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Books Your Kindergartner Will Love!

books your kindergartner will love

Today is week four in this year’s Get Ready for Kindergarten Through Play series, and we’re talking about literacy! I believe that the best way to build kindergarten literacy skills is to find books your kindergartner will love! To get you started, I’m sharing some of our favorites! This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Picture Books My Kindergartners Love

  • When Dinosaurs Came With Everything by Elise Broach is a delightful story exploring a whimsical what-if. What if, instead of getting a sticker at the doctor’s, you got a full-grown dinosaur? How about a dinosaur with those donuts? David Small’s illustrations make this book even more delightful.
  • My son read How Rocket Learned to Read and Rocket Writes a Story nearly every day of his kindergarten year – and, remarkably, I never got tired of these sweet stories that are both written and illustrated by Tad Hills. As a bonus, the books are inspired by the author’s real live dog, also named Rocket.
  • Barney Saltzberg’s Beautiful Oops is a fun read that shares an important message about making mistakes.
  • We adore all of Mo Willems’ Elephant and Piggie books. We Are in a Book! is our favorite!
  • John Himmelman has written a very fun series about various farm animals coming to the rescue – sometimes helpfully and sometimes not so much. It turns out that, in Himmelman’s world, chickens are more helpful than some of the other animals, even if they do bring a little chaos along in Chickens to the Rescue.

picture books and chapter books your kindergartner will love

Chapter Books My Kindergartners Love

  • The Faraway Tree Stories is out of print, but this delightful series of stories by Enid Blyton is well finding an old copy of!
  • We usually listen to James Herriot’s Treasury for Children as an audiobook, but there is also a lovely illustrated hardcover copy.
  • Beverly Cleary got my first child into chapter books. Emma loved the Ramona series, but I was always partial to Socks, and children will also enjoy her adventurous Ralph the Mouse series.
  • I adored the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle stories as a child, and so do my kids! All of the books are fun, but Hello, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle is our favorite.
  • Many people start Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House series with the first of the Laura books, but Farmer Boy is a delightful read that appeals to both girls and boys. I recommend starting with it, and then moving on to the Laura and Mary books.

What books have your kindergartners loved?

Get Ready for K Through Play button

This post is the fourth in this year’s Get Ready for Kindergarten Through Play series! Here are some great ideas from my co-hosts for this series, and clicking on the button above will take you to the links from my blog for both last year and this year!

MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.

26 thoughts on “Books Your Kindergartner Will Love!”

  1. Thank you so much for the list. I’m always looking for new things to read to my kids. Do you have any suggestions for read-aloud chapter books for 4.5 year olds (not quite kindergarten)? My son liked My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett and Two Times the Fun by Beverly Cleary, but he doesn’t seem quite ready for Ramona or Mrs. Piggle Wiggle.

    In case you’re interested in some more books for kindergarteners, I have lists of the classics on my website: http://researchparent.com/books/kids-books/best-books-for-kids/best-books-for-kindergarten/

    1. The Faraway Tree Stories were the first book that my kids really listened to – and they were all preschool-aged or younger. I did change the characters’ names to match theirs, and I think that helped get them listening. I also let them play with blocks while I read. Good luck – I’ll be sure to check out your list!

      1. Thanks for the suggestion. It seems to be out of print, but I found an inexpensive used copy of 3 books in 1 that I ordered. I’ll let you know how it goes.

          1. We just started the Faraway Tree series with my 4.5 year old and he’s loving it. I let his dad finish reading the first chapter so I could feed the baby and my son decided it was boring, but then I made him let me read him the second chapter and he said it was his favorite chapter ever. He wants to read chapter 2 again tomorrow. :)

  2. I tried my kids on Ramona and they just weren’t interested in the books. I should try them again though, I too was partial to socks, and there’s another book she had about a teen girl that I always enjoyed when I was in 5th grade. I can’t remember the name offhand.

  3. We love Beautiful Oops and the Rocket books too. I think my kids would like the dinosaur one so I will look for that. Also the faraway series you recommended sounds good.

  4. I can’t remember what books my kids liked when they were in kindergarten. My Emma is currently reading the Ramona series. She also love the Ivy and Bean series.

  5. I also recommend that parents begin with Farmer Boy instead of Big Woods. And we LOVE Beverly Cleary so much – I’m glad you included her books on this list! I’m off to put the audio of James Herriot’s Treasury for Children on hold at the library right now!

  6. Natalie PlanetSmartyPants

    Great list. We read everything on it except The Faraway Tree. My K really liked Humphrey series that is set in school and feature an adorable hamster. They are great as a read aloud or as an independent read for very adventurous K readers.

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