Favorite classic books for ages 3 & 4?

[ourbabygirl]

DN"s bday is coming up and his mom would like books for him... any suggestions?

Thanks!

[LMPC]

Not really classics in the Madeline sense but we love anything by Polly Dunbar around here. Also "A Sick Day for Amos McGee" is really cute.

[zag95]

Caps for Sale
Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel
Katie's Big Snow
The Little Engine that Could
The Little House
Anything by Richard Scarry
Frog and Toad
Mercer Mayer
Berenstein Bears
Bill Martin books
Jack Prelutsky books (more poetic)
Tomie De Paola books
Mo Willems books (more current but he's good!)

More modern books:
Llama Llama
Ladybug Girl series
Mo Willems (Knuffle Bunny books)
Fancy Nancy

[anamika]

Not sure if these are classics but we love all the Cynthia Rylant series - Mr. Putter and Tabby, Poppleton, Henry and Mudge.

[AustenFan]

We recently compiled a list of 100 of our favorite picture books. Not all, but most, of these are classics, and our kids (2.5 and 4.5) love them all:

Anderson, C. W. Billy and Blaze

Asch, Frank Bear’s Bargain

Asch, Frank Bear Shadow

Base, Graeme Animalia

Base, Graeme The Water Hole

Bedard, Michael Emily illust. Barbara Cooney

Bemelmans, Ludwig Madeline

Bluedorn, Johannah Little Bitty Baby Learns Greek

Bluedorn, Johannah Little Bitty Baby Learns Hebrew

Borden, Louise The Greatest Skating Race

Boynton, Sandra The Going to Bed Book

Brown, Margaret Wise Goodnight Moon

Brown, Margaret Wise Seven Little Postmen

Brown, Marcia Stone Soup

Burton, Virginia Lee Choo-Choo

Burton, Virginia Lee Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

Burton, Virginia Lee The Little House

Caines, Jeannette Just Us Women

Carle, Eric and Bill Martin Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?

Carle, Eric The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Cauley, Lorinda Bryan Clap Your Hands

D’Aulaire, Ingri and Edgar Parin Abraham Lincoln

De Paola, Tomie Pancakes for Breakfast

Dr. Suess Hop on Pop

Dobbs, Rose Anderson’s Fairy Tales

Eastman, P.D. The Alphabet Book

Eastman, P.D. Go, Dog. Go!

Flack, Marjorie The Story about Ping

Freeman, Don Corduroy

Friedman, Ina How My Parents Learned to Eat

Fujikawa, Gyo 10 Little Babies

Fujikawa, Gyo A Child’s Book of Poems

Fujikawa, Gyo Baby Animals

Fujikawa, Gyo Mother Goose

Gaspard, Helen Doctor Dan, The Bandage Man

Gili, Phillida The Lost Ears

Hall, Donald Ox-Cart Man

Helm, David The Big Picture Story Bible

Hoban, Russell A Baby Sister for Frances

Hoban, Russell A Bargain for Frances

Hoban, Russell Bedtime for Frances

Hoban, Russell Bread and Jam for Frances

Hodges, Margaret Saint George and the Dragon

Hoff, Sid Danny and the Dinosaur

Jackson, Kathryn Nurse Nancy

Keats, Ezra Jack Peter’s Chair

Keats, Ezra Jack The Snowy Day

Keats, Ezra Jack Whistle for Willie

Kent, Jack Round Robin

Lobel, Arnold Frog and Toad are Friends

Lobel, Arnold Owl at Home

Low, Joseph Mice Twice

Macauley, David Castle

Macauley, David Cathedral

McCloskey, Robert Make Way for Ducklings

McCloskey, Robert Blueberries for Sal

McCloskey, Robert One Morning in Maine

Merberg, Julie Sharing with Renoir

Minarik, Else A Kiss for Little Bear, pictures by Maurice Sendak

Minarik, Else Little Bear’s Visit, pictures by Maurice Sendak

Numeroff, Laura Joffe If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

Patience, John The Seasons in Fern Hollow

Patience, John Adventures in Fern Hollow

Payne, Emmy Katy No-Pocket illust. H. A. Rey

Peet, Bill Cowardly Clyde

Peet, Bill Cyrus the Unsinkable Sea Serpent

Peet, Bill Hubert’s Hair-Raising Adventure

Peet, Bill The Caboose Who Got Loose

Piper, Watty The Little Engine that Could

Plume, Ilse The Bremen-Town Musicians

Potter, Beatrix The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

Potter, Beatrix The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck

Potter, Beatrix The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher

Potter, Beatrix The Tale of Peter Rabbit

Potter, Beatrix The Tale of Tom Kitten

Rey, H. A. Curious George Flies a Kite

Rey, H. A. Curious George Learns the Alphabet

Rey, H. A. Curious George Takes a Job

Rylant, Cynthia The Relatives Came , illustrated by Stephen Gammell

Scarry, Richard Cars and Trucks and Things that Go

Scarry, Richard Good Night, Little Bear

Scarry, Richard I am a Bunny

Scarry, Richard The Polite Elephant

Scarry, Richard What Do People Do All Day?

Schenk de Regniers, Beatrice May I Bring a Friend? illustrated by Beni Montresor

Seder, Rufus Butler Gallop!

Seder, Rufus Butler Swing!

Sendak, Maurice Where the Wild Things Are

Sharmat, Marjorie Nate the Great

Slobodkina, Esphyr Caps for Sale

Steig, William Doctor DeSoto

Stevenson, Robert Louis A Child’s Garden of Verses illust. by Tasha Tudor or Gyo Fujikawa

Swift, Hildegarde H. The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge

Tudor, Tasha A Time to Keep

Tudor, Tasha And It Was So

Tudor, Tasha Corgiville Christmas

Tudor, Tasha Corgiville Fair

Williams, Vera B. "More More More,” Said the Baby: Three Love Stories

Zion, Gene Harry and the Lady Next Door

Zion, Gene Harry the Dirty Dog

[jjordan]

My kids both really like the poem anthology edited by Caroline Kennedy (ETA: this one). Also, we LOVE the Kurt Cyrus books, although for whatever reason they don't seem to be very well-known. The illustrations are amazing and the poems are terrific. We especially like "Hotel Deep" and "Oddhopper Opera."

Of books that have been around a while, we like Madeline, Frances (the badger), Beatrix Potter... Honestly I'm not a big fan of Virginia Lee Burton (Mike Mulligan).

[plusbellelavie]

Quite a list Austen Fan...thanks for sharing it!! We have most of these stored from DS1 and DD ...I need to pull them out of storage and add to them! BTW both DS1 and DD enjoyed many that you listed and so did I!

[swissair81]

Our favorites are Frances, Bear Snores on, any book by Janet Stevens/Susan Stevens Crummel- especially Cook A Doodle Doo, anything by William Steig, Mercer Meyer, Richard Scarry, and Jackie Urbanovic (Duck Soup)