My first post about
reading aloud featured only chapter books, but we've been reading to our kids since they were babies, so I thought I would feature some picture books that we've really loved.
What do People Do All Day? - Richard Scarry - This has a 2-page spread for various settings, such as a bakery or a saw mill. There's so much to learn as it describes the different steps of how everyday things are made, and the different people and machinery involved. So much to look at and point to!! We read this over and over, not all at once, maybe focusing on 2-4 pages at a time, because it is to take in! We loved Richard Scarry's "Busytown" books, but this one was one of our favorites of them.
You Are Special - Max Lucado - Simple but powerful story about how each person is special and loved, and not to let other's opinions dictate your self-worth. A beautiful allegory of God's unconditional love. We loved all Max Lucado's picture books featuring the Wemmicks, including
If I Only Had a Green Nose (great story about not following the crowd).
The Red Thread - Grace Lin - A touching fairy tale about a King and a Queen that search for child to bring into their home. We love how Grace Lin brings Asian culture into children's books. Two others of her picture books that we enjoyed (and introduced our kids to Asian culture) are
The Ugly Vegetables and
Dim Sum for Everyone. She's one of my favorite Asian American authors.
Quick as a Cricket - Audrey Wood Beautifully illustrated book that celebrates the diversity of personal attributes - quiet, loud, slow, quick, small, large, etc.
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom - Bill Martin, Jr. Great introduction to the alphabet! The rhythmic prose just begs to be read aloud!
This is just a small sampling of the great books we read when the kids were toddlers and preschoolers. Of course, there's so many more that are great read-alouds for the younger crowd, including all the Dr. Seuss books, Corduroy books, the Berenstain Bears (our kids LOVED these, but there's too many to list, and hard to pick a favorite), But really, ANY book is probably better than no books, and kids will gravitate to their own favorites. It's a little overwhelming, actually, to see how many picture books out there there are, but the more you read, the more ideas the kids will be able to explore!
