I've put together a list of 99 of our favorite books, organized by age. Naturally, the ages I have posted are flexible and will depend on each individual child. I have found that my kids often surprise when I push them to read a longer book, so don't be scared off by books with more words on each page. When the story is excellent, kids will pay attention even if it is long. And I've only included books that I am personally willing to read over and over again.
Birth-Toddler, age 1
1. Peek-a-Zoo (Little Scholastic)
2. Tickle One Baby
3. That's not my .... (series)
4. Where Is Baby's Belly Button? A Lift-the-Flap Book
5. Dear Zoo: A Lift-the-Flap Book
6. Babylit (series)
7. Sandra Boynton board books (series)
8. Baby Einstein: Alphabooks
9. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
10. Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You ?
11. ABC: A Child's First Alphabet Book
12. Dr. Seuss's ABC
13. Freight Train
14. Alphabeep: A Zipping, Zooming ABC
15. The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Two Years Old
16. Perfect Square
17. The ABC Mystery
18. Farmyard Beat
19. LMNO Peas
20. The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear
21. Two Little Trains
22. One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
23. 1-2-3: A Child's First Counting Book
24. Bear Snores on
25. Put Me in the Zoo
26. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (series)
27. The Three Little Rigs
28. Curious George Complete Adventures Deluxe Book and CD Gift Set
29. Over in the Garden (series)
30. Press Here
31. The Runaway Bunny
32. Boing!
Three Years Old
33. Ten Red Apples
34. Minerva Louise
35. Gossie (series)
36. The Big Honey Hunt
37. Big Red Tub
38. Toot Toot Zoom!
39. The Biggest Bear
40. Ox-Cart Man
41. There's No Such Thing as a Dragon
42. Extra Yarn
43. Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin
44. Mole Music
45. Monsieur Saguette and His Baguette
46. I Saw an Ant on the Railroad Track
47. Katy and the Big Snow
48. Brave Irene
49. The Complete Adventures of Peter Rabbit (series)
50. New York's Bravest
51. Corduroy
52. Amelia Bedelia (series)
53. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
54. The Nutcracker
55. Snowmen at Night
56. The Polar Express
57. Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree
Four Years Old
58. This Is the Game
59. Rosie Revere, Engineer
60. Cinderella
61. The Man Who Walked Between the Towers
62. The Shore Beyond
63. MR Bliss
64. The Open Ocean (series)
65. Library Lion
66. Hans My Hedgehog
67. Locomotive
68. Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
69. John, Paul, George & Ben
70. Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11
71. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble
72. Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse
73. The Opposite
74. Edward and the Pirates
Five Years Old/Kindergarten
(all chapter books, in order from simplest to most challenging)
75. My Father's Dragon (series)
(adventure stories full of fantasy and lots of pictures)76. Mice of the Herring Bone (series)
(swashbuckling adventures of mice who sail with cats)77. Magic Tree House (series)
(siblings travel to different times and places through books)78. Cam Jansen (series)
(early mysteries about a girl with photographic memory)79. Charlotte's Web
(read the version with color illustrations)80. The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh
(each story is its own chapter)81. A to Z Mysteries (series) (mystery stories following each letter of the alphabet)
82. Imagination Station (series)
(cousins travel back in time though the Imagination Station)83. Basil of Baker Street (series)
(Sherlock Holmes in mouse form. The first book in the series is best)84. The Littles (series)
(little people with tales that live in the walls of the big people's houses)85. The Hundred Dresses
(a classic story with a wonderful lesson)86. The Mouse and the Motorcycle
(a mouse who rides a toy motorcycle, with lots of sound effects)87. The Courage of Sarah Noble (early frontier story of courage)
88. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
(Chinese folk tales and beautiful illustrations)89. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
(hang in there after the first chapter, this story is beautiful)90. A Tree for Peter
(a story of hope in difficult times)91. The Doll People (series)
(super fun with rich characters)92. Mr. Popper's Penguins
(so silly and absurd, which makes it memorable)93. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (better than the movie, but fun to watch after reading)
94. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Magical Car
(quirky and full of adventure!)95. The BFG (a longer book, and scary at times. Feel free to spoil some suspense to reassure your audience)
96. Little House in the Big Woods (series)
(classic frontier stories)97. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
(again, not like the film, much more quirky, but very fun)98. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (be sure to read the version illustrated by Pauline Baynes)
99. The Horse and His Boy (my personal favorite in the series, and a great stand alone book)