I grew up with tons of books in my home and reading was highly encouraged. When I married my husband, I realized that he grew up the same way. His mother was my Children’s Literature professor in college. (Yes, there is a story there. Another time, another day! 🙂 So I knew from the beginning of our marriage, that books would play a big part of our lives and the lives of our future children.
After obtaining my teaching degree, I understood even more how big of a role “good literature” plays in the lives of young children. There are millions of children’s books on the market, it can be hard to discern which books are worth your time and which books probably should not have been published in the first place. Can I get an Amen?!
My oldest son is four years old. He loves to read and be read to. I have compiled a list of his favorite books and styles of books that we read over and over again. I hope this helps you find some books for your preschooler. You can click on each book title and it will take you to Amazon to purchase if you wish. I would also recommend checking out your local library to find these books for free!
Berenstain Bears
We are huge fans of the Berenstain Bears. These are longer books that are good for my 4 year old son. They tell great stories and hit on a lot of character traits and life lessons that young children need. We have a huge collection of Berenstain Bear books at our house. Most are hand-me-downs from mine and my husband’s childhood!
National Geographic for Kids
Caleb has just recently become very interested in non-fiction books, particularly about science-based subjects. My mother-in-law gave him a few of these books and we have been hooked ever since! They are packed full of information and great pictures, yet are short enough to keep the attention of a preschooler.
Dr. Seuss & P.D. Eastman
- The Cat in the Hat
- Green Eggs and Ham
- One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
- The Best Nest
- Are You My Mother?
We have been reading Dr. Seuss books for a couple years now, but they are still some of our favorites. Some are longer in length, while others are more manageable for smaller children as well. The repetitive language and rhyming text is great for teaching young children.
Predictable Books
- Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
- Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
- The Napping House
- This Is the House That Jack Built
I adore predictable books for so many reasons. Predictable books are those that use repetitive phrases that help children anticipate what will come next in the story. Once a child has been read a story a few times, they can usually read the story to themselves by looking at the pictures for clues. These are great books for my son to read independently. Although he doesn’t know how to read, he can look at the pictures and “read” the book to himself and start to pick up on words and phrases in the text.
Eric Carle
Eric Carle is such a wonderful author for young child. I love his writing and his illustrations. These books are great if you want to coordinate a craft to go along with the text. Many of Eric Carle’s books also use predictable language.
I love to talk about children’s literature and create activities for preschoolers that coordinate with books. If this is something you would be interested in seeing from me, please let me know in the comments below.
What are your favorite children’s book for preschoolers?
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