Ages 3-4. I am trying to encourage my son's interest in listening to stories and it seems to be working ... but now that he is wanting to read I find myself wishing I had more thoughtfully cultivated our library. Most of the books that we have were gifts or hand me downs. Or books that make noise (my favorite - not).
What is your child's favorite story?
TIA!!
PS Mine as a child was Corduroy so we have that. Thinking of things along those lines. 
I'll Love You Forever and Where the Wild Things are are two more that we have that I consider "classic."
You might also enjoy...
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Not a classic, but my 4YO son's favorite book is My No No No Day by Rebecca Patterson. LOVES it. (was a Dolly Parton Imagination Library book)
The Little Blue Truck series is a big hit as well.
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I love Nancy Tillman books. They are so pretty to look at.
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The Little Blue Truck books have been favorites for some time with both of my kids!
Currently my 3 year old is into The Little Engine That Could!
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At 3 my son wanted Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site multiple times a day. Now, at 4, he’s loving Rosie Revere, Engineer and a collection of Disney stories we got.
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Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel, Katy the Snow Plow and a bunch more by the same author are great. There's even a picture book about her, her boys, and her books. They're older books but so good.
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Our favorite are Robert McCloskey books!
Make Way for Ducklings, One Morning in Maine, etc.You can find a great list of classic books here that would be great for read alouds:
https://www.mensaforkids.org/achieve/excellence-in-reading/excellence-in-reading-k-3-list/
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“Iggy Peck, Architect”, “Rosie Revere, Engineer” and “Ada Twist, Scientists” are Some favorites with great messages.
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We have nearly all of the Oliver Jeffers books.
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-Giraffes Can’t Dance
-Strega Nona
-The Day the Crayons Quit
-There’s a Mouse About the House (so fun!)
https://www.amazon.com/Theres-Mouse-About-Richard-Fowler/dp/0881101540/ref=asc_df_0881101540/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312674805003&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10236492089351366741&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9018934&hvtargid=pla-447559372454&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=65038952147&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=312674805003&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10236492089351366741&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9018934&hvtargid=pla-447559372454-ANY Mo Willems (The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog, Elephant and Piggie books, Knuffle Bunny)
-Press Here
-The Mitten
-Snowmen at Night
-Berenstain Bears books -
Duck on a bike
The Very Busy Spider - by Eric Carle - the board and hardcover versions have a textured web at the end
Library Lion
Dragons love tacos -
Circus Ship. It’s super fun to read aloud with lots of animals and a fun page where you and LO can find them all cleverly hiding. It’s super cute!
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Mo Willems pigeon series as well as elephant and piggie, Robert Munsch treasury (Paper bag princess, Thomas’s snowsuit, etc), guess how much I love you...my 4yo loves any Sandra Boynton as well, thinks they’re hilarious even though they are getting too young for him.
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@lamariniere: YES! Those are my favourite.
We also have everything illustrated by the Fan brothers - the Darkest Dark, the Antlered Ship, Ocean Meets Sky, and the Night Gardener (all different authors).
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So many great ones already mentioned, like:
Iggy Peck, Architect
Rosie Revere, Engineer
Ada Twist, Scientists
One Morning in Maine
The Day the Crayons Quit (and the sequel)
Most Mo Williams books
Dragons love tacos (and the sequel)
The Circus ship
Strega NonaOthers we love:
Taxi Dog
Blueberries for Sal
The book with no pictures
If you give a mouse a cookie
If you give a moose a muffin
I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark
Jane and the Dragon
Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day
Madeline
Stellaluna
Six dinner Sid -
Some that haven’t been mentioned yet:
The Snowy Day
Where Do Diggers Sleep at Night
Shh! We Have A Plan
Steam Train Dream Train
Digger Dozer Dumper (cute little poems for all kinds of vehicles if yours is into cars/trucks) -
Big favourites in our house are:
Piranhas Don't Eat Bananas
Pig the Pug series
The Gruffalo
Room on the Broom
First Day at Skeleton School
Anything by Mem Fox - bedtime is always Time for Bed -
two favorites currently in rotation with my 3 yo are A Sick Day for Amos McGee and Stick and Stone. He also loves Clifford, goodnight goodnight construction site, steam train dream train, little blue truck, pout pout fish, all of the Eric carle books.
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A few hits around here (Either with her or me
): I review children's books as a hobby so my list can get out of control!- Sam and Dave Dig a Hole (DD4 loves it, my third grade class are obsessed. I am obsessed)
- The Book with no Pictures
- Blue on Blue
- A is for Musk Ox (Probably her favourite)
- Big Book of Bugs/Beasts/The Blue
- The Night Gardener
- The Tiger Who Came To Tea
- Little Owl's Night
- The Most Magnificent Thing
- Did You Take The B From My -ook (part of a series. We love all)
- Beautiful Oops
- Marmaduke Duck and the Marmalade Jam
- A Sick Day for Amos McGee -
This, and any Moe Willems is a favorite right now
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My 4yo has been really into the easy readers with his favorite characters this year.
Favorites I could read every day
The very hungry caterpillar
Llama llama red pajama
Chicka chicka boom boom
Little Blue Truck -
Omg you guys! I just got back to my phone and saw sooooo many recommendations! Thank you!! I’m writing them all down and checking them out to add some to my amazon cart!!!
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I haven't read the other suggestions yet, but my favorites to read are:
Giraffes Can't Dance
Little Blue Truck
Horseplay
The Seven Silly Eaters
A Tale of Two Mommies
Any Todd Parr book
Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type -
@Mrs. Turtle: my son LOVES click clack moo!
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@autumnleaves: omg duck on a bike. That was my kids favorite for awhile. They thought it was the funniest thing ever!
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My favorites with my almost-3-yr old.
Lots of empowerment and love and some diversity. -
Don’t forget to stop by the library! You can read allll of these and more and see which are your favorites.
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So many good recommendations.
Here's what I can add:
- Monkey Puzzle
- A Squash and a Squeeze
- The kindest giant in town
- The Koala who could
- Lindbergh: The Tale of a Flying Mouse
- What Do You Do With an Idea? -
Eric Carle.
I highly recommend going to the library and asking the librarians there. They have given us so many good suggestions over the years.
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Ditto to everyone about library. After you got your membership, you can go online and reserve books if your branch doesn't have a certain book! We don't even buy books anymore
(well actually we do, but we are onto chapter books now at 7 
) The modern picture books:
Anything by Dan Santat, I love After the Fall a lot.
Check out books by Jon Agee too, delightful illustrations and fun stories.
Don't forget Tom Lichtenheld! Good Night Good Night Construction Site is a must have. Also check out his other work.
We also love Gruffalo series a lot. Fun writing that rhymes and reads like a song. Written by Julia Donaldson. Definitely worth checking out.The classics:
Eric Carle was a big hit with us.
Dr. Suess no doubt. Must have Dr. Suess. All the fun rhymes!
Winnie the pooh if you are just reading to your child at bed time. It was fun.Then shameless plug:
The "Baby Loves Science" series written by Ruth Spiro and illustrated by yours truly
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I’m so stoked to look each one of these up and make my list!!!!
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@newlypregnantlady: Yikes what a good point. I’m terrible. I’ve never taken my son to a library
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@wrkbrk: our favorites are Tractor Mac series, Berenstain Bears, Mercer Mayer Critter books. Other ones are the" if you take a mouse" stories, (theres like 3?), Giraffes can't dance, where do diggers sleep at night?, Mighty dads, where do bears sleep?, little blue truck, Arthur series, llama llama series for sure! The little excavator by Anna dewdney is adorable. Sorry for no caps, I'm voice texting.
We really like rhyming and books with some substance.
Hope this helps! -
Mother Bruce! Sooooooooo good!!! There's a Hotel Bruce and Santa Bruce too, which are big hits.
Also:
- I Want My Hat Back
- Sam and Dave Dig a Hole
- Little Blue Truck
- Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site
- Steam Train, Dream Train
- Where Do Diggers Sleep at Night
- Chicka Chicka Boom BoomAnd at 4, we started chapter books:
- Magic Tree House
- Dragon Masters
- Eerie Elementary -
I keep a long ongoing list for children's books, though I've removed ones we already bought: http://a.co/gc4L52f
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There are a lot of great recs here, but here are a few I haven't seen listed that I love reading over and over:
-"Julian Is a Mermaid" is my new favorite!
-"High Street"
-Pretty much anything by Oliver Jeffers, but "Stuck" has been our favorite -
My 3.5 year old loooooves "My Pet Wants a Pet." It's really cute and not annoying to read.
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Oh, and I was looking for books to cultivate gratitude and we really love "Last Stop on Market Street"
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We’re going on a Bear Hunt
The Snowy Day
Where the Wild Things Are
The Mitten
Room on the BroomI started reading chapter books to my older son aat age 4. His favorites were:
The Magic Tree House
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory -
@wrkbrk: they also usually have eBooks you can check out right from a mobile device, and you can put books on hold so you can just run in to check them out if you don’t have time to browse or your local branch doesn’t have the book you want! They also usually have movies and some have toys or board games you can check out.
): I review children's books as a hobby so my list can get out of control!
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