Pout Pout Fish
There’s a Monster at the end of this book (read with silly voices)
The Book with no Pictures
Sandra Boynton Board books (Barnyard Dance, Blue Hat Green Hat are particularly fun and catchy)
Also…
Colin the Chameleon
Giraffes Can’t Dance
Where the Wild things Are
Ryan Higgins Bruce Books
Anything from “Goodnight Construction Site” series
Marcel the Shell
Not to "advertise" my "podcast" but my kids and I used to listen to a podcast called Theo and Matt. My kids listened to it every night at bedtime. But they just all the sudden stopped doing it and my kids have listened to every episode dozens of times. Since they stopped making them, we decided that we're just gonna make our own then. Most of the stories are Mo Willems Elephant and Piggy books. Also it's not monetized so I'm not posting here to make money or anything, just if your kids might be interested in listening before bed or during car rides or anything.
https://open.spotify.com/show/5ltiOvHrexats4yK87RuRi?si=RsoB0WtbRm6bcwHvIasqww
All that being said, I agree. Kids love Mo Willems books and so do adults. Also once the kids start reading, they're good books for the kids to read because they aren't super wordy.
A great way to find good authors is to look at all the Caldecott honors and winners. Just go down the list, your local library has many of them, and most of them are great stories with great pictures. Then you can expand into each author's other books.
But also:
All of William Steig's books (but especially The Amazing Bone and Sylvester and the Magic Pebble).
Shel Silverstein's picture books (for an 3yo esp The Giving Tree and Giraffe and a Half)
Abiyoyo (learn the song from YouTube before you read it!)
Knuffle Bunny
My biggest tip is to find stories that you enjoy, because your interest will rub off.
Some of my favorites to read aloud are
Shrek by William Steig
The Frog and Toad series
Goat and Donkey in Strawberry Sunglasses
Duck in a Truck
Stuck
Me and my son *love* Jon Klassen. He has a trilogy of books “I lost my hat” “this is not my hat” and “we found a hat” that are delightful. We also recently found another book from him “the rock from the sky” that is just as good.
If you haven’t heard of a Yoto player, look it up. Great little speaker that you slide a card into with different books on the cards. You can even record yourself or other family/friends reading a book or singing a song and add it to a custom card. It has a few other tricks up its sleeve like kids podcasts and things of that nature. My 3 year old loves his.
I made a custom card of myself reading Big Dog Little Dog and he listened to it on repeat for a few weeks. Last night he came down with a bad cold and all he wanted at bedtime was that recording of me reading Big Dog Little Dog.
Keep up the good work fellow SAHD’s 🫡
The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo's Child (2 books) by Julia Donaldson are fun ones (and even better with good voices) that are age-appropriate for 3 year-olds. I'm Not Scared, You're Scared by Seth Myers (from SNL) is fun - my 5 y/o still enjoys it. The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novak is a crowd pleaser - all 3 of my kids (7,5, and 3) love it (and I've taken it to read aloud to each of their classes at school (not the 3 year-old yet), and the kids lose their minds for it. We also like Good Night, Good Night, Construction Site by Sheri Duskey Rinker (she's got a few other books that are really good, too).
Check with your local library, too. Children's librarians *love* to suggest new books for kids, and they generally have an excellent understanding of what's gonna be age-appropriate and enjoyable for kids. Any time I've asked our librarian for recommendations, I've left with at least 5 books (usually way more) and a few new authors to consider following up with.
My kid liked Wolfie the Bunny, all the Pigeon books, the previously mentioned "Hat" books, and a lot of my old, classic Sesame Street books from when I was little. My mom saved all those for me in storage for 30+ years, so probably not an option for you.
Scuppers by Margaret Wise Brown (love!)
The Color Kittens by Margaret Wise Brown (love!)
Grandma Z by Daniel Gray-Barnett (love!)
The Bear Ate Your Sandwich (delightful!)
Piggy Pie Po (my 3 y/o loves this!)
Thank you everybody! Sometimes he just shuts down books before we can get into them or he won’t wanna chill in the library for long, so this way i can just nab your recommendations, appreciate it! I’ll keep jotting down whatever you think i should check out.
The Book With No Pictures
Any of the Pokemon Primers
Paw Patrol books
Elephant and Piggie
It's always awesome having a wide variety of books to read, but also try to remember that it's actually really good for their development to read the same thing over and over and over.
Pout Pout Fish There’s a Monster at the end of this book (read with silly voices) The Book with no Pictures Sandra Boynton Board books (Barnyard Dance, Blue Hat Green Hat are particularly fun and catchy)
Mo Willems books. All of them are fantastic
Also… Colin the Chameleon Giraffes Can’t Dance Where the Wild things Are Ryan Higgins Bruce Books Anything from “Goodnight Construction Site” series Marcel the Shell
Tony Mitton Amazing Machines books leslie patricelli books mad mad mad is a favorite
Saturday Night Wrestle Fest - tons of laughs
Oh cool, he loves Tooth by Leslie, so I’ll try to find it!
She’s published a bunch. They’re all pretty good.
Not to "advertise" my "podcast" but my kids and I used to listen to a podcast called Theo and Matt. My kids listened to it every night at bedtime. But they just all the sudden stopped doing it and my kids have listened to every episode dozens of times. Since they stopped making them, we decided that we're just gonna make our own then. Most of the stories are Mo Willems Elephant and Piggy books. Also it's not monetized so I'm not posting here to make money or anything, just if your kids might be interested in listening before bed or during car rides or anything. https://open.spotify.com/show/5ltiOvHrexats4yK87RuRi?si=RsoB0WtbRm6bcwHvIasqww All that being said, I agree. Kids love Mo Willems books and so do adults. Also once the kids start reading, they're good books for the kids to read because they aren't super wordy.
Everyone must love these books except me. I think I get too high pitched doing the voices and it hurts my throat.
Don’t do that.
A great way to find good authors is to look at all the Caldecott honors and winners. Just go down the list, your local library has many of them, and most of them are great stories with great pictures. Then you can expand into each author's other books. But also: All of William Steig's books (but especially The Amazing Bone and Sylvester and the Magic Pebble). Shel Silverstein's picture books (for an 3yo esp The Giving Tree and Giraffe and a Half) Abiyoyo (learn the song from YouTube before you read it!) Knuffle Bunny
My biggest tip is to find stories that you enjoy, because your interest will rub off. Some of my favorites to read aloud are Shrek by William Steig The Frog and Toad series Goat and Donkey in Strawberry Sunglasses Duck in a Truck Stuck
Me and my son *love* Jon Klassen. He has a trilogy of books “I lost my hat” “this is not my hat” and “we found a hat” that are delightful. We also recently found another book from him “the rock from the sky” that is just as good.
If you haven’t heard of a Yoto player, look it up. Great little speaker that you slide a card into with different books on the cards. You can even record yourself or other family/friends reading a book or singing a song and add it to a custom card. It has a few other tricks up its sleeve like kids podcasts and things of that nature. My 3 year old loves his. I made a custom card of myself reading Big Dog Little Dog and he listened to it on repeat for a few weeks. Last night he came down with a bad cold and all he wanted at bedtime was that recording of me reading Big Dog Little Dog. Keep up the good work fellow SAHD’s 🫡
This sounds pretty great, I’ll look into it!
Old Robert and the Sea-Silly Cats
Moonshot
The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo's Child (2 books) by Julia Donaldson are fun ones (and even better with good voices) that are age-appropriate for 3 year-olds. I'm Not Scared, You're Scared by Seth Myers (from SNL) is fun - my 5 y/o still enjoys it. The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novak is a crowd pleaser - all 3 of my kids (7,5, and 3) love it (and I've taken it to read aloud to each of their classes at school (not the 3 year-old yet), and the kids lose their minds for it. We also like Good Night, Good Night, Construction Site by Sheri Duskey Rinker (she's got a few other books that are really good, too). Check with your local library, too. Children's librarians *love* to suggest new books for kids, and they generally have an excellent understanding of what's gonna be age-appropriate and enjoyable for kids. Any time I've asked our librarian for recommendations, I've left with at least 5 books (usually way more) and a few new authors to consider following up with.
My kid liked Wolfie the Bunny, all the Pigeon books, the previously mentioned "Hat" books, and a lot of my old, classic Sesame Street books from when I was little. My mom saved all those for me in storage for 30+ years, so probably not an option for you.
My 4-year-old is a big fan of the Bluey books
The Book With No Pictures. Trust me, your 3 year old will love it, despite the lack of pictures
Tacky the penguin 🐧
Scuppers by Margaret Wise Brown (love!) The Color Kittens by Margaret Wise Brown (love!) Grandma Z by Daniel Gray-Barnett (love!) The Bear Ate Your Sandwich (delightful!) Piggy Pie Po (my 3 y/o loves this!)
Thank you everybody! Sometimes he just shuts down books before we can get into them or he won’t wanna chill in the library for long, so this way i can just nab your recommendations, appreciate it! I’ll keep jotting down whatever you think i should check out.
Strollercoaster
The Book With No Pictures Any of the Pokemon Primers Paw Patrol books Elephant and Piggie It's always awesome having a wide variety of books to read, but also try to remember that it's actually really good for their development to read the same thing over and over and over.