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My children are currently straddling 3 different age groups for reading. Somedays they want touch and feel books, others picture stories and occasionally they just want to listen to me talk and will ask for a chapter book (although this is rare at the moment). When looking for recommendations of books to suite our needs they seemed to either fall into the very young (babies and toddlers) or the much older (independent reading) which aren't quite right!
So I've decided to create a guide of our favorite authors that span across all the in-between stages!
The majority of the time we will settle on picture books, morning noon and night so lets start with a selection of our favorite picture books authors that are great for both toddlers and young children alike.
We are massive Julia Donaldson fans. The worlds she has created alongside Axel Sheffler are timeless and so full of fun and whimsey. I can remember reading The Gruffalo and Smartest Giant In Town (which my dad had excellent voices and melodies for) when I was a child and it's such a lovely thing to now be able to read them to my own children and even do some book studies on these classics!
Here are our absolute favorite Julia Donaldson books:
We went through a Stick Man phase that involved 10 solid months of reading, acting out, watching or some combination of all three every single day THAT'S how loved it was. I strongly recommend getting a board book of Stick Man if you're children are just coming out of the toddler stage. Even if it ends up just being a "comes out once a year" book this will help it last much longer and potentially even be passed down!
The Gruffalo is probably the most famous book in the Julia Donaldson world and sky rocketed her writing career. It's such a wonderful story to bridge the gap between books being solely for fun and having some deeper meaning
Cave baby has a special place in our hearts. My father in law reads a variety of Julia Donaldson books over videocall to my daughter and when my son was first born they would always call him THE Cave Baby. The illustrations in Cave Baby are different from the acorn woods and other books as they are by Emily Gravett but they are still just as lovely!
Another book that dives a bit deeper into world issues whilst still keeping a child focus. If you're thinking of ways to approach the subject of racism with your younger children this is a great place to start. The Smeds are red and the Smoods are blue, but are they really that different? And what happens when a Smed and a Smood fall in love? Will their families overcome their differences for the sake of their children?
Like I said this is a great book to start with and introduce the idea in a very child friendly way.
Who doesn't love a book with a simple rhyme? Julia Donaldson is a master at this and Super Worm is no exception. Hip,Hip Hooray for Super Worm will be shouted for days to come after reading this. It's just such a fun story with daring deeds, wizards and dramatic rescues!
Who doesn't love a lift the flap? For younger children it's always a surprise what will be underneath, for older it's good for refining fine motor skills and when reading together it feels like they are a part of what is happening, not just sitting and listening. The acorn woods series are great early lift the flap books, we particularly like Fox's Socks.
2) Rob Biddulph
This is one of our favorite, at least twice, every week without fail, never gets rotated out books. It is so fun, rhymes, has great illustrations and twists and turns on every page to keep you engaged. (Be warned, it may make you hungry!).
Rob Biddulph has a selection of diffrent "draw along" books and this is his offering for younger artists. I know it's not technically a picture book but it is still lots of fun to read through and draw along with!
As the title might suggest this book is about a bear named Fred. He's training for "Best Bear In The Woods" but something vital goes missing before the day of the big games! My 2 loved reading this and joining in with some of the bear activities when we borrowed it from the library.
Like so many picture books this one comes with a valuable lesson. It's about Sid and his "imaginary" (or is he?) friend Kevin. We got this book just at the right time when my youngest was having trouble with CAUSING trouble. Another beautifully illustrated book by Biddulph that's fun for all ages.
Everyone has that one food they just can't tolerate. For Nancy the Dino that food is peas. Clever Nancy has a plan to make sure the peas get eaten, just not by her! But will it work? This was another library find for us and there's a whole selection in this range. They're great for little dino lovers or for a super quick bedtime story.
We're slowly working our way through every Rob Biddulph book we can get our hands on. We always enjoy them and highly recommend them!
The Stompysaurus is part of a series of "dino feelings" books including The Worrysaurus and The Hugasaurus. The Stompysaurus is our favorite. It's all about dealing with difficult angry emotions and frustrations and learning how to cope with that overwhelm.
Now this book has gotten a really unfair review in my opinion. It's a wonderful book with an underlying message about consumerism and capitalism. But in a child eyes it's a brilliant tale of a whale who is always after more treasure and not content with what he has. This leads him and his friends into trouble! I really think this is a sweet book about the importance of friendship over things and is worth a read!
The rest of her books in the same series I haven't had the pleasure of reading yet and are always off the shelves at the library! BUT on our TBR list are:
Rachel Bright is also the Brains behind Love Monster! Whilst I've never actually watched the show (or read the books) the kids absolutely love the game on the Cbeebies app and what I have played with them have been really lovely and all about kindness.
Emily Hobson-Martin only has a few published books but we own all of them and absolutely love them (I'm eagerly awaiting her latest children's book having seen some sneak illustrations!). The Hilda's Planet books are simple but VERY effective (and emotive!) and follow the stories of Hilda the Hedgehog (Hilda's forest) and Otto the Octopus (Ottos Ocean) on their journey to help their friends from plastic rubbish that they've become tangled in... but who will help them?
Emily also has Betty the Bee: What Makes Me, Me. This is a little different to the other stories in her collection and is focused on making children think about their emotions and all the different aspects of their personality that make them, them, with no one thing taking away from another (Bee brave, bee Kind, Bee Scared etc).
5) Tom Percival
Tom Percival is the Author behind the Big Bright Feelings books which swept across Instagram in a great wave.
Rubys Worry at one point was on my social media feed every day for around a month! It's all about a little girl who one day finds a little worry, but that little worry starts to grow until Ruby no longer feels like herself. This book is centered all around childhood anxiety and coping mechanisms.
Whilst Rubys Worry was doing the round we were deep into Milos Monster. As you might have guessed from the title, Milos Monster is all about dealing with the Green Eyed monster (or just a green monster in this case!) and feelings of jealousy and how they effect us.
These are the only 2 books in the series that we have read so far but you can find the rest of series HERE
Maria is the mastermind behind the Little People Big Dreams series. These books contain the real life stories of famous people throughout history and the present day in a short, picture book format. We LOVE them. They are so easy to follow, the illustrations are ,lovely and have sparked so many great questions about the people in them and if they really happened (which they did). My favorite thing about these books is the timeline with real photographs on the back pages that show the character as a child and growing up.
These are the titles we currently have and the ones we can't wait to get next!
David Attenborough: This Little People Big Dreams is all about how Little David went from a boy who spent hours at libraries and museums to the man and legend that is now a beloved member of every British home!
Amelia Earhart: This one sparked a big debate. Did Amelia crash? Did she land on a secret island and start a new life for herself? My daughter thinks the latter and that she probably still lives on a lovely tropical island with lots of animal friends. She was very interested in The Ninety Nines and we will be doing some more research into what they do today (have a google!).
Jane Goodall: Did you know that Jane Goodall's story all began with a toy chimpanzee she got for Christmas? Nor did I! There's so much information packed into such a short story about this incredible woman's life and it's well worth a read!
Greta Thunberg: It's not only people from the past that these stories are about, there's plenty of recent history too! "No one is too small to make a difference" and that is demonstrated and hopefully taken on board in this book!
That is the real beauty of these books, they are so inspiring in so many different ways. We mainly gravitate towards the science based books and people in the series but everything from human rights, fashion, sports, music and literature is covered with more being added all the time! I personally can't wait to get our hands on the Steve Irwin book as I was a HUGE Crocodile Hunter fan back in the day.
You can find the full collection HERE
We're heading back to classics now with an Author I'm sure many of us were read as children, Allan Ahlberg. It's going to be a little difficult to whittle it down to my favorites as he has such an extensive catalogue to his name for younger children but I'll give it my best shot!
The Pencil I only just read this gem for the first time a few weeks ago with my daughter and can't believe I haven't read it sooner! It's great for inspiring imagination, has a wonderful storyline and gorgeous but simple illustrations! 10/10 would recommend!
Peepo! Does it get much more classic than this? There are so many things to see on each page that it never gets dull no matter how many times you read it. It can easily be turned into a find and seek book because of these illustrations as well!
Each Peach Pear Plum is probably my favorite of all the Ahlberg books. The simple rhymes, the find and seek, the well known characters from nursey rhymes. It's just lovely in every way.
There are so many others and the temptation is strong to name them all now *cough* Funny Bones *cough* but I feel they go up an age range and I want to keep this as a space for children in between!
8) Eric Carle
Lets keep moving with our Classic Authors shall we?
When you think Eric Carle I'm almost certain the The Very Hungry Caterpillar springs to mind. And it is a brilliant book with beautifully illustrated pages BUT there's a whole world of Eric Carle that gets overlooked! Here are my favorites.
Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See? This simple, melodic story is so easy to read and for children to join in with. We have an old copy with slightly different wording to the one that is available to buy now but will soon need to replace our copy as it is taped and worn through on every page THAT is how loved it has been.
The Mixed Up Chameleon This simple but funny story about a chameleon who isn't content with who he is and tries to take parts of all the other animals is a great addition to any bookshelf.
Slowly, Slowly, Slowly said the Sloth Another book that we have worn out the spine! A lovely story of a pensive sloth who, you guessed it, likes to take things slow until one day he is called lazy and has to set the record straight. This book has hidden tropical creatures that you can find the names of at the back of the book to go through and hunt down!
There are so many more wonderful Eric Carle books and many that have been adapted for early readers, sensory stories and translated into different languages! Take a look at his full range by clicking on his name above.
9) Sarah Coyle
I am SO excited about this author! The concepts behind her books are wonderful and I'm even MORE excited because I've booked for us to see her at the Bath Kids Lit Festival this year!
Pick A Story: A Superhero Mermaid Dragon Adventure. Sarah's books are CHOOSE YOUR OWN ENDING! It's a dungeons and dragons type scenario where you choose what happens on each page! Who stole the drawing? Where did they go? What happens next? It's all up to you! This means you'll be getting much more than just one story in the book, you'll be getting as many as you can imagine!
Other titles in the series include:
and
Pick A Story: A Monster Princess Shark Adventure which will be coming out in 2024! Exciting!
I really do love these books and the concept behind them. I also love that each title isn't specific to any gender and encourages readers to try something new! They're illustrated by the very talented Adam Walker-Parker.
10) Fiona Watt
You may have never heard of Fiona Watt but I'm CERTAIN that you have heard of and quite probably have owned or borrowed her books at some point in your life.... Trying to think of what they might? Take a look!
That's Not My.... Yep! All those wonderful, sensory filled, "Just once more please", That's Not My Books come from Fiona Watts and the great people at Usborne. I've seen so many people who refuse to get these for their children because THEY find them boring and repeatative but picture this:
You've never felt velcro before, or heard the sound that it makes when you scratch your nails against it. You haven't run your hands over a bumpy surface or seen something that's iridescent. You didn't know there was a difference between fluffy and soft and squashy until all 3 are lined up for you.
This is how it is for our children. These sensory experiences are so important to younger and older children alike. I know that I love the feeling of dry rice when I do sensory play with the kids and my eldest who is nearly 6 loves to join in with the "That's Not My" books whenever they come out. If you're finding these books too boring for yourself to read then I encourage you let your children explore them alone. read them once or twice and then let them "read" or actually have them read them if they are early readers!
After all of those wonderful authors there's one last thing I'd like to remind you:
Don't assume your child has grown out of something just because they're marketed towards younger children.
Almost every book that I have suggested in this guide would be found in the baby, toddler and preschool section but honestly that's poppycock! Just because it's a picture book doesn't mean it can't keep adding value to your childrens imagination and education as they grow. Just like most open ended toys books grow with your kids as they gain a deeper understanding of them.
At the end of the day if your child loves a particular book, let them! Keep that love for as long as you can and when THEY are ready something new will come along.
Now, an important question for you...
Who else should I have included?
Ellie x
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