Every year we get to explore new children’s books that have hit the market. It’s one of my favorite parts of being a blogger, educator, and parent. In fact, I shared some of our favorites early in the year on the Not to Be Missed Picture Books list. Here are some of the latest to check out for preschoolers and older kids too.
New Children’s Books
Full Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Some of the titles were sent to me for review. All opinions expressed are my own.
It took me a while to get my hands on They All Saw a Cat by Brendan Wenzel because there has been a lot of buzz about this book. Boy oh boy, it was worth the wait. It’s a fascinating look at how animals and people perceive a cat when they see it. There is so much to talk about in this book with the kids. Look for this one to rise to the top during award season. Preschoolers will enjoy as well as older kids and adults.
One Day in the Eucalyptus, Eucalyptus Tree by Daniel Bernstrom and illustrated by the creator of They All Saw a Cat (Wenzel is having a good year!) is full of rhythm making it a great read-aloud to preschoolers. A hungry snake develops an ever growing body until he gets quite the tummy ache.
Do you have a little one that already loves Otis? Otis and the Kittens by Loreen Long is the latest in the series and I would say one of my favorites. There is a fire in the barn and Otis comes to the rescue of a family of cats.
Numeroff and Bond are back with If You Give a Mouse a Brownie. I think baking a pan of brownies with the kids will be in order after reading!
I think that every preschooler should have a copy of the Rhyming Dust Bunnies by Jan Thomas. It’s great for building phonological awareness. Thomas now has a new book called, Is That Wise, Pig? It is equally as funny and also provides practice counting to ten.
Another playful book full of rhythm and rhyme is Groovy Joe Ice Cream & Dinosaurs by Eric Litwin (author of the first four Pete the Cat books). Dogs + dinosaurs + ice cream= a preschooler’s ideal subject matter. You will definitely want to download The Groovy Dance song too.
For more silly interactive fun, check out Don’t Touch This Bookby Bill Cotter. It’s a fun follow-up to Cotter’s Don’t Push the Button.
It Came in the Mail by Ben Clanton had my kids giggling all the way through. A little boy loves to get mail, but the mailbox has been a bit dry. So, he decides to write a letter to his mailbox and everything changes.
I love alphabet books so I was delighted to find ABC: The Alphabet from the Sky by Benedikt Gross who uses aerial shots to find each letter of the alphabet in landscapes. This is a fun one to add to your ABC basket of books.
You may remember Brian Won’s book, Hooray for Hat! Now he has Hooray for Today! Owl is ready to play at night when owls are awake, but he has a hard time finding friends to play with at that time of the day.
Rescue Squad No. 9 by Mike Austin will have preschoolers glued to the illustrations. The coast guard gets called to a water rescue and readers are in for a turbulent ride. The endpapers are full of new vocabulary for little ones.
Ida, Always by Caron Levis is one of the books you want to have on hand in case it’s needed. In fact, we added it to our death and grieving book list. But, it’s a beautiful story to read anytime too. It is a heart-breaking and heart-warming story of two polar bear friends. Gus learns that Ida is sick. After she passes, Gus realizes that she may be gone, but not forgotten.
And, we will end with the very last book in the Elephant & Piggie series (shed a tear moment)- The Thank You Book. Mo Willems ends the series with a heartfelt thank you to all the characters that played a part in the books including you the reader. BUT, Elephant & Piggie aren’t completely gone. You can still catch a peek of them at the beginning and end of a new series of books. We particularly enjoyed We Are Growing! by Laurie Keller.
What new books have you read this year that are must-reads for preschoolers?
MORE POSTS YOU WILL ENJOY
The Ultimate List of Preschool Books
Books About Basic Concepts for Preschoolers
Books About Fall for Preschoolers
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Claire Annette Noland says
Thanks for this fun list. We haven’t read any of them but are heading to the library tomorrow and will request them if they aren’t currently on the shelves.
Jodie Rodriguez says
Enjoy!
KT says
We loved They All Saw a Cat. I’ve read that it’s scientifically accurate, which makes it all the more amazing to me! I didn’t realize that Eric Litwin had a new book out. We love his Pete the Cat and enjoyed his Nut Family books. Thanks for the heads up!
Jodie Rodriguez says
I’ll be curious to see how They All Saw a Cat does during book award season.
Stephanie says
Thank you for this list! I just put a bunch of them on hold at the library. My son really enjoyed a lot of the previous books and I hadn’t realized a follow up book was already released for so many of them.
Jodie Rodriguez says
I hope you have fun reading from the list with your son.
Jerilynn Henrikson says
So happy to find your reading list. I am an author of books for kids too. I’m in the middle of producing a three book series for beginning readers. You can see the first book in the series by looking at my website, WWW prairiepatchwork@gmail.com. The first book is called ” no weeds, no bugs, No Bunnies.”