Hey there, Mamas!
I’m really excited to share this fun list of books with you today! I feel like I’ve become an early reader expert through lots of book trial and error over the last few months. Today, I’m sharing my 6-year-old daughter’s favorite fun, silly books that really are the best books for captivating early readers!
Here’s the story. My now 6-year-old daughter caught on to her letter sounds so quickly! And then to CVC words as well, all by the time she was 5. I thought I had it in the bag! But when it came to her wanting to read, I really struggled finding books she was interested in and enjoyed enough to make it all the way through.
The books in this list were totally key to her reading enjoyment! She is still pretty picky and won’t go for books like Madeline or Nina, Nina Ballerina. There has to be an element of silliness. She needs something to laugh at. At this young age, they are starting to form their own opinions about reading. Trust me, these books are GREAT for getting your 5-7 year olds to be excited about reading! Even more so for kids who may think they don’t like reading at all!
Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems
The Elephant and Piggie books are about two friends, an elephant named Gerald and a Pig named Piggie. The two usually have some kind of silly friendship struggle which is resolved in the end. Each book is written comic book style with little speech bubbles above their heads.
My daughter has always loved the Elephant and Piggie books, but I never thought to have her try to read them herself. Earlier this year, I bought her a “Biggie” book which is like a little anthology of Elephant and Piggie stories and is almost 300 pages long. As soon as she got it, she asked to read it to me herself and ended up reading THE ENTIRE thing to me that day in just TWO sittings. They aren’t very wordy pages, but still! By the end of the book, she was beaming and felt like a total rock star. She had just read a massive book just like her older brother reads! This was such a great confidence booster for her!
There are 30+ books in this collection, and they are all really cute stories! My daughter’s top three favorites in this collection are Are You Ready to Play Outside?, A Big Guy Took My Ball, and I Am Invited to a Party. Also be sure to check out the Biggie books if your child is in need of a confidence boost! (They’re also a great value if you are buying the books instead of checking them out at your library.)
A Pig, A Fox, and a Box and A Pig, a Fox, and Stinky Socks
These are hilarious little stories about a fox who is trying to play different tricks on a pig, but everything keeps backfiring on the fox. Currently, there are only two of these books available: A Pig, A Fox, and A Box and A Pig, A Fox, and Stinky Socks. But, there is a third book in the collection coming out this month! We have already pre-ordered and are anxiously awaiting its arrival!
My 6-year-old was rolling in laughter as she read through these and thought they were just the funniest ever! I like these for her age because not only are they silly and fun, but they have some repetition so she is seeing the same phrases throughout. However, there is not so much repetition that it’s annoying to listen to. We’ve been through enough books at these levels to know that some just have WAY too much repetition. These books are really good with that!
Put me in the Zoo
Put Me in the Zoo is about an animal who wants to be put in the zoo. When the children ask why he should be put in the zoo, he proceeds to show them several different tricks he can do with his spots.
It took us so long to get through this book…but in a good way! She wanted to stop to look at all. the. pictures. and she laughed at every single one. The story is simple and silly, and again, has a good amount of repetition without being overboard.
Why Can’t I Fly?
Why Can’t I Fly? is about a fashionable monkey named Minnie who wants to fly. She can’t figure out why she’s not able to fly, so each of her animal friends give her their tips.
This was a book from my childhood that we found at my mom’s house. Because it is older, it may be harder to find, but she LOVES this one. She has been reading this one to me over and over for the last week. This one has good repetition and a good mix of pages with more words and pages with few words. My daughter tends to be overwhelmed when there are lots of words on every page and this book had a really good variety of pages! She also loves the illustrations.
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
This one is SUPER popular, and you may already be familiar with it. It’s about the letters of the alphabet climbing up a coconut tree and then when there isn’t enough room, they all fall off and get hurt in some funny way.
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is probably not technically considered an early reader book. But, the vocabulary is simple and the story is just silly and fun. She loves to look for each letter on each page and see what’s going on with it. This one is also great for reinforcing upper/lowercase letter recognition and differentiation through the illustrations.
There you have it! These books are so great for the 5-7 year old early reader because of their silliness, simplicity and because there is just enough repetition to give readers the confidence they need to continue through the book. If you have an early reader, try these out and let me know if they are a hit with your child too!
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