Personification Stories

Stories about ordinary children having incredible adventures are all well and good, but sometimes what we really need are stories about the crazy things a tug boat might do, or a teddy bear, or a piece of string. It's the appeal of literature—a good book shows us the world from a different perspective, sometimes even a shocking one, and what's more different than a toy or a pickup who can talk and think?

For a kid, maybe not much. So much is new and surprising to the young that animals or chairs with personality doesn't seem strange, at least no more strange than many other things adults find more common. Which is precisely why children should be allowed to read personification stories (stories about non-human beings or objects with human qualities).

If you want your progeny to have vivid imaginations, why not offer them the kind of reading that will promote creativity and curiosity? But we don't want them retreating into a fantasy world of their own creation, you may object. No caring parent does—but everyone should want their kids to be interested in the people and world around them. A fresh view can lead to a lifetime of investigation.

Not that toaster ovens really get up and leave the junkyard, but the possibility is what enthralls kids (and, often enough, adults). We've tried to select only the best personification stories, particularly those that actually have something to impart to readers besides entertainment value. For older readers, most of the really good personification stories are animal fantasy, another category we suggest for your enjoyment.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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Parent Categories
Personification Stories
36 Items found Print
Active Filters: 5th grade (Ages 10-11)
Adventures of Pinocchio
Illustrated Junior Library Series 3
by Carlo Collodi, translated by M.A. Murray and illustrated by Fritz Kredel
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Adventures of Pinocchio
Illustrated Junior Library Series 1
by Carlo Collodi, translated by M.A. Murray and illustrated by Fritz Kredel
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-8th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-IJL)
Adventures of Pinocchio
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Carlo Collodi, translated by M.A. Murray and illustrated by Fritz Kredel
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-8th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-IJL)
Adventures of Pinocchio
Illustrated Junior Library Series 4
by Carlo Collodi, translated by M.A. Murray and illustrated by ??
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Adventures of Pinocchio
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Carlo Collodi, translated by M.A. Murray and illustrated by Fritz Kredel
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-8th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-IJL)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Adventures of Pinocchio
by Carlo Collodi, translated by M.A. Murray and illustrated by Charles Folkard
from David McKay Company
for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Adventures of Pinocchio
by Carlo Collodi, illustrated by Robert Ingpen
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Adventures of Pinocchio
Travel and Adventure Library for Young Folks
by Carlo Collodi, translated and adapted by Angelo Patri and illustrated by Mary Liddell
from Doubleday, Doran & Company Inc.
Fantasy for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Doll People
by Ann M. Martin & Laura Godwin, illustrated by Brian Selznick
Reprint from Hyperion/Madison Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$8.00 (2 in stock)
Doll People Set Sail
Doll People Book 4
by Ann M. Martin & Laura Godwin, illustrated by Brett Helquist
Reprint from Hyperion/Madison Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Floating Island
by Anne Parrish, illustrated by "Mr. Doll"
from Harper & Brothers
for 3rd-6th grade
1931 Newbery Honor Book
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Hitty
by Rachel Field
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Personification story for 4th-8th grade
1930 Newbery Medal winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$5.99
Hitty: Her First Hundred Years
by Rachel Field, illustrated by Dorothy P. Lathrop
1969 printing from Macmillan
for 5th-9th grade
1930 Newbery Medal Winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Meanest Doll in the World
by Ann M. Martin & Laura Godwin, illustrated by Brian Selznick
from Hyperion/Madison Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Meanest Doll in the World
by Ann M. Martin & Laura Godwin, illustrated by Brian Selznick
from Hyperion/Madison Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
by Kate DiCamillo
from Candlewick Press
Personification for 4th-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$14.99
Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
by Kate DiCamillo
from Candlewick Press
Personification for 4th-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Miss Hickory
by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey
from Puffin Books
Personification story for 3rd-7th grade
1947 Newbery Medal winner
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$2.50 (3 in stock)
Paddington Treasury
by Michael Bond, illustrated by R. W. Alley
1st edition from HarperCollins
for 2nd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$27.99
Pinocchio
Puffin Classics
by Carlo Collodi, translated by E. Hardin and illustrated by Gioia Fiammenghi
from Puffin Books
Fantasy for 3rd-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$2.50 (4 in stock)
Pinocchio
by Carlo Collodi, translated by M. A. Murray and illustrated by Greg Hildebrandt
from Unicorn Publishing House
for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Pinocchio
Sterling Classics
by Carlo Collodi, illustrated by Scott McKowen
Unabridged from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 3rd-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Pinocchio
Junior Deluxe Editions
by Carlo Collodi, translated by M. A. Murray and illustrated by Roberta MacDonald
from Junior Deluxe Editions
Fantasy for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Pinocchio
Children's Classics
by Carlo Collodi, translated by M.A. Murray and illustrated by Charles Folkard
from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
for 3rd-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Pinocchio
Rainbow Classics
by Carlo Collodi, translated by Joseph Walker and illustrated by Richard Floethe
from World Publishing Company
Fantasy for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Pinocchio
by Carlo Collodi, illustrated by Alice Carsey
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Fantasy for 3rd-8th grade
$16.95
Pinocchio
Windermere Readers #2
by Carlo Collodi, illustrated by Esther Friend
from Rand McNally
Fantasy for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Pinocchio
Windermere Series 4
by Carlo Collodi, illustrated by Esther Friend
from Rand McNally
Fantasy for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Pinocchio
by Carlo Collodi, translated by M. A. Murray and illustrated by Roberto Innocenti
from Creative Editions
Fantasy for 3rd-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Raggedy Ann and Andy and the Camel with the Wrinkled Knees
by Johnny Gruelle
from Bobbs-Merril Co
for 2nd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Wild Robot
by Peter Brown
from Little, Brown & Company
for 2nd-5th grade
in Science Fiction (Location: FIC-SCI)
Wild Robot
Wild Robot #1
by Peter Brown
from Little, Brown & Company
for 2nd-5th grade
in Science Fiction (Location: FIC-SCI)
$8.99
Wild Robot - 2 book Gift Set
Wild Robot #1 and #2
by Peter Brown
from Little, Brown & Company
for 2nd-5th grade
in Science Fiction (Location: FIC-SCI)
Wild Robot Escapes
Wild Robot #2
by Peter Brown
from Little, Brown & Company
for 2nd-5th grade
in Science Fiction (Location: FIC-SCI)
Wild Robot Escapes
by Peter Brown
from Little, Brown & Company
for 2nd-5th grade
in Science Fiction (Location: FIC-SCI)
$8.99
Wild Robot Protects
Wild Robot #3
by Peter Brown
from Little, Brown & Company
for 2nd-5th grade
in Science Fiction (Location: FIC-SCI)