The holidays are right around the corner and my kids are book lovers so I’ve rounded up some of our family favorites to give you some ideas for your holiday gifting season. These books are enjoyable to read as a parent and my kids love them too. Which is definitely a win-win.
My number one favorite is a book about colors mixing to make new colors. As a bonus, if you’re looking to start a conversation about diversity Mixed is the perfect book for that. It touches on bias and self-importance in an easy and approachable way. Since it is based on color mixing you can read it for face value or dig deeper and relate it to the things that happen in the real world.
Life Lesson Books
These books have little life lessons embedded in them that are easy for younger kids to relate to.
Love Monster – This sweet little book is centered around a funny-looking monster who doesn’t have a best friend.
The Perfect Present – This book is about how the first pet, the duck, feels as if he’s no longer needed when a new pet puppy arrives. He of course is wrong in this assessment and learns that they are both welcome and loved.
I Want That Nut! – This book is about sharing and finding a way to play together. And the squirrel and the chipmunk learn this while fighting over a nut!
The Good Egg – This book is just too cute. This egg is a GOOD egg. He’s fed up with his carton and leaves. On his journey, he reconnects with himself and eventually returns to his carton with a new outlook on life. It helps teach kids it’s your outlook that matters because sometimes that’s how life is. I love this because we now have one and a half-year-old twins and they are quite a handful. My kindergartener often complains about them to me. This is definitely one of those books we read on tough days.
Read To Tiger – Ok this one is just amazing. The child wants to read. Well, Tiger, he wants to play. The tiger makes it difficult for the boy to ready by doing several things until finally, he understands and the child can read his book. It’s definitely been written with parents who are trying to catch a minute for themselves in mind.
Llama Llama Red Pajama – Baby Llama is clearly not tired, and a little bit scared, but mom is not that far away. This one was a bit scary for my oldest when he was little so it may be best for 2-3-year-olds and up. Just read it yourself first. You know your child best. It’s a good lesson on patience.
The Very Impatient Caterpillar – Also, all about patience. This caterpillar is beyond annoying in the best of ways. This is the book where we bust out all of our silly voices. So fun!
The Bad Seed – This book feels so cool. It reminds me of Pete the Cat books. It’s got that skat-cat vibe to it. It’s one of my personal favorites.
Learning Books
These books are all about learning in one way or another.
Spend it! – This book teaches Bunny how to be wise in his spending choices.
Goodnight, Numbers – This is a great one to read right before bed. Our oldest is obsessed with numbers and can’t get enough of this book. The numbers are also depicted in each of the pages with the items on the page which makes it a good one for counting.
Llama Llama Loves To Read – Baby Llama is at school and home learning to read. This book shows him having a bit of a hard moment but working through it with help.
The Hueys in What’s The Opposite – This is a quick read, but it’s great if you want to impart a quick little bit of logic and fun and the illustrations are simple and child-like. I feel that helps the relatability of the book to be more successful.
Silly Books
These books are purely silly. This is usually where we start our 3 books of bedtime. They get my kids smiling and laughing and after the sillies are out we can move on to more serious reads.
Pete The Cat And The Bad Banana
The Gingerbread Man Loose On The Fire Truck
Sweet Books
These books are just sweet and have nice easy stories that can calm your child and get them into a more sleep ready state. We use this one as our second or third book of the night. They are lower energy and help with the last calming needs before dozing off.
King Jack And The Dragon – This is a simple story of a few boys fighting pretend dragons in the backyard before bed.
I Just Want To Say Good Night – Sweet little Lala doesn’t want to go to bed. So she stalls by saying goodnight to as many animals and creatures as she can.
Little Sleepyhead – This book is short and sweet and depicts different babies on each page getting tired.
Following Papa’s Song – This is a sweet read about the journey of a papa and a little blue whale.
Bunny’s Book Club – Bunny loves reading and convinces all of the other animals to read as well.
The Snail And The Whale – The adventurous snail mounts the tail of the whale and off they go to see the world and all of its beauty.
Maple – This is a sweet book about becoming a big sibling.
Leave a Reply