It’s never too early to begin reading and it's also never too late to start. Reading is a wonderful relationship builder as it strengthens your bond with your child, promotes good communication between the two of you, and helps develop early literacy skills. It’s important for children to have positive attitudes towards reading throughout their lives and this starts at home. So to help you, we have put together some a list of our favorite books for 3-4 year olds.
One sunny Sunday, the caterpillar was hatched out of a tiny egg. He was very hungry. On Monday, he ate through one apple; on Tuesday, he ate through three plums – and still he was hungry. When full at last, he made a cocoon around himself and went to sleep, to wake up a few weeks later wonderfully transformed into a butterfly!
If a hungry little traveler shows up at your house, you might want to give him a cookie. If you give him a cookie, he's going to ask for a glass of milk. He'll want to look in a mirror to make sure he doesn't have a milk mustache, and then he'll ask for a pair of scissors to give himself a trim....what next? The consequences of giving a cookie to this energetic mouse will entertain parents and children alike.
Oh look, there's an egg in your book! But this isn't any old egg - there's a dragon in it…and pretty soon she has set your book ON FIRE. Oh no! Can you help the Little Dragon find a way to stop the fire and fly off on her own adventure? Children will love touching, flapping, and moving the book all around to make “magic” happen as they turn the pages.
This is a rhyming story of a mouse and a monster. Little mouse goes for a walk in a dangerous forest. To scare off his enemies he invents tales of a fantastical creature called the Gruffalo. So imagine his surprise when he meets…the real Gruffalo!
As the pig family head to the beach for a picnic, they encounter every vehicle known, from the forklift to the locomotive, and many vehicles that are not as common, from the pumpkin car to the broom-o-cycle. Each detailed page provides opportunities to make up stories and describe situations. Will Officer Flossy catch Dingo? Will Rollo Rabbit catch his runaway steamroller? And with literally hundreds of things to look at, children will spend hours trying to find Goldbug on every page.
When something terrible happens, Taylor doesn't know where to turn. All the animals are sure they have the answer. The chicken wants to talk it out, but Taylor doesn't feel like chatting. The bear thinks Taylor should get angry, but that's not quite right either. One by one, the animals try to tell Taylor how to process this loss, and one by one they fail. Then the rabbit arrives. All the rabbit does is listen, which is just what Taylor needs.
In this very funny, cumulative song, each page tells us something new about the donkey until we end up with a spunky, hanky-panky cranky stinky dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey, which will have children in fits of laughter! There is much fun to be had by listening to the song and trying to predict the new word for each clue given!
Four different children from three different families ponder what the adults in their lives do during the day. Are they jumping on trampolines? Are they eating cake and ice cream while riding birthday ponies? Are they eating candy with other adults? After a series of hilarious scenarios, readers learn an important lesson – the adults who love them think about them constantly and are most definitely, certainly, ABSOLUTELY not eating candy without them. Or are they?
Lami is the best chicken catcher in the whole village. Her sister may be speedy at spelling, her friend fast at braiding hair, and her brother brave with bulls, but when it comes to chickens, nobody is faster or braver than Lami. That is, until the day when Lami chases a little too fast, up the baobab tree, and reaches a little too far…ow! How can she catch chickens with an ankle that’s puffed up like an angry lizard? Could it be, as Nana Nadia says, that quick thinking is more important than quick running?
“A book with no pictures?
What could be fun about that?
After all, if a book has no pictures, there's nothing to look at but the words on the page.
Words that might make you say silly sounds...in ridiculous voices...hey, what kind of book is this, anyway?”
At once beautifully simple and imaginative, The Book With No Pictures inspires laughter every time it is opened, creating a warm and joyous experience to share--and introducing young children to the powerful idea that the written word can be an unending source of delight.
Don't forget to check out our other booklists here!