It’s been a little while since I’ve done a book round-up, so I thought I’d share some of our current favorites now that we’ve crossed into four year old territory. These are still largely picture books similar to my favorite books for three year olds, though I’m hoping to get into some more early chapter books soon. They’re all quite a hit, along with lots of ones from past round-ups that are still in our daily rotation!
Milo Imagines The World by Matt de la Peña, Illustrated by Christian Robinson: The duo that wrote one of our other favorite books is at it again! This book is about Milo and how he learns that you rarely can know a person and their story just by looking at them!
The Adventures of Lily Huckleberry in Scandinavia by Audrey Smit & Jackie Knapp: This is one of the first longer books that Arlo has gotten into and it’s been fun to have something that we can pick up again the next night and continue the story. It’s such a cute tale about a girl named Lily Huckleberry and her mission to solve a case of missing strawberries!
How To Catch A Star by Oliver Jeffers: This is a sweet story about a boy who sets his sights on catching a star, and the unlikely way he ends up doing so! 😉
Today by Julie Morstad: Little kids love getting to make decisions and this book is full of them! The story walks you through an average day with the cutest illustrations of everything from outfits and hairstyles to places to go and things to eat. Each page invites the reader to pick what they’d wear, do or eat!
Avocado Asks by Momoko Abe: A book about an avocado who is trying to figure out who they are and where they belong, and some friends in similar situations that they find along the way!
The King of Kindergarten by Derrick Barnes, Illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton: Great book for little ones starting school, all about a kiddo who is pumped to start at a new school!
Disney Maps: A Magical Atlas of the Movies We Know and Love: Not a kids picture book like the others in this post, this book is more like an atlas… but featuring all your favorite Disney movie lands and settings! Animated landmarks and characters are profiled alongside a map of each land. It is SO fun to look through.
Construction Site Mission: Demolition by Sherri Duskey Rinker and AG Ford: If your kiddo likes any sort of trucks, they’ll love this book. It’s all about demolition day at a construction site, and with construction happening in our neighborhood right now, Arlo has been VERY invested in this book and comparing it to what he sees in real life!
Wild Symphony by Dan Brown, Illustrated by Susan Batori: My mom got us this book and it’s pretty cool, albeit a little glitchy at times. It has an app that goes with it and when you hold your phone over the book, it plays a different coordinating song (instruments only, each orchestral tune inspired by a different animal !) as you turn each page. It feels like magic which is, of course, a hit.
Hidden in the Jungle by Peggy Nille: We’re all about a good search & find book and the colors in this one are so fun. You have to find the same animals on each page, but they’ll shift around making each one hard to find on some pages, and easy on others!
The Hike by Alison Farrell: I love this book because it’s a story/picture book, but also acts kind of like a glossary for nature terms, with different plants and animals marked along the girls’ hiking route. We’ve had a lot of fun trying to make the leaf baskets they make in the book, too. 😉
The World Needs Who You Were Made To Be by Joanna Gaines, Illustrated by Julianna Swaney: I love the story and message in this book, which shows all different children making their own hot air balloons in their own special ways!
Fearless Trailblazers: 11 Latinos That Made US History by Naibe Reynoso, Illustrated by Jone Leal: This bilingual book profiles 11 well known Latino men and their accomplishments, both past and present. (There is also a female version, and a board book version!)
The Button Book by Sally Nicholls and Bethan Woolvin: This is a HUGE hit, but I don’t recommend reading it before bed because if your kid is like mine, they’ll get super hyped up. 😉 Each page has a different button that makes you/the characters do silly things like sing, bounce and hug.
The Mouse Mansion by Karina Schaapman: This book features photos of a dollhouse-style mouse mansion that the author has built and is filled with stories about two little mice who live there. It’s been one of our favorites consistently, for the last year or so, and now we have it on our travel list to visit Amsterdam someday where we can see the mouse mansion in real life!
Not Quite Narwhal by Jessie Sima: Such a cute story about a unicorn named Kelp who’s trying to figure out where he fits in, or if he even has to choose at all!
The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds: Inspiring book about a little girl who doesn’t feel like an artist, and how her perspective changes with one simple line from her teacher!
Jabari Tries by Gaia Cornwall: A story about a little boy who is trying to figure out how to engineer a flying machine that can actually fly. It takes about working in a team, dealing with frustration and problem-solving skills!
Pocket Full of Colors by Amy Guglielmo and Jacqueline Tourville, Illustrated by Brigette Barrager: I’ve shared another book about Mary Blair before. This is another one we love and is frequently requested at bed time. (Note: The story/timeline in this one does slightly contradict the other Mary Blair book we have and love!)
The Secret Life of Farts by Malin Klingenberg, Illustrated by Santa Manser: Alright, obviously not for everybody haha but this is SUCH a silly book and well, we know most (all?) kids find farts hilarious. The illustrations are AWESOME in this, which makes it even better!
More Favorite Kids Books
- Our Favorite Board Books
- Favorite Books For One Year Olds
- Favorite Books 18 Month Olds
- Favorite Books for 2 Year Olds
- Our Favorite Books For Three Year Olds
Any favorite books of four year olds in your life!? Would love to hear them!
Chelsie Lalonde says
Love these roundups. I always fill up my library hold list with these and the kids are excited to see all the library books for them! And then I always end up ordering a couple.
Kelly says
Love that!!
Michele says
I bought “Today” for my niece at your recommendation and she LOVES it. She’s the same age as Arlo. Thanks for the other recommendations!
Kelly says
YAY! I’m so happy to hear that!!
Lara says
It’s great when children like to read books as it can help during school and college time. Actually reading develop imagination and improve language skills. As for me, I like reading and it helps me to choose my profession. Now, I write different educational articles for this useful reference that help students. I cover a lot of topics, from child literature to film analysis, e.g. 12 angry men and so on. It’s a way to combine my work and my hobby.
Benny Vazquez says
Thank you for this extensive list of books, it will be useful to all parents. The value of books for a child is very great. Books serve to expand the child’s understanding of the world, to acquaint him with things, nature, everything that surrounds him. From childhood, while reading books, a person actively develops his thinking. The book awakens both thought and imagination. The book teaches you to perseverance and the development of skills for independent work, makes you think, analyze, predict. These qualities are important in order to cope with life’s problems and worries, to find solutions to the most difficult problems. I was able to gather this information from posts on Instagram, in which experienced teachers talk about the benefits of reading for children. I found a lot of such posts there and almost all of them had about 19 thousand likes! I am sure that in order to achieve such indicators, the authors of these posts used the services buy instagram likes to quickly increase their number.