Top Ten Picture Books That Teach Cause And Effect By Abi Cushman

Using picture books is a fun way to teach children about cause and effect. Understanding cause and effect helps kids develop critical thinking, literacy, and science skills. Here are my favorite picture books that use cause and effect in an engaging way. These books also provide a great model so kids can create their own stories based on different cause and effect structures.

THE QUIET FOREST by Charlotte Offsay and Abi Cushman
(Paula Wiseman Books)

In this funny picture book, a mischievous mouse swings on a vine and crashes into a stack of pancakes, which then sets off a chaotic chain of events. A rabbit gets rattled and runs into a beaver, who then falls into a lake and splashes a deer, and so on and so on. Kids can create their own sequence of events that results from a mischievous mouse swinging on a vine. It’s also a great discussion starter about how chaos can snowball, but kindness can too when everyone pays it forward.

ON ACCOUNT OF THE GUM by Adam Rex

(Chronicle Books)

This hilarious story follows a girl who falls asleep chewing gum and wakes up with the wad stuck in her hair. In an attempt to remove the gum, her family tries using scissors. And then the scissors get stuck! More and more objects get stuck in her hair as the story escalates. This would be a fun mentor text for kids to imagine their own silly solutions to removing the gum from the girl’s hair.

LLAMA DESTROYS THE WORLD by Jonathan Stutzman and Heather Fox

(Henry Holt)

In this laugh-out-loud book, Llama makes one mistake (eating too much cake) which leads to another mistake and then another, which ultimately results in a blackhole that destroys the world. Kids could think of their own ridiculous chain of events that leads to the ultimate demise of the universe. 

INVENT-A-PET by Vicky Fang and Tidawan Thaipinnarong
(Union Square Kids)

In this fun STEM book, a girl gets a machine that creates custom pets based on a combination of three items she puts in. She tries lots of different items, and each time, a different one-of-a-kind animal, like a purple monkey, rainbow-spotted horse, or green bunny, pops out! But how do the different items cause each animal to be made? Kids can draw their own fantastical pets and determine which combination of items they would need in order to create them.

MY PET FEET by Josh Funk and Billy Yong

(Simon & Schuster)

In this zany story, the letter R suddenly goes missing. A little girl’s pet ferret becomes her pet feet, a flock of crows become a flock of cows, and she can’t get into the town hall building because the door has become doo. This is a fun way to incorporate cause and effect into wordplay. Kids can think of how other words change their meaning when you remove the letter R.

I AM A BABY by Bob Shea

(Candlewick)

This funny book brings to light all the changes that come with the arrival of a new baby. In this way, there is one cause, the presence of a baby, and many effects: The mom is sleepy, the daddy is stubbly, the clothes aren’t folded, the kitty is hiding. Kids could write their own story in this format based on a life event they’ve experienced. For example, instead of the refrain, “Because I am a baby” they could write one with the refrain, “Because I have a new dog” or “Because I have a new brother.”

IF YOU WAKE A SKUNK by Carol Doeringer and Florence Weiser
(Sleeping Bear Press)

In this fun rhyming book, we see what happens when kids accidentally wake a skunk. What should they do? Run. But what if they don’t? What does the skunk do next? In this informational cause and effect story, kids learn all the warning signs skunks give before they spray. It’s the perfect book to pair with an animal behavior unit and a good lesson for kids if they ever encounter a skunk in the wild.

WHALE FALL: Exploring an Ocean-Floor Ecosystem by Melissa Stewart and Rob Dunlavey
(Random House Studio)

This informational book details what happens after a whale dies. First the hagfish come, then the sleeper sharks arrive to feed on the meat. Once all the meat is gone, more ocean dwellers come to feast on the bones. Each round of feeding allows the next round of organisms to come find a meal, until the whale is completely gone. This is a wonderful book to use when discussing cause and effect as it pertains to ecosystems.

ONE DAY THIS TREE WILL FALL by Leslie Barnard Booth and Stephanie Fizer Coleman
(Margaret K. McElderry Books)

This engaging, lyrical story follows the lifecycle of a tree, as it takes root as a seed, survives a forest fire and logging, and becomes a home to many kinds of wildlife. But as the title suggests, one day the tree will fall, and when it does, it continues to be a host and a source of food to a variety of organisms as the log decays in the woods. This book would work well with a plant lifecycle unit. Kids could plant seeds in a variety of conditions and see which ones grow and which ones don’t. They could also observe what happens to a plant as it dies and decays over time.

IF TIGERS DISAPPEARED by Lily Williams
(Roaring Brook Press)

This fact-filled book chronicles what would happen if tigers went extinct. Since tigers are apex predators, the large mammals that tigers eat would become overpopulated. And then those mammals would eat all the vegetation. The story continues with the chain reaction, and we see the total impact on the ecosystem if tigers disappeared. It’s a great way to talk about how our actions can negatively affect the environment but how we can also enact positive change as well.

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Abi Cushman is the author-illustrator of funny picture books, including WOMBATS ARE PRETTY WEIRD, ANIMALS GO VROOM! and SOAKED!. She is the illustrator of THE QUIET FOREST (written by Charlotte Offsay). Abi has also worked as a web designer for over 15 years, and runs two popular websites of her own: MyHouseRabbit.com, a pet rabbit care resource, and AnimalFactGuide.com, which was named a Great Website for Kids by the American Library Association. In her spare time, Abi enjoys running, playing tennis, and eating nachos. (Yes, at the same time.) She lives on the Connecticut shoreline with her family.

To learn more about Abi and her books, visit her website at AbiCushman.com. If you like secrets, exclusive sneak peeks, wombats, and special giveaways, subscribe to her newsletter.