Hi everyone - I have been asked to create stickies for threads with lists of book recommendations gathered from member posts for different age ranges (0-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12, 13+). Here is the thread for the 3-5 age range.
Glad to see this list!
Our DD loved reading Milly Molly Mandy by Joyce Lankester Brisley when she was 3-4. Amazon lists several versions as available and one does need to double check which stories are included in which book to avoid repetition. These books are quite retro and have no "scary" elements, bad language, or violence. Good for the advanced young reader as the stories have more advanced vocabulary.
For fiction: A bunch of books by Amy Krouse Rosenthal (Spoon, Exclamation Mark, Little Pea/Little Oink/Little Hoot, This Plus That, Wumbers), Stuck by Oliver Jeffers, Penrose the Mathematical Cat (for mathy kids), We just found a really cool book called The Numberlys by William Joyce...he also wrote The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore, which is fabulous. Math Curse (and Science Curse, to a lesser extent) by Jon Scieszka. If I think of any more I'll add them later.
We also like a lot of non-fiction over here, examples being the scholastic read-about-science books.
Some favorites of ours:
Bill Peet's picture books
Blueberries for Sal and other Robert McCloskey books
James Marshall's fairy tale retellings, and George and Martha by Marshall
Frog and Toad, and other easy readers by Arnold Lobel
The Story of Ferdinand—Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson
Millions of Cats—Wanda Gag
The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge--Hildegarde H. Swift
The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes—DuBose Heyward
Roxaboxen—Barbara Cooney
Miss Rumphius—Barbara Cooney
Rosemary Wells' picture books (watch out for knock-offs based on TV series)
Kevin Henkes' picture books
Angus and the Ducks (and sequels)—Marjorie Flack
Stellaluna—Janell Cannon
Verdi—Janell Cannon
Leo Lionni's picture books
Some Dogs Do (can be read as a gifted theme)--Jez Alborough
Elephant and Piggie series by Mo Willems
Pigeon series by Mo Willems
Henry and Mudge series by Cynthia Rylant
Magic School Bus series
Wet Dog by Elise Broach (David Catrow has become our favorite illustrator)
My DS5 actually really likes the Fancy Nancy book series by
O'Connor, Jane/ Preiss-Glasser, Robin
They are very colorful and engaging visually,and he's learning "fancy" words in a fun way.
Hi everyone - I have been asked to create stickies for threads with lists of book recommendations gathered from member posts for different age ranges (0-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12, 13+). Here is the thread for the 3-5 age range.
Thanks Mark!
Picture books illustrated and written by Brian Floca
Mercy Watson by DiCamillo
Bink and Gollie by DiCamillo
Nate the Great by Marjorie
Dodsworth books by Tim Egan (my favorite!)
Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg (a must have at age age but it really clicked at age 3 for DD)
Mr. Putter and Tabby series by Cynthia Rylant
Oliver Pig and Amanda Pig series by Jean Van Leuwen
Bubba and Beau series by Kathi Appelt
Fiction
Lost+Found by Oliver Jeffers
The Dark by Lemony Snicket/Jon Klassen
Billy and Blaze series by C. W. Andersen
Non-fiction:
Pierre the Penguin: A True Story by Jean Marzollo
The Planet Hunter: What Happened to Pluto by Elizabeth Rusch and Guy Francis
The Glorious Flight: Across the Channel with Louis Bleriot by Alice Provensen
Barnum's Bones: How Barnum Brown Discovered the Most Famous Dinosaur in the World by Tracey Fern
The Great Horse-Less Carriage Race by Michael Dooling
The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins by Barbara Kerley
The Secret Cave: Discovering Lascaux by Emily Arnold McCully
Honda: The Boy Who Dreamed of Cars by Mark Weston
James Herriot's Treasury for Children: Warm and Joyful Tales by the Author of Every Living Thing
How Much is a Million by David M. Schwartz
And of course anything by Dr. Seuss.
I've agreed to organize the list. I'll collect suggestions for a few days & then post the list, which will be updated periodically.
Thanks for the great suggestions so far! Keep them coming!
Butterfly Count—Sneed Collard
The Story of the Root Children—Sibylle Olfers
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (and more)—Bernard Waber
The Paper Bag Princess—Robert N. Munsch
The Story of Babar (and more)—Jean de Brunhoff
How Groundhog's Garden Grew—Lynne Cherry
The Little Island—Margaret Wise Brown and Leonard Weisgard
The Little House—Virginia Lee Burton
Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type—Doreen Cronin
Princess Smartypants—Babette Cole
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble—William Steig
Petunia—Roger Duvoisin
Miss Nelson is Missing—Harry Allard
The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses—Paul Goble
The Egg Tree—Katherine Milhous
Borka, The Adventures of a Goose with No Feathers—John Burningham
When I Was Young in the Mountains—Cynthia Rylant
Beryl's Box—Lisa Taylor
Emma Kate—Patricia Polacco
Insects are My Life and Reptiles are My Life—Megan McDonald
Amos & Boris—William Steig
Bently and Egg—William Joyce
Diary of a Worm (and others in series)—Doreen Cronin and Harry Bliss
Scaredy Squirrel (and others in series)—Melanie Watt
Just so stories - Kipling
The story of ping - Marjorie flack
Beatrix potter peter rabbit collection ( in original language rather than amended)
My dd4 loves these books because the stories are sweet but the language is lyrical and in the case of potter and Kipling very rich
I would mark these with "Caution" or "YMMV," particularly for the very young age group. All three are rather grim in their different ways. Some children may pick up on the disturbing implications and others may not.
Just so stories - Kipling
The story of ping - Marjorie flack
Beatrix potter peter rabbit collection ( in original language rather than amended)
My dd4 loves these books because the stories are sweet but the language is lyrical and in the case of potter and Kipling very rich
I would mark these with "Caution" or "YMMV," particularly for the very young age group. All three are rather grim in their different ways. Some children may pick up on the disturbing implications and others may not.
Just so stories - Kipling
The story of ping - Marjorie flack
Beatrix potter peter rabbit collection ( in original language rather than amended)
My dd4 loves these books because the stories are sweet but the language is lyrical and in the case of potter and Kipling very rich
I guess so, I'd struggle to read these to an older child though. I think a lot of the issues that come up in the book are more to do with old fashion values and gentle intro to some of the harsh realities of life - which in times gone by was generally done through story telling - I have to admit though that even though my DD understand the subtext of the stories she is not the most sensitive child in the world.
We borrowed this from the library and DD would have really enjoyed it a year ago:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0746085346/ref=rdr_ext_tmbI think this is part of a reading series. I'm going to see if I can borrow other books from the series.
We read a ton of Berenstain Bears and Angelina Ballerina. Although, my daughter will read almost anything. She even reads the captioning off the TV, lol. She's 3.5 now but we've been reading these for a while. She still can't read these books super smoothly by herself, but she'll read most of it. I love all these suggestions; I'm going to have to make a list!
Early reader series:
Frog & Toad
Poppleton
Mr. Putter & Tabby
Picture Books:
"My First Little House" books
DS4 loves all the Magic School Bus picture books, but especially the earlier ones, and the chapter books.
Astronomy:
Jump Into Science: The Moon
One Giant Leap: The Story of Neil Armstrong
Bad Kitty books
DS4 is currently obsessed with "The Tale of Despereaux: The Graphic Novel"
Another series DD would have loved when she was on her book binge at age 3:
http://www.amazon.com/Mouse-Mole-Perfect-Halloween-Story/dp/0547551525The tone is really sweet, much like Frog & Toad but it's probably slightly harder to read than F & T.
There are some great ones already mentioned in this thread! DS4.5 has just started the Captain Underpants series (about which I am feeling conflicted - the indulgence in rip roaring potty humor is worth the laughter and confidence he's demonstrating). He also enjoyed Eerie Elementary (a good one for Halloween holiday fun). Over the past 2 years he's much enjoyed these too:
many of the Magic Tree House books
Roald Dahl (especially James and the Giant Peach) read together
Mr. Men and Miss books (Mr. Impossible, Mr. Forgetful...)
Magic School Bus books
Dodson series
Poppleton books
Mercy Watson series
Frog and Toad series
Mr. Putter and Tabby books
Oliver Jeffers books
Danny and the Dinosaur
Judy Viorst's Alexander books
Harold and the Purple crayon books
Morris the Moose books
Fly Guy ;)books
and Elephant and Piggie books - one of which was his first independently read. I'll never forget the laughter while he was reading it or the happiness he felt talking about it afterwards. He still pulls them out every once and awhile.
my DS loved reading "little critter" books at 3.
Mouse and Mole series by Wong Herbert Yee
Ant and Honey Bee by Megan McDonald
The latest Piggie and General book is a must-have:
http://www.amazon.com/Waiting-Easy-...15502040&sr=1-1&keywords=waiting+is+hard
I just discovered an early reader series called "Catwings" that looks spot on for this age bracket.
Geography from A to Z, J. Knowlton
Little Elephant, Big City, M. Curato
Voices in the Park, A. Browne
The Mystery Hat, Bennicke & Jensen
The Way We Work, D. Macauley
The Firefly Spanish/English Dictionary (excellent visual dictionary)
What's Science all about? Usborne
Greg's Microscope, M. Selsam
How Mountains are Made, K.W. Zoehfeld
Chapter Books:
DS5 is really enjoying the "Shark School" books by "Davy Ocean". I think the first book in the series is Deep Sea Disaster, followed by Lights! Camera! Hammerhead! We were able to get these 2 at our local Barnes & Noble, but it looks like we'll have to order subsequent ones online. Main character is a hammerhead shark.
Exciting fiction news!!! The Roald Dahl novels are now available as unabridged picture books, with colour pictures on each page of text! DS3 and I just read "The Fantastic Mr Fox", and he adored it! They're perfect for children who crave a more involved plot, but who still prefer pictures. It took 90 minutes to read the book start to finish, complete with wiggling, bouncing, and speculation.
http://m.indigo.ca/product/books/fa...1?ikwid=fantastic%20mr%20fox&ikwsec=Home
Fantastic - my 4yo old still greatly prefers books will color illustrations, but needs more challenging text.
Exciting fiction news!!! The Roald Dahl novels are now available as unabridged picture books, with colour pictures on each page of text! DS3 and I just read "The Fantastic Mr Fox", and he adored it! They're perfect for children who crave a more involved plot, but who still prefer pictures. It took 90 minutes to read the book start to finish, complete with wiggling, bouncing, and speculation.
http://m.indigo.ca/product/books/fa...1?ikwid=fantastic%20mr%20fox&ikwsec=Home
I've been looking at many of these books and they look like books my daughter (4) can fly through in a matter of minutes. I'm a little at a loss for her because I don't want to provide her with too mature of subject material but I'd like to provide her a variety of books - easier and more challenging. I got her a Ramona book and she seems mildly interested, and she has no issue reading it - but she really is more drawn to books with pictures still. She has also read some American Girl, which I think are fairly safe for her. I'm just boggled because her reading is so advanced past her age, I don't know where to point her.
Maybe try some of the early chapter books that have a few pictures?
Magic School Bus has a chapter book series and usually each chapter will have a picture
the James Herriot's children treasury (they are various stories from his All Creatures Great and Small series)
Mrs Piggle-Wiggle series
Encyclopedia Brown books
otherwise, if those don't have enough pictures, you may want to look for some fairly in depth picture books like "Alex the Parrot" or "Gregor Mendel: The Friar Who Grew Peas" (I find for picture books, non-fiction picture books may be more challenging - we have a lot of those at home and even as an adult, I find them engaging and about people, animals and events I never knew about - for instance one on Charles Drew: Doctor who got the world pumped up to donate blood).
"The Princess in Black" is a good twist on the princess thing (it is a brief chapter book with pictures).
A Boy and a Jaguar by Alan Rabinowitz
My 4.5 year-old likes Shel Silverstein's Giraffe and a Half, the Magic Tree House series, the Young Cam Jansen series, and the Thea Stilton series.
A word of warning on the Magic Tree House series. My son did fine with them, but I was not prepared to discuss issues like slavery, the deaths on the titanic, the unpleasant nature of war, etc. The series gets into some heavy topics pretty quickly. All things considered, I feel like reading them was a positive experience, but not all kids would benefit from reading them this early.
And as a read aloud, he loves the Max Axiom Super Scientist series.
Wanted to add that we have recently started reading Life of Fred Apples and my son is really enjoying it. We first tried it around age 3 and he didn't like it at all. Pulled it out on a whim this week and he is really enjoying the humor and he loves the math, even though he has known the math it in for a long while. I'm just happy he's enjoying it. He loves that Fred is a 5 year-old math professor.
As read-alouds, DS3.5 loves Roald Dahl, particularly "Fantastic Mr. Fox" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". (Frankly, Fantastic Mr. Fox is a bit of an obsession!)
We've also come across a series called "Body Battle" by Vicki Cobb that features electron microscope images of various cells in the body responding to colds, cavities, scraped knees, etc, which are a big hit.
Flower Fairies Friends Chapter Book series, based on Cicely Mary Barker's artwork and poetry.
The content is gentle, appropriate for very young children, and no deeper than you would expect based on the series title or concept, but the writing is significantly more sophisticated than, say, Rainbow Fairies. Many are leveled at AR grade 4, 5, or even 6.
Most/all of them are written by Pippa Le Quesne or Kay Woodward. The former author appears to write to a slightly higher reading level (late grade 5/early grade 6).
When searching for them, they may be listed under either the actual author's name, or "Cicely Mary Barker".
Here's one:
http://www.amazon.com/Willows-Under...14_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0D7S2ERWPGWBTCBECSD0
Adding a link to the thread on
What books come after leveled readers?, which mentions a 4-year-old.
Adding a link to the thread on
Kindergarten first chapter book, which mentions a 4-year-old.
Adding a link to the thread on
Content appropriate chapter books for 4 year old.
Adding a link to the thread
Recommend reading materials for 4 yrs old.
Adding a link to the thread
Chapter books for 3 year olds.
We are all avid readers in our house and we've read soooo many amazing picture books to the boys over the years. These are just "some" of the hundreds of books we've loved reading to them:
- Luna and Me
- Instructions (Neil Gaiman)
- Scranimals
- The Mischievians
- Unnatural Selections
- All the Skippyjon Jones books (Judith Schachner)
- The Bear stories by Benjamin Chaud
- Charlie and Kiwi
- Max's Dragon and other Max books by Kate Banks (also The Eraserheads)
- How to Bake a Book
- Tales for Very Picky Eaters
- Super Hair-O and the Barber of Doom
- The Fort that Jack Built
- All of Julia Donaldson's (The Snail and the Whale, The Gruffalo, etc.)
- fractured fairy tales (like the Three Little Aliens and the Big Bad Robot, or the Three Ninja Pigs)
- the original Pete the Cat books (only the ones by Eric Litwin)
- Panda-monium at Peek Zoo
- The Book with No Pictures
- Mr. Brown's Fantastic Hat
- The Whisper
- The Curious Garden
- If I Built a House
- The Hundred Decker Bus
- several of the Claude Ponti books (wildly interesting illustrations)
- Nerdy Birdy
- Blizzard
- It's Only Stanley
- The Monsterator
- Agent A to Agent Z
- The Incredible Book Eating Boy
- Kathryn Otoshi books
- Journey (Aaron Becker)
- Hervé Tullet books
To teach your child to speak more quietly:
- Decibella and her Six Inch Voice
Non-fiction/math-related:
- Your Fantastic Elastic Brain
- Hungry for Math
- That's a Possibility
- If - A Mind-bending New Way of Looking at Big Ideas and Numbers
And honestly, if you love those, I have more. Lots more. It's hard to believe there are so many great picture books out there!
Hi all,
I wanted to mention that I just started a blog on kids' books in case some of you might want more book suggestions for your younger kids. My three posts so far are on how to grow a reader, pink princess books with a positive message, and fun alphabet books.
Here's the link:
https://raisingreadersweb.wordpress.com/Happy reading!
I won't post on here every time I write a new post, but I thought Marching to the Beat of Your Own Drum might be well received on here:
https://raisingreadersweb.wordpress.com/2017/04/29/marching-to-the-beat-of-your-own-drum/
I've got an ambitious list of post themes for my blog on kids' books(
https://raisingreadersweb.wordpress.com/) In case you're interested, have a look below:
You
Board Books for Babies
Individuality
Marching to the Beat of Your Own Drum
Books to Inspire Them
All The Things that You Can Be and Do!
Finding Your Groove
Social and Emotional Intelligence
Mindfulness and Meditation
Fun Picture Books that Teach Important Lessons
Strong Girls
Overcoming Obstacles
Loosen Up and Have Fun
With Others
If You Love It, Set It Free
Learning to Get Along
Friendship
Sibling Rivalry
Are You My Mother?
Unlikely Companions
All Kinds of Love
Everyone’s Family Is Different
Bullying
Grieving
Your Life
Your Home
Food habits
Bedtime
The Dark
Bath Time
Party Time
Favourite Stuffie
The World Around You
Neighborhood
City
Nature
Gardens
Sea and Islands
Discovering the World/Travel
Making a Difference in the World
Be Good to the Planet
Weather
Seasons
All the Creatures
Silly Animals
Animals and Zoos
Farms
Butterflies
Birds
Pigs
Sheep
Cows
Owls
Bats
Fish
Cats vs. Dogs
Bears
Elephants
Squirrels
Crocodiles
Bugs
Bunnies
Dinosaurs
Penguins
Monkeys
Whales
Are They Real?
Dragons
Monsters
Witches, Zombies and Ghosts
Fairies and Goblins
Legendary Creatures
All About the Books
How to Grow a Reader
About Books, Reading and Libraries
Writing
Word Play Picture Books
Wordless Picture Books
Favourite Authors
Lovable Characters
Poetry for Kids
The Classics
Bunch of Munsch
Rhyming Picture Books
Learning to Read
The Arts
Art and Artists
Dance
Making Music
Creativity of All Sorts
Learning
Books about School
Alphabet Books
Colours
Shapes
Counting
Sounds
Fun Math Books
Careers and Such Things
STEM Books
Building
Inventors and Scientists
So Much Fun!
Silly, Silly, Silly
Fantabulous Excuses
Tall Tales
Sticky Situations
Lost and Found
The Slightly Inappropriate Books
Interactive Picture Books
Quirky
Food With Feelings
Kid-centric Themes
Astronauts, Space and Aliens
For Aspiring Cowboys and Cowgirls
Superheroes
Spies and Ninjas
Detectives
Adventure
Toys
Magicians and Magic
Robots
Hats
Pirates
Not Your Typical Truck/Car Picture Book
Not Your Typical Pink Princess Book
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Flying
The Magic of the Box
Holidays
Valentine’s Day
Easter
Halloween
Hannukah
Christmas
Extra Special
Just Magical
Beautiful Illustrations
Fun Illustrations
Other Genres
Fractured Fairytales
Look and Find
Non-Fiction
Graphic Comics
Chapter Books with Illustrations
Adding a link to
Kindergarten first chapter book, in Age or Ability Specific Forums > Elementary School.
A favorite children’s book – “
Trouble for Trumpets” by Peter Dallas-Smith.
https://www.amazon.com/Trouble-Trumpets-Peter-Dallas-Smith/dp/0394865138This may be a favorite largely due to the captivating
illustrations, by artist Peter Cross.
https://petercrossart.com/books/trumpets/trouble-for-trumpetsThe book imaginatively tells the story of the change of seasons and the passage of time, flowing like a river through the seasons of the year. It is richly illustrated with beautifully detailed, colorful drawings combining nature and cutaway views offering a glimpse into a visionary, gadgety, original world, existing partly underground. I especially like this customer review:
... It's great for cognitive development in children, and fascinating, complex, imaginative artwork for adults...
The book was published back in the 1980's - 1990's and one can now experience a bit of difficulty in finding a copy to purchase. Fortunately, the book may be accessed via:
- World Library Online Catalog -
https://www.worldcat.org/title/trouble-for-trumpets/oclc/22134332- Internet archive, with an account -
https://archive.org/details/troublefortrumpe00cros