Reading to your child can help instill the joy of reading and create a passion for a lifetime. Read aloud books encourage them to look, point, touch, and answer questions. Designating a time to spend with your preschooler can improve language skills by copying sounds, recognizing pictures, and learning new words. Visit your local library to find the book recommendations listed below.
Newborns
Guess How Much I Love You? by Sam McBratney
This picture book follows the story of a baby & daddy hare and centers on the question of how much you can love someone. Just when the baby hare thinks he has come up with a greater way to show his daddy how much he truly loves him, his daddy’s love becomes even greater. This classic story, with its captivating visuals, is a great bedtime story to close out the day with your baby.
One Year
The Baby’s Catalogue by Janet and Allan Ahlberg
This near wordless picture book includes numerous things that babies and families do on a typical day, including feeding, sleeping, playing, and working. It begins in the morning with babies in bed and then carries on throughout the day. The illustrations are captivating and this book is filled with easily recognizable objects that are perfect for your toddler!
Two years
Whistle for Willie by Ezra Jack Keats
Toddlers will especially like this beautifully illustrated story of a young boy, Peter, that lives in the city. He hears an older boy whistle and is determined to learn how to whistle too so he can call his dog, Willie. Peter quickly finds out that whistling is more difficult than he imagined. His determination and perseverance finally pay off and he whistles all the way home!
Three Years
Where’s Spot? By Eric Hill
It’s time for dinner and Spot is nowhere to be seen. Where could he be? This repetitive tale features Sally, Spot’s mother, searching for him all over the house. Toddlers love lifting the flaps to find out where Spot might be hiding. These hide-and-seek flaps encourage curiosity and interactivity. Not only is this book fun, but the simple This book is a lot of fun and the simple, repetitive text is perfect for encouraging speech and language in little ones.
Four Years
Mr. Gumpy’s Outing by John Burningham
One hot, sunny day, Mr. Gumpy takes his friends on a river boat ride but it doesn’t go quite as planned! This clever story is perfectly paced and includes enough clues in the illustrations to help readers predict what will happen. The tone of the book is gentle and wholesome and this story will keep readers laughing until the very end, even if you have read it multiple times!
Get Scholastic’s best book recommendations delivered straight to your inbox by signing up for their parent newsletter. If you have a favorite book that you would like to share with us, let us know!