Hi! My DD3.5 is passionate about languages and adores books, esp. chapter books/book series/books by the same author, etc. We went through the Frog and Toad series and now she's IN LOVE with Beatrix Potter. She can't read them herself yet, but she has memorized many of the stories (i.e. The Tale of Jeremy Fisher) word for word. She adores the old-fashioned language of the Beatrix Potter stories and cross examined us extensively as to why the words were different, their meaning, etc. until she understood and now she'll explain it to us as she recites the books verbally by memory or we read them to her. It's really sweet how much she is in love with these books-- she tries to comfort the characters when they are in trouble and we have to prop the stories open to a favorite page and put it next to her bed when she goes to sleep. She just begs and begs for us to read them to her (we once read Jeremy Fisher to her 7 times in a row before we pooped out and she was crushed that we stopped). Just thought I'd throw it out to the forum-- anything your kids loved at this age that my DD might go for? Beatrix Potter will hold us for a while yet, but I've got to get something else up my sleeve! Thanks!

Pooh.

Jan Brett's lovely illustrated children's books might also appeal to her.

You should know, though, that there really is nothing quite like those amazing watercolors and stories with their personified animal characters. We're a household of big Beatrix Potter fans.

Also good for read-aloud (and with a similar "feel") Kate DiCamillo's Edward Tulane and some of L. Frank Baum's Oz books. Mary Poppins (though some of that is too 'human' probably). Alice in Wonderland, if you can find one with nice illustrations-- I liked a version that we had with Helen Oxenbury watercolors. It was really lovely.

Old Mother West Wind

Winnie the Pooh

What about James Harriot's Treasury for Children? It's got beautiful illustrations and touching stories. There is also Mercy Watson, a more modern story by Kate DiCamilla, with illustrations every page for younger kids. Frog and Toad might also appeal to her.

I saw an article on NPR recently about Emma Thompson continuing the Peter Rabbit stories. I haven't read any of them yet, but in her NPR interview she raved to the point of waxing lyrical about how much she loved the Beatrix Potter books when she was a child and what an honor it was to be chosen to continue the stories. You may want to check out the NPR interview?

Emma Thompson Revives Anarchist 'Peter Rabbit'

Wonderful suggestions, everyone!!! Thank you so much! I will definitely check them out! And glad to know that other folks like the Beatrix Potter as much as my DD. A funny side note-- my DD is very overexcitable, and has a lot of funny reactions to things, one of which is trembling when she's excited. She was trembling when we got out the Beatrix Potter last night.

Rosemary Wells books

Chapter Books to Grow Into
--------------------------
The Rescuers
101 Dalmations (the original novel, not anything Disneyfied)
The Wind in the Willows (though I think I understood that one better after I'd been to college, where I met Toad. I didn't meet Badger until graduate school.)
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
A Rat's Tale

OK, yeah. I'm showing my pro-rodent bias here!

That is absolutely beautiful - she sounds like an angelic soul

Loving these book suggestions!!! Thanks so much! And, CCN-- yes, she's a total sweetheart (from an unbiased Mommy perspective, of course --when she's not screaming!! heehee

I was going to recommend Winnie 'der' Pooh, too. Beatrix Potter's stories were our favs between the ages of 3-6. We too loved Old Mother West Wind (and most Burgess Books) and Herriot's Treasury. I would also recommend The Original Mother Goose and A Child's Garden of Verses. The 'when' of these depends on the child, but my YS loved all of these in the 3-7 year age range.

Here are some shorter picture books which have good *ideas*, as well as good language in them. I'll start off with my favorite children's book; I *heart* Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran and Barbara Cooney.

The Story of Little Babaji by Helen Bannerman
Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney
The Little House by Virginia Burton
The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack
Make Way For Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey
Blueberries for Sal by McCloseky (esp. if you make the noises as you read them! *wink*)

Hope this helps!

headed to the library now, thanks!!!

My DD loves Beatrix Potter as well. Maybe you can download them as an audiobook? I know we have seen some of the tales narrated on Youtube.

DD also adores language. She was the same with Shrek by William Stieg with words like churlish knave, smote, and blithe. It is a very good book that I ended up downloading for her to listen to over and over and over.

The Mercy Watson series also has a lot of great vocab.

And, our very favorites, a few novels written by William Stieg (same as above) are filled with rich vocabulary-- Abel's Island, Dominic, and The Real Thief. We have read a couple of these twice. They are much more complex, so you might have to wait. I think they are at about a 4th or 5th grade level, so a bit beyond Charlotte's Web or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

My DD, now 6, was obsessed with Beatrix Potter at that age as well. It was great for vocabulary too. I remember someone talking to her at a store at 3 and my DD used the word impertinent (thanks to Squirrel Nutkin) and the woman's eyes widened.