Top 5 Children’s Books ages 0-5

I love children’s books. For the first ever guest blog I would Like to thank Andrea and Ellie from the fantastic Children’s Bookshop “A bundle of Books” in Herne Bay Who have compiled this list of their top 5 children’s books for children aged 0-5. Follow their twitter here. You might be interested in this post on recommended books for children about Autism. We believe that reading should be about books not dressing up so we wrote this post on alternatives to dressing up during world book day.

Top 5 Children’s Books 0-5

1 . Animal Rescue

This is a book in which you become a ‘rescue hero’. Simply turn the transparent page and rescue the animals! It’s fun, it’s simple and it’s a gentle introduction to the importance of animal welfare. There are no words in this book so you can choose the words which are right for you. Imagination is essential in children’s books and animal rescue encourages it at every turn of the page. 50p of the sale of each book will go to the Born Free Foundation.

Nominated for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal 2016! Personal favourite their “Oh No” book! Check out their website  http://patrickgeorge.com/books-animal-rescue

2. Monkey and Me by Emily Gravett

Not a newly published children’s book (2008) but works really well when read to an individual child or a group: A mischievous little girl and her toy monkey swing irresistibly through the pages of this playful book. Young children will love guessing what animal they are pretending to be, before shouting out the answers as the pages are turned to reveal the real creatures. Soon everyone will be waddling like a penguin, jumping like a kangaroo and waving their arm like an elephant’s trunk!

In fact any books by Emily Gravett are worth a read!

3. Little Red and the Very Hungry Lion by Alex T. Smith

Published in paperback 2015: Yum! The lovely Alex serves up a sweet treat fairy tale. A hungry lion. A little girl. A box of doughnuts…? Gorgeous proof that a perfect picture book can look even more tempting than a sweet shop window. Worried about wolves? Don’t make Little Red laugh. She’s not even scared of hungry lions. After all, why would this furry chap want to gobble her up? She’s sure he’d rather have a doughnut. Right, Mr Lion? A sassy heroine, beautiful artwork, jungle animals, a funny twist on a tale you adore. Once again, the World Book Day artist gets us all eating from his hand.

4. Finding Winnie by Lindsay Mattick

The remarkable true story of the bear who inspired Winnie-the Pooh published October 2015: In 1914, Harry Colebourn, a veterinarian on his way to tend horses in World War I, followed his heart and rescued a baby bear. He named her Winnie, after his hometown of Winnipeg, and he took the bear to war.Harry Colebourn’s real-life great-granddaughter tells the true story of a remarkable friendship and an even more remarkable journey, from the fields of Canada to a convoy across the ocean to an army base in England… And finally to the London Zoo, where Winnie made another new friend: a real boy named Christopher Robin. LEading to one of the most popular children’s books of all time.

5. The Day the Crayons Came Home by Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers

One of my favourite children’s books The hilarious sequel to the prize-winning, international bestseller ‘The Day the Crayons Quit’! Published August 2015: Watch out – the crayons are back and they’re crosser than ever! One day Duncan receives a set of postcards from his crayons who have been lost, forgotten, broken – even melted in a clothes dryer and stuck to a sock!
Great for inspiring children to draw, write postcards and make up their own stories.

If you are interested in Children’s books about SEND you will love this book written for an Autistic child by Nikki Saunders. She did an author Q&A for us in 2019.