Traditional teaching placed the teacher at the center of the teaching process. The poverty of methods, the frontal way of working and the learning of facts did not stimulate the students' interest in learning. Many experts also saw this, and changes began to occur in the educational system. One of the new teaching models was problem-based teaching. Problem-based teaching gives the teacher the role of organizer of the lesson, and encourages students to be active in the teaching process itself. By presenting the students with a problem that they need to discover, define and solve, the students' thought processes actively participate in different combinations. In problem-based literature classes, students encounter a literary problem. Students experience such a problem emotionally and intellectually. In younger school age, the problem is shaped with reference to a literary character, and the literary problem is adapted to the level of the student's intellectual development. Problem picture books talk about problems from everyday life with a child as the main character. By reading problem picture books, students will notice how the main character tries to solve a problem and will be encouraged to think about solving the same problem themselves. Learning by discovering, defining, and solving problems encourages the development of critical thinking, problem-solving abilities, and creativity, and the knowledge gained through such learning is much more permanent. Critical thinking is indispensable in problem-based teaching, because without it we cannot see the problem, think about it more deeply, offer solutions, and then choose the best solution to the problem. We can develop it by listening, reading and writing. The aim of this thesis is to propose methodical possibilities for reading problematic picture books in the teaching of the Croatian language in younger school age. Analyzing the picture books showed the possibility of achieving the results of the cross-curricular topics Civic education and education, Personal and social development and Learning how to learn.