhyme. His dragon is in his wagon " or was, for now its tail has left a trail, which Max follows. He finds an umbrella on the ground― "Found, ground," he says, while his older brothers mock him for believing in dr...

  • Monkeys and Dog Days

    A Monkey Reader



    Max and his older brother, Pete, are getting a dog. A dog needs to be played with. That’s the fun part. But a dog also needs to be fed, bathed, and walked. Max and Pete promise to share the responsibilities. But when Fudge comes to live wit...

  • That's Papa's Way

  • Monkeys and the Universe

    A Monkey Reader

    Max’s older brother, Pete, is building a model of the solar system, and he won’t let Max help. It’s enough to make a little monkey feel like nothing more than a speck in the big, wide universe. But after a trip to the observatory, Max and Pete ...

  • What's Coming for Christmas?

    You can see it in the way the snowman's eyes sparkle. Hear it in the voices of carolers echoing in the streets, and in the sounds of children trimming the tree. You can feel it in the warm fire dancing in the hearth. Meanwhile, the mother hen hush...

  • The Eraserheads

    4 + 3 = 8?

    Whoops! That's not right.

    Looks like a job for the eraserheads!
    The three eraserheads―an owl, a crocodile, and a pig―live atop three pencils in the land of paper, rulers, letters, and numbers. Their job is to help a l...

  • This Baby

    Kate Banks’s lyrical poetry pairs with Gabi Swiatkowska’s playful dreamlike images to create this must-have book for all children who are about to be new siblings. While Mama’s busy knitting a wardrobe for her unborn baby, big sister is pre...



  • Max's Castle

    When Max finds a pile of forgotten toys under the bed, his brothers Benjamin and Karl wonder what’s so special about some old blocks. So Max shows them. With some clever twists of both blocks and imagination, he constructs not only a castle but an ...

  • The Magician's Apprentice

    Baz has always dreamed about following his two older brothers out of his dusty little town, so when a stranger comes to his family's home and asks him to be a weaver's apprentice, Baz is eager to start his journey. But when he reaches the village of ...

  • The Bear in the Book

    It's time for bed, and a little boy chooses his favorite book for his mother to read to him. The bear in the book is preparing for his own deep slumber, hibernating through the winter while humans and other animals explore the snowy landscape around ...

  • Thank You, Mama

    It was Alice’s birthday, and Alice’s mama and papa took her to the zoo. They bought Alice a pet parrot, an ice cream, and a flower. “Thank you, Mama,” said Alice. “Thank you, Mama,” said the parrot. But when they returned home and ...

  • Please, Papa

    Alice was making a farm in the middle of her bedroom. She asked Mama for a pig and chickens for her farm, but when Mama didn’t have a horse, Alice turned to her papa. “Please, Papa,” said Alice. “Okay,” said Papa, who, since Alice asked s...

  • City Cat

    A plucky stray cat takes a Grand Tour in Kate Banks' story of a family on a European vacation. As the family travels from one city to the next, the cat finds its own means--by bus, boat, train, truck, and bike--to tag along on the trip, visiting hist...

  • Max's Math

    Max and his two brothers hop into a car and go looking for problems they can solve. They cruise down highway number 4 on their way to Shapeville, but they see an abandoned number along the way. Is it a 6? Is it a 9? And what's it doing on the side of...

  • Boy's Best Friend

    Eleven-year-old George has a dog, Bart, who seems to know everything about him--from when he is feeling sad to when he will arrive home from school. George's new neighbor and classmate, Lester, also has a dog, Bill Gates, and Lester thinks he is the ...

  • Pup and Bear

    This deeply emotional read-aloud about a lost wolf pup who is raised by a loving polar bear is sure to resonate with families -- particularly non-traditional ones. "You are not my mother," said the wolf pup. "I am not your mother," said the pola...

  • How to Find an Elephant

    What to do on a dull gray day? Head into the wilds and look for an elephant. You will need a pair of binoculars, a blanket, a flute, some food, a little imagination, and a lot of curiosity. Look and listen closely, because elephants can be anywhere. ...



  • Rumble Grumble . . . Hush

    Where the Wild Things Are meets Chicka Chicka Boom Boom in this emotionally satisfying picture book tailor-made for reading aloud, which celebrates creativity and the power of imagination. In a spare, lyrical text, young listeners and readers wil...

  • Noah Builds an Ark

    A storm is coming -- a big one. How does a young urban boy prepare? A lovely allegorical story about ecology and caring inspired by the ancient tale of stewardship. While his family readies his townhouse for an approaching storm, boarding up win...

  • Lion Lullaby

    Follow ten lion cubs as they make their way home through the savanna in a lulling, lyrical read-aloud that gently introduces counting to young ones.Little lions everywhere listen to evening’s sounds.The wind is crying.Trees are sighing.It’...

  • Lost and Found

    A story of woodland creatures discovering a lost doll is transformed into the perfect parable of love in this sweet, timeless picture book for fans of Corduroy and The Velveteen Rabbit.The wood mouse and the rabbit find a rag doll in the woods. Nothi...

  • The Winter Bird

    Forest animals help an injured nightingale survive the winter in a comforting story of friendship and resilience, lyrically told and gorgeously illustrated. As the days grow shorter and the air becomes colder, the spring birds fly south for winter --...

  • Walk Softly, Rachel

    • / General Fiction
    • Buy Buy

    Fourteen-year-old Rachel remembers little about her brother, Jake, except that he died in a car accident when she was seven and he was seventeen. Her parents rarely talk about him, but his presence in the family can be felt and his room has been left...

Award-Winning Books by Kate Banks

Max's Words
2006 Parents Choice Award (Fall) (1998-2007) -- Recommended


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Kate Banks has published 45 books.

Kate Banks does not have a new book coming out soon. The latest book, The Winter Bird, was published in October 2022.

The first book by Kate Banks, The Bunnysitters, was published in September 1991.

Yes. Kate Banks has 1 series.
Author Series
Top Authors in Fantasy
No ads, please...

$20 / year

FictionDB Premium Membership

Subscribe