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Best Books

The 15 Best Books For 5 Year Olds (2023 Buying Guide)

written by DaddiLife 27th February 2021
best books for 5 year olds, books for 5 year olds, 5 year old books, books for 5 year old girl, books for 5 year old boys,

Updated 30th December 2021.

At five years old children are at school and actively learning to read. At home, some more advanced readers will want time on their own to explore the joy of reading for themselves. But all children will still want to be read to, especially at bedtime.

This is a rewarding age to be reading with children. Stories get more complicated, exploring  more than one issue, and characters become more three dimensional (perhaps displaying diverse motives). Books might even create secondary storylines and head off in tangents. Text gets a little more sense and takes more focus from readers and listeners. There’ll still be a picture to enjoy on every page, though.

Books for five-year-olds are often full of memorable characters (animal, alien or human!) and offbeat humour. That’s great, because we know that humour can help instil a love of reading and aid comprehension skills.

Table of contents
What to consider when buying books for 5 year olds
The 15 best books for 5 year olds
   1.    Six Dinner Sid
   2.    So Much 
   3.    How to Be a Lion
   4.    Life is Magic
   5.    Ten Fat Sausages
   6.    The Last Wolf
   7.     The Bumblebear
   8.     I Want My Hat Back
   9.     Handa’s Surprise
   10.   Nibbles the Book Monster
   11.    Rhinos Don’t Eat Pancakes
   12.   The Most Magnificent Thing 
   13.    The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes 
   14.    Black Dog
   15.    Tear Thief
How to read to a 5 year old

What to consider when buying books for 5 year olds


Don’t go for the safe option and buy or borrow books which are too young for your child, because they may start to find those simple problem-and-answer stories a bit boring. Remember, many children at five have a vocabulary of over 2,000 words, so it’s OK to stretch them a little.

  •  1: Moulding choices around your child's needs. At five, perhaps even more than at earlier ages, you need to start moulding your choices to the needs of your child. Advanced readers at this age might enjoy books for six and seven year olds. Less able readers may prefer books for three or four year olds. Of course, when you’re reading to your child then the complexity of text is less important. But even these occasions can be used to help develop reading skills by encouraging children to look for sentences that rhyme, alliteration or other language features.
  •  2: Keep it fun. As ever, make sure you keep it fun. Judge your child’s mood and, if they just want to cuddle up and listen to a great story without any input from them, that’s fine too.


The 15 best books for 5 year olds


   1.    Six Dinner Sid

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Editors Review

“Sid lives the life every child (and adult) wants to live. It’s a great story of feline deception.”


Cheeky Sid can eat six dinners a day, as long as his six ‘owners’ never find out about each other.

HIGHLIGHTS

  • The highly realistic, superbly detailed illustrations.

ANY ISSUES?

  • One reviewer compared Sid to Satan. Like, the devil. He’s a cat!


   2.    So Much 

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Editors Review

“A captivating celebration of family life, So Much is about being a baby in a loving extended family."


A family prepares a surprise birthday party and waits patiently (or not) for the birthday boy to return.

HIGHLIGHTS

  • The warm, rhythmic text is a delight.

ANY ISSUES?

  • A scene where cousins play fight has irked some sensitive reviewers.


   3.    How to Be a Lion

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Editors Review

“Warm, colourful and with a resonant message of strength and friendship.”

 

Leonard is a lion whose best friend is a duck. That can’t be right…

HIGHLIGHTS

  • The message: being quiet and gentle is a good thing.
  • An Amazon Best Children's Book of the Year selection.

ANY ISSUES?

  • A great read but a simple one - less suitable for more advanced readers.


   4.    Life is Magic

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Editors Review

“Funny and entertaining, with some nice hidden cues woven into the illustrations.”


Magician Monsieur Lapin has a very clever rabbit assistant - until one night…

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Perfectly pitched illustrations that add to the story.
  • A Book Trust Pick.

ANY ISSUES?

  • A slightly cheesy ending...but kids will love it.


   5.    Ten Fat Sausages

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Editors Review

“It’s wickedly funny and the frightened frankfurters are a hoot!”


A great escape story...from the frying pan.

HIGHLIGHTS

  • The cat? The blender? The fan? Each demise more gory than the last.
  • A Book Trust Pick.

ANY ISSUES?

  • Don’t get too attached to your favourite sausage!


   6.    The Last Wolf

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Editors Review

“An important, powerful message, bundled with a page turning story.”


Little Red Riding Hood for a kinder age. Red heads off into the woods, but wolves are nowhere to be seen.

HIGHLIGHTS

  • An environmental message, but there’s no preachiness here. Lots of fun.
  • A Book Trust Pick.

ANY ISSUES?

  • Only if you hate trees.


   7.     The Bumblebear

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Editors Review

"Witty and charming, and who doesn’t love a massive bear in a bee costume?"


Does anyone love honey enough to dress up in a bumble bee onesie!

HIGHLIGHTS

  • It’s frankly hilarious.
  • It's a Book Trust Pick.

ANY ISSUES?

  • Funny rather than challenging.


   8.     I Want My Hat Back

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Editors Review

"It’s quirky and funny and, best thing of all, the reader is in on the joke."


Bear has lost his hat, but not all is what it seems.

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Full of visual humour and gags. It’s packed with giggles.
  • A Book Trust Pick.

ANY ISSUES?

  • The repetitive style will suit some children more than others.


   9.     Handa’s Surprise

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Editors Review

"A beautifully illustrated story of cheeky animals and colourful Kenyan countryside."


Handa sets out from her village to bring a gift to her friend.

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Warm, detailed paintings and a menagerie of greedy friends.
  • An Amazon Best Seller.

ANY ISSUES?

  • A simple story that five-year-olds may prefer to read themselves.


   10.   Nibbles the Book Monster

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Editors Review

"Nibbles’ nibbling upsets all your childrens’ favourite characters, from Little Red to Goldilocks."


Naughty Nibbles is munching his way through famous fairytales. Can you stop him?

HIGHLIGHTS

  • The rhyming text, familiar stories and simple speech bubbles make it great for language development.
  • Book Trust Pick.

ANY ISSUES?

  • There’s lots of details here which can be a little confusing.


   11.    Rhinos Don’t Eat Pancakes

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Editors Review

“Funny, warm and with a none-too-subtle message for parents who are too busy to listen!”


Nobody listens to Daisy, so when a big purple rhino takes a chomp of her pancake, who’s going to believe her?

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Witty text and characterful illustrations.
  • Book Trust Pick.

ANY ISSUES?

  • For some parents, the message might be a bit too close to home!


   12.   The Most Magnificent Thing 

View on Amazon ▷

Editors Review

“There’s a great message about persistence, and a great story."


A book about making the best thing ever, even when it’s harder than you thought.

HIGHLIGHTS

  • It deals wonderfully with ideas, emotions, the urge to create, and why sometimes you need to take a step back.

ANY ISSUES?

  • The print is a little small.


   13.    The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes 

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Editors Review

“A lovely tale about how making mistakes might not be so bad after all.”

 

We all make mistakes, right? Not Beatrice Bottomwell, never ever ever.

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Learning from mistakes is something we all need to do.

ANY ISSUES?

  • Great for American families, but might not resonate as well with dads and children across other countries.


   14.    Black Dog

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Editors Review

“This charming book is a metaphor for facing your fears, until they aren’t fears anymore.”


One day a Black Dog appears outside the Hope family home…

HIGHLIGHTS

  • The book is both reassuring and lots of fun. It’s beautifully illustrated, too.

ANY ISSUES?

  • It might be a little scary for very young five-year-olds (or younger siblings).


   15.    Tear Thief

View on Amazon ▷

Editors Review

“The beautiful illustrations work wonderfully with poet Carol Ann Duffy’s magical, lyrical text.”


The Tear Thief catches children’s tears as they fall. But what does he do with them?

HIGHLIGHTS

  • The text makes it a joy to read out loud.

ANY ISSUES?

  • Some may find it a bit short.


How to read to a 5 year old


Many children will be reading on their own at this age, but keep reading to them as well. You can help their understanding of language by pointing out linguistic features in the text, like rhymes, repetition and onomatopoeia.

  • You can also add a fun predictive element to your reading by asking your child to guess what might happen next, or to figure out why a character might have said or done something. If you come across a tricky word, help your child to read it out loud and understand what it means.
  • Once you’ve read a book to your child a couple of times, add it to the books they can try reading for themselves. Re-reading books is one of the best ways for children to become fluent readers. And remember, don’t get out of the reading habit just because school has started. It’s still one of the best things you can do with your child.
The 15 Best Books For 5 Year Olds (2023 Buying Guide) was last modified: January 3rd, 2023 by DaddiLife

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