AGES: 0-3 years

WHY WE LOVE THIS BOOK: Rhythm and rhyme! It’s a great way to jam and teach early literacy.

STORYTIME EXTENSION: Make your own coconut tree! While you craft, help your child identify and find all of the different letters in the alphabet. As your child is ready, encourage them to phonate each sound and begin spelling some 2-3 letter words on their tree! Chicka Chicka Boom BOOM.

AGES: 2-4 years

WHY WE LOVE THIS BOOK: This book is all about being true to yourself and finding your own path when things are difficult. Author Michael Hall draws from the reaction he received from peers and teachers as a dyslexic child – judging himself on his ability to draw “red” when he was truly a blue crayon. Red has lots of heart, humor, and can be read on multiple levels.

STORYTIME EXTENSION: Ask your child about a time they may have felt different or had a hard time doing something. What was the response from other kids and adults? What are ways you can encourage friends when they feel different or have a hard time, too? *Extra extension: there are tons of opportunities for colorful character voices from all of the crayons in the box (pun intended).

AGES: 4-8 years

WHY WE LOVE THIS BOOK: Shhh – this book is secretly all about math! The animals at the party keep cutting the birthday cake in half, and later try to one-up each other by multiplying the amount of dessert they promise to bring to the next party! Beautiful grid-like illustrations help illuminate some awesome, early math concepts for young kids.

STORYTIME EXTENSION: While most kids won’t start multiplication and division until middle-elementary, you can practice counting the cake and pieces of cake on each page of the book! It’s a great opportunity to help children identify both the numeral and spelled-out word for the same number.

AGES: 3+ years

WHY WE LOVE THIS BOOK: This book helps teach that your aspirations can be as big you can imagine. When Penny discovers that POTUS is a woman, her only disappointment is that she’s not blue and furry like she imaged.

STORYTIME EXTENSION: Ask your child what they want to be when they grow up! Help them draw a picture of the kinds of things they want to do, see, or be when they are older. Let their imaginations go a little bit – just because they’ve never seen it, doesn’t mean they can’t dream it!

As you get ready to send your kiddo off to school for the first time, here are a few authors you likely already know and love that we love, too! Any preschooler might love:

1. Sandra Boynton
2. Margaret Brown
3. Eric Carle
4. Bill Martin
5. Maurice Sendak