Preschoolers Top Books

Rhymed text and illustrations invite the reader to play "I Spy" with a variety of Mother Goose and other folklore characters.

Each Peach Pear Plum

By Janet Ahlberg, Allan Ahlberg

Published by Penguin books ltd, 1978

ISBN 0670287059, 9780670287055

16 pages

Preview

Bedtime! A happy game to lure the most persistent sleep evader. A warm and reassuring countdown to the land of dreams.

Ten, Nine, Eight

By Molly Bang

Illustrated by Molly Bang

Edition: reprint, illustrated

Published by HarperCollins, 1991

ISBN 0688104800, 9780688104801

24 pages

Brief text and illustrations trace the journey of a colorful train as it goes through tunnels, by cities, and over trestles.

Freight train

By Donald Crews

Published by Scholastic Inc., 1989

ISBN 059





Introduces the letters A to Z while following the fortunes of an apple pie.
A Apple Pie
By Kate Greenaway, Edmund Evans

Illustrated by Kate Greenaway, Edmund Evans

Contributor Edmund Evans

Edition: illustrated

Published by F. Warne, 1886

44 pages

Fabric relief illustrations accompany this familiar nursery rhyme about a young girl whose lamb follows her to school. Includes information about the history of the rhyme.
Mary Had a Little Lamb

By Sarah Josepha Buell Hale, Sarah Josepha Hale, Sarah Josephbuell Hale, Salley Mavor

Illustrated by Salley Mavor

Contributor Salley Mavor

Edition: illustrated

Published by Scholastic Paperbacks (T), 2000

ISBN 0531071650, 9780531071656

32 pages

There are things to count all around you. If you look. And think. And see. Tana Hoban does -- and so will the youngest reader who accompanies her through this book. Exciting photographs -- reinforce by the number as word, as numeral, and as model set -- show you how to count what you see, and make what you see count.
Count and See.

By Tana Hoban

Published by Simon & Schuster, 1972

ISBN 0027448002, 9780027448009

41 pages

Rosie the hen is enjoying a leisurely walk around the farm, but the stroll isn't nearly as pleasant for the fox who is trying -- unsuccessfully -- to navigate the obstacle course Rosie is unknowingly leading him through.
Rosie's Walk

By Pat Hutchins

Illustrated by Pat Hutchins
Edition: 2, illustrated

Published by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 2005

ISBN 1416908358, 9781416908357

32 pages

The adventures of a little boy in the city on a very snowy day.The Snowy Day

By Ezra Jack Keats, Linda (NRT) Terheyden

Illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats

Contributor Linda (NRT) Terheyden

Edition: illustrated

Published by Live Oak Media, 2003

ISBN 1591127459, 9781591127451

Preview TCS

A little boy plants a carrot seed. His mother says, "I'm afraid it won't come up." His father and his big brother agree. At first, it seems they're right. But the little boy knows better. So every day, he pulls up weeds and waters the ground. Until, one day, just as the little boy knew it would, something very special happens.

The Carrot Seed

By Ruth Krauss, Crockett Johnson

Illustrated by Crockett Johnson

Edition: 60, illustrated

Published by HarperCollins, 1945

ISBN 0060233508, 9780060233501

32 pages

Preview OMS
Come along on a wonderful shopping spree down Market Street, where the merchants sell everything from apple to zippers - and display them in a most unusual way! Beginning readers and grown-ups too will love visiting the marvelous world depicted by artist Anita Lobel.
On Market Street

By Anita Lobel, Arnold Lobel

Illustrated by Anita Lobel

Edition: illustrated

Published by HarperCollins, 1989

ISBN 0688087450, 9780688087456

40 pages

An almost wordless alphabet book that is ...... simple, original, gimmick-free, and bursting with the surprise and delight to be found on a stroll along Market Street. Bracketed by a modestly old-fashioned, prim rhyme (""Such wonders there on ... more » Market Street!/ So much to catch my eye!"") is a series of full-page human figures, based (we are told) on 17th-century French trade engravings, each composed (except for face and hands) of whatever commodity it represents--from a luscious, spanking fresh opener of red and green apples, tree branches, baskets, leaves, and blossoms, to a comical, floppy two-dimensional zipper man devoid of a supporting frame. In the cleverest, most notably musical instruments and umbrellas, the objects are an integral part of the structure--but then the noodles and vegetables figures are marvels of ingenuity, as is the figure made of eggs: whole eggs in baskets, hard-boiled egg halves, jagged shell halves, egg cups with painted chicken feet for feet, and a prominent red comb and beaked mask. There are elaborate women made of glittering clocks and jewels, a profusion of pretty spring flowers, and people composed of sedate gloves dove-tailed intriguingly, dashing hats, splendid kites, jaunty flyaway ribbons, and more. . . all in fresh, clear, pleasing colors, altogether an inexhaustible visual feast.

Kirkus Reviews Copyright (c) VNU Business Media, Inc.

The original Curious George, which has been in print for more than fifty years, is now available in an oversized format, perfect for group sharing and reading aloud. Every child will be able to see George's impish antics when his big picture book is used during storytime.
Curious George

By Hans Augusto Rey, Don Wescott, Margret Rey, Michael Moss

Illustrated by Hans Augusto Rey

Edition: illustrated

Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1973

ISBN 039515023X, 9780395150238

56 Pages

This has a primer value too, as the ...

... vocabulary is, on the whole, a simple one for beginners, and there is enough repetition, association of action pictures with text, to carry the first year reader over the more difficult words. But ... more » five year olds -- and even younger -- will get some chuckles out of the story of the monkey whose curiosity led to his capture, then to successive adventures en route to New York, and finally to a happy home in the zoo. The artist has a sense of the child's liking for simple form, gay colors, humor and action. A newcomer, for American children, and a find.

Kirkus Reviews Copyright (c) VNU Business Media, Inc.

Mother Duck is missing one of her brood. "Have you seen my duckling?" she asks the bird, and the turtle, and the beaver, and the fish. But young readers who look carefully around the pond will see something Mother Duck doesn't see!
Have You Seen My Duckling?

By Nancy Tafuri

Illustrated by Nancy Tafuri

Edition: illustrated

Published by HarperCollins, 1991

ISBN 0688109942, 9780688109943

25 pages

A next-to-first book--with just about ...

... the first of all nursery stories: a duckling leaves the nest, the mother goes off in search, the duckling isn't lost (merely chasing a butterfly). . . and is in good time found. Tafuri's ... more » illustrations, as before, combine clarity, amplitude, and calm--with perhaps a suggestion here (or is it the ducks, the reeds, etc.) of Egyptian natural-history friezes. In any case, they fill the eye even as they tell the story--to the words, occasionally, of ""have you seen my duckling?"" A crane hasn't, a beaver hasn't, a turtle and a fish haven't--but we have, right along: for, of course, the little duckling is somewhere in every picture. And when the mother spies him/her and calls, the little, duckling beckons the butterfly along too. Serene, playful, comforting.

Kirkus Reviews Copyright (c) VNU Business Media, Inc.
FROM: Read to Me: Raising kids who love to Read by Bernice E. Cullinan Ages 1, 2, 3, 4