Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Our Favourite Children's Picture Books


It's raining and blowing a gale here on what was meant to be a beautiful summer's day. Hmmm how to keep the kids occupied? We decided to pull out all our favourite books and cosy up under a blanket in our teepee tent. 

We have so many special books that we love to read time and time again and in case you're looking for some recommendations, we've compiled a list!

Title Author(s) Age Comments
For Just One Day  Laura Leuck and Marc Boutavant 1.5+ Beautiful retro feel to the illustrations. Writing feels a bit like Dr. Seuss with a good message about liking who you are
All Through the Year   Jane Godwin 2+ Great illustrations and a fun way to learn about the calendar year
Moon Rabbit  Natalie Russell  2.5+ Pretty illustrations with a whimsical feel, story about friendship
Brown Rabbit in the City   Natalie Russell 2.5+ Pretty illustrations with a whimsical feel, story about friendship
The Snail and the Whale  Julia Donaldson 2.5+ Story about helping others and living your dreams
Me...Jane  Patrick McDonnell 2+ Simple but sweet book about the life of Jane Goodall and following your dreams
The Splat the Cat Books Rob Scotton 2+  fun, sweet characters with a subltle underlining lesson
Anything Dr. Seuss   Dr. Seuss All :) Crazy, fun illustration with equally fanciful stories
This Moose Belongs to Me  Oliver Jeffers 2.5-5 Everyone has fed that stray cat that they thought had adopted them only to find out everyone in the neighborhood was too.
The Great Paper Caper by Oliver Jeffers  Oliver Jeffers 2+ All Jeffer's books are simply written and let the reader expand on his ideas and explain his illustrations. Great books for using imaginations.
The Book Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers Oliver Jeffers 2.5+ Knowledge is power but it also gives the book eating boy a very sore tummy ;)
How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers Oliver Jeffers 2+ Sweet simple story with simple but lovely illustrations
Stuck by Oliver Jeffers Oliver Jeffers 2+ One, two, three, four how many things will he throw into the tree to finially dislodge his kite 
The Heart and the Bottle Oliver Jeffers  2.5+ a sweet book about dealing with loss explained mostly through the illustrations
Lost and Found  Oliver Jeffers  1.5+ A sweet simple story about finding friendship
The Way Back Home Oliver Jeffers  1.5+ Perfect for any kid who loves space, space ships or martians
Feathers for Phoebe Rod Clement  3+ a great Australian book about not trying to change yourself to fit in, not conforming
Edwina the Emu  Sheena Knowles 2+ another fantastic Australian book about appreciating what you have
LMNO Peas  Keith Baker  2.5+ not your normal alphabet book
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On  Jenny Slate and Dean Fleischer-Camp 3+ very funny with short films found on youtube to accompany book
The Tilly and Friends books  Polly Dunbar 1.5 -3  simply illustrated with fun characters like Pru
Children Make Terrible Pets   Peter Brown 2.5-5 great illustrations and fun story
You Will Be My Friend  Peter Brown 2+ great illustrations in the style of his other books and a funny read
The Curious Garden  Peter Brown 2+ lovely illustrations and kind story about seeing potential and taking care of things
Little Owl Lost Chris Haughton  1-2.5 sweet story and lovely retro feel to the illustrations
The Book About Moomin, Mymble and Little My Tove Jansson 3+ Fantastic illustrations and beautifully written and fun to read aloud
Any Alison Lester Book  Alison Lester 2+ Imagine is great for learning about different animals, and her other books are great Australian children's books
Any of the Ella Bella Ballerina Books James Mayhew  3+ Fanstastic introduction to famous classical ballets, perfect for any little ballerina
Fancy Nancy Explorer Extraordinaire  by Jane O'Conner  4+ Fancy Nancy books are great for older girls as the books introduce a more 'fancy' vocabulary
Can I Cuddle the Moon  Kerry Brown 1-2.5 Very beautifully illustrated and sweet story for very little ones
A Book of Sleep  Il Sung Na 1-2. Very beautifully illustrated and sweet story for very little ones
Harry the Dirty Dog  Gene Zion 2+ Classic and fun
Iggy Peck Architect Andrea Beaty 3+ A story about following dreams
Mr. McGee and the Big Bag of Bread Pamela Allen 2+ Funny story from a classic author
Josephine Wants to Dance  Jackie French 2.5+ Any little dancer will love this story about following their dreams
The Very Hungry Caterpillar  Eric Carle 1+ A classic and for good reason, cleverly illustrated and simple but effective story


These are only the tip of the ice berg but are the one's that we seem to keep going back to (some umpteen million times!). What are your favourite children's picture books?

Happy Reading!

2 comments:

  1. A great list, and you have inspired me to pull out The Original Velveteen Rabbit which for some reason we were all a bit wary of when it was given to Lucy.x

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    1. The Velveteen Rabbit is a great classic. I was actually a bit wary too when we were first reading it when the boy no longer treasures the rabbit, but it has a really sweet ending when the rabbit gets to live the rest of its life as a real rabbit. Isla loves listening to the audio version narrated by meryl streep.

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