The Cat in the Hat and other Dr. Seuss (aka Theo LeSeig and Theodore Geisel) books are some of the best kids’ learning books available. The stories are short, simple, and easy to read. For pre-readers, they make great bedtime stories, with their bright, active pictures and beginning vocabulary. For beginning readers, they are a wonderful supplement to school-assigned reading, as the simple, repetitive vocabulary reinforces both phonics and word-recognition skills. The ease with which they can be read by beginning readers also helps children gain confidence in their ability to read.
Some Dr. Seuss titles that should be in every kid’s library:
- The Cat in the Hat
- The Cat in the Hat Comes Back
- One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish
- Green Eggs and Ham
- Hop on Pop
- Fox in Socks
- Oh Say Can You Say
- Ten Apples up on Top
- The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins
- Bartholomew and the Oobleck
- Yertle the Turtle
- The Lorax
- The Sneetches and other stories
- The King’s Stilts
- Horton Hears a Who
- Horton Hatches the Egg
- Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose
- Scrambled Eggs Super
- Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?
- There’s a Wocket in my Pocket
Another excellent early-reader author is P.D. Eastman, who wrote the following “don’t miss” books for youngsters:
- The Best Nest
- Are You My Mother?
- Flap Your Wings
- Sam and the Firefly
- Go Dog Go!
And three other books that I highly recommend, also for early readers, are
- A Fly Went By, by Mike McClintock
- A Fish Out of Water, by Helen Palmer
- The Diggingest Dog, by Al Perkins