Stories for Growing
Cover of WaitingAges 3 to 6
Handling big feelings

Waiting

Kevin Henkes

Ages 3 to 6
About this age guidance

Kirkus: 3-6

The age tag follows Review age ranges. Other sources may suggest different ages. This is audience guidance, not an independent reading level.

Lists it among picture books about patience.

Each toy is shown waiting for its own weather or sky event; the rabbit is content to watch without waiting for anything. When the rain the pig waits for arrives, she is happy under her umbrella: the wait pays off in a small way. Wordless pages carry the toys through wind, rain and the seasons while they stay put on the sill. A thunderstorm frightens the toys, who huddle with wide eyes. A toy elephant visits, falls and breaks, and never returns; Shelf Awareness calls it the book's most gasp-worthy moment. A patched cat joins; the toys welcome her and wait to see what she is waiting for, which turns out to be four nesting kittens inside her. Ten toys sit together watching butterflies around a flowering branch.

Good forWaiting

Recommended by Multnomah County Library staff list

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What children see in the story

Each toy is shown waiting for its own weather or sky event; the rabbit is content to watch without waiting for anything. Wordless pages carry the toys through wind, rain and the seasons while they stay put on the sill.

Why it’s on these shelves

Handling big feelings
Five toys sit on a windowsill, each waiting for something: rain, wind, snow or the moon. The rabbit just likes looking out the window. They stay put through storms and seasons and see each thing arrive.

Why pick it up?

A Caldecott and Geisel Honor book: quiet, small pictures of five toys watching the weather change.

A note for parents

Very quiet book with long wordless stretches; younger children may need you to narrate the pictures. A toy elephant falls, breaks and doesn't come back, and a thunderstorm scares the toys; be ready to talk about either. It models calm waiting rather than a child learning to be patient, so it suits a 'let's just sit and look' moment more than an impatient-meltdown moment.

Where this recommendation comes from

Multnomah County Library staff list

Lists it among picture books about patience.

Read Multnomah County Library’s recommendation
Sources and review status

We checked professional reviews and parent or educator accounts of the story, including how it ends. We have not personally read the full book.

Publisher or literacy resource · Original recommendation

Our explanation of the value fit is separate from the original reviewer’s judgment. Their inclusion here does not imply an endorsement of Stories for Growing.

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