Good Books for 5 Year Olds

I teach 1st grade and I agree with the post that it really doesn't matter what you read just that you read. It is also important for children to see you read. My almost 4 year old and 1st graders love Eric Carle books. She also likes books that have something to do with her life and likes. For example right now she likes Curious George makes pancakes because she likes to cook, Strawberry Shortcake: At the Carnival is important for her because she just went to her 1st carnival. Froggy books and Arthur books are also great. I hope you have fun reading!

My girls are now adults and have always been voracious readers. I remember asking a friend who was a reading specialist what they should read or if I should make them finish every book they started. I vividly remember her answer:
"It doesn't matter much WHAT they read, just that they READ something. Some things will be more interesting to them; if they get bored with a book, let them stop. Don't make reading a chore -- make it a treat! Let them see you reading and enjoying it too."

The Dr Seuss books are the best and they are fun. Green Eggs and Ham has most of the Kindergarten words in it. My son loves to read these by himself now too.

Also the level 1 - 3 books you can find in the store - they have a number in their top corner to help you.
My son liked Walli, Star Wars, Bolt and Transformers. These are used in Kindergarten for take home reading too.

Okay, I want to preface this recommendation with the fact I recently saw this author at our national convention. He is actually retired but we talked him into coming out to talk to us, since our job is to sell children's books and needed his wisdom.

Jim Trelease wrote the Read-a-loud Handbook. You can find it at 1/2 price books or other bookstores. This will give you books to use for a LONG time. It will help your child get ahead of his class and give you many hours of bonding time as you too learn about books that you may have forgotten from your childhood.

If you are interested, I am offering a free Read-a-loud Handbook to anyone who hosts a qualified workshop with me in the month of August. We also are offering double free books for our hostesses.

Cheers, D. B.
____@____.com
Usborne Books and Kane/Miller Books
www.usborne.biz

Geronimo Stilton books is a great series, written by "a mouse who runs a newspaper." Junie B. Jones and The Disney Fairies (awesome illustrations) are a couple more series that I read to my 7 year old but started them when she was in kinder.

Frog and Toad books by Arnold Lobel are great. You can start out reading to the child, but they are also early reader books. My son loves them.

Hi AA,
You might check out Sonlight.com They provide home school materials, but many ppl use their site for reading lists. Of course you'll have to sort thru and see what's interesting to you & your child, but you might get some ideas. You can search by age or grade.
Also, one read-aloud I remember my son especially enjoying was "Red Sails to Capri."
HTH,
~Karen

Most city libraries have them...some even online.

My girl loved the Junie B Jones series at that age.

We just went to our local library and asked. Once she started Kindergarten, the reading homework every night took care of what to read.

Bearstein Bears. They have all different reading letters and my nephew loved them at that age.

Our local library (in Hurst) has a list of books appropriate for different age groups; I used it this week to check out books. You might check your local library to see if they have something similar. I didn't keep the list, but some authors it recommended were Mo Willems, Judith Viorst, Dr. Seuss, and Lois Ehlert. My son (who just turned 5) loves Judith Viorst books, and he likes the Dr. Seuss books because he can almost always read them by himself. He also loves the Magic Treehouse book series (I read those to him).