Best Books for 5 Year Olds

My friend and I were talking about books. I LOVE kid books!!! So much in fact, my Master’s degree is in Reading Education K-12. She wanted to know what my recommendations were for books for 5 year olds are. I of course, am happy to help and share my love of literature with others.

Buying books for 5 year olds is a TON of fun. Here is a link to my 5 year old gift ideas for more inspiration beyond books! There are so many choices of books they can start to read and ones that you can read to them. There are fiction picture books that tell stories and others that teach lessons. There are AWESOMELY fun non-fiction books too that encourage creativity, teach kids lessons about things, and take them on adventures around the world.

Associate LinksThese books are linked to Amazon to help save you time. Some links are for paperbacks, hardcovers, and kindle editions. If you purchase a book online, please make sure that it is the edition that best fits your 5 year old!

The Best Books for 5 Year Olds

These books would be great additions to your home library, to download onto your mobile device for reading on the go, or books to put on your list for library checkout day as well!

Classic Picture Books for 5 Year Olds

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? This book has bright colorful pictures of animals, simple but engaging text, and a predictable pattern. 5 year olds delight in reading this story over and over again. It was a favorite in my kindergarten classroom. Read the full book description here.

Harry the Dirty Dog Originally published in 1956, Harry STILL delights children with his silly antics and distaste for taking baths. My little brothers’ favorite book of all time and now my 5 year olds favorite as well. Read the full book description here.

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type Click – clack – moo, clickety – clack – moo! These cows are no ordinary cows, they are cows that can type. On strike, they ask for electric blankets. Will the farmer meet their demands? Listen to this hilarious book on tape for an added enjoyment. Read the full book description here.

Freight Train this book is a timeless classic with short, but powerful sentences. Your 5 year old may even begin to read this book to you! Read the full book description here.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Learning the names of letters will never be more fun than with this high action rhyming story. 5 years olds have delighted in reading and retelling this story through crafts and hands-on learning activities for many years! Read the full book description here.

Blueberries for Sal Share one of the most memorable books from our childhood with your own kids. They too will delight in this little girl Sal and the bear’s adventures while picking blueberries in Maine. It is a Caldecott Honor Book. Read the full book description.

Character Driven Picture Books for 5 Year Olds

Often, children will connect with a particular character and delight in reading many stories told by that character. If your child connects with a character, consider adding several books to your collection with that character.

Franklin Books

Ok, call me old school, but Franklin rocks. He is the sweetest, kind hearted turtle you will ever meet. The stories are well written and always model good behaviors. Franklin says please and thank you, he wears a helmet biking and is nice to his little sister. The wording is a little bit longer, but 5 year old’s attention spans are able to enjoy longer stories. If you do not have a Frankin book, then you need to check one out! We have the treasury series and have even taken it with us on plane rides to Grandma and Grandpa’s house.

They also have a video collection of the Frankin stories as well. If you choose to buy one book for your child, I would recommend Franklin.

Fly Guy Books

Fly guy has easily flown into being my 5 year old’s favorite character. My 5 year old calls them a MUST READ!!!! The books are short and a little sassy, just the way we like it! Fly Guy and Buzz are always on a short little adventure (like hide-n-seek) and run into some trouble (like Buzz ends up at the garbage dump with a bunch of other flies and Fly Guy can’t find him). The stories have a huge entertainment value. To make up for the education part – Fly Guy has a non-fiction series too.

If your five year old is like mine – start with the set of fly guy books for hours of reading and giggles!

Clifford Books

Clifford has snuck his way into our bookshelves in over 30 books. Yup – this is ME with a few of our Clifford books! I like how the books are designed to teach children how to navigate life’s problems such as being nervous to try new things, helping others out, and not judging a person before you get to know them.

They also have a good variety of beginning readers and books for parents and teachers to read with children too.

Fancy Nancy Books

A newer character to children’s literature, Nancy like to use fancy big words in all that she does. These books are not only entertaining, but great for developing a larger vocabulary. This character series now has I Can Read books, picture books, and chapter books. Try one or buy a set!

Pete The Cat, The Gruffalo & Mo Willems Books are also 5 year olds favorites!

Non-fiction Books for 5 Year Olds

National Geographic Readers

This collection is my go-to source for non-fiction readers for 5-8 year olds. Your kids can participate as Super Readers and check off the books as they find and read them!

We also like books the encourage kids to make and create. Here are three on my 5 year olds bookshelf!

Ed Emberley’s Drawing Book of Animals This book provides easy to follow directions for learning how to draw a variety of animals. Read the full book description here.

The Great Big Art Activity BookThere are many arts and craft books on the market. I’ve used this one for over 12 years and still enjoy it! There is a wide variety of projects for kids to make.Read the full book description here.

Kids’ Paper Air Plane Book Paper airplanes are always a hit in our household. This book is a way for readers to get excited about building, designing, and creating airplanes. Read the full book description here.