long stories/chapter books for 3-4 year olds

I am looking for book recommendations for my 3 year olds. We have lots of picture books and picture science books for them, but we prefer longer stories for naptime and bedtime reading. The books for naptime and bedtime reading can have pictures but we do not need them very much, because they tend to focus on listening to the stories more at these times. We often read 20-25 minutes from one book at these times and spread a story or book over several days. I am having a hard time finding longer stories appropriate for this age group. Their language skills are good, but the content of the stories for older children is often not fitting. One of my children is easily scared so adventure-type stories are not good bedtime reading, unless the adventure is very mild.

To give you an idea of what we enjoy: one of our absolute favourites is the Brambly Hedge series by Jill Barklem.

Would you try Paddington Bear or Winnie-the-Pooh yet or save them for later? Do you have any favourites or recommendations?

 

Honestly, there are not longer books appropriate for 3 year olds. Developmentally, they just aren't there yet. Some of the Berentstein Bear and Dr. Suess books can take up to 20 minutes to read,so maybe that would be something to try. Curious George also has some longer stories. Chapter books really aren't designed for kids much younger than 1st grade, and really only the good readers are even interested in them then. Some kids go until 3rd grade before they are really ready for the longer book. There are a lot of cognitive skills that should be in place before going to a long story that spans days--including comprehension and recall that really isn't developed yet--and this is coming from someone whose son read Curious George to himself at 3 1/2 (that's how we discovered he could read).

Don't rush it, there is plenty of time for them to hear the longer books. At 10, by boys, who read well above grade level, beg their dad to read them "The Hobbit" at night.

 

My mother used to read me Uncle Wiggily which are short stories. I loved them! It's a chapter book with stories that have morals in it. The stories are easy to follow, and at the end of every chapter, it ends with something that sounds like nonsense but cute. I got my boys that book to read to them. When they feel like sitting still and letting me read to them, they enjoy the stories.

 

My kids love the Magic Treehouse books and learn a lot from them. We read a couple chapters a night and are on book 20 something, so it's working for us!

 

I think something like Winnie the Pooh would be perfect. Each chapter really can stand on its own as a story. I'm trying to think of other books like that and can't at the moment. I'll have to go scan my shelves. And I want to respectfully disagree with Sharon. Kids that age aren't necessarily ready to read chapter books, even if they can read. But I think there's so much value in hearing the language, getting caught up in stories, even if it's just part of the story. It's excellent for vocabulary and imagination too, I believe. We listen to books on CD in the car all the time, and I read books to my kids (though not at bedtime). A lot of what I read is classic British children's literature, so there's vocabulary they aren't familiar with. It doesn't seem to phase them and if I ask them about what an unfamiliar word means they often have figured it out in context. When I am reading at home, my little ones are welcome to come and go as they please while I read, but in the car they're obviously a captive audience. Since my oldest is now 14, we listen to a variety of things I might not think of for preschoolers. (I am careful though to pick things that don't have inappropriate content). I'm always amazed at what they do pick up and remember, even if they haven't followed the entire gist of the story. While they wouldnt be able to narrate back too much at this age, I think there's value in just hearing the language and being exposed to imagining the characters instead of just looking at the pictures. I love picture books and have shelves full, so I'm not saying to give those up. But interchanging the two can be great, IMO. And then in a few years you (or they, when theyre readers) can even revisit a book that you read to them when they were young and it will be a little familiar, but they won't remember all of it. Daddyread is a great Site with recommendations and little reviews of lots of books. There's even a page where he talks about why to read chapter books to preschoolers.

 

I have to respectfully disagree with Sharon. There are TONS of longer books appropriate for three year olds. My kids have been listening to chapter books since they were born, practically, and by age three, could really follow the stories and get into them over the course of a couple of days. I wouldn't read them Judy Blume or Sweet Valley High, of course, but there is so much good literature out there that you don't have to limit yourself to picture books!

We started the Magic Tree House series when my girls were about three and a half and they LOVED them. Not quite a year later, we had finished all 47 books. My girls are so caught up in Jack and Annie's adventures that they even created a count down calendar for the latest release last month (it's about six months between books now so if you catch up there's a long wait for the next one!) A few of the Magic Tree House books have a bit of scariness (for a three/four/five year old) but it's super easy to change the tone of your voice or skip a sentence or two and take all of the tension/scariness out of the book. Some of the Boxcar Children books might work - but I found that the subject matter (four siblings solving mysteries in the 1940s) didn't fully hold their attention until age five-ish. How about Ralph the Motorcycle Mouse books or The Littles? And yes... we read Paddington, Winnie the Pooh, Beatrix Potter, and the Wind in the Willows at that age too.

 

I, too, think 3 yr olds can really enjoy some chapter books.

They were a great way to explore new worlds, vocabulary, and themes. We did both picture books and chapter read-aloud books at that age.


Some of our favorites:

Chapter:

Toys Go Out trilogy

Catwings series

My fathers Dragon trilogy * one of the all time favorites, it is silly, has good vocabulary, and is a classic*

Mercy Watson series

Magic Treehouse

Cam Jasen (early Chapter book ones)

Serendipity books (not chapters, but longer)

Littles Series

Mr. Poppers Penguins

Naughty Nork/Weeping Werewolf series (title eludes me at the moment)

Down Girl and Sit (stories about two dogs)



Favorite Picture books:



Wordless books (Carl the dog series)

Magic School Bus

Eric Carle Books

I Spy series

Fancy Nancy series

Bad Kitty series

Elephant and Piggie series (easy readers)

Cows that type

Lion in the Library

Dr. Suess

Caps for Sale

Looks like Spilt Milk

Too many Hopkins (and others by this author)

Bill Peet stories (animal based)

Tales of Peter Rabbit

and more - this is just what came to mind right away.


Also some ideas would be books on tape (mine LOVED the books you could get with the picture book on CD- they would follow along with the book), poetry books, Collections of abbreviated classics (we like the Golden Books collection, Dr Suess collection, Collection of Classic (short versions of Heidi, Pippi Longstocking, etc) , lots of non-fiction (DK, and Eyewitness make great books for specific subjects) and picture books really can be used forever- our upper grades use picture books for projects and for short reading assignments since they often have high reading levels, they are NOT just for young children.

There are some good magazines out there too. For 3-6 yr olds- My Big Backyard, National Geographic Little Kids, Lady Bug, Jack and Jill, etc. Go to your public library and see what magazines interest them! My kids have always loved the picture rich, dense format of magazines.


At almost 7 my kids are reading on their own--- but they still enjoy being read to (and enjoy reading to me)! It is something I have enjoyed with them since they were very very young.

 

Ditto this. I think Winnie the Pooh would be great for 3/4 year olds who like longer stories. I haven't read Paddington Bear properly but it seems like it would be the right level. I never liked Enid Blyton books much.

A couple of other chapter books they might like (generally I would recommend these for 4/5 year olds so I think they would do for yours):
My Naughty Little Sister there is a whole series of these-I think 5 books in total-all told from the point of view of an older sister about the naughty things her little sister is always doing, they are based on the author's real childhood with her little sister. They are quite old fashioned (they were first published in the 1960's, so I imagine they must be set in around the 30's as that's when the author would have been a child) but very sweet and often funny, definitely not scary. Also, like in Winnie the Pooh, each chapter tells one story but they are sort-of sequential in that later chapters will sometimes refer back to events that happened in previous ones. [German amazon page]
Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf/Polly and the Wolf Again these are very funny books. Basically they are what the title says-there is a girl called Polly and a wolf who wants to eat her, but as Polly is clever and the wolf is stupid he never manages it, she always outsmarts him. I don't think they would find it too scary as from very early on in the first chapter it's clear that Polly can trick the wolf, and once the set up is established the pattern never changes. Some of the wolf's plans are so silly you will be laughing at them before Polly even has a chance to foil them. Again they have the same thing of the chapters being stand-alone-but-sequential. [German amazon page]

 

Thank you everyone for the suggestions, lots of new ideas for me to check out and I will go digging my old classics from their boxes. I am really looking forward to a free evening to do some browsing and see what is available in German - I grew up bilingual and can translate as I go along when reading with the children but DH is not as fluent so he would prefer I buy at least some German books.

Thinking about the topic I just remembered some classic favourites from my childhood which I know are available in English and which some of you might enjoy:
The Little Witch, The Little Ghost and The Little Water-Sprite (Otfried Preussler)
almost anything by Astrid Lindgren, particularly The Children of Noisy Village series and The Tomten(the latter is picture book)

For me reading together is one of the greatest joys of childhood and parenting.

 

We really did not enjoy reading winnie the pooh - it is very wordy. At age 3 or 4, my son LOVED Charlotte's Web (we read it about 5x ina row!). We also started the magic treehouse series around that time, and have read the whole series now. Start from the beginning because the first few are more simple, but rest assured that the writing improves as the series progresses

 

Excited! This wasn't my question, but is one I wish I had thought to ask. Ordered Magic Treehouse 1-4 and they should arrive today!

 

Enjoy!

My 6 yr olds love this series and have since age 4. They went from read-alouds to read to yourself books and they revisit their favorites all the time. They books do get harder/longer/more complex as the series goes on FWIW.

 

Shirley Hughes - the Alfie series - she is a wonderful story teller - Alfie is around 3-4 years old so they are really appropriate and she is an exceptionally talented illustrator too. I think they're published by Random House (we have the almanac sent to us by my BFF in the UK when she worked for them).

 

Curious George (the old stories, not the short scholastic books) are good for this age. Also things like Lyle Lyle Crocodile, Danny and the Dinosaur, are longer stories but keep them interested. My oldest loved the Harry stories (Harry is a West Highland Terrier who has adventures).

 

Two oldies but goodies: Henry and Mudge and Frog and Toad are Friends Also they might appreciate Amelia Bedelia.