Read-Alouds for Children 5 and Under

This is a list of authors whose stories are great read-alouds for children 5 and under. In parentheses, we've listed one of their well-known picture book titles to help get you started.

Looking for something a little older? Try Read-Alouds for 5-7 Year Olds.

You can find the majority of these books in the children's section, shelved with the picture books.

• Frank Asch (Happy Birthday Moon)
• Sandra Boynton (Barnyard Dance)
• Margaret Wise Brown (Goodnight, Moon)
• Eve Bunting (Baby Can)
• Eric Carle (The Very Hungry Caterpillar)
• Lauren Child (Charlie and Lola)
• Doreen Cronin (Click Clack Moo: Cows that Type)
• Lucy Cousins (Maisy)
• Nina Crews (You Are Here)
• Tomie DePaola (Strega Nona)
• Anna Dewdney (Llama Llama Red Pajama)
• Olivier Dunrea (Gertie)
• Lois Ehlert (Color Zoo)
• Mem Fox (Where is the Green Sheep?)
• Marie Louise Gay (Stella, Star of the Sky)
• Valeri Gorbachev (Turtle's Penguin Day)
• Kevin Henkes (Kitten's First Full Moon)
• Amy Hest (Kiss Good Night)
• H.J. Hutchins (Up Dog)
• Rachel Isadora (Bea at Ballet)
• Ezra Jack Keats (The Snowy Day)
• Holly Keller (Nosy Rosie)
• Grace Lin (Round is a Mooncake)
• Jonathan London (Froggy Goes to Bed)
• Gianna Marino (Night Animals)
• Bill Martin (Chicka Chicka Boom Boom)
• Patricia McKissack (Precious and the Boo Hag)
• Il Sung Na (The Book of Sleep)
• Laura Joffe Numeroff (If You Give a Mouse a Cookie)
• Jerry Pinkney (various folktale retellings)
• Peggy Rathmann (The Day the Babies Crawled Away)
• Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are)
• David Shannon (No, David!)
• Jeremy Tankard (Grumpy Bird)
• Martin Waddell (Owl Babies)
• Rosemary Wells (Max and Ruby)
• Mo Willems (Knuffle Bunny)
• Karma Wilson (Bear Snores On)
• Audrey and Don Wood (The Napping House)
• Jane Yolen (Baby Bear's Chairs)