Preschool Literature List

Do you get lost in the library trying to find good books? I certainly do. I can't remember if we've read it before, I have no recollection of the books I read in early childhood and therefore don't remember which ones I liked, and I always want a good mix. I referred to a lot of other lists to compile a list of my own, including the reading lists from Moving Beyond the Page, Sonlight, Five in a Row, and Read Aloud America. I took recommendations from posters on discussion boards that I frequent. These were nowhere near all the books we've been reading for our preschool year, but they were the ones I considered worthwhile to put on a list and make sure I checked out throughout the year. I kept this to 52 books - one for each week of the year, though we didn't necessarily do one per week.

1.       Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs (Tomie DePaola)

2.       A Pair of Red Clogs (Masako Matsuno)

3.       What Do You Do With a Tail Like This (Steve Jenkins)

4.       Angus Lost (Marjorie Flack)

5.       Caps for Sale (Esphyr Slobodkina)

6.       Rosie’s Magic Horse (Russell Hoban)

7.       A Splendid Friend Indeed (Suzanne Bloom)

8.       The Glorious Flight (Alice Provensen)

9.       Owl Babies (Martin Waddell)

10.   Dandelion (Don Freeman)

11.   Nurse Clementine (Simon James)

12.   Seasons of Arnold’s Apple Tree (Gail Gibbons)

13.   Little Bear’s Little Boat (Eve Bunting)

14.   Grandfather’s Journey (Allen Say)

15.   Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse (Kevin Henkes)

16.   Ella Sarah Gets Dressed (Margaret Chodos-Irvine)

17.   Petunia (Roger Duvoisin)

18.   Dinosaurs Big and Small (Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld)

19.   Papa Piccolo (Carol Talley)

20.   Swimmy (Leo Lionni)

21.   A Rainbow of My Own (Don Freeman)

22.   The Cat in the Hat (Dr. Seuss)

23.   Dogger (Shirley Hughes)

24.   Zin! Zin !Zin! A Violin (Lloyd Moss)

25.   My Lucky Day (Keiko Kasza)

26.   Little Blue and Little Yellow (Leo Lionni)

27.   An Extraordinary Egg (Leo Lionni)

28.   Not a Box (Antoninette Portis)

29.   Little Red Riding Hood (retold by Trina Schart Hyman)

30.   A Bus Called Heaven (Bob Graham)

31.   There’s a Wocket in My Pocket (Dr. Seuss)

32.   Toot and Puddle (Holly Hobbie)

33.   Tiger Can’t Sleep (JJ Fore)

34.   Umbrella (Taro Yashima)

35.   Curious George (H.A. Rey)

36.   Amber on the Mountain (Tony Johnston)

37.   When I’m Sleepy (Jane R Howard)

38.   Night of the Moonjellies (Mark Shasha)

39.   Wheel on the Chimney (Margaret Wise Brown)

40.   Ride a Purple Pelican (Jack Prelutsky)

41.   Farfallina and Marcel (Holly Keller)

42.   The House on East 88^th Street (Bernard Waber)

43.   The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge (Hildegarde Swift)

44.   It’s Mine! (Leo Lionni)

45.   Cranberry Thanksgiving (Wende Devlin)

46.   Bear Shadow (Frank Asch)

47.   And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street (Dr. Seuss)

48.   Mouse Soup (Arnold Lobel)

49.   Mole and the Baby Bird (Marjorie Newman)

50.   Beatrice Doesn’t Want To (Laura Numeroff)

51.   Frog and Toad Are Friends (Arnold Lobel)

52.   Winnie the Pooh (A.A. Milne)

Advanced Reading for Preschoolers

Since The Kid started reading, she's really taken off. I was having trouble keeping up with her and finally found two tips that saved my sanity (for now).

Tip #1: Stop looking at lists of "books for _____ graders" as those quickly got into books that my daughter was not interested in/ready for. Just because she can read at a third grade level does not mean she has any interest in books with few pictures. She is still a preschooler! Better is to look at lists of "read-alouds for preschoolers/kindergarteners" and just acknowledge that she can be the one reading aloud instead of a parent.

Tip #2: Organize! I'll find a great book, know that there is a series, and then forget all about it. So, in the spirit of organizing, I started a few GoodReads lists. You can use these as reference or add to them yourself!

Preschoolers Reading at First Grade Level
Preschoolers Reading at Second Grade Level
Preschoolers Reading at Third Grade Level
I'm editing this post to add one more list:
Preschoolers/Kindergarteners Reading at Fourth/Fifth Grade Level