Books for Preschoolers

Preschoolers adore books. Even the busiest, the most active and the most adventurous children can never resist a good story.

The years before school are the best time to nurture a love of reading and promote early literacy skills.

As children’s speech development progresses they love to take over some of the story telling from us. They like to:

  • Predict what the story is about
  • Talk about the events in the stories and what the characters are doing
  • Laugh at simple humour
  • Love to read their favourite stories over again and may object if we deviate from the words exactly as they appear on each page
  • Join in familiar sentences and chants
  • Like to sit quietly with their favourite story and read it to themselves from memory.

Books Preschoolers Love

Some of the most loved books that capture preschoolers’ interests and imaginations are:

The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler

Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae, illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers

Tyrannosaurus Drip by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by David Roberts

Enormous Elephant by Mwenye Hadithi, illustrated by Adrienne Kennaway