My experience with young readers includes being a former teacher, facilitating the Come Read with Me program for the Metropolitan Library System and homeschooling my own kids. So I have read many many children's books. So here are some of my favorites.
Most of these books will be available through your local library. If you don't see them at your location, ask your librarian if they have an inter-library loan program. This is how we were able to first experience many of these books. Test them out then buy your favorites!
1.) The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf
2.) Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China by Ed Young
3.) Sam and the Tigers: A Retelling of Little by Julius Lester
4.) Andy the Lion by James Daugherty
5.) Floss by Kim Lewis
6.) Mufaro's Beautiful Daughter by John Steptoe
7.) Six Dinner Sid by Igna Moore
8.) The Tomten by Astrid Lindgren
9.) The Tomten and the Fox by Astrid Lindgren
10.) The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
11.) Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey
12.) Time of Wonder by Robert McCloskey
13.) Peter's Chair by Ezra Jack Keats
14.) Whistle for Willie by Ezra Jack Keats
15.) Jennie's Hat by Ezra Jack Keats
16.) Keats Neighborhood by Ezra Jack Keats
17.) Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne
18.) The Big Alfie and Annie Rose Storybook by Shirley Hughes
19.) The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper
20.) The Apple Cake by Nienke van Hichtum
21.) Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
22.) The Story of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
23.) I Am Learning All the Time by Rain Perry Fordyce
24.) Mother Earth and Her Children, A Quilted Fairy Tale by Sibyl Von Olfers
25.) Aesop's Fables by Aesop
26.) The Power of Love by Doris Rainville
27.) The Girls Who Never Let Her Mother Brush Her Hair by Doris Rainville
28.) Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
29.) Little Red Riding Hood retold and illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman
30.) The Princess in the Forest by Sibylle von Olfers
31.) Peter William Butterblow and Other Little Folk by Bettina Stietencron
32.) Uncle Wiggly Bedtime Stories by Howard R. Garis
33.) The Complete Brambly Hedge by Jill Barklem
34.) Old Mother West Wind by Thornton Burgess
35.) Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn picture board book by Gerda Muller. [Note: Love these for the youngest to the oldest to show the changes of each season. I use these on our nature table then it goes into our season book basket.]
36.) The Flowers Festival by Elsa Bescow
37.) Peter and the Blueberry King by Elsa Bescow.
38.) Jamberry by Bruce Degen
39.) Over in the Meadow illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats, based on the original version by Olive A Wadsworth
40.) The Story of Ping by Marjorie Flack and Kurt Wiese
These books are wonderful to start opening your child's imagination.
Krista currently lives in Hinton, Oklahoma with her husband and their two daughters. She has a degree in Elementary Education and is a certified teacher. Krista first brought up homeschooling to her husband back in 2013 when their first daughter was just a toddler. They've been homeschooling ever since. You can contact her at retrookiemama@gmail.com.
