I wasn’t sure where exactly to post this question but I figured the parent forum makes the most sense.
I’d like to know what your kids favorite books are and what they’re about, any age kids. I’ve been working on collecting a bunch of children’s books. [name_f]My[/name_f] plan is to give each of my siblings a box of books as a gift at their baby shower as a little library in a box.
I’ve been looking for books that have a positive message as well as an engaging story. The problem I’ve been having is that a lot of the books that have a clear message don’t seem engaging. I don’t have any kids so I don’t know for certain but to me it seems like the books that just repeat their message over and over rather than leading you to it through the story won’t be repeat reads.
So I’ve decided to work the other way, find the books kids already love and sort through those.
The characters I remember loving when I was a kid were [name_f]Matilda[/name_f] and [name_f]Ginny[/name_f] Weasley and basically all of the kids in Newsies. I loved a story that told me that just because I was young or small didn’t mean I couldn’t make a difference.
In the past I’ve purchased [name_f]Matilda[/name_f], The Paper Bag [name_f]Princess[/name_f], [name_f]Beatrice[/name_f] Zinker Upside Down Thinker, The [name_f]Secret[/name_f] Garden, and A Wrinkle in Time for my cousins children.
Any suggestions would be super helpful, thanks.
[name_f]My[/name_f] son is 21 months, and loves books which thrills this teacher’s heart. At this age though, not so much about the message as getting through a story takes stamina he doesn’t always have. It’s more about engaging illustrations that build his vocabulary, repetition of familiar language and humour.
With that in mind he likes:
- [name_m]Little[/name_m] [name_u]Blue[/name_u] Truck
- There There
- The Big Hungry [name_u]Bear[/name_u]
- [name_m]Brown[/name_m] [name_u]Bear[/name_u] [name_m]Brown[/name_m] [name_u]Bear[/name_u], What [name_f]Do[/name_f] You See
- No [name_u]David[/name_u]
- Slow Snail
- Any book that is a song
- Any book with flaps or textures
I hope this helps.
I have two 4 year olds and a 19 month old. We have tons of books but they still ask for Goodnight [name_u]Moon[/name_u] every single night.
It definitely does, I want to get a mix of books for different ages so they can grow into them but I know baby/toddler books aren’t exactly full of deeper meaning.
I’m not a parent, but I come from a big book reading house! Some of my family’s favorite books, plus a couple others I think fit what you’re looking for…
Chronicles of [name_f]Narnia[/name_f] series (CS Lewis)
[name_m]Little[/name_m] Women (Louisa [name_f]May[/name_f] Alcott)
[name_m]Brown[/name_m] [name_f]Girl[/name_f] Dreaming (Jacqueline Woodson)
[name_m]Bridge[/name_m] to Terabithia (Katherine Paterson)
[name_m]Tuck[/name_m] Everlasting (Natalie Babbit)
[name_u]Anne[/name_u] of [name_u]Green[/name_u] Gables (LM Montgomery)
The Penderwicks series (Jeanne Birdsall)
The Vanderbeekers of 141st [name_f]Street[/name_f] (Karina [name_m]Yan[/name_m] Glaser)
All-of-a-Kind Family (Sydney Taylor)
[name_u]Wonder[/name_u] (R. J. Palacio)
The Giver (Lois Lowry)
Watership Down (Richard Adams)
To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
The Book Thief (Markus Zusak)
A Kind of [name_u]Spark[/name_u] (Elle McNicoll)
Plus, anything by [name_f]Enid[/name_f] Blyton!
Oh, also adding A [name_m]Little[/name_m] [name_f]Princess[/name_f] by [name_f]Frances[/name_f] [name_m]Hodgson[/name_m] [name_m]Burnett[/name_m], The [name_u]Land[/name_u] of Stories series by [name_u]Chris[/name_u] Colfer and The [name_f]Remarkable[/name_f] [name_u]Journey[/name_u] of [name_u]Coyote[/name_u] [name_u]Sunrise[/name_u] by [name_m]Dan[/name_m] Gemeinhart!
[name_f]My[/name_f] girls are almost 4 and 2 their favorites are…
4 year old…
[name_f]Fancy[/name_f] [name_f]Nancy[/name_f] books
The [name_m]Fussy[/name_m] Flamingo
Giraffes cant dance
[name_m]Pete[/name_m] the cat books
I will love you forever
[name_f]Winnie[/name_f] the pooh
[name_m]Little[/name_m] critter books
Books that are repetitive so she can ‘read’ them herself
Mixed a colorful story (if you’re looking for a good message this is a good one)
Not quite narwhal
Never let a unicorn…
2 year old…
Llama llama books
[name_m]Little[/name_m] blue truck books
[name_f]Madeline[/name_f]
Lift the flap books
[name_f]Bunny[/name_f] roo I love you
[name_u]Green[/name_u] eggs and ham
Hop on pop
[name_u]Clifford[/name_u]
Bunnies for tea
[name_f]Caroline[/name_f] [name_f]Jayne[/name_f] [name_m]Church[/name_m] books
my favorite books when I was little, if it helps, were
[name_u]Philly[/name_u] [name_u]Joe[/name_u] Giraffe
the sesame street retellings of fairytales
anything with [name_m]Elmo[/name_m]
Goodnight [name_u]Moon[/name_u]
that was a huge wave of nostalgia oh my gosh
[name_f]My[/name_f] son is 10 months and LOVES the [name_m]Little[/name_m] People, Big Dreams series - he has [name_u]Elton[/name_u] [name_u]John[/name_u], [name_m]Elvis[/name_m] [name_u]Presley[/name_u], [name_m]Stephen[/name_m] Hawking and [name_f]Michelle[/name_f] [name_m]Obama[/name_m], and they’re his favourites. We actually gift them often too - my niece and my friend’s daughter both have quite a few too. They’re a child-friendly biographical series about various figures in history and pop culture who have somehow overcome adversity and/or broken down barriers to do what they love and make an impact on the world.
also highly recommend looking into [name_f]Dolly[/name_f] Parton’s [name_f]Imagination[/name_f] Library if you’re able to access it - they send a book every month for your child up to age 5, and we’ve gotten some lovely books through there - one of Rhett’s favourites they’ve sent was an [name_u]Anne[/name_u] of [name_u]Green[/name_u] Gables themed book about colours!
He also really loves [name_u]Arthur[/name_u] books by [name_m]Marc[/name_m] [name_m]Brown[/name_m], and Dr Seuss!
[name_f]My[/name_f] step son really liked The Smartest Giant in Town when he was 3/4. It’s by [name_f]Julia[/name_f] Donaldson. There’s a good message about kind acts over appearances and truth vs beauty! It’s also pretty entertaining for the adult reading it too.
I’m a babysitter! Here’s what my kids love to read: There is a really beautiful series of books for babies and young children
6-10 year olds:
-Harry [name_m]Potter[/name_m]
-Wings of [name_u]Fire[/name_u] (an incredibly popular dragon books series for chapter book readers - they are cool!)
-Calvin and [name_m]Hobbes[/name_m] collections
They’re such readers, but these are the ones they’ve been most excited about and into discussing and ‘playing’ as!
3-5 year olds:
series
-the Babybug books (We adore these. They are short and sweet and so much fun for the kids.)
-Bernstein Bears books (I find a handful of these ultra dated, but some are nice. As well, lots are explicitly [name_u]Christian[/name_u], heads up!)
-Madeline books
-Angelina [name_f]Ballerina[/name_f] books
-Disney princess storybooks
-Katie Woo first reader books
-Paddington books
-Corduroy books
-Piggie and [name_m]Gerald[/name_m] books
-Amelia [name_f]Bedelia[/name_f] books
singles
-No One Likes a Fart
-In The Haunted House
-Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site
-Amara and the Bats
-Once Upon A Potty
-Snowy [name_u]Day[/name_u]
-Any classics (eg. Austen) and fairytales (eg. Three Pigs) as picture/board books
3-10 all:
-Look and Find books
Babies:
-the [name_u]Baby[/name_u] Faces Indestructible Series (I lovvvve these, and so do the babies!!!)
-Any book with flaps, pull outs, or textures.
-Board books whose pages are easier for them to turn as I read.
[name_f]My[/name_f] two-year-old loves books. Favourites in our household:
Spot the dog
Paddington
Mog
[name_u]Percy[/name_u] the park keeper
Each peach pear plum
And when he was younger, Tales of Acorn [name_m]Wood[/name_m] series was a huge hit (as was anything else lift the flap really)
[name_f]My[/name_f] 22 month old toddlers love the never touch a shark, dinosaur, monster etc books. They love the sensory of those books.
[name_f]My[/name_f] daughter loves the [name_f]Sarah[/name_f] [name_m]Boynton[/name_m] books! Her favorites are Moo Baa La La La (and their holiday variants), The Going to Bed Book, and her [name_m]Little[/name_m] Pookie books 
The Indestructibles books are also superrrr nice for babies!! They are soft books that don’t rip or get ruined when wet. [name_f]My[/name_f] daughter loved playing with those as a baby! Highly recommend!
A lot of the books that I love, are not the ones my kids love, to be honest! [name_f]My[/name_f] kids are 2 and 4, and to them the message really doesn’t matter, and barely the plot line at all… the things they love are:
- flaps! That they can lift. And other ways they can interact with the book.
- simple, repetitive language that helps them learn sentence structures and build their vocabulary
- fun, rather than an important message.
- awesome pictures they can ask questions about
- familiarity to their own every day life so they can point out and make connections with things they already know.
- singing books
So the ones I’ve been asked to read again and again are:
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Eric Carle)
- Going on a [name_u]Bear[/name_u] [name_m]Hunt[/name_m] (esp the one with buttons to make the sounds)
- Dear Zoo (flaps!)
- Goodnight [name_u]Moon[/name_u]
- Scattercat by [name_f]Lynley[/name_f] Dodd (enjoy finding where Hairy Maclary is hiding)
- Spot the Dog series by [name_m]Eric[/name_m] [name_m]Hill[/name_m] (flaps! And easy to relate to)
- [name_f]Meg[/name_f] and Mog series
- Berenstain Bears books (stuff they can relate to)
- [name_m]Herve[/name_m] Tullet books (Press Here, Mix it Up, [name_m]Say[/name_m] Zoop)
- [name_u]Magic[/name_u] School Bus series (lots happening in the pictures)
- Pirhanhas don’t eat bananas (simple, funny, rhyme)
- Hush [name_m]Little[/name_m] [name_u]Baby[/name_u], Twelve days of [name_u]Christmas[/name_u], because both can be sung
- Mr Cuckoo’s clock shop (no longer in print, but rhymes, flaps to find mouse, can move clock hands)