What to read to a three-year-old
 

My parents never read children's books to me. Amazing that I ended up as an English major.


What books are appropriate to read at bedtime to a three-year-old? I'd like something a little longer than, like, Goodnight Moon, that maybe we could start one night and finish the next or the next.


I read one of her "longer" books to her last month at her home, and she was very interested. It made me think she could handle something longer that might take more than one reading to complete.


Any help appreciated.

My granddaughter loved the Fancy Nancy books. Also Shel Silverstein. I forget the appropriate age for these. It’s been a while.

After I posted, just for kicks, I googled “books for a 3 year old.”

Wow. I couldn’t believe all the great suggestions!

My suggestions from my earlier post, as it turns out, are rated for 5-7 year olds.

A real favorite in our family was “The Monster at the End of this Book” starring Grover. For quite a while, I had to read it EVERY night.

Happy reading!

Thanks! Google was going to be my next source. I was hoping for some suggestions from some who had done this.


She's very active, but still three. I am thinking she will need some calming time at bedtime while she's here and staying in a different room.

Books to read
 

Sorry, couldn’t resist. 😂

ha ha! She needed that when she was three months, not three years!

13 books for children
 

read her anything in spanish or chinese - its the coming new wave ;-) at 3, horton hears a who's great,,, when she's 10 or 11, limbaugh's books for kids are wonderful

Love You Forever.


That's the book title.


Plus my feeling.


:)

“Heather Has Two Mommies”

How about...
 

How about American History?

If you're so inclined....
 

From the Bible-based angle....by Buck Denver, "What's in the Bible?"...are the books "God Made____" me, or, ___Night and Day, ___Animals" and so on. Berenstain Bear Series are nice too

Books for a 3 year old
 

My friend is an independent rep for Usborne books- she's a stay at home mom with a 2 year old and a 4 year old and there are hundreds of age appropriate books available. Google Usborne books...you'll find many to choose from. Her email is
Nicolefromer@gmail.com.

Good for you for wanting to read to your child - it is truly one of the best things a parent can do. Start the tradition now and continue it well past the time they can read on their own, because at older ages you can share books that are too cumbersome for their reading abilities, but the content is meaningful to them. If you don’t mind the suggestion: Please visit your local library. That way, you have access to thousands of books and you can check them out, learn what your child likes to read. Make a weekly trip to the library, check out lots of books, and enjoy! The children’s librarian will be helpful for finding age-appropriate material. While there, check out the programs for children. The local libraries are a wealth of information. As time goes on, you will learn your child’s favorite types of books and you can give the gift of books as treats for all kinds of occasions. I get so excited about this topic because now that my children are grown, I remember our reading times together as the best of times. And they’ve told me they do, too. You will bring up a reader if you read to your child now, and reading opens up the whole world to all of us. Have fun!

As a former school librarian I commend your reading to your grandchild; this is another perfect time to teach her owto care for books. It sounds as if she has the maturity for more complex stories. One of my grandsons, at 18 months of age, sat mesmerized while I read the original Winnie-the-Pooh by A A. Milne to him. I knew he understood the story when my daughter called to ask if there were something about Pooh and mud. I am a great fan of Winnie, as I found that as I grew older there was humor that I understood, and I found the philosophy of Pooh to be quite sophisticated. The Napping House, although a one-sitting book, is a great story with wonderful illustrations. I would also recommend asking this question at your local public library. The children’s librarian should be an excellent source of more recent titles than I’ve mentioned.

Thanks! It occurred to me last night after I posted that maybe our TV libraries have children sections where I can check out books to read for her. She lives in Australia, so I am also investigating how to send her a book along with a file of me reading it.


I don't have a clue how to do that. If anyone has suggestions, I'm all ears.

My favorite book when I was that age was Scuffy the Tugboat.

I just watched a video of someone reading this online, CNM. It seems long enough to break into two sessions. Thanks!

Yes, that’s my favorite bedtime story. Samuel Jackson does a great reading of it:

Go the f**k to sleep, read by Samuel L Jackson - YouTube

Good Night Moon.....of course! My 8 grandkids always loved it.

Beatrix Potter

i have a couple of ideas. i'm not sure if he/she is old enough for rush revere, but i've found you can read a kid anything as long as you have the right attitude. @ 3yrs she/he may enjoy the tone of your voice, or add character sounds which make 'boring' books fun. kind of like when richard burton recited the phone book on tv years ago, LOL. some of the discount stores offer tons of books to choose from for kids, maybe bring the tyke to the store to pick 1 out? sounds like a great chance to discover reading~!!

"War and Peace". When you are finished, send her to college.

I highly recommend "Sylvester The Sneezing Whale" on Amazon, of course. The young children gleefully learn to "read" the word Achoo! which appears throughout the book.

I’m an English professor. I believe that a LOT of daily reading out loud to children is key to academic success. I believe that the American belief that three year olds should have books with vocabulary “suitable” for three year olds is wrong. I studied at Oxford, and my landlord read to his little girl books like “The Wind in the Willows.” It’s a wonderful book! Also “Winnie-the-Pooh.” “The Wind in the Willows” is delightful and charming for little children, but also introduces them to a large vocabulary and complex sentence structures. Even three year olds can enjoy it.

When my siblings and I were little, every night my mom read to us from a ten volume series of illustrated books by the British author Arthur S. Maxwell called “The Bible Story,” available on Amazon. The stories were wonderful, and they had a huge effect on us, both morally and intellectually. I later taught college classes in Biblical Literature, one called “The Bible as Story,” and much of what I taught was what I learned in those books. Books like this are the best path to high SAT scores,
https://www.amazon.com/Bible-Story-1...s%2C138&sr=1-1

30 years ago there were racks of “Golden Books” like The Pokey Little Puppy” at the grocery checkout lines and we bought one every trip to the store with our children. The Berenstain Bears is also an excellent one for teaching life lessons. A story every nite and they will become avid readers on their own.

Go to your local library.
Lots of amazing books as well as children's activities.
I love the Lady Lake Library.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar. by Eric Carle. ...
Llama Llama Red Pajama. by Anna Dewdney. ...
All by Myself (Little Critter) by Mercer Mayer. ...
The Little Engine That Could. ...
Dragons Love Tacos. ...
The Story of Ferdinand. ...
Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things That Go. ...

We always read the Dr. Seuss books to our boys. Amazon has a collection :

Dr. Seuss's Beginner Book Collection (Cat in the Hat, One Fish Two Fish, Green Eggs and Ham, Hop on Pop, Fox in Socks) Hardcover – Box set, September 22, 2009

I think we had as much fun reading them to the boys.

My Mother was a teacher, I cannot remember when we first started to read, but I still love to sit and read in the afternoon.

Love this book. Better yet is the audio book read by the author ������. “ Go The F**k To Sleep”

is your Mama a llama?

Corduroy

Chica Chica Boom Boom

King Bidgood's in the Bathtub

Oldies but goodies: The Little House and Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel

Love You Forever is great but you will probably cry at the end

I love that you want to read to her! There are so many good suggestions here already. The Little Golden Books, Dr. Seuss, Richard Scarry and more. Also, what does she like? My 2 1/2 year old grandson is obsessed with trains, construction equipment and dragons, so I've looked for books featuring those things. Since she's not nearby (my grandson is in Germany) there's always FaceTime or other vidchat options to read to her long distance. You could send her a specific book and then send a video of yourself reading it to her, as another option. I'm thinking I should get my own copy of a couple of my grandson's favorites (there's the one he calls the "round and round book" that's actually called "In The Town All Year Round" that's adorable--nearly all pictures that tell stories about all the characters through the four seasons). Then when he asks me via FaceTime to read it to him, I could sort of do it live. Good luck! :)

My 1st favorite to read my children and my grandchildren is the little train that could!!

He/she is three. I am betting that child is as smart as you. As a preschool teacher for decades, I say...anything that you think is enjoyable. ANYTHING.

But of course the obvious that can be finished that night and has lovely pictures.

Thanks, GG.


But I have a question. If I put a simple book into two parts (say, one of the Golden Books), would she be able to hold the thought of the first part and recall it on the second night as we read the rest of the book? Someone mentioned The Poky Puppy, and I thought that is a good one because the puppies escape three or four times, come back, don't get dessert. I could stop at the second time they escape, then talk about the two escapes when we continue the book.


I just can't remember if that's appropriate for a three-year-old. She does have a Ph.D. math parent and is starting to evidence logic and draw conclusions, if that's any indication of (other) memory capabilities.


Or should we just read the whole thing and go bake cookies.

The Little Prince
 

The Little Prince (French: Le Petit Prince, pronounced [lə p(ə)ti pʁɛ̃s]) is a novella by French aristocrat, writer, and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

Appropriate for any/every age.

john

Of course I knew that she would be brilliant. It makes water come to my eyes to think of you snuggling together and reading while Crosby stands guard.

Scuffy
 

Oh, my gosh! Scuffy was one of my favorite Little Golden Books! My daughter gave me a Scuffy Christmas tree ornament! I do have a copy of the book and read it to my grandsons, they did not fall in love with it as I did.

Or rather, Crosby hides in another room so she won't try to ride him...


I got The Poky Puppy and some Madeline books, which are different adventures but the same main character. We can talk about the last adventure before going on to the next.