Best Books for 5 Year Old

Allison there are sooo many to look at but Dr. Suess is always a huge hit. My kids also like Spot books and Clifford. For that age I look at the level 1 and 2 for reading because if she can't read them herself they are great learning tools. Anything with repetition is good also. Good luck! S.

OK, so you have a Million great books listed here... I too was going to suggest the Fairy/ Princess books from Usborne (ot other places too), The very Hungry Caterpillar, all the If you give a Mouse a Cookie and such books...

The all-time favorite of my 4-5 preschoolers is the Runaway Pancake by John Lithgow... If you can find it with the CD, John Lithgow reads it with his silly voices and singing, they laugh the whole way through!!!

My daughter (5) loves sticker books. Usborne books has great dress up sticker books. For example it tells a story about fairies and it has hundreds of stickers to dress the fairies up. You could also look at learn to read books. We like the Bob Books - very easy to learn. She is also really into making craft projects like you could find at Ben Franklin.

Elephant & Piggie books, by Mo Willems
Knuffle Bunny, by Mo Willems
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, by Mo Willems
The Napping House, Audrey Wood
Owl Babies, Martin Waddell
Good Night, Gorilla, Peggy Rathmann
Julius, the Baby of the World, Kevin Henkes
The Snowy Day, Ezra Jack Keats
Alice the Fairy, David Shannon

My daughter is 5 and she likes the Skippy John Jones series. They are cute stories about a kitty who thinks he is a dog. Very funny! Of course anything about pricesses is a winner as well. Also if she is not in school yet, Chicka Chicka Boom is good one for learning the alphabet. Have fun!! M. B

I have 2 daughters 6 and 9. Our family favorites.....

Duck on a Bike by David Shannon
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
The Dot by Peter H Reynolds
Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh
Edward the Emu by Sheena Knowles
I Ain't Gonna Paint No More! by Karen Beaumont

oh! First and foremost, all the sheep books! (by Nancy Shaw Illustrated by Margot Apple, like "Sheep Take a Hike," "Sheep in a Ship," "Sheep in a Jeep"...
Also the Robert Munsch books! (like "The Paper Bag Princess")
and Arnold Lobel books(like "Frog and Toad Are Friends")

One fun idea is to get a small toy or stuffed animal to match the book i/e a sheep or a frog or a princess.

Five year olds are ready for more complex stories... consider chapter books with pictures like Charlotte's Web and Stewart Little. Ramona and Beezus books (Beverly Cleary) are great for young girls. Moms and Dads appreciate chapter books too... they are less repetitious and boring for them and give them a chance to develop characters.

My kids' favorite story books were: The Sneetches by Dr. Suess and The Lorax and they were fun to read as well.

It seems to me that Curious George was a favorite of my kids at that age.

I love the Olivia books! Eric Carle books are usually a big hit with kids that age too. You can always ask the children's librarian at your public library. They can always tell you about new books or the books that kids check out over and over again.

my 4 and 2 year olds love "Chica Chica Boom Boom" It is an alphabet rhyme book.

My daughter is 5 and absolutely LOVES Junie B Jones - these books seemed too old for her but the teachers at school were reading them to her and so I bought a couple and she doesn't want me to quit at night. She's engrossed the whole time! These are great for listening, not for learning to read. Hog & Dog is a great one for 1st step reading and she also really enjoys all the Bisquit books.

My five year old daughter loves "The Runaway Pumpkin" (a Halloween book) and "Groundhog Gets a Say" (filled with facts about groundhogs) and any Berenstain Bear book is a hit with her. We have read most of the Junie B. Jones books also (we have a 7 year old daughter as well) and we have enjoyed those.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
Make Way for Ducklings
Madeline books
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile and other books in that series

My kids are grown but these were some favorites.

S.

My daughter is almost 4 and she loves the Berenstain Bears books. Also, "Grumpy Bunny" books are great. They have little chapters in them and teach lessons. Don't forget to look into books for her fave characters like Dora or Little Bear or whoever she's into. Look for books that fit her personality too; a book about snow if she likes playing outside in the winter or about a ballerina if she likes to dance. It's funny, we have a bookcase filled with books at home but I cannot remember any others at the moment!

My five year old loves the book called "Monster at the end of this book". It's really very funny.

If she will be attending kindergarten next year AND if her parents read to her, I would suggest the Junie B. Jones series. My kindergartener and 1st grader love this series. She is a Dennis the Minice(sp?) of modern day. Their favorite Junie B. Jones book is the one where she decided to become a hair dresser and tries out her sissors on her bunny slippers. Really, really funny and from a kindergartener/1st grade perspective. It is a chapter book, but my kindergartener really likes when we read these books together. My first grader reads them on her own.

mykids love the mercer mayer book series, and they are fun to read too!
J. C

I have to second the Skippyjon Jones series. Just picked up the original a few weeks ago. It's the funniest kids book I think I've ever read & we are book junkies. Also, consider some non-fiction. Girls just don't get enough of it and it puts them at a disadvantage in school, I think. Thus, the big dispcrepancy between boys and girls in math and science. An informative book on mammals, oceans, or even on a female legend like Harriet Tubman???? Try "Moses" for a great children's book on her.

Allison, have you ever heard of Usborne Books? These are the GREATEST EVER!!!! My 5 year old has loved these books since he was a baby and he is still loving them. I became a consultant after my 3rd homeshow (it is a home-based business). You can visit my website to learn more about them. www.usbornebaby.com A little about the books - they are educational, interactive (flaps, searches, logical thinking) fun, etc. They introduce new books every 3 months, offer a guarantee on the books, plus each hostess can earn at least $85 in FREE and discounted books just for hosting a catalog or home show! I could go on and on, but I should probably stop. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. GOOD LUCK! Our family LOVES BOOKS!

ooooh... my kids (and i) just love, love, love, the skippy john jones series. they are so much fun to read. my kids quote them all the time. have fun.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Hi, Allison K.

I got this list via email from a great friend (also avid reader) ... this may come in handy for your child now and in the future ...
Good luck.
L.

LIST OF CHILDREN’S CLASSICS COMPILED BY THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES (NEH), 2003
____________________________

Summertime Favorites, a list of recommended readings, represents NEH's long-standing effort to highlight classic literature for young people from kindergarten through high school.

Thousands of parents and teachers have used Summertime Favorites since 1988 as a supplement to school reading lists to emphasize the value of reading classic books. In 2003, NEH revised and updated Summertime Favorites with help from librarians and reading experts.

The entire Summertime Favorites list appears below.

Recommended for K-3, either for reading by children or for reading to them.

Aardema, Verna. Who's in Rabbit's House?
Aesop. Fables
Atwater, Richard and Florence. Mr. Popper’s Penguins
Bemelmans, Ludwig. Madeline
Benchley, Nathaniel. Sam the Minuteman
Blume, Judy. Freckle Juice
Brown, Marcia. Stone Soup
Brown, Margaret Wise. Goodnight Moon
Brunhoff, Jean de. The Story of Babar
Burton, Virginia Lee. Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
Carroll, Lewis. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Cleary, Beverly. The Mouse and the Motorcycle
Collodi, Carlo. Adventures of Pinocchio
Crews, Donald. Freight Train
Daugherty, James. Andy and the Lion
dePaola, Tomie. Strega Nona
Flack, Marjorie. The Angus series
Freeman, Don. Corduroy
Fritz, Jean. The Cabin Faced West
Gag, Wanda. Millions of Cats
Galdone, Paul. The Three Little Pigs
Goble, Paul. The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses
Grahame, Kenneth. The Reluctant Dragon
Gramatky, Hardie. Little Toot
Hoban, Russell. Bedtime for Frances
Johnson, Crockett. Harold and the Purple Crayon
Keats, Ezra Jack. The Snowy Day
Kraus, Robert. Leo the Late Bloomer
Krauss, Ruth. The Carrot Seed
Leaf, Munro. The Story of Ferdinand
Lear, Edward. A Book of Nonsense
Levinson, Riki. Watch the Stars Come Out
Lionni, Leo. Frederick
Lobel, Arnold. Frog and Toad Are Friends
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. Paul Revere's Ride
Lopshire, Robert. Put Me in the Zoo
Marshall, James. George and Martha
McCloskey, Robert. Make Way for Ducklings
McDermott, Gerald. Anansi the Spider
Milne, A.A. Winnie-the-Pooh
Parish, Peggy. Amelia Bedelia
Piper, Watty. The Little Engine That Could
Potter, Beatrix. The Tale of Peter Rabbit
Rey, H.A. Curious George
Selden, George. The Cricket in Times Square
Sendak, Maurice. Where the Wild Things Are
Seuss, Dr. The Cat in the Hat
Slobodkina, Esphyr. Caps for Sale
Steig, William. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble
Stevenson, Robert Louis. A Child’s Garden of Verses
Taylor, Sydney. All-of-a-Kind Family
Thurber, James. Many Moons
Udry, Janice May. A Tree is Nice
Van Allsburg, Chris. The Garden of Abdul Gasazi
Viorst, Judith. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Ward, Lynd. The Biggest Bear
White, E.B. Charlotte’s Web
Yashima, Taro. Crow Boy
Zion, Gene. Harry the Dirty Dog
Zolotow, Charlotte. William’s Doll

________________________________

Grades 4 to 6

Alexander, Lloyd. Chronicles of Prydain
Andersen, Hans Christian. Fairy Tales
Babbitt, Natalie. Tuck Everlasting
Baum, L. Frank. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Boston, L.M. The Children of Green Knowe
Brink, Carol Ryrie. Caddie Woodlawn
Brooks, Gwendolyn. Bronzeville Boys and Girls
Burnett, Frances Hodgson. The Secret Garden
Byars, Betsy. The Summer of the Swans
Cooper, Susan. The Dark is Rising Sequence
Dodge, Mary Mapes. Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates
Eager, Edward. Half Magic
Edmonds, Walter D. The Matchlock Gun
Enright, Elizabeth. Thimble Summer
Estes, Eleanor. The Moffats
Farley, Walter. The Black Stallion
Field, Rachel. Hitty: Her First Hundred Years
Fitzhugh, Louise. Harriet the Spy
George, Jean Craighead. My Side of the Mountain
Grahame, Kenneth. The Wind in the Willows
Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales (Hänsel and Gretel, Rapunzel, etc.)
Hamilton, Virginia. The House of Dies Drear
Henry, Marguerite. Misty of Chincoteague
Howe, Deborah. Bunnicula
Hughes, Langston. The Dream Keeper and Other Poems
Irving, Washington. Rip Van Winkle
Juster, Norton. The Phantom Tollbooth
Kipling, Rudyard. The Jungle Book
Knight, Eric. Lassie Come Home
Konigsburg, E.L. From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Lamb, Charles and Mary. Tales from Shakespeare
Lawson, Robert. Ben and Me
Lenski, Lois. Strawberry Girl
Lester, Julius. To Be a Slave
Lewis, C.S. The Complete Chronicles of Narnia
Lindgren, Astrid. Pippi Longstocking
Lofting, Hugh. Doctor Dolittle
Lovelace, Maud Hart. Betsy-Tacy
Macaulay, David. Castle
MacLachlan, Patricia. Sarah Plain and Tall
McCloskey, Robert. Homer Price
Merrill, Jean. The Pushcart War
Montgomery, L.M. Anne of Green Gables
Nesbit, E. The Railway Children
North, Sterling. Rascal
Norton, Mary. The Borrowers
O’Brien, Robert C. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh
Paterson, Katherine. Bridge to Terabithia
Pearce, Philippa. Tom’s Midnight Garden
Perrault, Charles. The Complete Fairy Tales (Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, etc.)
Sawyer, Ruth. Roller Skates
Sewell, Anna. Black Beauty
Sharp, Margery. The Rescuers
Spyri, Johanna. Heidi
Travers, P. L. Mary Poppins
Wilder, Laura Ingalls. Little House on the Prairie
Wyss, Johann David. Swiss Family Robinson

________________________________

Grades 7 to 8

Alcott, Louisa May. Little Women
Bagnold, Enid. National Velvet
Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451
Bunyan, John. The Pilgrim’s Progress
Christopher, John. The White Mountains
Cooper, James Fenimore. The Last of the Mohicans
Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe
Dickens, Charles. A Christmas Carol
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Dumas, Alexandre. The Count of Monte Cristo
Eckert, Allan W. Incident At Hawk’s Hill
Engdahl, Sylvia Louise. Enchantress From the Stars
Forbes, Esther. Johnny Tremain
Forester, C.S. The Horatio Hornblower Series
Frank, Anne. Diary of a Young Girl
Frost, Robert. Poems
George, Jean Craighead. Julie of the Wolves
Hautzig, Esther. The Endless Steppe
Hilton, James. Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Hinton, S.E. The Outsiders
Hugo, Victor. The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Hunt, Irene. Across Five Aprils
Hunter, Mollie. A Stranger Came Ashore
Irving, Washington. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Keith, Harold. Rifles for Watie
Keller, Helen. Story of My Life
Kipling, Rudyard. Kim
LeGuin, Ursula K. A Wizard of Earthsea
L’Engle, Madeleine. A Wrinkle in Time
London, Jack. Call of the Wild
Malory, Sir Thomas. Le Morte d’Arthur
Mazer, Harry. The Last Mission
McCaffrey, Anne. Dragonsong
O’Dell, Scott. Island of the Blue Dolphins
O’Hara, Mary. My Friend Flicka
Paterson, Katherine. Jacob Have I Loved
Peck, Richard. The Ghost Belonged To Me
Peck, Robert Newton. A Day No Pigs Would Die
Pyle, Howard. The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
Rawlings, Marjorie Kinnan. The Yearling
Rawls, Wilson. Where the Red Fern Grows
Reiss, Johanna. The Upstairs Room
Saint-Exupéry, Antoine de. The Little Prince
Schaefer, Jack. Shane
Scott, Sir Walter. Ivanhoe
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein
Smith, Betty. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Speare, Elizabeth George. The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Sperry, Armstrong. Call It Courage
Steinbeck, John. The Red Pony
Stevenson, Robert Louis. Treasure Island
Taylor, Mildred D. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Tolkien, J.R.R. The Hobbit
Twain, Mark. Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Uchida, Yoshiko. Journey to Topaz
Verne, Jules. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Webster, Jean. Daddy-Long-Legs
Wells, H.G. War of the Worlds
Wilder, Thornton. The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Yep, Laurence. Dragonwings
Zindel, Paul. The Pigman

________________________________

Grades 9 to 12

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart
Agee, James. A Death in the Family
Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Anonymous. Beowulf
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice
Baldwin, James. Go Tell It on the Mountain
The Bible
Bolt, Robert. A Man for All Seasons
Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre
Brontë, Emily. Wuthering Heights
Buck, Pearl. The Good Earth
Camus, Albert. The Stranger
Cather, Willa. My Ántonia
Cervantes, Miguel de. Don Quixote
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales
Chekhov, Anton. The Cherry Orchard
Collins, Wilkie. The Moonstone
Conrad, Joseph. Lord Jim
Cormier, Robert. The Chocolate War
Crane, Stephen. The Red Badge of Courage
Dante. The Divine Comedy
Defoe, Daniel. Moll Flanders
Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations
Dickinson, Emily. Poems
Dostoevsky, Fyodor. Crime and Punishment
Dreiser, Theodore. An American Tragedy
Eliot, George. Silas Marner
Eliot, T.S. Murder in the Cathedral
Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Essays
Faulkner, William. The Sound and the Fury
Fielding, Henry. Tom Jones
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby
Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary
Forster, E.M. A Passage to India
Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Galsworthy, John. The Forsyte Saga
Golding, William. Lord of the Flies
Graves, Robert. I, Claudius
Greene, Graham. The Power and the Glory
Hardy, Thomas. Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter
Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom the Bell Tolls
Henry, O. Stories ("The Gift of the Magi," "The Ransom of Red Chief," etc.)
Hesse, Hermann. Steppenwolf
Homer. The Iliad
---. The Odyssey
Hughes, Langston. Poems
Hugo, Victor. Les Misérables
Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll's House
James, Henry. The Turn of the Screw
Joyce, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Kafka, Franz. The Trial
Keats, John. Poems
Kennedy, John F. Profiles in Courage
Koestler, Arthur. Darkness at Noon
Lawrence, D.H. Sons and Lovers
Lawrence, Jerome and Robert E. Lee. Inherit the Wind
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird
Lewis, Sinclair. Babbitt
Llewellyn, Richard. How Green Was My Valley
Mann, Thomas. The Magic Mountain
Marlowe, Christopher. Dr. Faustus
Maugham, W. Somerset. Of Human Bondage
McCullers, Carson. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible
Monsarrat, Nicholas. The Cruel Sea
O’Connor, Flannery. Wise Blood
O'Neill, Eugene. Long Day's Journey into Night
Orwell, George. 1984
---. Animal Farm
Pasternak, Boris. Doctor Zhivago
Poe, Edgar Allan. Short stories
Potok, Chaim. The Chosen
Rand, Ayn. The Fountainhead
Remarque, Erich Maria. All Quiet on the Western Front
Rostand, Edmond. Cyrano de Bergerac
Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye
Sandburg, Carl. Abraham Lincoln
Sayers, Dorothy L. The Nine Tailors
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet
---. King Lear
---. Much Ado About Nothing
---. Sonnets
Shaw, George Bernard. Pygmalion
Sheridan, Richard Brinsley. The School for Scandal
Shute, Nevil. A Town Like Alice
Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle
Solzhenitsyn, Alexander. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Sophocles. Oedipus Rex
Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men
Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin
Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver's Travels
Thackeray, William Makepeace. Vanity Fair
Thoreau, Henry David. Walden
Tolkien, J.R.R. The Lord of the Rings
Tolstoy, Leo. Anna Karenina
Trollope, Anthony. Barchester Towers
Turgenev, Ivan. Fathers and Sons
Twain, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Updike, John. Rabbit, Run
Valladares, Armando. Against All Hope
Virgil. The Aeneid
Voltaire. Candide
Warren, Robert Penn. All the King's Men
Waugh, Evelyn. A Handful of Dust
Welty, Eudora. Collected Short Stories
Wharton, Edith. The Age of Innocence
White, T.H. The Once and Future King
Wiesel, Elie. Night
Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray
Wilder, Thornton. Our Town
Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire
Wolfe, Thomas. Look Homeward, Angel
Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse
Wouk, Herman. The Caine Mutiny
Wright, Richard. Native Son

Dinosaurumpus by Tony Mitton is a big hit with my 4 1/2 year old. It's rhyming and very fun to read. It doesn't get annoying for me either.

Commotion in the Ocean by Giles Andrea is also a fun rhyming one.

I couldn't find either of them in our local bookstores, so I went to Amazon.com after my child fell in love with them after checking them out at the library.

"Double Trouble in Walla Walla" is really fun for kids to listen to and for adults to read (ties your tongue up!
My kindergartners always liked listening to the Junie B. Jones books by Barbara Park. Junie is a kindergartner. This is a series of short chapter books.

Kevin Henkes writes great stuff too!!!

Deb.

Allison K , I am a mom of 3 boys, which are older now, 20,16, 14, I know my kids have always loved books, they especially liked to be read to, i also know my kids always enjoyed a bible story book, with all its pictures and many different stories, if you feel you would like one please let me know and i can get you one ! other than that keep reading to your child, it will always benefit them, my kids today love to read, D. s

I think it's tough to beat the Dr Suess classics - I ordered the 'book club' delivery of these when my kids were little - it's great fun for a kid to have a package waiting in the mailbox.

anything by mo willems!

Hi Allison. If your niece likes Click Clack Moo, you might consider Duck for President, which is by the same author. It's an adorable, funny book--and very timely with the election coming up.

A bunch of good books have already been mentioned, but the first titles that lept to mind when I read your query were "The Kissing Hand" and its sequel "A Pocket Full of Kisses" both by Audrey Penn. I see there's a third book she's written about this character, Chester the Raccoon, about the raccoon family moving. I haven't seen it, but based on how wonderful the other two books are I'd bet it's excellent, too.

The Fancy Nancy books are great! There are 3 of them in the series now...Fancy Nancy, Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy, and Bonjour Butterfly. My 4 yr. old loves them!

Hi! I sell Usborne Books, which are wonderful, educational books for kids! My son, who just turned 5, loves them. I would try the Illustrated Stories series (lots of stories in a great hardcover book with ribbon) which includes Princess and the Pea and others. Stories for Bedtime is another good one with multiple fairy tale stories. If she has a particular interest, e-mail me and I will personally select some for you. Check them out at http://www ubah.com/g2687.

My 5-year old daughter loves all of the FANCY NANCY books.!

I *highly* recommend anything by Jane Yolen. (Though watch - she writes for all age ranges, but her childrens books have earned Caldecott and Newberry Awards). What's especially neat is that she's in town pretty often, and her son lives here in town (and is both a musician and now an author though not of children's books).

Dr Seuss and Disney are always a good choice.

If you Give a Mouse a Cookie...classic and oh so fun. your kids will remember it for a very long time. My mom read it to me when I was a kid, and I read it to my godson now. He loves it too.

Giggle Giggle Quack is also by the same author. My kids love that and Duck for President. I also see recommendations for Olivia books and Mo Willems books (my kids love the pigeon series) and they're all great.

anythig by laura Numeroff is a good one for a 5 year old. The Arthur books are also a big hit. Duck for president is very cute. That is written by the same author as click clack moo which is Doreen Cronan. They love the Dr Seuse series. I hope this helps.

K.

There is a series of very cute and funny books. Unfortunately, I can't remember the author but the titles are: 1. Parts 2. More Parts 3. Even More Parts. They are cleverly written about the body, and my preschoolers (4 & 5 years old)loved them! They laughed out loud every time we read them. Jamie Lee Curtis has some good books that the kids enjoyed, and are meant for that age. I'm not sure what kind of book you were looking for, but any book that children find interesting is a good book in my mind. Enjoy!

Allison,

My 5 year old loves the series "If you Give" by Laura Joffe Numeroff.

- If you give a mouse a cookie
- If you give a moose a muffin
- If you give a pig a pancake
- If you take a mouse to the movies
- If you take a mouse to school

Steven Kellogg has great stuff, too. "The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash" is very funny.

Good luck,
S.

i love reading books to kids! they laugh so hard, iv found that a fav of thiers is one fish 2 fish red fish blue fish by dr seuss, but it needs to be read with alot of energy and it can be a tounge twister

I like the usbornne books. They have a whole section for 5 year olds and a nice selection. Fun and interactive.
My kids love them!

The Fancy Nancy books are fun!

My son is 4, and we love the classics, like Gingerbread Man, Little Red Hen, etc. Usborne Books does carry some great picture story books, and offers a combined volume of stories for little girls. :-)

Another one she'd love is 1001 Things to Spot in Fairyland and the Little Ballerina Book. Another huge seller is the Sticker Dolly series. I sell these books and get last minute calls all the time asking me if I have any in stock. (www.goreadtoday.com).

Another popular one is "How Big is a Million"

Another story I feel is valuable is "The Giving Tree" which you can get at Barnes & Nobles.

My son loves Curious George too!
Best of luck! She'll love anything you give her!

D.

Any of the books written by Jamie Lee Curtis. They are wonderfully illustrated and really fun. There is even one called "It's good to be five."
There are several girly ones, too, like "Today I feel silly" and "When I was little". My 4 year old daughter and 6 year old son both love them.
Enjoy!

I am a consultant for a kids book company. Please feel free to check out my website at www.kidsbooksbydeb.com for some great ideas and gifts.

D.

Don't let the pigeon stay up late!

Jamie Lee Curtis writes one called "Its hard to be 5" Its hilarious and so true.

What is she interested in? See if you can find something along those lines. If not, talk to the clerk at the bookstore or even the library to get some ideas.

good luck and happy shopping!

Hi Allison

I would highly recommend Do-Re-Me books through Discovery toys. Yes I am a rep!! so if you would like to take a look at them please log onto: www.discoverytoyslink.com/debschnieder
My 5 year old boy LOVES these books as most of them come with a CD full of great songs! Also the AHOY PIRATE PETE book is one they can do on their own and change the story line - it's great!

Don't hesitate to contact me with any questions! Oh, and Mamasource members get 10% off their order!

Thanks and good luck

D. Schnieder
www.discoverytoyslink.com/debschnieder

Any of the earlier Dr. Seuss books, also "Give the mouse a cookie" there are several ones by that author. Any of Stephen Kellog's books, such as "The day Jimmy's boa ate the wash" The pictures are so funny!

Hope this helps!

I am a mother of nine, grandmother of five and a teacher.

pink-a-licious, Aint gonna paint , Strawberry shortcake, blueberrys for sal, walter the farting dog, miss rumphius, fancy nancy, and there is also a click clack quack book....hope this helps

There's a great resource called "The Read Aloud Handbook" by Jim Trelease. The first part of the book has great information on the importance of literacy for kids and how to help maximize their reading skills. The second part is a list of recommended books by age group, all the way through high school, broken out by genre. I have used this book with the boys, for buying books as gifts for other kids, and as a teacher. It might be worth getting the most recent edition.

As for our personal favorites, my 4 year-old has too many to mention here, but something we just started is chapter books with him. We're currently reading "The Wind in the Willows." Most nights we snuggle in bed and read 5-6 pages. It will take forever to get through this way, but it's great the my son will just listen to the richness of the story, and try to guess what happens next. And I appreciate a story without pictures. :)