As a kid, all I wanted to do was jump inside one of my books and hang out with Laura Ingalls Wilder or ride the glass elevator with Charlie in the Chocolate Factory. As a grown up, I now write about Super Why and the Super Readers soaring into books every day, but at night, my girls and I snuggle up and escape into the world of make-believe.
It’s been shown that even fifteen minutes of reading a day can expose kids to more than a million words in a year. Here, a few of my all-time favorite books to read together.
Picture Books
The Princess Knight by Cornelia Funke, illustrated by Kerstin Meyer:
The main character is an empowered and persistent Princess, who is a great role model for my girls.
A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni:
This book has a fabulous message of being proud of who you are.
The Missing Piece Meets the Big O by Shel Silverstein:
This is a nice conversation starter about being a whole person.
The Lion’s Share by Matthew McElligot: An animal fable that weaves in math exercises
The Elephant and Piggie book series by Mo Willems: A wonderful series that is written and illustrated comic-book style. My girls and I each pretend to be one of the characters as we read together.
The Francis Book Series by Russell Hoban, illustrated by Lillian Hoban: This book exemplifies the way I always hope to parent my kids. The stories showcase playful ways to approach preschoolers
Blue’s Clues books, especially, Welcome to Blue’s Clues and the early reader series where you get a glimpse inside Blue’s thoughts with books such as, “Blue is my Name”.
Super Why books: Where kids can practice their
literacy skills while going on reading adventures
