14 Picture Books My Kids Love at the Moment! (ages 4 and 7)

We read a lot of books here at the Homeschool Den.  I thought I would highlight some of our current favorites.  The girls have actually been reading a lot of the same books.  I’ve been reading to the girls together at night and more often than not, DD climbs into my lap in front of the wood stove in the mornings when I’m reading to ED!  The girls are 4 and 7.

With Valentine’s Day coming up, I just have to mention Love Splat first. It’s so cute! Splat has a special Valentine for a certain someone in his class. Her name is Kitten. Kitten doesn’t seem to like him at all. And Splat’s rival Spike seems to out-do Splat. It’s a sweet book and I’ve had to renew it twice already from the library!

After putting together the collage of books to share here on the blog, I can see quite a theme running through all these… misfits trying to fit in and find their place in the world!

• The Wish Cat: A girl wishes for a cute kitten that will come and go through her family’s cat flap. What she gets is a rag-tag Tom Cat.
• Pinkerton, Behave!  A family has a big lovable dog who just can’t seem to learn the proper behavior of a dog, but saves the day in his own funny way!
• The Clown of God:  DD chose this book at the library and insisted that I read it.  We both loved it so much we bought a copy for ourselves. It is the retelling of a French legend–about a juggler who become successful but as he ages becomes a poor beggar. At Christmas he offers up the only gift he has to the statue of Mary and Jesus… his talents.  It has a sad, touching ending and may not be right for your family so I would suggest previewing it first.
• Stellaluna: The story of a bat who finds herself being raised among some baby birds. She has to adapt to the peculiar bird habits. When she is finally re-united with her own mother, it comes as a relief to know that she is normal after all.
• Caps For Sale: A funny story of a peddler who loses his caps to some monkeys in a tree.
• Tikki Tikki Tembo: The story of a boy with a very, very long name that fell down into a well.

Here are some of the other books ED has been requesting a lot.

• Mars Needs Moms: We read this book every night this past week!!  I will say that ED was scared of this book when DD was into it a year and a half ago… so I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this to the 3-year-old crowd. It’s not that the pictures are scary, but it’s about some Martians who come to Earth looking for a Mom to take back to Mars… One boy doesn’t get it. Who needs Moms? His Moms just make him eat his broccoli and take out the trash. When Martians kidnap his Mom and take her to Mars, he tags along and sees how many things Moms do… and when he trips and cracks his helmet, his Mom comes to the rescue.
• Big Bad Bruce: Bruce has a habit on picking on those around him. When his antics disturb the local witch, she puts a spell on him to make him small.  This is a good book to talk about bullying. Bill Peet has a lot of books. This isn’t my favorite, but it’s been a huge hit with ED and DD lately.
• Chrysanthemum: The story of a young mouse who is picked on for her long name… only to find that everyone’s favorite teacher loves her name… and the others wish they had a name just like hers.
• The Chimpanzee of Happytown: A chimpanzee changes the world by planting a tree and adding color and beauty to the world.  This book is done in rhyme… and has a wonderful rhythm to it.  I love reading this one aloud and absolutely love the message!
• The Big Orange Splot: This is another book that ED has been asking for most every night. It’s a story about a man who decides to be himself — painting his house to be a reflection of his personality.  His neighbors are at first horrified… and then one by one re-decorate their own houses to be unique and their own.

I have to mention two other books that the kids have been really into… especially LD!!  Life-Size Dinosaurs and Life-Size Sharks. I just had to use kitty as a model to show how impressive these books really are! The kids spent a lot of time reading through these. I kept hearing LD say — “Hey, DD, listen to this…!!” and then he came running into the kitchen while I was making dinner to read me bits and pieces of the book and to check out the pictures!

If you are interested in catching up on some older posts, I keep a running log of my posts over on my Facebook page. Feel free to drop by and say hello! ~Liesl