The Best of the Best

We do a lot of reading around here. I love reading aloud to my kids and we do lots of it every day. We read picture books, chapter books, poetry, anthologies, children's Bibles, devotional books, science, history, geography--any thing the kids get interested in, we get a stack of books from the library and see what we can learn. I've used book lists from all over (Honey for a Child's Heart is my favorite, but see also: Books Children Love, Learning at Home, 1000 Good Books, God's World from A to Z, How to Raise a Reader, 1000 Great Books, Ambleside, Well-Trained Mind). We usually borrow books from our awesome public library first, and then if it becomes a family favorite I put it on the kids' Amazon lists and someday we add a copy to our home library. I've saved you the trouble of sorting through all those lists and come up with our very favorites here (more categories to be posted later). Of course, every child's interests are different and some of our favorites won't be yours. :) But if it helps, here you go!

Board books
Goodnight Moon, Margaret Wise Brown
Freight Train, Donald Crews
Beautiful Babies, Karma Wilson
The Going to Bed Book, Sandra Boynton
Horns to Toes and in Between, Sandra Boynton
Moo, Baa, La La La, Sandra Boynton
One Wet Jacket, Nancy Tafuri
Two New Sneakers, Nancy Tafuri
Pat the Bunny, Dorothy Kunhardt
My World, Margaret Wise Brown
Big Red Barn, Margaret Wise Brown
Runaway Bunny, Margaret Wise Brown
Jamberry, Bruce Degen
I am a Bunny, Ole Risom
Spot books, Eric Hill
Brown Bear Brown Bear, Bill Martin Jr.
Time for Bed, Mem Fox
The House in the Night, Susan Marie Swanson
Dear Zoo, Rod Campbell

Picture books, ages 3-4
Harold and the Purple Crayon, Johnson Crockett
The Carrot Seed, Ruth Krauss
A Apple Pie, Kate Greenaway
Chicken Soup with Rice, Maurice Sendak
King Jack and the Dragon, Peter Bently
Little Rex Big Brother, Ruth Symes
Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site, Sherri Duskey Rinker
Steam Train Dream Train, Sherri Duskey Rinker
Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak
Green Eggs and Ham, Dr. Seuss
One Crow, Jim Aylesworth
Madeline, Ludwig Bemelmans
Fancy Nancy books, Jane O’Connor
The Little Engine that Could, Watty Piper
The Snowy Day, Ezra Jack Keats
Baby Wren and the Great Gift, Sally-Lloyd Jones
Do You Know What I’ll Do, Charlotte Zolotow
Big Sister Little Sister, Charlotte Zolotow
All Kinds of Kisses, Nancy Tafuri
What the Sun Sees the Moon Sees, Nancy Tafuri
A House is a House for Me, Mary Ann Hoberman
Ox Cart Man, Donald Hall
The Moon was the Best, Charlotte Zolotow
I Like to be Little, Charlotte Zolotow
Strega Nona, Tomie dePaola
On Mother’s Lap, Ann Herbert Scott
Make Way for Ducklings, Robert McCloskey
Blueberries for Sal, Robert McCloskey
Tea for Ruby, Sarah Ferguson
The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
Angus and the Ducks, Angus and the Cat, and Angus Lost by Marjorie Flack
Frances books, Russell Hoban
Harry the Dirty Dog, Gene Zion
Go Dog Go, P.D. Eastman
A Tree Is Nice, Janice Udry
Snow, Uri Shulevitz
Go and Hush the Baby, Betsy Byars
Corduroy, Don Freeman
Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse, Leo Lionni
Play with Me, Marie Hall Ets
Gilberto and the Wind, Marie Hall Ets
In the Forest, Marie Hall Ets
Just Me, Marie Hall Ets
Ferdinand, Munro Leaf
Come Out Muskrats and others, Jim Arnosky
Bunny’s First Spring, Sally Lloyd-Jones
If You Plant a Seed, Kadir Nelson
Jack’s Garden, Henry Cole
On Market Street, Arnold Lobel
Miss Rumphius, Barbara Cooney
Llama Llama Red Pajama, Anna Dewdney
The Velveteen Rabbit, Margery Williams

Picture books 5+
One Morning in Maine, Robert McCloskey
Little Bear books, Elsa Minarik
Amelia Bedelia books, Peggy Parrish (only the originals)
Curious George books, H.A. Rey (only the originals)
Cars and Trucks and Things that Go, Richard Scarry
Frog and Toad books, Arnold Lobel
The Day We Saw the Sun Come Up, Alice Goudey
The Tale of Peter Rabbit and 22 others, Beatrix Potter
A Kindle of Kittens, Rumer Godden
The Golden Plate, Bernadette Watts
The Little Red Hen and others, Paul Galdone
White Snow Bright Snow, Alvin Tresselt
Building Our House, Jonathan Bean
The Little House, Virginia Lee Burton
Stone Soup, Marcia Brown
The Family Under the Moon, Nancy Jewell
The Best-Loved Doll, Rebecca Caudill
The Biggest Bear, Lynd Ward
Berenstain Bears books (some are better than others), Stan and Jan Berenstain
Now One Foot Now the Other, Tomie de Paola
The Quiltmaker’s Gift, Jeff Brumbeau
The Old Woman who Lived in a Vinegar Bottle, Rumer Godden
No Dragons for Tea (fire safety), Jean Pendziwol
St. George and the Dragon, Margaret Hodges
Finding Winnie, Lindsay Matlick
A Field Full of Horses, Peter Hansard