A mousehouse reader Stephanie asked me last night for some ideas for good picture books for her 5 year old daughter who has started reading by herself but would still like to listen and read along to some picture books as well. My 6 year old likes to read her own books now (waaaaay too much Rainbow Magic) plus other short chapter books and her readers from school, but as she shares a room with Stella (4) she still loves listening to picture books as well. So here are some of Amelie and Stella's favourite picture books- most of the these are also the tried and true ones I grab if I am doing a days relieving in a classroom- all of them are popular with boys and girls around the 5/6 age group but there are a couple that particuarly appeal to girls from this list.
Colour the Stars by Dawn McMillan- this is a lovely story about a little boy who is blind and his friend who teaches him what stars look like
Guji Guji by Chih-Yuan Chen- this is really a cute story that kids love with lovely illustrations
I Had a Favourite Dress by Boni Ashburn- this is one for the girls all about a girl who has a favourite dress and as she outgrows it her mum sews it into different items- Amelie loves this
A Lion in the Meadow by Margaret Mahy- a classic story written in the 70's and still just as popular today- I love this story
The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr- another classic story by a wonderful author
The Paper Dolls by Julia Donaldson- this is Amelie and Stella's (and mine) favourite picture book at the moment- such a cute story, lovely illustrations and a good book to read aloud
Princess, Fairy by Penny Dale- Stella's favourite- I'm pretty sure it is a take on the fairy tale The Frog Prince but with the very appealing characters to young girls princesses and fairies!
The Princess and her Panther by Wendy Orr- another book Stella lovese especially about 2 sisters who dress up and have an adventure using their imagination
Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion- another classic story I think written in the 50's or 60's- a lovely story of a dog who really doesn't like having a bath, lovely retro illustrations
The Smallest Turtle by Lynley Dodd- always a good one to read aloud, lovely simple story with beautiful language- hard to find online though :(
What good luck What bad luck by Remy Charlip- I found this at an Op Shop- when I read it to a class of 6 year olds they absolutely loved it and wanted me to read it again straight away! Can also be found printed as 'Unfortunately'.
The Nickel Nackle Tree by Lynley Dodd-a neat counting book, again with great language and illustrations- appeals to all ages
Mouse Mansion By Karina Schaapman- this isn't a picture book as such, more a chapter book presented in a picture book format- Amelie loves this book especially the detailed photos
Well I know there are so many other wonderful picture books out there but these are the ones I could think of straight away- would love to hear of any of your or your child's favourite picture books too.
The other stories I would recommend reading is any fairy tales you can get your hands on- op shops seem to always have one or two when I take a look.
These are some of my favourite ones...
Cinderella
Dick Whittington
The Elves and the Shoemaker
The Emperors New Clothes
The Frog Prince
The Gingerbread Man
The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs
Jack and the Beanstalk
The Little Match Girl
The Little Mermaid
Little Red Riding Hood
The Ugly Duckling
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
The Princess and the Pea
Rumplestiltskin
The Dancing Princesses
Snow White
Stone Soup
Thumbelina
The Boy who cried Wolf
I'll write another blog post with some of my favourite chapter books as well, basically anything by Michael Morpurgo plus a few of my other favourites :)
Happy reading!
Megan x
4 comments:
We have a very similar selection of picture books, my 6 yr old also likes to read first chapter books - we are enjoying the Ivy and Bean books by Annie barrows, Claude series by Alex t Smith and the Pinkalicious first readers by Victoria Kann ( there also picture books in this series). Way better than rainbow magic!
i think kids need picture books up to year 8! (absolutely serious as a school librarian!) My favourite picture book authors include Alison Lester, John Burningham, Mo Willems,
Pamela Allen, Kyle Mewburn, Joy Cowley, Roland Harvey, Julia Donaldson, Grandma McGarvey series,
Alain Gere, Gavin Bishop. Problem is at my school is the lack of reading/exposure to books before school and teachers lack of knowledge about authors and books..
This is a great list - some ideas there to add to our collection at Christmas time (grandparent's are always asking)...You have reminded me to go have a look through the bookcase. I've been saving some of my childhood favorites and classic fairy tale compendiums as I come across them in op shops. I would add that Lala really loves 'The Fidgety Itch' and "Wonky Donkey" - it took me a couple of reads through to get all the alliterations, but they are fun to read.
Hi! Thank you for this wonderful list! Even if my son is only 3 He likes when I read him books! And I really like children books! Your list, especially "Harry the dirty dog" and "The Tiger who come to tea" could be nice to start with english! Or would be easy to turn into french!Thanks again ^_^ Olivia
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