855 authors created a book list with kindergarten books, and here are their favorites. If you are looking for a chapter book, try our favorite chapter books for kindergarten.
I’m Anne Lambelet, author-illustrator of Maria the Matador. The greatest compliment to any author-illustrator is that a child wants to keep spending time with your book after the first read-through is over. As an avid childhood reader who has maintained a passion for kid lit into my adulthood and my career, I’ve read a lot of picture books in my life, but the ones that have stuck with me are the ones that demanded a second, a third, even a fiftieth look. For that reason, I’ve chosen the following topic for my list of recommendations.
Again, Peter Goes could have multiple books here if this list were longer, but if I have to pick just one, it’ll be Rivers. Non-fiction books usually pack in a lot more information than fictional stories so you usually have to spend more time with them to absorb everything, but the thing that makes Rivers so special amongst non-fiction books is the presentation of information. Facts and legends flow across heavily illustrated maps, in and out of animals, architecture, mythological figures, and cultural vignettes. Each bit of imagery and text corresponds to the path of the river, mirroring its meandering journey across the page.
It’s a lot to process, but Goes’s graphic illustrative style and limited color palette prevent compositions from feeling too busy and overwhelming. Every time I come back to this book, I notice something new or learn a fact that I missed before. I don’t think looking…
1
author picked
Rivers
as one of their favorite books, and they share
why you should read it.
This book is for kids age
7,
8,
9, and
10.
What is this book about?
This breathtaking journey along the most important rivers in the world takes us from the Nile to the Amazon, the Mekong Delta to the Mississippi, the Murray to the Waikato.
Our seas and rivers tell a compelling story about our planet. Through tracking the life source of people, animals and the land itself, Peter Goes brings alive our history and our lives today. Each illustration includes major events and historical figures connected with its river, but also favorite stories and icons. This absorbing, playful book shows who we are, how we live and the myths we weave around our people…
I am an illustrator who has been captivated by the whimsy of children’s books since I was a child myself. The wonder and enchantment with the world of narrative illustrative has never worn off and I still love getting lost in a beautiful picture book. I hope my illustrations are able to inspire others the way they have inspired me.
If you are looking for a book to inspire the inner creative in your child (and maybe even in you), this is the one. The color monster is a fabulous resource for helping kids identify emotions and it is presented in this incredible pop-up book format. You and your child can really disappear into the story through these 3-D visuals and it might even allow for a deeper exploration into emotions from this imaginative space.
"This sensitive book . . . encourages young ones to open up and discuss how they feel, even when their thoughts are confusing." —Parents
We teach toddlers to identify colors, numbers, shapes, and letters—but what about their feelings? By illustrating such common emotions as happiness, sadness, anger, fear, and calm, this sensitive book gently encourages young children to open up with parents, teachers, and daycare providers. And kids will LOVE the bright illustrations and amazing 3-D pop-ups on every page!
These are the funniest folktales in the world. You will be amazed at the intelligent animals and LOL at the ridiculous scrapes the humans get themselves into in these short stories. Discover why dogs are our best friends, learn how to change a cow into a zombie, and meet a…
I’ve been a writer all my life in one form or another, and I love to observe the world around me and the people in it. I’ve had a fascination with dusk, in particular, since I was a child. I remember having the most adventurous time playing with my sister and our neighborhood friends after dinner in the summertime and soaking in everything that time of day had to offer—from the beautiful colors of the sunset to the croaking toads to the smell of the freshly cut grass. Each time of day—sunrise to midnight—offers a sensory overload if you are open to it. These books I have recommended dive into that delight.
In this wordless picture book, a young child comes out of his tent to find his boot all with the help of a trusty flashlight.
Then he begins to explore the wilderness at night, shining his flashlight on various animals and plants. It’s like another world is revealed. This story is playful and full of opportunities to seek and find all the amazing nocturnal creatures that enjoy the cover of darkness. At our current home, we have lots of nocturnal animals lurking around. Time to get out the flashlight!
Inside a tent it's cozy. But what is going on outside? Is it dark? Is it scary? Not if you have your trusty flashlight! Told solely through images and using a spare yet dramatic palette, artist Lizi Boyd has crafted a masterful exploration of night, nature, and art. Both lyrical and humorous, this visual poem-like the flashlight beam itself-reveals that there is magic in the darkness. We just have to look for it.
I decided at the age of 5 that I wanted to write and illustrate books for children. That is exactly what I have been doing the last 40 years of my adult life. I find that I walk around seeing and hearing the world as potential stories. It’s fun! I can not imagine doing anything else for a living! I recommended the 5 books that I did because they are a little strange and curious and thought-provoking. The art, as well. Therefore, they feel like they emerged from the author/illustrator from that place within, way down deep, where only authentic expression of self can be found.
Ruby is new to school as she enters Miss Hart’s class. Ruby’s desk is right behind Angela’s. Angela seems to be a self-possessed, lovely young girl and, right away, Ruby is quite taken with Angela. She wants to be her friend. Perhaps Ruby wants to be noticed and equally admired by this potential new friend, and so she imitates Angela in every way. It gets old fast. Miss Hart handles the situation admirably well, with utmost respect and sensitivity. (I wish I had encountered more teachers like that as a kid.) Rathmann captures kids’ innocent foibles, well. The artwork is adorable and expressive and loose. Great humor. Full of humanity.
Let the Scholastic Bookshelf be your guide through the whole range of your child's experiences--laugh with them, learn with them, read with them!
It's the first day of school, and Ruby is new. When her classmate Angela wears a red bow in her hair, Ruby comes back from lunch wearing a red bow, too. When Angela wears a flowered dress, suddenly Ruby's wearing one, too. Fortunately, Ruby's teacher knows a better way to help Ruby fit in--by showing how much fun it is to be herself!
No one would ever describe me as a unicorn. I’m not graceful. My mane of hair is half an inch long. And I rarely (if ever) prance. I’m a donkey in a party hat and that’s perfectly okay with me. But sometimes it can be kinda rough in a world that tells you that you must be gorgeous instead of goofy, fabulous instead of funny. So I love stories that make me feel a little less alone in my awkwardness – that remind me that all of us, from the most beautiful unicorn to the weirdest little goblin, are not quite what they seem.
Kevin the Unicorn is having a disastrous, non-magical, totally not-sparkly day. And you know what? That’s okay. Uber-talented author/illustrator Jessika von Innerebner’s vibrant illustrations and sparkling prose are a delight. The book gives a playful plug for authenticity in a world where perceptions of people are too often filtered, edited, or curated.
Everyone knows that unicorns are perfect. They are glamorous and glittery, and their smiles make rainbows appear! But Kevin is having a less-than-perfect day. First, he wakes up on the wrong side of the bed . . . on the floor. Then he discovers that his mane is so wild that even his Super-Perfect-Hair-Day-Spray can't tame it. And the day just gets worse from there. Kevin does his best to keep his outlook sunny, but it's hard to keep smiling when everything goes horribly wrong!
I am a rabbi, educator and author. I have had the privilege of writing many books over the course of my rabbinate. Over the past five years, I have turned the attention of my writing to children’s books. And I am especially attuned to those books that take complicated Jewish ideas and tell them in words and pictures that young children can understand. I try to do this in my own writing, as well.
This is a sweet book that focuses on the essential idea of Shabbat: rest and refraining from work.
It also teaches an idea that is part of the ancient lesson of the Sabbath—everyone rests on the Sabbath including work animals. I like this book—and its lovely illustrations—because it takes a difficult idea that is culled from rabbinic sources.
The virtues of taking a break - and of being thankful - are extolled in the gentle story of a stubborn ox, an impatient farmer, and a day of rest.
Long ago, in the hills near Jerusalem, lived a young ox. For six days each week, she and her owner would toil in the fields, and on the seventh day both would rest. Then it came to be that this young ox was sold. For six days, she toiled in her new owner's fields, and on the seventh day the farmer brought out the yoke and plough, expecting to spend…
A delightful and distinctive picture book biography about Dr. Virginia Apgar, who invented the standard, eponymous test for evaluating newborn health used worldwide thousands of times every day.
You might know about the Apgar Score. But do you know the brilliant, pioneering woman who invented it? Born at the turn…
When I was growing up, my favorite books were about kids getting lost in the wilderness. Now, as an artist and writer, I love to create stories about people’s connection to land and the plants and animals that inhabit natural spaces. The inspiration for my picture book biography, Alexander von Humboldt: Explorer, Naturalist & Environmental Pioneer, came after hiking many of the volcanoes that Humboldt had climbed some 200 years earlier in South America. Besides hiking, I occupy myself with drawing and watercolor painting, climate activism, and looking at bugs and rocks with my daughters. I’ve published four graphic novels, two picture books, and a cookbook about rice.
Besides the fact that the illustrations in On a Magical Do-Nothing Day are gorgeous, I love this story of a child turning a boring, lonely, rainy day into a magical (dare I say spiritual?) adventure—an encounter with “a world full of treasures that I could feel!”
I’ve often found that a life-changing experience of beauty comes after some difficulty or personal challenge, and this kid discovers—after being ignored by their parents, losing their favorite video game in a stream, and being drenched by cold rain—a breathtaking world that seems “brand-new, as if it had been created right in front of me.”
A compelling, magical picture book with whimsical, stunning art and heartfelt, charming text, from award-winning illustrator Beatrice Alemagna. "Hands down, Beatrice Alemagna is my favorite contemporary illustrator," said the Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator of Last Stop on Market Street, Christian Robinson. All I want to do on a rainy day like today is play my game. My mom says it's a waste of time, but without my game, nothing is fun! On the other hand, maybe I'm wrong about that...While reading On a Magical Do-Nothing Day, one gets the sense that the illustrator became lost in her drawings, and as a…
Great art and literature liberates – from whatever ties that are constricting you. And it can be found anywhere. As a kid, Marvel comics rescued me from what I saw as a banal existence. And Spider-man was the first. It literally changed my life because I ended up working for Marvel, writing for them, and coming up with Earth 616, which in the Marvel multiverse is the one where all the stories including the movies take place.
Reading them, my mind was totally blown away. What was the secret of their haunting magic?
To my young mind, it seemed as though Stan Lee drank in the heavens and ate the entire Earth. He swallowed the cosmos and moved through the universe like a transformer.
He was prodigious. Everything he touched turned into mercury, luminous and alchemical. His output consisted of multiple dimensions containing an infinity of beings. He metamorphosed constantly,…
This is a series of reproductions of original Spider-Man comic books from the 1960's, and includes some of the earliest issues and the introduction of many villains for the first time
I was born and grew up in India. As a child, I once planted a mango seed and watched it sprout and grow into a sapling. We moved away after that but I always wondered what might have become of that little tree. I remembered that long-ago experience when I was writing my picture book, Out of the Way! Out of the Way! in which a boy, a tree, and a road all grow together. The tree is central to that book, so I picked five picture book titles that also center trees.
Trees and us. We’re bound together from breath to shelter and beyond, bound together in every way. That’s the truth of this poem in words and pictures from author-illustrator Corinna Luyken.
The words are as delicate as the rustle of leaves but they’re also completely centered on the child reader. Even the punctuation is placed with care, adding pause and breath, mediating the transition from shade to light, as if the words and their accessories were meant to float off the page as the text is read out loud.
Through poetic text and exquisite illustrations of children reveling in nature, this picture book explores the various ways we as human beings are strong, creative, and connected to others. Each of us is like a tree, with roots and fruit, and an enduring link to everything else in nature. "The tree in me is strong. It bends in the wind, and has roots that go deep... to where other roots reach up toward their own trunk-branch-crown and sky."
As Corinna Luyken did in her award-winning My Heart, she again provides an invigorating conversation-starter that contains a world of truths -…
What is the most important thing to remember about stargazing? When to do it, who to do it with, what to look for? It’s none of those! This picture book’s spare, lyrical text offers many suggestions for enjoying stargazing – but there’s really only ONE thing you need to remember,…
I’ve always written funny, rhyming poems so, when I began reading picture books to my kids, I decided to give writing one a try. I now have seven published books (six are in rhyme). I love creating humorous, alliterative stanzas – I think that’s what makes rhyming picture books so much fun to read aloud! Here's an example from my book Cock-a-Doodle Oops: “I know that I’m quiet, but I’d like to try it. Here goes said a shy little sheep. / Her cock-a-doodle baaaa didn’t travel too faaaa. In fact, she made barely a peep.” I hope you enjoy reading the books I’ve listed and other humorous, rhyming picture books!
This charming story follows a family frantically getting ready for Grandma’s visit.
To avoid getting bathed, the cat cleverly rearranges the magnetic, refrigerator letters listing the chores, leading to hysterical mix-ups: “Sarah, feed the floor. I’ll sweep the dishes. / Robbie, rock the rug. Dad will scrub those fishes.” The Rhymes are so fun, and the stylish illustrations add to the humor!
Bathe the floor? Sweep the dishes? This riotous romp of a picture book follows a frantic family as they try to get some chores done-with no help from the family cat, who keeps scrambling the list of chores with hilarious effects. Get ready for a rollicking read-aloud with a truly purrfect ending.
It's cleaning day, but the family cat will do anything to avoid getting a bath. So instead of mopping the floor or feeding the fish, the family is soon busy rocking the rug, vacuuming the lawn, and sweeping the dishes. Bouncy rhyme carries the story headlong into the…
