Top 10 Children’s Books That Every Parent Should Read To Their Child

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Choosing the top 10 children’s books is nearly impossible. There are so many to choose from and hundreds that are wonderful. The most popular of children’s books keeps their attention while teaching a lesson at the same time. For children the pictures are very important. Though they love colorful and bright pictures, even the black and white one that are more simple or look like sketches can be just as entertaining. The pictures often times tell more than the words do for many children. Any of the following 10 books listed has wonderful pictures for your children to look at while they enjoy the story at hand.

“Corduroy” By Don Freeman

This heartwarming tale is about a stuffed teddy bear named Corduroy who is missing a button on his overalls. At night Corduroy wanders through the department store he lives in while he waits for someone to buy him. The day finally comes when a little girl takes him home. She gives him a new button and a new friend. This story teaches that no matter how different someone is they still need friends. Your child will see Corduroy go through different emotions as he sees other children come and go. This story can be great for those just starting school as it can show them that it really can be easy to make friends if you only try.

“Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” By Judith Viorst

Everybody has bad days every now and then. In this book Alexander is having the worst day he could ever possibly imagine. Anything and everything is going wrong and he just keeps getting grumpier and whinier. The pictures are black and white, and they look like sketches, however, they do a wonderful job of showing just how terrible Alexander feels. No matter how bad the day gets, or what goes wrong during it, this little boy never gives up. This is a great choice to read when you’re own child is having a not so good day. Hearing everything that happens to Alexander just might make them feel better.

“Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” By Judi Barrett

The town of Chewandswallow has no grocery stores and no need for them. All the food that these people could possibly need falls from the sky. You think that this is the perfect little town to live in until there are severe meatball storms and tomato tornadoes are spotted. This leaves the townsfolk with a difficult decision to make and they soon start to realize that too much of a good thing can be a bad thing.

“The Very Hungry Caterpillar” By Eric Carle

This is a short 14 page story that tells of the transition that takes place from a caterpillar to a butterfly. The beautiful, eye catching pictures look like acrylic paint and any child will adore them. This book is great for reading to babies while also being a wonderful starter book for young children learning to read. The sentences are simple and the words are easy and fun to read. In addition this book only come in hard cover. Though this is recommended for baby books it is especially great for this one as it is sure to be read time and time again.

“Green Eggs and Ham” By Dr. Suess

Any Dr. Suess book is a great choice, however, Green Eggs and Ham is one of the finest. As with all of this authors books, the rhyming and outrageous plot will keep the child’s attention for a long while. Dr. Suess describes all of the different ways and places that the character could eat these green eggs and ham, and spends the entire book trying to convince him to do so. The moral of this story is that if you haven’t tried something you can’t say you don’t like it. Every scenario in the story is put into picture giving the children unlimited things to see.

“The Tale of Peter Rabbit” By Beatrix Potter

Disobeying your mother always winds up getting you into trouble. Peter Rabbit finds this out the day he wanders into Mr. McGregor’s garden. He gets lost and Mr. McGregor tries to catch him. The story is filled with the adventures Peter Rabbit encounters as he tries to find his way out of the large garden. The story isn’t very long but it is fun filled and the pictures are realistic.

“The Little Engine That Could” By Watty Piper

After all of the larger engines refuse to pull a long train over a high mountain the special request finds it’s way to a much smaller engine. Though he’s much smaller than the other engines he agrees to try. He is successful and the whole time he is climbing the mountain he keeps repeating to himself ‘I Think I Can’. He never gave up and was able to do what he set out to do.

“The Giving Tree” By Shel Silverstein

The wonderful friendship between a boy and a tree is portrayed in this story. The tree loves the little boy and would do anything for him. She never asks for anything in return, her friendship is completely selfless. This story about giving, with its fascinating black and white drawings, teaches children about protecting and loving our environment.

“Guess How Much I Love You” By Sam McBratney

The tale of two Nutbrown Hares, Big Nutbrown Hare and Little Nutbrown Hare. Many people do believe that the two are father and son, however, it never does specify this in the story allowing for children to use their imaginations that much more. In this fable Little Nutbrown Hare asks Big Nutbrown Hare the question ‘Guess How Much I Love You?’ They find amazing was to tell eachother just how much they love each other. Each turn makes the measurement of how much they love the other even greater, and the water color pictures will keep the child’s attention through the whole book. This story can turn into a bedtime or anytime game between a parent or grandparent and child.

“Goodnight Moon” By Margaret Wise Brown

A poem describing the nightly ritual of a bunny saying goodnight to everything in it’s room. This bunny takes the time to say goodnight to everything from the telephone to the bears to a red balloon. The detailed pictures will catch the child’s eyes and they will notice as things in the room change throughout the book. They can watch the clock change, the bedroom get darker, and the moon rise. Though the word will tell them the story the pictures will let them use their imaginations as well.

Resources about Reading To Your Child

Why Reading to Children is Important and Resources to Help

The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy

Parental Involvement Statistics (PDF)

Resource by S.Henniman

I am an aspiring artist and writer from Phoenix Arizona. I enjoy golfing, skiing, college football, and hanging out with my two favorite girls (my wife and 4 year old daughter).

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