Metafiction for Kids


A while ago I had a patron who was looking for metafiction picture books for a children's literature class. I had so much fun looking up titles that could work that I kept going long after (and I mean LONG after) finding enough books for him. I put together a list of books for the rest of my staff in case we get this question again and I'm sharing with you all too. I will note that this in no way a complete list of all metafiction books but simply ones we happen to own at my branch. I hope this will be useful for reference and collection development purposes. I happen to be a fan of metafiction myself, so please share in the comments if you have a favorite title not on the list and I'd love to read it!

To start us off, I loved the definition of "metafiction" from What Do We Do All Day:  A metafictional text is one that subverts traditional, straightforward storytelling.

Okay, here we go!

Easies
E-Ahlberg-The Bravest Ever Bear (c1999)
E-Ahlberg-The Pencil (c2008)
E-Barnett-Chloe and the Lion (c2012)
E-Barnett-Count the Monkeys (c2012)
E-Black-The Purple Kangaroo (c2010)
E-Bingham- Z is for Moose (c2012)
E-Byrne-This Book Just Ate My Dog (c2014)
E-Cabatingan-Musk Oz Counts (c2013)
E-Catalanotto-Ivan The Terrier (c2007)
E-Czekaj-Cat Secrets (c2011)
E-Freedman-Blue Chicken (c2011)
E-Freedman-By Mouse and Frog (c2015) 
E-Gravett-Again (c2013)
E-Gravett-Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears (c2008)
E-Gravett-Wolves (c2006) 
E-Hopkinson-Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek (c2008)
E-Johnson-Harold and the Purple Crayons (c1955)
E-Klausmeier-Open This Little Book (c2013)
E-LaRochelle-It’s a Tiger (c2013)
E-Lehman-The Red Book (c2004)
E-Lehrhaupt-Warning: Do Not Open This Book (c2013)
E-Lendler-An Undone Fairy Tale (c2005) 
E-Macauly-Black and White (c1990)
E-McDonell-A Perfectly Messed Up Story (c2014)
E-McKinlay-No Bears (c2012)
E-Nesbitt—More Bears (c2010) 
E-Novak-The Book With No Pictures (c2014)
E-O’Byrne- Open Very Carefully: A book with bite (c2013)
E-O’Malley-Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude (c2005)
E-O’Malley-Once Upon a Royal Superbaby (c2010)
E-Panzieri-The Kindhearted Crocodile (c2013)
E-Perry-The Book That Eats People (c2009)
E-Rubin-The Big Bad Bubble (c2014)
E-Schwarz-Is There a Dog in this Book? (c2014) 
E-Schwarz-There are Cats in this Book (c2008)
E-Schwarz-There are No Cats in this Book (c2010)
E-Scieszka-Battle Bunny (c2013)
E-Scieszka-The Frog Prince, Continued (c1991)
E-Scieszka-The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales (c1992)
E-Sesame-The Monster at the End of this Book (c1971) 
E-Smith-It’s a Book (c2010)
E-Tullet-Help! We Need a Title (c2014)
E-Van Allsburg-Bad Day at Riverbend (c1995)
E-Watt-Chester (c2007)  on order March 2015.
E-Watt-Chester’s Back (c2008)
E-Watt- Chester’s Masterpiece (c2010)
E-Watt-You’re Finally Here! (c2011)
E-Wiesner- The Three Pigs (c2001)
E-Yates-Dog Loves Drawing (c2012)

Early Readers
ER-Willems-We are in a Book (c2010)

Chapter Books
JFIC ANDERSON-Whales on Stilts (c2005)
JFIC BOSCH-The Name of This Book is Secret (c2007)
JFIC Bruel-Bad Kitty Drawn to Trouble (c2014)
JFIC FUNKE-Inkheart (c2003) plus sequels Inkspell (c2005) and Inkdeath (c2008)
JFIC GIDWITZ: Grimm series
JFIC GRIFFITHS-The 13-Story Treehouse (c2013)
JFIC GRIFFITHS-The 26-Story Treehouse (c2014)
J FIC HORVATH-The Pepins and their Problems (c2004)
JFIC SNICKET-A Series of Unfortunate events
JFIC WILLINGHAM- Down the Mysterly River (c2011)
JFIC VIORST- Lulu series

Sources consulted (thank you to everyone!): 

Children's Literature at the Social Sciences, Health, and Education Library
Metafiction Pinterest Board
NoveList K-8
Seth's Shelfari
What Do We Do All Day

Image source: Open Clip Art

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