Our team has selected 50 recommended books for 5 and 6 year olds. Top up your Year 1 reading collections with our hand-picked list of storytime favourites, laugh-out-loud picture books, animal stories, early chapter books, illustrated poetry collections, non-fiction texts and more.
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50 Recommended Reads Poster – Year 1 (2021)
This is the first in a series of books that are real gems for children who are ready for a short chapter book but may still feel overwhelmed by too much text on a page. Centred around an unlikely friendship between two animals, the stories are laugh-out-loud adventures with appealing illustrations that perfectly break up the text to suit the reading stamina of this age range. This first adventure begins to focus on small-scale conflict resolution with the perfect dose of silliness (and toilet humour) to keep young readers entertained throughout.
Ruby’s Worry is arguably the most accessible mental-health-themed picture book that my class has come across. Percival depicts a ‘worry’ with a yellow orb that appears next to Ruby one day and continues to grow when she ignores the shadow-like entity, simply hoping that the worry will disappear of its own accord. When she meets another child with their own ‘worry’ and asks them about their feelings, she realises how to rid herself of worries – she needs to talk about them. This book has sparked meaningful class discussions, supporting pupils to understand that ‘it’s okay to not be okay’.
This is one of the most important books to share with young people. It teaches them about sharing their troubles rather than letting them spiral out of control.
Year 1 is a delightful year group with which to share books and at the moment there is a brilliant range of engaging books available for this age. Often at the ages of 5 and 6, children are learning to read short texts independently, while still relying on strong visual elements. Many Y1 children treasure storytimes when adults read aloud, and shared reading experiences remain an important part of language and literacy development both in the classroom and at home. Children at this age often love handling books, and make a bee-line for texts that offer engaging illustrations, interactive elements or memorable characters. Children in Year 1 are inceasingly able to identify themes of interest and empathise with characters in familiar settings. Many 5-6 year olds begin to be able to sustain attention for longer stories that take place over a number of sittings, making early chapter books an appealing option for storytime.
For this reading list, we’ve carefully selected a balance of different types of books for reading for pleasure in Year 1. Some of the stories in our collection feature larger-than-life characters that will cause a giggle, like the robot with no bottom in No-Bot or the intelligent baby who is selected for space travel in Baby Brains. Animal characters feature heavily in the collection too, with some given delightful personalities like the hilarious duo in very popular Rabbit and Bear books, while others explore the deep connection between children and animals, like Michael Morpurgo’s Dolphin Boy.
Many of the stories explore true-to-life experiences, like the arrival of a new sibling in Sona Sharma: Very Best Big Sister, the departure from a familiar home in Anita and the Dragons or the tricky world of navigating friendships in On Sudden Hill. Others help to develop an understanding of feelings, like Ruby’s Worry, the beautifully illustrated Joy or Gaia Cornwall’s Jabari Jumps, which explores fear and courage. For books that affirm the value of each individual, try the picture book poem You Matter or the intriguing interactive search-and-find book, Everybody Counts.
Picked out especially for enjoyable storytimes with 5-6 year olds, some of the books on the list lend themselves especially well to being read out loud. Rhyming books like Stick Man or I’m Sticking With You are great choices. Others offer a quick win for a super-fun storytime full of zany laughter, like Will Mabbit’s whacky picturebook I Can Only Draw Worms, the tongue-twisting silly names in You’re Called What? or the witty humour of Simon Bartram’s Man on the Moon, which is always a big hit in the classroom. We’ve also included some classic stories for Year 1 on the list, such as David McKee’s marvellously playful Not Now Bernard and Jill Tomlinson’s much-loved The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark.
A number of short, illustrated chapter books are included on the list. For storytime read-alouds or class novels, try The Legend of Kevin, Harry the Poisonous Centipede or Fantastic Mr Fox. For newly independent readers looking for their first longer read, we recommend Isadora Moon, The Hat Full of Secrets or Rabbit and Bear. For more chapter book ideas, be sure to check out our separate booklists listing recommended KS1 Storytime Chapter Books or First Chapter Books for Independent Reading.
You’ll also find on this list a range of age-appropriate non-fiction for Year 1, from the space-themed A Cat’s Guide to the Night Sky, to the inspirational biography of Captain Sir Tom Moore, to Yuval Zommer’s beautifully illustrated The Big Book of Blooms. If you are looking for books themed around a particular topic, head over to our KS1 topic booklists.
Where to purchase:
Click on the individual book covers to purchase via Amazon.
Purchase from this booklist via the BooksForTopics page on BookShop.Org.
To buy the full book pack or a personalised selection, contact our schools’ book supplier.
50 Recommended Reads Poster – Year 1 (2021)
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Does the book contain anything that teachers would wish to know about before recommending in class (strong language, sensitive topics etc.)?
Does the book contain anything that teachers would wish to know about before recommending in class (strong language, sensitive topics etc.)?
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