Best Books for Preschoolers

If you have a preschooler at home, maybe you’re not sure what he or she should read. Here are our picks for best books for preschoolers!

You can also check our list of 40 best books for toddlers!

Books for Preschoolers

1. Dot And Dash Lots Of Love

A brand-new interactive Dot and Dash book!

Dot loves to dance. Dash loves to sing. Big, Tall, and Small clap very loud! Dot and Dash bow and beam. More than anything, Dot and Dash love their friends. Dot series are great books for preschoolers.

2. The Big Bad Pig and the Three Little Wolves (you read that right.)

When it comes time for the three little wolves to go out into the world and build themselves a house, their mother warns them to beware the big bad pig. But the little wolves’ increasingly sturdy dwellings are no match for the persistent porker, who has more up his sleeve than huffing and puffing. It takes a chance encounter with a flamingo pushing a wheelbarrow full of flowers to provide a surprising and satisfying solution to the little wolves’ housing crisis.
Eugene Trivizas’s hilarious text and Helen Oxenbury’s enchanting watercolors have made this delightfully skewed version of the traditional tale a contemporary classic.

3. Mr. Tiger Goes Wild

Are you bored with being so proper?

Do you want to have more fun?

4. Pajama Time

Boynton is back! Joining Barnyard Dance! and Birthday Monsters!, here is Pajama Time! a good-night book with the irrepressible language, the inimitable illustrations, the irresistible cast of characters only Sandra Boynton could create.

A jump-roping chicken and a pig on a swing. A Scottie in plaid pajamas and an elephant in a fuzzy one-piece with feet. And in sing-along nuttiness reminiscent of Barnyard Dance!, it’s time to head to bed-to the beat: Pajammy to the left. Pajammy to the right. Jamma jamma jamma jamma P!J! Everybody’s wearing them for dancing tonight. Jamma jamma jamma jamma P!J!

5. Hippos Go Berserk 

Hilarious hippos make a party out of counting in this Sandra Boynton classic.

Here is the classic Boynton counting story in a sturdy, board book version.
Perfect for travel time, bedtime, or PARTY TIME!

6. The Book With No Pictures

 You might think a book with no pictures seems boring and serious. Except . . . here’s how books work. Everything written on the page has to be said by the person reading it aloud. Even if the words say . . .

BLORK. Or BLUURF.

Even if the words are a preposterous song about eating ants for breakfast, or just a list of astonishingly goofy sounds like BLAGGITY BLAGGITY and GLIBBITY GLOBBITY.

7. Berenstain bears series

Join Papa, Mama, Brother, Sister, and Honey Bear as they read favorite Bible stories together as a family and imagine what it would have been like to see Adam and Eve in the garden, watch Noah build the ark, and listen as Jesus tells a parable to the people. Told with words and pictures in the beloved Berenstain style, twenty-three Old and New Testament stories come alive for young readers.

8.The Heart and the Bottle

Some books for preschoolers can teach us a lot. There is a wonder and magic to childhood. We don’t realize it at the time, of course . . . yet the adults in our lives do. They encourage us to see things in the stars, to find joy in colors and laughter as we play.

But what happens when that special someone who encourages such wonder and magic is no longer around? We can hide, we can place our heart in a bottle and grow up . . . or we can find another special someone who understands the magic. And we can encourage them to see things in the stars, find joy among colors and laughter as they play.

9. Elephant and Piggy

Gerald is careful. Piggie is not. Piggie cannot help smiling. Gerald can.

Gerald and Piggie are best friends.

10. Llama Llama Gram and Grandpa

Do you like cool books for preschoolers? It’s an exciting day for Llama Llama; he’s going to visit Gram and Grandpa Llama and spend the night! His first night away from home….and from Mama. But he makes sure to pack everything he needs. And there are so many fun things to do with Gram and Grandpa. It’s not until he gets ready for bed that he realizes that he’s forgotten something important. Fuzzy Llama! Fortunately, Grandpa Llama has a wonderful solution and soon Llama Llama is having sweet dreams.

11. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

When all the letters of the alphabet race one another up the coconut tree, will there be enough room?
Of course there is always enough room for this rollicking alphabet chant that has been a children’s favorite for more than twenty years! Bill Martin Jr and John Archambault’s rhythmic text keeps the beat with Caldecott Honor illustrator Lois Ehlert’s bold, cheerful art. This winning combination has created a series of enduring Chicka Chicka favorites, and now, for the first time ever, the complete edition of the original Chicka Chicka Boom Boom story is available as a Classic Board Book. With sturdy pages and rounded corners, this portable edition of an irresistible alphabet romp will delight a new generation of young readers.

12. Kitten’s First Full Moon

A brief text, large type, and luminescent pictures play second fiddle to the star of this classic picture book—brave, sweet and lucky Kitten! “Henkes’s text, reminiscent of Margaret Wise Brown’s work in the elemental words, rhythms, and appealing sounds, tells a warm, humorous story that’s beautifully extended in his shimmering, gray-toned artwork.”—ALA Booklist

13. The Giving Tree

‘Once there was a tree…and she loved a little boy.’

So begins a story of unforgettable perception, beautifully written and illustrated by the gifted and versatile Shel Silverstein.

Every day the boy would come to the tree to eat her apples, swing from her branches, or slide down her trunk…and the tree was happy. But as the boy grew older he began to want more from the tree, and the tree gave and gave and gave. Amazing books for preschoolers!

14. The gruffalo

Another cool book on our list of books for preschoolers. A mouse is taking a stroll through the deep, dark wood when along comes a hungry fox, then an owl, and then a snake. The mouse is good enough to eat but smart enough to know this, so he invents . . . the gruffalo! As Mouse explains, the gruffalo is a creature with terrible claws, and terrible tusks in its terrible jaws, and knobbly knees and turned-out toes, and a poisonous wart at the end of its nose. But Mouse has no worry to show. After all, there’s no such thing as a gruffalo. . . .

15. Maurice Sendak: A Celebration of the Artist and His Work

The preeminent children’s book artist of the twentieth century, Maurice Sendak and his sixty-year career are celebrated in this full-color catalog of more than two hundred images being exhibited at the Society of Illustrators in New York City from June 11–August 17, 2013. His books for preschoolers are amazing!

 
What are your favorite books for preschoolers? Share with us which books will be on your ‘books for preschoolers’ list!

*And just for full disclosure, there are affiliate links in post ‘Best Books for preschoolers’. This means that I’m sharing books for preschoolers that I like, and if you make a purchase through the link, I earn a little bit back. No extra cost to you, and just a little help for me to pay for the blog expenses.