Here are 100 books that The Gruffalo fans have personally recommended if you like
The Gruffalo.
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I am pathologically allergic to “message” books. As the former host of The Gittle List contest for self-published authors, I’ve read hundreds of children’s books. Many were “tell, not show” books. Stories with phrases like “we all should respect each other’s differences” rather than showing characters respecting each other’s differences. My recommended books are, at least in part, about diversity. Like my own book series, they demonstrate diversity through unusual friendships. Showing how characters work out their differences by learning about each other and finding ways to get along. A good story can change hearts and minds when characters carry the message–not beat readers over the head with it.
A story I read so often in my childhood that I could recite it nearly verbatim. I read it frequently to my son. Then my grandchildren. Although they were inexplicably drawn to Bartholomew and the Oobleck by Dr. Seuss and, of course, their grandmother’s books, smart boys.
Here, a naughty boy, Max, runs away and enters a world of wild creatures and becomes their king. Max has a blast being king until he misses home. The transition from foe to friend to king moves quickly but is a topic worth exploring more in-depth.
Kids love the Wild Things dance scene done with rhythmic grunts and book shaking. I love its unique view on a child’s desire for independence and simultaneous need to come home.
Read-along with the story in this book and CD edition!
One night Max puts on his wolf suit and makes mischief of one kind and another, so his mother calls him 'Wild Thing' and sends him to bed without his supper.
That night a forest begins to grow in Max's room and an ocean rushes by with a boat to take Max to the place where the wild things are. Max tames the wild things and crowns himself as their king, and then the wild rumpus begins.
But when Max has sent the monsters to bed, and everything is quiet,…
I am an award-winning children’s picture book author who writes stories about obstacles children encounter, focusing on the emotional and mental health of the character so children facing similar situations are able to relate. I have been writing poems and short stories since I was a child and all of my stories are written in rhyme. I love reading a rhyming book out loud and listening to the story unfold.
Parts is a hilarious and fun tale about a boy who thinks he is falling apart. After his toes start peeling, his tooth falls out, and he finds fuzz in his belly button, he thinks he will most likely have to be held together by duct tape. As the story unfolds, the boy’s parents realize they never told him all of these things are normal and soothe his worries. The rhyming scheme of this book is incredible and the illustrations capture the fun-loving nature of the message.
1
author picked
Parts
as one of their favorite books, and they share
why you should read it.
This book is for kids age
3,
4,
5, and
6.
What is this book about?
I just don't know what's going onOr why it has to beBut every day it's something worseWhat's happening to me?So begins this uproarious new story from the best-selling creator of No Jumping on the Bed!,Green Wilma, and other popular books. The young narrator has discovered a disturbing trend: There's fuzz in his belly button his toes are peeling and something just fell out of his nose. The last straw is a loose tooth, which convinces him of the awful truth his parts are coming unglued!Parts deals with a subject of deepest interest to every young child: the stuff our bodies…
I am an award-winning children’s picture book author who writes stories about obstacles children encounter, focusing on the emotional and mental health of the character so children facing similar situations are able to relate. I have been writing poems and short stories since I was a child and all of my stories are written in rhyme. I love reading a rhyming book out loud and listening to the story unfold.
The Crayon Box that Talked begins with a young girl overhearing a box of crayons arguing in a toy store about how they don’t like each other for their differences. The little girl buys the box of crayons and when she gets home begins to color. As the crayons begin to blend together and create beautiful art, they begin to see that their differences are actually something to celebrate because they all contribute to the bigger picture. The message in this book is beautiful.
I am an award-winning children’s picture book author who writes stories about obstacles children encounter, focusing on the emotional and mental health of the character so children facing similar situations are able to relate. I have been writing poems and short stories since I was a child and all of my stories are written in rhyme. I love reading a rhyming book out loud and listening to the story unfold.
Snowmen at Night is such a creative tale about all of the fun and mischief snowmen get into when we are sleeping! It seems they slide away from our yards and gather together to play games, drink cocoa, ice skate, and sled. It explains why snowmen may look different from day to day. I also love the illustrations in this book, they really bring the story to life and there are even hidden images within the pages which are so much fun to find!
Have you ever built a snowman and discovered the next day that his grin has gotten a little crooked, or his tree-branch arms have moved? And you've wondered . . . what do snowmen do at night? This delightful wintertime tale reveals all! Caralyn Buehner's witty, imaginative verse offers many amusing details about the secret life of snowmen and where they go at night, while Mark Buehner's roly-poly snowmen are bursting with personality and charm. From the highly successful team that created such winning titles as Fanny's Dream, Snowmen at Night is fabulous, frosty, and fun!
I am an award-winning children’s picture book author who writes stories about obstacles children encounter, focusing on the emotional and mental health of the character so children facing similar situations are able to relate. I have been writing poems and short stories since I was a child and all of my stories are written in rhyme. I love reading a rhyming book out loud and listening to the story unfold.
The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin is a fun Halloween read, but more importantly a wonderful story that shows the importance of acceptance. Spookley is unlike any other pumpkin in the patch because he is square instead of round. At first, the other pumpkins tease Spookley and are unkind to him because he is different. After a storm blows in and Spookley saves the day, the other pumpkins realize it doesn’t matter what Spookley looks like, what matters is the kind of pumpkin he is and how he showed kindness to others.
My family and I moved to a new neighborhood a few years ago and for the first time we discovered what a community can feel like. We feel connected to a diverse group of people. We explore our park and surrounding streets, regularly supporting local shops and frequently bumping into our neighbors and other familiar faces. It’s given us a sense of place. All these books, as well as The Adventure Friends series, encourages this sense of wonder for your local community. You don’t have to go to far off lands to find adventure. Often, it’s right in your backyard!
What kind of children’s book list would be complete if I didn’t include a book with a bear in it? So, I’m going with a classic.
I have Flip Flop Flip Flopped through these pages of fun sounds over and over again through the years. I love this story for its simplicity and heart about a family going on a nature walk. As a father of two girls, I’m indebted to Rosen because I’ve employed his bear hunt chant on countless occasions to get my girls excited about exploring our own woods and trails. And the ending on this one is just perfect!
Gorgeous gift edition of the classic join in story by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury. Shake up a snowstorm with this perfect gift for brave hunters and bear-lovers everywhere!
We're going on a bear hunt. We're going to catch a big one. Will you come too? For over a quarter of a century, readers have been swishy-swashying and splash-sploshing through this award-winning favourite. This new gift hardback edition includes a superb snow scene on the cover to add fun and festive flurries to your favourite family adventure story. Follow and join in the family's excitement as they wade through the…
I’ve been a children’s author for over 35 years, had over 150 books published, and won a number of awards. But I began my professional life as Editorial Director of a major children’s book club, during which time I read thousands of books for young readers, from tiny tots to teenagers. As for scary books, I’ve written quite a number and read them to hundreds of children during school visits. I know what works, and I understand how to control scariness so that it delivers a delightful frisson that leaves children wanting to experience more of the same over and over again.
This book is another great classic full of scary characters dreamed up by a young girl to explain her hurt knee. On the way home, she bumps into one friend after another and to each of them she provides an even more dramatic description of what happened. Did a wolf try to snatch her for his tea? Did a crocodile knock her over? Was it the witch, the snake, the dragon, the flying saucer that was responsible for her injury? This is such a great story for encouraging children to fire up their own imaginations – and to think about description. It encapsulates how they sometimes exaggerate events to make them appear more impressive or to feel better about what has happened to them. Finally, when the young girl gets home to Mum we discover how she actually hurt her knee, and Mum supplies the all-important plaster to make everything…
Filled with a little girl's inventive stories, On the Way Home is by Jill Murphy, the author and illustrator of the bestselling Peace at Last and Whatever Next!
Claire has hurt her knee so she sets off home to tell her mum all about it. On the way she meets her friends and tells them how the fall happened. But just how did it happen . . .? Was she dropped by a wolf, a slithering snake, an enormous dragon or a hairy gorilla?!
On the Way Home is a fantastic journey of the imagination that every small child who…
I’ve been a children’s author for over 35 years, had over 150 books published, and won a number of awards. But I began my professional life as Editorial Director of a major children’s book club, during which time I read thousands of books for young readers, from tiny tots to teenagers. As for scary books, I’ve written quite a number and read them to hundreds of children during school visits. I know what works, and I understand how to control scariness so that it delivers a delightful frisson that leaves children wanting to experience more of the same over and over again.
Scary is sometimes what we anticipate rather than what is actually there, and that’s definitely the case in this wonderful tease of a story. The text is simplicity itself and the accompanying illustrations are beautifully gothic and atmospheric. We follow a black cat across a dark, dark moor, through a dark, dark wood, into a dark, dark house – you get the drift? – but just what is at the end of this dark, dark journey? The surprise is genius and has children tumbling over themselves to go back to the beginning once they are in on the secret. This is a book I must now find for my granddaughter because I know it will be a firm favourite.
Children will delight in following the black cat's progress through the dark wood, into the dark house, and eventually to the surprise discovery at the back of the toy cupboard, in this mysterious, beautifully illustrated picture book.
I am passionately keen on poetry of many types because, whether rhyming or not, most poetry employs rhythm which is something that has a subconscious appeal to human senses. For children, rhyme provides an easy introduction to poetry and I enjoy using it because children themselves love it. Mums tell me that they are asked to read the same book time and time again – and not to try to skip any spreads! At the age of three, before she could read, my son’s goddaughter knew the whole of You Can’t Take an Elephant on the Bus by heart. The rhymes children hear when very young remain with them, sometimes forever.
This is another quite different type of book which has taught me a lot about rhythm, how impelling it can be, and how a refrain can be used to advantage. Proceeding at a jaunty tempo here the boy frames his questions to his mother throughout the book with 3 possible answers, ‘Yes, or no or maybe.’
"Momma will you feed the hen?
Yes or no or maybe?
Scatter corn a round the pen.
You and me and baby?
To which the mum replies, in this case in the affirmative
Yes, we’ll feed the speckled hen
Scratching in the dew
Then she’ll lay two speckled eggs.
One for each of you."
This book has a memorable rhythm, good rhyme and it takes you into the world of the child and the mother. It finishes at the end of the day with the boy going to sleep which gives it the bonus…
I am passionately keen on poetry of many types because, whether rhyming or not, most poetry employs rhythm which is something that has a subconscious appeal to human senses. For children, rhyme provides an easy introduction to poetry and I enjoy using it because children themselves love it. Mums tell me that they are asked to read the same book time and time again – and not to try to skip any spreads! At the age of three, before she could read, my son’s goddaughter knew the whole of You Can’t Take an Elephant on the Bus by heart. The rhymes children hear when very young remain with them, sometimes forever.
This is the sort of nonsense book which I absolutely love. It is one of a series that began with Oi Frog. The books all defy the usual advice that picture books, whether rhyming or not, need a proper story. In these books the only concern of the animal characters is on what they should sit. Here rhyme is king. The sillier the better, "dingoes sit on flamingos," "hogs sit on clogs," etc. They are all great fun but this is my favourite because I love the cat and her sarcastic asides.
This book is simply fun and will make children laugh.
2
authors picked
Oi Cat!
as one of their favorite books, and they share
why you should read it.
This book is for kids age
3,
4, and
5.
What is this book about?
The laughter never ends with Oi Frog and Friends!
This absurdly funny, rhyming read-aloud picture book is guaranteed to get children giggling! From the bestselling, multi-award-winning creators of Oi Frog. *Over 1 million copies sold*
According to Frog ... Cats sit on gnats, Dogs sit on logs, Alpacas sit on cream crackers, Armadillos sit on pillows and Chicks sit on bricks.
But wait! Cat doesn't like sitting on gnats, they keep biting his bottom! Will Frog and Dog help him change the rules?
'This animal rhyming silliness goes from strength to strength.' The Guardian 'Will have children in fits of…
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