What book would you recommend that I read to my daughter?
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phoenyx (
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January 20th, 2008
I’m looking for books to read to my 3-year-old daughter before bedtime. What book(s) would you recommend and why?
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16 Answers
The Giving Tree
Hands down the most beautiful, simple, and touching children’s book ever written. I love reading that book to this day.
@ spargett that’s what I was what I was going to put before clicking on the question! I think that it the best book I ever read to my children…I liked it myself not just them.
Goodnight Moon. Perfect for bedtime. Fanciful, calming, adorable.
The Runaway Bunny. Ideal for 3 year olds who are working out closeness vs. independence, also imaginative and peaceful.
Anything by Eric Carle. (The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Brown Bear Brown Bear, etc.) Wonderful art, rhyming patterns perfect for a pre-reader to hear and repeat, will help her practice colors, counting, animals, etc. without even realizing it.
Where the Wild Things Are. Fantastic illustrations, will help her feel powerful in the face of her feelings and fears, just like Max in the story who becomes king of the “wild things” and then willingly returns home to supper and to bed.
Harold and the Purple Crayon. A little boy creates the world of his imagination with nothing but his purple crayon, then in the end draws himself into bed and to sleep. Very simple and charming.
The Little Fur Family. A baby furry thing has adventures and in the end is tucked into bed.
Bedtime for Frances (or any of the Frances books). Hilarious for adults while serious for kids, sweet drawings. In this one Frances finds reasons and more reasons not to fall asleep, from the moon is too bright to her bathrobe looks like a monster to the crack in the ceiling is a rabbit that will come alive. In the end of course, she works it all out and goes to sleep.
Anything by Maurice Sendak (Goodnight Moon, Little Bear, Where the Wild Things Are, Chicken Soup With Rice, etc.)...excellent excellent! BTW he also has a series on DVD of his short stories that are animated.
Princess Poppets Opposites
ISBN 1–921—04904–9 (It’s a flip book with flip panels and pop-ups; if you have to get a princess book this is the one to get! my wife teaches in a preschool coop and the pre-k girls beg her to read this one at least 3 times per class!)
Richard Scarry-Storybook Dictionary, etc. Great characters/illustrations and building blocks for vocabulary.
Dr. Seuss-any
Mercer Mayer-Little critter series-teaches manners, responsibilities, and family relationships with cute fuzzy characters…
Enjoy! (I recommend the public library vs. buying! Some of the Maurice Sendak books go for as much as $20 apiece!)
Harry Potter ?
I used to love sherlock holmes, enid blytons and hans anderson
I second the Giving Tree, Maurice Sendak and Eric Carle.
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen is another one of my favorite children’s books. It’s a great book about a parent-child relationship and the magic of the natural world.
For your daughter’s age, I also love Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey and Stellaluna by Janell Cannon, both engaging stories that incorporate the natural world and deal with the theme of being separated from a parent and reunited.
Animalia by Graeme Base is an alphabet book with a twist – each page is lavishly illustrated with things that start with the appropriate letter, and most of the fun of the book is finding all the dozens of things that start with B on the B page, C on the C page, etc.
When she gets a couple years older, I also highly recommend Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney and Night Driving by John Coy. These two are so beautiful they bring tears to my eyes every time I read them. The first one is about what it means to live a good life. The second is about a father and his son bonding over a nighttime roadtrip.
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith is a hilarious retelling of the classic story from the perpective of the wolf, also more appropriate for kids who are a bit older and who can appreciate the silly humor.
I suggest the classic non-kid books like A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith, it’s an amazing story of the Nolan family living in Brooklyn in the early 1900s. I strongly suggest it.
Were I to have children, I’d give popular science books a try. Your daughter will ask a lot of questions but that’s a good thing. If she asks about something you don’t know then you two can learn the answer together.
how bout the mother goose tales?
those are always popular
Also Richard Scary’s (sp?) nursery rhymes and fairy tales.
that would be Richard Scarry see above ^^
Let her pick them out – take her to the picture book section at your local library, and let her wander…you’d be surprised at what gems she will find on her own!
My wife and I read 1001 nights to my son when either one of us takes him to bed. he’s 2 1/2 and he seems to enjoy it. It’s entertaining for us too.
Let her pick, and notice what she hands you.
“The Very Hungry Caterpillar” and “Goodnight Moon”
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