20 Children's Books You Should Read Aloud to Your Kids This Week
We are a reading house. We loooooovvvveee to read. In our house we believe that readers are better positioned for success at school and in life. We think that reading is a way to boost our children’s imagination (and we’re all about imagination around here) so we read a lot.
We’ve read to our kids since they were babies and even though Gomer, 7, can read on his own now, he still loves to have me read to him and his sister at night before they go to bed. We’ve moved on from Goodnight Moon and The Napping House (two favorites) and we need some new books. So I did an informal poll with my friends and I came up with a great list of 20 books that you should read out loud to your kids this week:
- The Butter Battle Book by Dr. Seuss – Who doesn’t love Dr. Seuss? This book is one of my favorites, because it covers a very intense topic in a way that kids (and grownups) can easily understand.
- Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr.
- Walter the Farting Dog by William Kotzwinkle & Glenn Murray – Any book with the word “farting” in the title needs to be read out loud in my house just so we can laugh hysterically.
- Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner – I love to read this one out loud because ”Chihuahua” just rolls off the tongue so easily.
- Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney
- Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein
- Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
- How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? by Jane Yolen – This whole series is great for any dino lovers.
- Everybody Poops by Taro Gomi – This is a perfect companion book to Walter. ”Farting” and “pooping”?! Start reading early so there’s plenty of time for everyone to settle down after laughing so much.
- Go Dog Go by P.D. Eastman – Once upon a time this was Gomer’s favorite book. I think it will always be in the bedtime rotation.
- The Paperbag Princess by Robert N. Munsch
- If Dogs Ruled the World by Faith McNulty – This is one that Adolpha loves. She’s crazy about dogs and this book imagines a world where we are the dogs’ pets. Her dream come true!
- Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin – Dear Farmer Brown, this is a cute book with a funny twist at the end that kids love.
- Giraffe and a Half by Shel Silverstein – I grew up reading Shel Silverstein and whether it’s silly poems or heartfelt stories, he’s always perfect.
- Rhyming Dust Bunnies by Jan Thomas
- How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long
- The Pigeon Wants a Puppy! by Mo Willems – The Pigeon series is a wonderful series to read to your kids. So are the Knufflebunny books. Mo Willems can take such a simple idea and turn it into brilliance that kids want to hear again and again.
- The Day the Babies Crawled Away by Peggy Rathmann
- Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell
- Too Many Toys by David Shannon – We can all relate to the mom in this book who just wants to clean out some of her son’s toys. My kids love to look at the pictures and see their favorite toys depicted in the illustrations.
Find the entire list of recommended children’s books here and feel free to add your favorites in the comments. Be sure to read my daily rants at People I Want to Punch in the Throat where you’re sure to laugh and/or might be offended (it’s where you can find my R-rated rants).
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Love the selection of books! The most important thing is to read to your children on a daily basis! As a former Kindergarten teacher, you wouldn’t believe how many parents don’t read to and/or with their kids!
I know I’m late to the party, but have you ever read: Good Night Opus, by Berkeley Breathed??? One of my ultimo favorites, hilarious and the reading/verses a very smooth.
Great books! We read many on the list…often!
Great post – thank you for the suggestions!
I had the pleasure of reading “Go, Dog, Go!” four times in a row this afternoon.
I just read Interrupting Chicken to both of my boys’ classes this past week for Right to Read week! Love!! Great list!
I’ve always loved “Make Way for Ducklings”. My mother read it to me as a child, and I would always make her add my name to the list of ducklings… Mack, Pack, Whack, Jack and…Katie! Now I read it to my son and always add his name to the list! Always makes me smile!
I love reading to my children, that is until my son hit the Capitan Underpants phase and my daughter won’t check out anything that isn’t filled with a million and one crafts for what ever the next holiday is. I recall reading and rereading many of the books you listed, and I’d like to add a couple of my favorites to that list. I love Don & Audrey Wood, and the book “Quick as a Cricket” is one of my favorites. And of the “Bear Snores on” books by Karma Wilson are fun to read. I also love stashing the holiday books together. I can remember my kids climbing shelves in the hall closet to get down the next holiday b/c it was like a surprise all over again each year. My favorite Christmas book has to be “Mooseltoe” by Margie Palatini. Ok, I could go on forever so I’ll stop there. I miss my kids being babes!
I really think Amy Giggles: Laugh Out Loud is a book that should be read by every parent.
I love several of these and have a few good ones to add as well. “If you give a mouse a cookie”, “Corduroy”, “Goodnight Moon “, “Harold and the Purple Crayon” and “The very hungry Caterpillar”. I have sooo many more but those a few popular ones.
Love this list. Some familiar, some new to me. We are a reading family too
First of all – how nice to see an article on Babble where you don’t have to click through 20 screens to see the list – thank you!!!
One of our favorite read aloud’s is “Hola Jalapeno.” SO much fun! And, of course, Dr. Suess is always fun, especially, “There’s a Wocket in my Pocket!”