Do you read with your kids? It’s something I love to stop and do each day, but I will admit when they were all under 5 it wasn’t easy to do. We like to have a quiet time and read before naptime and bedtime. I will miss these precious moments that we share when they sit on my lap and we enjoy a book together. My youngest goes to kindergarten in the fall and I feel like I don’t have enough days left to sit and read with him. I’m really emotional about letting my 3rd and last baby go, but he’s very ready. Please tell me I’m going to be okay! I’ve always had at least one buddy at home for the past 10 years. I have a greater appreciation for the moments I have had with my little ones before they were off to school each day as I watch my days with Charlie tick away.

Drying my eyes now and moving on with this post… Do you use your public library? Sometimes I don’t feel like going in and scanning all the shelves so I reserve our books online. We can run in quickly and grab our books when we get a notice they are ready for pickup. I have compiled a list of our absolute favorite books through the years that should go on your library list or even an Amazon wish list. These would make great gift ideas too!

Creepy Carrots & Creepy Underwear are current favorites with our 4 year old. He will enlist all able-bodied readers to read these to him even though he basically has them memorized.

In Creepy Carrots, a Caldecott Honor–winning picture book, The Twilight Zone comes to the carrot patch as a rabbit fears his favorite treats are out to get him.

From the celebrated team behind Creepy Carrots!, Aaron Reynolds and Caldecott Honor winner Peter Brown, comes a hilarious (and just a little creepy) story of a brave rabbit and a very weird pair of underwear.

As a parent, I enjoy reading The Day the Crayons Quit and The Day the Crayons Came Home. They are incredibly funny. We have given these books as gifts to many of our friends. They are hilarious and loved by the whole family.

In The Day the Crayons Quit, Poor Duncan just wants to color. But when he opens his box of crayons, he finds only letters, all saying the same thing: His crayons have had enough! They quit! Beige Crayon is tired of playing second fiddle to Brown Crayon. Black wants to be used for more than just outlining. Blue needs a break from coloring all those bodies of water. And Orange and Yellow are no longer speaking—each believes he is the true color of the sun.

The sequel, The Day the Crayons Came Home is possibly even funnier, but not without the first book. The characters/crayons are developed more through their stories.

Extra Yarn is a special book because we have an Annabelle in our home. The main character is a little girl named Annabelle who is a bit quirky like our own Annabelle. It’s a nice little book. My aunt is good at finding our kid’s books that have characters with their name in it. The kids love it. She reads this book to herself now, but when she was younger it was one of our favorites to read together.

From bestselling and award-winning author Mac Barnett and illustrator Jon Klassen comes Extra Yarn, a Caldecott Honor Book, Boston Globe-Horn Book Award winner, and a New York Times bestseller.
A young girl and her box of magical yarn transform a community in this stunning picture book. With spare, gently humorous illustrations and a palette that moves from black-and-white to a range of color, this modern fairy tale has the feel of a new classic.

The Snow Globe Family is MY favorite. Hey, I’m the one reading the books, I can have favorites too. It’s a sweet book about a family in a big house and a similar family living in a snow globe. They are all hoping for a big snowstorm. The book parallels the two families and it reminds me of the excitement we would have over a big snowstorm. We would even go sledding at night on special occasions, just like in this book.

Oh, when will it snow again? wonders the little family who lives in the snow globe. They long for a snowstorm? if only someone in the big family would pick up the snow globe and give it a shake. Baby would love to. She notices the little family, but the snow globe is too high for her to reach. But then Baby is alone during a snowstorm. Will the snow globe family get a chance to go sledding, too?

I’ll let you click through the rest of our list and there are descriptions with each book about why they are on our Amazon Book Idea List.

Book Guide for Ages 3+

When we are checking out the same books over and over, I know it’s time to add them to our home library. This list includes all the books we own and read over and over.

I also have a bonus list of suggestions that my friends shared with me. I recently asked my Facebook friends what favorite books were in their homes. These will be the books on our list to check out in the near future.

• A Street Through Time by Anne Millard
• Bear Says Thanks by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle
• Dewey Bob by Judy Schachner
• Don’t Push the Button (and more by Bill Cotter)
• Dragons Love Tacos
• Harold and the Purple Crayon
• How Full is Your Bucket by Tom Rath
• I Need My Monster by Amanda Noll and Howard McWilliam
• Miss Fannie’s Hat by Jan Karon
• Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney
• Pirate Mom by Deborah Underwood
• The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch and Michael Martchenko
• The Little Engine That Could
• The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda D. Williams and Megan Lloyd
• The Mixed Up Truck by Stephen Savage
• The Monster at the End of This Book by Jon Stone and Michael Smollin
• The Nuts: Bedtime at the Nut House by Eric Litwin (listen to song on YouTube too!)
• The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen and Dan Hanna
• The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf
• Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens
• African American Children’s Books: Chicken Sunday, Amazing Grace & Willie’s Not the Hugging Kind
• Chris VanDusen books (there are a lot!)
• Pete the Cat Books 

 

Ginny Logan is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.