Summer Reading List: Preschool Edition

Just like that, May is gone. June finally arrived and all is well in the world. (Except that some things are exactly the same, like getting woken up at 4:30 AM by the recent Kindergarten graduate because her finger stings.) In a stroke of genius, my girls’ school scheduled their last day of school today. June could not be off to a better start. A few short hours from now, my kids will all be out of school. We can catch our collective breath and rest.

My son, the one child not even in school yet, may be the most excited about school getting out. He has been home alone with me all year and he is beyond ready for his sisters to be back home. He has visions of playing Candyland and being read to all day dancing in his head. During this last week of school, he has sat through three end of the year parties, one school performance, and one Kindergarten graduation. At each event, he brings his little bag full of books and patiently starts to read.

It goes like this: tap book on me, tap book on me harder, tap book on me even harder, include “read to me, Mom,” repeat only louder, and louder still. I *calmly* say, “You need to read to yourself right now.” A child at the end of the school party interrupts, “Mrs. Peterson, can you start the game.” My son, ignoring that interruption, says, “I don’t know how to read.” I hurriedly say, “Just look at the pictures, you have this book memorized anyway.” Then, apologetically, start whichever game I am stationed at for that moment.  My son looks at one page and then begins the process over again. If all of that can be considered “patiently starting to read” then yeah, we’ve got that down.

All of this to say, while the older kids have dreams of the books they want to read over the summer, the youngest one does too. And so here are 11 books for your preschooler to look forward to this summer.

1. Dragons Love Tacos 2 (Adam Rubin)
2. The Day The Crayons Came Home (Drew Daywalt)
3. Tap the Magic Tree (Christie Matheson)
4. Animals By The Numbers (Steve Jenkins)
5. Dino-Swimming (Lisa Wheeler)
6. Ada Twist, Scientist (Andrea Beaty)
7. The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors (Drew Daywalt)
8. Ladybug Girl’s Day Out with Grandpa (David Soman)
9. No Matter What (Debi Gliori)
10. How to Raise A Mom (Jean Reagan)
11. Hattie and Hudson (Chris Van Dusen)

You can find other lists of picture books here:

• Funny books
• Favorite Authors
• Kid Favorites
• Illustrators
• Bedtime

Happy Summer! May your preschooler handle their “read to me” demands with patience and calmness. (Hey, it’s summer now, a person can dream!)