Reading with your preschooler is a gift for them. I highly encourage you to take as many opportunities to read with your child as you can. They absorb the words. This can lead to them learning how to read as well. More importantly though, it can instill a life long love of reading in your child, which is the real gift.
This blog is more than a top 10 books for preschoolers. It’s a top 75 books! These educational books for 4 year olds are more than just your classic preschool books. These are the best books for preschoolers that I could find.
The much loved author of Goodnight Moon has written an adorable 5 Minute Stories book for the next age up. This book contains 8 adorable stories with amazing illustrations.
Follow Marlon Bundo as he hops through the white house and finds one of a kind love. But when the Stink Bug says no, the community comes together to say Yes!
Even though this book is a board book (though it comes in hardcover!), which makes you think it’s only for babies, I decided to include it here. A is for Activist contains great, social justice words and is full of empowerment. A book I think we will never be too old for.
There is something warm and loving about All the Places to Love for me. Follow a boy as he explores all the beautiful places in his world that his family member loves. Then learn where he loves the most as he welcomes a new baby sister.
An early reader classic, Are You My Mother follows a little bird as he meets all sorts of animals and machines. Another classic by P.D. Eastman and a must read for any preschooler.
Okay, I know this is a board book and literally has the word baby in the title. However, Baby Geek is the perfect book for all us geeks. I love it because when your child is very young, you can read the short lines. As your children grow, and thus their attention spans improve, there are longer, more in depth, fun passages to read.
Mama, Papa, and Baby bear are all outraged at Goldilocks ruining their house. So they follow after her and get even. Beware of the Bears is a cute add on to the traditional Goldilocks story.
Oh my goodness, the amazing vocabulary in Big Chickens Fly the Coop cannot be overstated. Every page is full of new, uncommon words. Plus it’s a fun book.
The Big Wide Mouthed Frog has an attitude and isn’t going to hide it. He jumps from animal to animals to ask who they are and what they eat.
What is it that I love about Blackberry Mouse? I’m not sure, to be honest. I think it might be the illustrations, which are beautiful and enticing.
Follow this Bubble Trouble as baby floats away in a bubble. Can the community work together to save him?
Bunny Cakes is a great book about reading and baking. I love how it demonstrates different ways of writing in order to communicate your needs. Also, I miss the days when we could send our siblings to the store for us!
It was too wet to go play in the Cat in the Hat. Follow along with the children in Dr. Seuss’ most famous book.
Louie is an adorable dog who has a serious problem with chewing. Can he grow out of his puppy stage soon enough? Or will we have to get rid of him?
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is an alphabet book. Around preschool you want your child to start identifying the letters and sounds. This book gives them more exposure to letters.
In the town of chew and swallow it rains Meatballs instead of water. Everyone loves it, until the weather takes a turn for the worst.
I cannot get over how cute this book is! Jasper Rabbit loves eating carrots out of the field until the Carrots start Creeping. Cute illustrations, cute story, just cute all around. It’s a book in a little series of Jasper Rabbit creepy stories and the 3 books are all a common favorite of my children.
The Day the Crayons Quit is an interesting book to me. I love it because it’s an adorable story. The concept of colors isn’t very challenging for preschool age though. Yet the book itself is so long that it’s hard to get a toddler to sit through it. Still, it can be a cute way to talk about coloring, creativity, and caring for your items. Also there is a lot of room to expand on feelings, most specifically the feelings of others.
I miss the days when our kids could wander down the streets and through towns without having child services called on us. That might be the real reason I love The Do Something Day. Still, it’s sweet, and it shows how a child can be helpful in their own way.
I love Don’t Forget the Bacon because I like looking for each item on the page that causes the words to get scrambled. It’s a simple book and pretty cute overall.
Dad lost his keys and now he has to look for them Down the Back of the Chair. I love the imagination, illustration, and creativity of this book. It also makes my kids laugh.
Count along with Dr. Seuss in his 123 book. While your child is likely counting easily to ten by now, this book is great for number recognition. Just like your child needs to learn to recognize letters, they have to do the same for numbers. Plus, if they are starting to read, this easy beginner book can let them practice.
Dr. Seuss and the simple illustrations of ABCs can help with letter recognition and letter sounds. Each letter has a number of words that start with it so that your child can practice letter sounds.
All of the Elephant and Piggie Books bring me such joy. There are so many lessons to be taught in them, and they can be great first readers as well. Mo Willems has collections of them and I highly encourage you to purchase them in their collections.
Follow this sweet Forest Child in their dreams of animals and nature. It’s so important to connect children to nature again, and this book is one small way to do that.
My tongue cannot keep up with this dangerous Fox in Socks book. Full of cute tongue twisters, this book is full laughs and silly sayings.
There is a board book version of this, but now that we are in preschool, look for the hard cover version of Go, Dog Go. It’s longer than the board book and full of a lot of fun.
My children are obsessed with construction vehicles. Obsessed as in their idea of an excellent outing is driving to a construction site to watch the vehicles work. Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site builds on that love and is full of excellent vocabulary too.
Another timeless classic, Eric Carl’s The Grouchy Ladybug is an old favorite of mine. I love the different animals the ladybug comes across. Also, my childhood dream of being a voice actor gets to be fulfilled as I make up a unique voice for each animal the ladybug comes across.
This gem of a book is AWESOME. Seriously, go buy it right now if you don’t have it yet. Jim Panzee wakes in a terrible mood and everyone wants him to enjoy his day. But the Grumpy Monkey isn’t feeling any of their suggestions. The book is adorable, full of amazing illustrations, and perfect in so many ways. It offers ways to get out of grumpiness while also teaching acceptance of a grumpy mood.
It’s no Dickens novel, but Hairy Maclary is adorable. Nice illustrations, a simple concept, and lots of repeating.
I don’t know if Harold and the Purple Crayon is considered a classic or not. I love following Harold on his adventure through the night though. Imagination is the sweetest, and I can only hope to pass that level of imagination onto my own children.
Simple, beautiful illustrations fill up each page of Hello, Hello. Every animal in the book is either endangered or extinct. The illustrations are stunning.
Okay, I have to admit that I personally do not love Henny Penny. But my children do, which is why it made the list. Your typical ‘the sky is falling’ story. The illustrations are cute though.
In this book, you can get very interactive with your child. On each page of How to Catch a Dinosaur, there is room to really look at the pictures and discuss what is happening.
Similar to the previous book, How to Catch a Snowman is a cute book full of great illustrations. On each page you can discuss what trap the children set and why it failed.
I Wish You More sunshine than rain. A sweet book about positive intentions and serious love. I could read this book 100 times and not get tired of it.
Nancy Tillman’s books can get a little long, which is why I saved I’d Know You Anywhere My Love for the preschool age group. It’s a sweet, simple story, and again, the illustrations are where it’s at for me.
Baby Bear broke mama’s favorite dish and now he has to tell her what happened. Will mama still love him? Because he still loves her. I’ll Always Love You is another good one for both children and adults.
The kids’ dad found I’m No Good at Rhyming in a book store in Durango. I like it because it’s full of cute, short poems. Plus, there is room to forgive the self for not being perfect, and we could all use a little more of that in our lives.
I’m not crying, you’re crying! If I Could Keep You Little is all about watching our children grow up. It talks of the balance between loving how tiny they used to be, and loving who they are becoming as they get older. It gets me every time.
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie is the most common of the If You series. But this author has taken the concept and grown it. This includes If You Give a Pig a Pancake, If You Give a Moose a Muffin, and If You Give a Cat a Cupcake. Another author also took this concept and wrote If You Give a Mouse an I-Phone, which I think is pretty great too.
I love the Little Critter Series because there is a book for every single instance you can possibly think of. Holidays, family, behaviors, you name it, it probably exists.
My bestie got the kids this book and I was pleasantly surprised. Little Joe Chickapig lives on a farm but dreams of something different. Where can he find the courage to follow his dreams? Sometimes I just really enjoy the way a book reads. The flow of it as I speak. This is one of those books.
I grew up with this book myself, and I love the lilting rhythm of Love You Forever. It’s just as much for the children as it is for us adults.
What happens when 3 animals tell Make Believe Tales to a traveling merchant? He has to believe them. But when he tells a tale of his own, are they outsmarted?
Crispen Blaze is Not Your Typical Dragon. He doesn’t breath fire. Can he fit in with the rest of his family? Or is he doomed to be an outcast? This book is great for accepting who you are, even if you aren’t a fire breathing dragon.
I was driving in the car a few weeks ago and my recently turned 3-year-old was mumbling to themselves. Then they looked up and said “Kid! I’ll move mountains!” and it moved my heart. Oh, The Places You’ll Go is great for self empowerment.
This book is a bit long, but On the Night You Were Born is a sweet book about loving your child. If you haven’t noticed, I really like those.
If your child is afraid of the dark, then they need a Guard Octopus. This cute book with unique illustrations helps children face their fears, with a little bit of help.
This book doesn’t have any words. It’s a great opportunity for your child to make their own story. Follow a woman as she makes Pancakes for Breakfast and let your child tell their own story.
Similar to the Little Critter books, Pete the Cat has so much variety you are bound to get a few you enjoy. The ones by James Dean are also often early reader books, so your child can practice reading if that’s something they are interested in. The ones by Eric Litwin often have songs that go with them which can be fun as well!
I sing this book every time. Pierre is a silly tale of a boy with an attitude and his family. When they leave him to go into town, will he learn to care if a lion will eat him? I also love it because while my children don’t often say “I don’t care” I was recently able to break out this song and turn a bad mood into something fun and silly.
The Pigeon Fins a Hot Dog and then duckling comes along an is curious. Can the pigeon figure out a way for the duckling to try some?
A tortoise out in winter? Ridiculous! This book is sweet and silly at the same time. When everyone says you can’t, maybe you just need a different perspective to know that you can.
This goose is a Serious Goose. I bet your child can’t make it laugh!
This book is old, no doubt about it. But Some Things Go Together is a really sweet book as well. If you can find it, I’d recommend giving it a read.
When Stellaluna is little, she gets separated from her mother. Can she learn to fit in with her new bird siblings?
This book is great to read before coming together as a community and actually making Stone Soup! If everyone contributes a little, then there can be food for all.
This sweet book is about a mother’s love. Take Heart My Child, for my love will always be here.
Little Willa can’t fall asleep. No worries though, as her big brother is there. He walks her through the house, telling her Happy Things before they find their way to bed.
Silliness and counting come together in this crazy classic, Ten Apples Up on Top.
Ten Minutes to Bed Little Unicorn, but this little unicorn isn’t tired at all. Each page counts down, one minute at a time, as Little Unicorn goes on one last adventure before falling asleep.
A beautiful, cultural book. A slice of a different lifestyle, for sure. Tutu and the Ti Plant talks about the myths of Tutu’s people and how the Ti plant will protect them from the storms.
I have to admit, The Very Busy Spider might be my soul mate. That get things done attitude is real. Also, it’s a sweet story, and I love the web that the spider creates in the end. This story speaks to delayed gratification, something children these days do not experience very often. It also speaks to hard work.
I just found this book and I am crazy in love with this series. Your children get to choose their own adventure. Each section you read and then your child gets to decide what action the child takes next. Then depending on the answer you go to different pages to continue the story. A very concrete way to see the consequences (good and bad!) of their decisions.
I have not recently read this book in English, so I can’t quote anything from Where the Wild Things Are unless you are in the mood for some Spanish. Still, I love the wild rumpus in this book. Anything with imagination really gets me in general I think.
I was walking down the road and I saw a donkey. He was a Wonkey Donkey. An absolutely hilarious, fun book. Get this one for the giggles.
Worm’s Wagon and other Alphatales books is a fun book full of the letter W. These books tell cute, short stories with a heavy focus on just one letter.
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