In picture books, look for illustrations that catch your eye and familiar characters that will engage her attention. Your choices should invite her to point, touch, and talk about the pictures. Also check for books that sound like they’d be fun to read out loud.

Picture books are targeted at children ages 2 to 8. They primarily use illustrations to tell the story and often share life lessons related to emotional intelligence (empathy, forgiveness, kindness), relationships, social connections, and morals.

Chapter Book Series:

• Franny K. Stein.
• Magic Treehouse.
• Ricky Ricotta.
• Captain Underpants.
• Cobble Street Cousins.
• Jake Drake.
• Buddy Files.
• Puppy Place.

Types of Picture Books

• Board Books. Board books are meant for the youngest readers.
• Concept Books. Concept books introduce children to a theme such as the alphabet, counting, colors or shapes.
• Age: suggested for ages 2-8.
• Easy Readers.
• Non-Fiction.
• Wordless.
• Topic.
• Reading Level.

Tips for Choosing Out Books for Toddlers and Preschoolers

1. Choose books that are at an appropriate level for your child.
2. Select a variety of books.
3. Choose books that are of an interesting topic to your child.
4. Ask your child to help you choose books.
5. Choose books that are award-winning.
6. Choose books from familiar authors.

Mind-expanding illustrations, vocabulary or concepts Great children’s book can tell just as much story through the artwork and offer an author the opportunity to expand young minds through interesting poetic language, fun alliteration, advanced vocabulary, etc.

Often board books. Children’s Picture Books: 4-8 years. The ideal length is around the 500-word mark (although it can be as little as 200 or as much as 1000, but generally less). Almost all picture books are 32 pages, usually planned in double-page spreads, with an allowance of 3-4 pages for the prelims.

Early reader books are considered the “earliest” chapter book a child can experience. Broken up into smaller chapters, early readers are a great way to boost confidence in young readers. While they are mostly read from the ages 5-9, early readers can be enjoyed by anyone!

24 must-read books for 6-9-year-olds

• Rowley Jefferson’s Awesome Friendly Adventure by Jeff Kinney (2020)
• The Worries: Sohal Finds a Friend by Jion Sheibani (2021)
• Kiki’s Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono & Joe Todd-Stanton (1985)
• Charlie Morphs into a Mammoth by Sam Copeland & Sarah Horne (2020)

Phonics books are the quintessential books for 6-year-olds. You need to be careful with these, though. If you aren’t familiar, they typically come in different levels depending on your child’s age/reading level.

The picture book genre is designed to be a fun, engaging, and interesting way to help children learn to read and grow. Books in the picture book genre are often 50-1,000 words (although 1,000 is pushing it) in length.

The main difference between Early PB’s (or simply PB’s) and STORY PB’s is that: Early pb’s require the illustration to help tell the story. Story pb’s (also called picture storybooks) do typically have more words, so the text to picture ratio is heavier on the text.

There are also some wonderfully playful picturebooks that go down a storm with Year 5 and Year 6. Try Shinsuke Yoshitake’s humorous and inventive Can I Build Another Me? for a fun dive into some deep, existentialist questions, or the fantastically detailed Castles by master-of-playful-picture-books Colin Thompson.

A range of picture books to be used throughout the curriculum in order to inspire critical thinking, drama and cross-curricular planning.

High-quality non-fiction is a brilliant option for reading for pleasure in Year 6. We recommend the inspirational mountain-set recount of peril and resilience in Everest, the chemistry-inspired award-winner The Element in The Room and Rashmi Sirdeshpande ’s super-helpful guidebook to all things money-related in DOSH.

In Upper KS2, picture books are excellent for opening discussion on important issues, for exploring philosophical or political concepts, for developing empathy and for challenging thinking. Sometimes they simply provide a fun reading experience that caters for a visual appetite that is excluded from chapter books offered at this age.