Preschool Books

You have an opportunity to ignite a love of reading in your child which will last a lifetime. By reading your child the very best preschool books available, you will delight him with the wonderful illustrations and captivate him with the simple, fun stories.

He will see from an early age what pleasures there are hiding between the covers of a book, and this is a feeling which can stay with him for the rest of his life.

But what are the best picture books for the under threes?

The best preschool books destined for children under three years old tend to have engaging pictures with only a few words to each page. The text has a strong rhythm, plenty of repetition and an emphasis on words that rhyme. Learning about rhythm and rhyme is important for your child and will help him later when he starts to learn to read.

If you are more interested in the best books targeted towards children three years old and over, check out these children's picture books.

To try to come up with a definitive list of the best preschool books for under threes I combined over 20 highly regarded lists of children's books including winners of prestigious children's books awards, reading lists from reputable sources and bestselling books of all time. Those books mentioned on more than one list are shown below, with books at the top receiving the most mentions.

It is perhaps not that surprising that "The Very Hungry Caterpillar", one of my own favourites as a child, tops the list. It appeared on no less than seven of the source lists. Three of the books have really stood the test of time, having been written over 60 years ago: "Goodnight Moon", "Make Way for Ducklings" and "The Runaway Bunny". The most recently written book to make the list is "Kitten's First Full Moon", which was written in 2004.

1. The Very Hungry Caterpillar
by Eric Carle
First published 1969

2. Goodnight Moon
by Margaret Wise Brown
illustrated by Clement Hurd
First published 1947

3. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
by Bill Martin Jr.
illustrated by Eric Carle
First published 1962

4. Make Way for Ducklings
by Robert McCloskey
First published 1941

5. Mr Gumpy's Outing
by John Burningham
First published 1971

6. Each Peach Pear Plum
by Janet and Allan Ahlberg
First published 1979

7. The Runaway Bunny
by Margaret Wise Brown
First published 1942

8. We're Going on a Bear Hunt
by Michael Rosen illustrated by Helen Oxenbury
First published 1989

9. Where's Spot?
by Eric Hill
First published 1980

10. Dear Zoo
by Rod Campbell
First published 1982

11. Kitten's First Full Moon
by Kevin Henkes
First published 2004

12. Meg And Mog
Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski
First published 1972

13. Nice Work, Little Wolf
by Hilda Offen
First published 1992

14. Owl Babies
by Martin Waddell
illustrated by Patrick Benson
First published 1992

15. The Baby's Catalogue
by Janet and Alan Ahlberg
First published 1982

16. The Rainbow Fish
by Marcus Pfister
First published 1992

If your favorite children's book is not on the list, then please do share it with us. We'd love to hear about it. Just click here to share your favorite preschool books and follow the instructions.

For more ideas of classic children's books, check out these lists of top children's books or these Caldecott Award winners.