This is the recommended book list of my son Anay who is 4 years old now. We bought our very first book when he was 6 months old. These are his all time favourites!!!
This post is for the #kbcKeepCalmAndReadOn Campaign
‘There was a boy and he loved stars very much…’ and… we fell in love with the book!!! As my 4 year old is crazy about space, finding a character like ‘a boy’ in the book was a treat!! The story is about a boy who loves stars so he decided to catch a star and be friends with him. He is so determined to get one and dreams about going for long walks together.
Children between age 2-5 would definitely love it and relate as they are mostly the dreamers!! They dream a lot about a lot of things. Characters like this definitely take them on adventure rides of their dreams!!
This book was so relatable for Anay as he himself is an adventurous kid. Reading ‘How to catch a star’ for us was like expressing his own imagination in an organized way.
Every child deserves to have at least one book by Oliver Jeffers. This book gives a lesson for life — NEVER GIVE UP!!
All of Oliver Jeffers’ books come highly recommended and can be found here on Amazon.
This book and 3 other books in this series are also available in a boxset called ONCE THERE WAS A BOY which is works out to be more economical and makes the perfect gift! Kids who love the stars and moon are huge fans.
My personal favourite!! A tale about a personal transformation.
An ugly duckling is teased and abused by everyone for not looking a certain way. How he has been outcast and unaccepted and how he transformed into a beautiful swan after growing up.
If I have to tell about how it helped Anay or why he loved it, I have a small story to share! Anay is a very sensitive child and very observant at times. He realised during his dance class in school that everyone laughs at him because he can’t dance and just jump around. Well, this realisation was too much for 3.5 year old. That’s when I told him the story of the ugly duckling – may be it wasn’t about his body, his looks like the duckling in the book, but the message which I wanted to give him was pretty much the same. Believe in yourself, accept yourself for whoever you are!!
A book authored by Phil Roxbee Cox, it is a perfect guide to early phonics learner. It’s about the goose who is riding his scooter recklessly and troubling everyone around. A fun story tells all about the sound of ‘oo’.
Perfect rhyming and funny illustrations makes reading enjoyable for early readers .
This was Anay’s first book related to phonics and he absolutely loved the pictures and understood that it’s gonna be a fun read. He could easily depict what all was happening by just looking at those pictures.
Who doesn’t know the famous Spot series? This is exactly how my 4 year old felt on the very first day of his preschool. Eric Hill precisely describes the how eventful Spot’s first day at school was and makes it relatable for kids who have just started school.
No need to say how this must have helped my preschooler to start his school life, what to expect and how to express. During first few months of his school he would say , “I am going to school like Spot and I will have fun with my friends like Spot.”
Another gem by Oliver Jeffers. It’s about a boy, a penguin and their relationship.
A cute adorable boy finds a sad penguin at his door one day, which he thinks, is lost. The boy genuinely tries to help the penguin asking everyone around about it. The boy’s innocence touches one’s heart. He rows to the south pole and along the way keeps telling stories to deal with boredom. I personally feel the main attractions are the pictures of sea waves and the south pole.
As I said, Anay is a super adventurous child. When I got this book I knew he is going to love it to the core. So much so, he and his best friend consider themselves as a boy and a penguin and they go on fun ride too often… till the south pole!!!!
6. Up and Down
The story of a boy and penguin from ‘lost and found’ continues… Now they have become best friends and at the end of the story they realise they can’t live without each other. The boy tries his level best to help his penguin friend to fly. After many failed attempts somehow, they lose each other. When the boy comes to know about his whereabouts, he rushes to catch him at a circus.
Anay was so overwhelmed with the kind of dedicated friendship between the two and he still relates himself and his best friend with the boy and penguin.
The purest form of friendship between boy and the penguin is a treat to heart!
We got this lovely book by illustrator Tor Freeman in a storytelling session nearby. As the name suggests, it’s about the keeping the secret!!
Olive the cat, is having a hard time with keeping a secret which her friend Molly has told her. Not willingly, but she passes the secret to Joe – Joe tells Mat – Mat tells Lola. And….lola is a Molly’s best friend. And when Lola tells Molly about what Olive has done to her secret, Olive is in BIG trouble!!
The story moves on with cute and quirky pictures of animals. With Olive sticking his tongue out, out of embarassment, when she realises what she has done to Molly’s secret. The book shows the finest details of emotions felt by Olive as well as her other friends.
My kid just loves the book because of the simplicity of the story, the flow and of course attractive pictures of animals..
Our all time favourite ‘good night book’ by Collin Mckeown! WejJust can’t stop reading it.
A beautiful story about a cat and her kittens, who are drowsy but unable to sleep because of the noises made by some nocturnal animals. Mother cat then explains where the voices are coming from and why there is no need to be scared.
This is Anay’s favourite night time book. He just loves the beautiful conversation between mom and her babies after which our daily night time routine of reading and sometimes talking about the surroundings started!
A soothing and calming tale … perfect for the bedtime story sessions!!
9. There is no need to be scared
Picking up ‘There is no need to be Scared’ by an Indian author, Sonia Mehta, for my son’s library was one of the best decisions I made!! There is absolutely no other way I could have made my 4 year old understand why he doesn’t need to be scared of little things.
You think dragons are scary?? Wait … Haven’t you met Scaley??? Scaley, the dragon, is so scared, that instead of fire he breathes out bubbles! He is scared of lightning, he is scared of firecrackers, he is scared of everything around. But but but…he lives in this foggy forest with his loving friends who are always there for him.
When Scaley is scared of a robber coming to his house every night, who, he thinks, will steal all his cherries and other stuff, his friends decide to spend a night at Scaley’s house and catch the robber…
It’s a really funny and entertaining story as Scaley and his friends realise that it’s not a robber but a shadow of a big tree on his window.
When Anay and me started reading it for the first time we laughed out loud together at the end because we just realised what we have to say whenever he gets scared after lights going off – “There is no need to be scared”.
10 . It’s not nice to be angry
As soon as I saw this book I knew I had to get this. Sometimes it gets so difficult even for adults to hold on to their anger and not react. Anger management is a life skill, everyone must learn it.
Whenever Anay would get angry at little things while playing and come home irritated I would often tell him that no one will allow him to play if he behaves this way. But all in vain. This reading at least made him realise at one point that anger is not good for anyone and how it can ruin his playtime as well as his friendships.
The book has really helped me to calm him down at every step!! So, another masterpiece by Sonia Mehta!! Must have for every angry young little man!
In the Foggy Forest, there lives a goat, named Grump. Grump is always angry at someone or the other for any smallest things. He also has lots of friends like Scaley the dragon (from there is no need to be scared) who are always there to help him and understand him. Very often his friends tell him not to be angry at small things but Grump just doesn’t like to listen. Eventually he loses his friends because of his temper issues. He feels guilty about hurting his friends but no one is there as they all are upset with him. Eventually Grump understands the hard way, that it’s not nice to be angry all the time because it may cost you the lovely people who are always there for you.
11. Oh dear!
This was Anay’s favourite book when he was around one and half years old. He simply loved the sound ohh dear and he would often imitate it when he wouldn’t find the things he want.
A very famous book by Rod Campbell, I have lost count of how many times we have read it. It’s a fun lift-the-flap book for every toddler. We learn to recognise various animal sounds and their houses too!!!
12. Dear Zoo
Another bestseller, lovely lift-the-flap book by Rod Campbell! Story revolves around a zoo, which sending the potential pet animals to their desired houses. Kids love to lift the flap to know which animal has the zoo sent next. The book is all about bright pictures of animals and less words, exactly what every toddler needs in order to start loving books.
13. Noddy
Noddy needs no introduction!! Who doesn’t know Enid Blyton and who doesn’t love Noddy??? Noddy is so relatable to my 4 year old, that he thinks of himself as Noddy only!
Constant adventures, innocence, cuteness overloads! It is so so fascinating even for adults to see the only boy in toy town! ‘Noddy lends a hand” and ‘Noddy’s perfect job’ are the stories included in this book. Perfect tale to teach kids to help.
14. Whatever Next !
This is one book we need every night. There is absolutely no chance of not reading this Jill Murphy book.
It’s a story about a boy fascinated about all things space, just like my 4 year old. He finds a cardboard, thinks of it as a space ship, a strainer as a helmet and get out of the chimney straight into the sky…. Perfect example of pretend play which my kid loves to do. It gave the exact push to his imagination by showing exactly what are his plans about going to space and how he is gonna do it!!
Whatever next is like Anay’s story as this is exactly what he wants to do every single day. Going to space and have fun.
15. Indian myths and legends
I always wanted to introduce my son to Indian legends like Maharana Pratap, Shivaji Maharaj and many more and I found exactly what I needed in the form of this book – a graphic novel.
Absolutely in love with the series. Stories about courage, kindness, battles and adventures are precisely presented with animated verbal presentation.
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