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.
Did you find this review helpful?
Parent Categories
Personification Stories
32 Items found Print
Active Filters: Preschool (Ages 4-5)
Caboose Who Got Loose
by Bill Peet
from Sandpiper Books
Personification Stories for Preschool-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.99
Choo Choo
by Virginia Lee Burton
from Houghton Mifflin
Personification Stories for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.99
Corduroy
by Don Freeman
from Puffin Books
Personification Stories for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.99
Corduroy
by Don Freeman
from Viking Press
Personification Stories for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Go, Train, Go!
by Elizabeth Terrill, Rev. W. Awdry
from Random House Books for Young Readers
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Beginner Books (Location: EAR-BB)
$5.00 (2 in stock)
Gregory's Shadow
by Don Freeman
from Puffin Books
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.99
Holiday for Edith and the Bears
by Dare Wright
from Doubleday & Company
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Jennifer and Josephine
by Bill Peet
from Houghton Mifflin
Personification for Preschool-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.99
Little Engine That Could
by Watty Piper, Cristina Ong (Illustrator)
1st edition from Philomel Books
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Little Engine That Could - Original Edition
by Watty Piper
from Platt and Munk Publishers
Personification Stories for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.99
Little Fir Tree
by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Barbara Cooney
from Harper & Row
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Little House
by Virginia Lee Burton
from Sandpiper Books
Personification Stories for Preschool-3rd grade
1943 Caldecott Medal winner
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.99 $4.00 (1 in stock)
Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge
by Hildegarde H. Swift & Lynd Ward
from Houghton Mifflin
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.99
Little Toot
by Hardie Gramatky
from Penguin Putnam
Personification Stories for Nursery-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99
Little Toot on the Thames
by Hardie Gramatky
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Lonely Doll
by Dare Wright
from Doubleday & Company
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Pocket for Corduroy
by Don Freeman
from Puffin Books
Personification Stories for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.99
Smokey
by Bill Peet
from Houghton Mifflin
Rhyming / Personification for Preschool-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.99
Steadfast Tin Soldier
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by P. J. Lynch
from Andersen Press
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Steadfast Tin Soldier
by Adrian Mitchell, Hans Christian Andersen
from DK Publishing
for Preschool-1st grade
Steadfast Tin Soldier
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by P. J. Lynch
from Gulliver Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Story of the Nutcracker
by Robert Mathias
from Crescent Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Teddy Bears' Picnic
by Jimmy Kennedy
from Aladdin Paperbacks
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99
Velveteen Rabbit
by Margery Williams, illustrated by Michael Green
from Running Press
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Velveteen Rabbit
by Margery Williams, illustrated by Robyn Officer
Reprint. from Barnes & Noble
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Velveteen Rabbit
by Margery Williams Bianco, illustrated by Donna Green
from Smithmark Publishers
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Velveteen Rabbit
by Margery Williams, illustrated by Elizabeth Miles
from Cartwheel Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Velveteen Rabbit
by Margery Williams
from Doubleday Book For Young Readers
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Velveteen Rabbit
by Margery Williams
from Health Communications, Inc.
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Velveteen Rabbit
by Margery Williams Bianco, illustrated by Donna Green
from Vermillion, Inc
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
Velveteen Rabbit
by Margery Williams
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Velveteen Rabbit
by Margery Williams
from Dragonfly Books
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$4.00 (1 in stock)