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preschool recommended reads 2024 50 best books

Preschool: 50 Recommended Reads

Best Books for Preschoolers (Children Aged 3-4)

NEWLY updated – April 2024!

Browse this list of 50 recommended books for 3- and 4-year-olds. Top up your preschool or nursery book collections with our hand-picked selection of classic stories, laugh-out-loud picture books, animal tales, poetry books, non-fiction for curious minds and more…

As parents and teachers, we know how important it is to foster a love of reading in children from a young age. Reading with nursery and preschool children not only helps with language development but also encourages imagination and creativity. Our booklist includes popular preschool stories such as Owl Babies, Aliens Love Underpants and The Tiger Who Came to Tea, as well as some lesser-known storytime delights that we highly recommend, like Mavis the Bravest and Eat Your Peas.

Handpicked by teachers and children’s reading experts, our preschool reading list is designed to help those looking for the best quality and age-appropriate books to make reading time engaging for nursery or preschool children. Join your little ones on a journey through some of the best books for preschoolers available today.

As well as the booklist below to browse, we’ve also got a printable poster and downloadable checklist for you, and schools can purchase full sets of the books via Peters.

 

preschool recommended reads printable poster 2024     preschool recommended reads checklist 2024

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Browse the preschool booklist below or scroll down to find more purchasing options and printable resources.

Be Brave Little Penguin

Picturebook

A feel-good rhyming story with a positive message about confidence and self-esteem, from the creators of international bestseller, Giraffes Can’t Dance.

Little Penguin Pip-Pip would love to join in with all his friends swimming in the sea, but there’s just one problem . . . he’s scared of water. Can Pip-Pip overcome his fears and finally take the plunge? This irresistible story shows that sometimes all it takes is a little bit of encouragement – and a whole lot of heart – to finally make that leap!

This touching tale will soon become a new family favourite.

Honey For Me, Honey For You

Poetry

From Children’s Laureates Michael Rosen and Chris Riddell, the bestselling team behind A Great Big Cuddle , comes a first book of nursery rhymes.

Flying pigs, wobbling plates of jelly and a giant who trembles whenever he meets a mouse: welcome to the topsy-turvy world of nursery rhymes. Inspired by his lifelong fascination with these peculiar poems, Michael Rosen has placed familiar playground songs alongside forgotten gems for a seminal new collection.

Brought to vivid life by Chris Riddell’s magnificent pictures, expect familiar faces, from little Jumping Joan to Miss Mary Mack – but also plenty of surprises… With forty rhymes to choose from, this book is sure to prove a bedtime favourite.

Feelings

Picturebook

Help curious preschoolers find out more about themselves with these fantastic lift-the-flap board books.

Find Out About: Feelings helps curious preschoolers get to grips with their feelings and emotions – a key topic for both them and their parents. Featuring friendly child characters and familiar situations, they will find answers and reassurance when they are feeling happy, sad, frightened, brave and everything in between. With fun flaps to lift and a memory game at the end, this is an excellent book for children and parents to share together.

The Rabbit, The Dark and the Biscuit Tin

Picturebook

If bedtime is a battle, then this hilarious, inventive picture book from international bestseller, Nicola O’Byrne, is exactly what you need.

Rabbit has had a very good idea. He does NOT want to go to bed and so he puts The Dark in the biscuit tin so that he won’t have to. Now he can stay up all night long! But The Dark gently reminds Rabbit of all the reasons why the dark and night are needed. What about all the nocturnal animals? And surely you can’t have a yummy breakfast of toast and honey and fresh orange juice unless you’ve been to bed? But the very BEST thing about nighttime has to be a bedtime story, doesn’t it? Rabbit is finally persuaded and lets The Dark out of the biscuit tin . . . the moment the story starts, Rabbit falls fast asleep. Goodnight, Rabbit!

A funny and original bedtime story with fabulous surprise fold-out pages!

From the bestselling author of Open Very Carefully, winner of the Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize 2014.

My Encyclopedia of Very Important Dinosaurs

Non-fiction

A charming children’s encyclopedia that takes you back in time to discover the prehistoric world!

The world is so much bigger than young minds can fathom and there is always more to learn.
My Encyclopedia of Very Important Dinosaurs is a vibrant encyclopedia for curious 5-9 year olds, who want to know everything there is to know about dinosaurs! Easily accessible to young readers through a balance of striking images and conversational, age-appropriate text, this dinosaur encyclopedia will tap into every child’s natural curiosity and answer all their biggest questions about this amazing lost world.

Bursting with up-to-date facts and discoveries, this exciting kid’s encyclopedia includes everything from an in-depth exploration of the triassic, jurassic, and cretaceous periods and how fossils are made, to detailed profiles of popular dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus rex, Triceratops, and Stegosaurus, to more unfamiliar species such as Microraptor, Guanlong, and Spinosaurus .

Shark in the Park

Picturebook

Timothy Pope, Timothy Pope, what can you see through your telescope?
Is there really a shark in the park? Go on, be brave, open the book and see!

Timothy Pope has a brand new telescope and he’s testing it out at the park. Peep through the die-cut holes in this book to see if you can spy a shark. Is that really a shark? Turn the page and find out . . .

A delightful, entertaining story – with its rhyming text and ingenious die-cut pages, it’s a book children will want to read again and again.

Best Test

Picturebook

Bird and Frog find a strawberry on their way. There’s only one strawberry and the two of them. So, only “the best” animal gets to eat the fruit. Soon Rat, Shrew, Squirrel, and others join them in a competition to find “the best” and award them with the strawberry. The animals have fun playing together. But, as they reach the finish line, it’s time to see who gets the reward. The animals find there is a lesson for all of them about being “best friends”.

Peace at Last

Picturebook

Jill Murphy’s bestselling classic Peace at Last has delighted young children for almost forty years, and is equally beloved by tired parents who are all too familiar with the plight of poor Mr Bear.

With a snoring Mrs Bear, an excitable Baby Bear and a house full of tapping and dripping and ticking, peace is hard to come by – will Mr Bear ever get a decent night’s sleep?

The familiar noises, repetition and beautiful illustrations make Jill Murphy’s delightful Peace at Last an all-time favourite bedtime story with children and adults everywhere. This is a beautiful refreshed edition of a much-loved picture book classic.

Katinka’s Tail

Picturebook

The classic picture book about a magical cat from the beloved and iconic Judith Kerr.

This magical new book from the one and only Judith Kerr is brimming with her trademark warm humour and exquisitely imaginative artwork. Come on a wondrous journey with Katinka, a perfectly ordinary pussycat, with a not-quite-so-ordinary tail…

A classic-in-the-making from Judith Kerr OBE, recipient of the Booktrust Lifetime Acveivement Award and creator of the iconic Tiger Who Came to Tea and Mog the Forgetful Cat, this delightful story is the perfect gift for boys and girls of all ages.

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