Recommended Books

We've put together a collection of our favorite books for reading aloud, books about reading (for parents and teachers) and, of course, books featured on the show. Bring this list along on your next trip to the library.

Alphabet Books
Alphabet Under Construction
by Denise Fleming (Henry Holt, 2006)

Eating the Alphabet: Fruits and Vegetables from A - Z
by Lois Ehlert (Voyager, 1993)

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archamabault (Aladdin Library, 2000)

Click, Clack, Quackity-Quack: An Alphabetical Adventure
by Doreen Cronin (Atheneum, 2005)

Gathering the Sun: An Alphabet in Spanish and English
(HarperCollins, 2001)

Rhyming Books
Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain
retold by Verna Aardema (Puffin, 1992)

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do you See?
by Bill Martin Jr. (Henry Holt, 1996)

The Gruffalo
by Julia Dolandson (Puffin, 2006)

Hop on Pop
by Dr. Seuss (Random House, 1963)

Hush: A Thai Lullaby
by Mingfo Ho (Scholastic, 2000)

I Went Walking
by Sue Williams (Voyager Books, 1992)

One Duck Stuck
by Phyllis Root (Candlewick Press, 2003)

You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Very Short Stories to Read Together
by Mary Ann Hoberman (Little, Brown, 2001)

Wild About Books
by Judy Sierra (Knopf, 2004)

Storybooks
A Chair for My Mother
by Vera B. Williams (HarperTrophy, 1984)

Jonathan and His Mommy
by Irene Smalls (Little, Brown, 1994)

Lola at the Library
by Anna McQuinn (Charlesbridge, 2006)

Flossie and the Fox
by Patricia C. McKissack (Dial, 1986)

Mrs. Katz and Tush
by Patricia Polacco (Dragonfly Books, 1994)

Jingle Dancer
by Cynthia Leitich Smith (HarperCollins, 2000)

Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me
by Eric Carle (Simon & Schuster, 1991)

Read to Your Bunny
by Rosemary Wells (Scholastic, 1999)

Sitti's Secrets
by Naomi Shihab Nye (Aladdin, 1997)

Tar Beach
by Faith Ringgold (Dragonfly, 1996)

Too Many Tamales
by Gary Soto (Putnam & Grosset, 1993)

The Ugly Vegetables
by Grace Lin (Charlesbridge, 2001)

Fables, Folktales, and Fairytales
The Enormous Potato
retold by Aubrey Davis (Kids Can Press, 1998)

Doña Flor: A Tall Tale About a Giant Woman With a Great Big Heart
by Pat Mora (Knopf, 2005)

The Little Red Hen (Makes a Pizza)
retold by Philemon Sturges (Puffin, 1999)

Lon Po Po: A Red Riding Hood Story from China
by Ed Young

Turtle's Race with Beaver; A Traditional Seneca Story
by Joseph Bruchac (Dial, 2003)

The Talking Eggs: A Folktale from the American South
by Robert D. San Souci (Dial, 1989)

Poetry
Ashley Bryan's ABC of African American Poetry
by Ashley Bryan (Aladdin, 2001)

Confetti: Poems for Children
by Pat Mora (Lee and Low, 1999)

Diez Deditos/Ten Little Fingers and Other Play Rhymes and Action Songs from Latin America
by Jose-Luis Orozco (Puffin, 2002)

Honey, I Love
by Eloise Greenfield (Amistad, 2002)

The Random House Book of Children's Poetry
by Jack Prelutsky (Random House, 1983)

Runny Babbit: A Billy Sook
by Shel Silverstein (HarperCollins, 2005)

Nonfiction, Informational, and Concept Books
Castles, Caves, and Honeycombs
by Linda Ashman (Harcourt, 2001)

Feast for Ten
by Cathryn Falwell (Clarion, 1995)

Friends at School
by Rochelle Bunnett (Star Bright Books, 2006)

Hats, Hats, Hats
by Ann Morris (Mulberry Books, 1993)

I Get Wet
by Vicki Cobb (HarperCollins, 2002)

Our Stars
by Anne Rockwell (Voyager, 2002)

Red is a Dragon: A Book of Colors
by Roseanne Thong (Chronicle, 2001)

Roaring Rockets
by Tony Mitton (Kingfisher, 1997)

A Seed is Sleepy
by Diana Hutts Aston (Chronicle, 2007)

This is the Way We Go to School: A Book About Children Around the World
by Edith Baer (Scholastic, 1990)

Trains
by Gail Gibbons (Holiday House, 1988)

What Do You Do with a Tail Like This?
by Robin Page and Steve Jenkins (Houghton Mifflin, 2003)

Next: Books About Reading
Back to top