Friday, October 12, 2012

Top Book Picks for 3 Year Olds: Vintage and Modern

Once kids are able to sit through a very short book, it's fun to start introducing books that are a tad longer and have more text per page. Annette is 3 and these have been her favorite books in this stage of life.

Since I love old vintage classic books AND love new, fresh, modern books I decided to list our faves in those 2 categories. 

Our favorite vintage type books are:

1. A Tree is Nice  An old timey book about how nice trees are. It's fun to paint a picture of a tree after you read this story.... if you're into that kind of messy thing ; )

2. Whistle for Willie  by Ezra Jack Keats. Kids get so excited as little Peter tries to figure out how to whistle. I do fun sound effects throughout the book, ending with a full blown whistle when Peter finally figures out how to do it himself. Oh, how Annette's eyes light up at the end of this book.

3. The Snowy Day Another book by the talented Ezra Jack Keats. If you like his style as much as we do, you'll love another of his claims to fame.... Peter's Chair. It's about getting a new sibling, so we've read it several times lately.

4. Are You My Mother This book could almost make my 2 year old list, but Charlie can just barely barely sit through the whole full version of this classic. That's why I put it on my 3 year old list. This was my very favorite book growing up as a child.

5. The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the BIG HUNGRY BEAR This one was published in 1984, so I guess it's on the older side. Annette has this entire book memorized. It's a very fun read and teaches new words like 'disguise' and 'guarding'. 


6. Fairy Tale and Folk Tale type books:  Cinderella, The Gingerbread Man, Hansel and Gretel, Sleeping Beauty, Goldilocks, Jack and the Beanstalk, Princess and the Pea, The Ugly Duckling, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, etc. Those books are great read alouds. We have several different versions of Goldilocks, Cinderella, and others.... which provides a great opportunity to compare and contrast story elements. 



Our favorite newer more MODERN books are:

6. The Rainbow Fish Do we consider a book with the publication date of 1995 'newer'? I did. For the sake of this post : ) This book is GREAT for teaching kids to share and think of others more than themselves.

7. Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes  This book has a song to go with it if you want to get the audio stuff as well. I heard it once or twice when I taught school and the catchy tune will be stuck in my head for the rest of my days. This book would work for 2 year olds too.

8. Girly books and series......  Fancy Nancy, Ladybug Girl, Polly's Pink Pajamas
 Birdie's Big Girl Dress  I asked Annette what her most favorite book was. She said "Fancy Nancy" in her most adoring voice. If your little girl loves to try on clothes, play dress up, and pretend she will fall in love with these books. And her Mama probably will too! I absolutely love the illustrations in these books, but especially the Birdie book. Every outfit in that book could be pinned on pinterest. They are that stylish and cute. A friend gave us this book as a birthday gift and it has quickly become one of my all time favorites.... I guess because I still really like playing dress up as I talked about in this old post.

 

9. Press Here This book is fun to read because it's very interactive. Such a creative author. It was a birthday gift too.... love getting and giving books as gifts!!!


10. Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems. Little Trixie can't say words yet, she just babbles. Until the end of the book, when she finally says her first words :)  Funny, funny author. He is actually a comedian, so even adults will think his children's books are funny. Bonus!


Cookie's Week, The Stray Dog, 10 Black Dots, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar would be next on our list. And a ton of other books. 


Gets me excited about sharing my favorite reads for 4 and 5 year olds. There will be lots of trade books that you'd see in a kindergarten classroom on that list.

I'd LOVE some other book recommendations for 3 year olds. Your kids have different favorites? Love to hear about some more I'm not familiar with.....

Happy FRIDAY!!!

1 comment:

Kendall Jones said...

How funny - The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the BIG HUNGRY BEAR was my FAVORITE book when I was a little girl!