100 Must Read Books for Kindergarten

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From the sweet tale of a duck family and their adventures in Boston to the life of a mysterious gardener making art out of shrubs to Mrs. McNosh doing her wash with questionable sanity, this books for kindergarten will inspire you to grab a title and cuddle up with your little ones.

I wrote this list with my kindergartner in mind, but many if not all of these books would be appropriate for preschoolers too. After all, there is no magic line that says once you reach 5 you won’t enjoy the books you loved at 4.

Also, there are a few compilations and chapter books mixed in with the mostly picture book titles. I tried to think of books you wouldn’t want to miss, no matter the type, that my children and I have loved.

This list could’ve easily been extravagantly longer, but I had to stop somewhere. So use this list as a starting point, a place for inspiration, maybe to find a title you hadn’t seen yet, but not as an exhaustive list. With that said, on to the books.

100 Must-Read Books for Kindergarten

1. Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema
2. Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg
3. The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Anderson
4. The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen
5. Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti by Gerald McDermott
6. Naughty Little Monkeys by Jim Aylesworth
7. The Adventures of Taxi Dog by Debra & Sal Barracca
8. Cloudy With a chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett
9. Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett
10. Iggy Peck Architect by Andrea Beaty
11. Rosie Revere Engineer by Andrea Beaty
12. Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
13. A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond
14. Cinders: A Chicken Cinderella by Jan Brett
15. The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear and Jan Brett
16. Town Mouse Country Mouse by Jan Brett
17. Stone Soup by Marcia Brown
18. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
19. The Little Island by Margret Wise Brown
20. The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton
21. Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
22. Pancakes, Pancakes! Eric Carle
23. Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me by Eric Carle
24. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
25. Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type by Doreen Cronin
26. Jamberry by Bruce Degen
27. Strega Nona Tomie DePaola
28. La La La: A Story of Hope by Kate DiCamillo
29. If I Built a Car by Chris Van Dusen
30. The Best Nest by P.D. Eastman
31. Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl’s Courage Changed Music by Margarita Engle
32. The Night Gardener by Terry Fan & Eric Fan
33. Wilfrid Gordan McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox
34. Corduroy by Don Freeman
35. The Three Billy Goats Gruff by Paul Galdone
36. The Little Red Hen by Paul Galdone
37. My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett
38. Ox Cart Man by Donald Hall
39. Waiting by Kevin Henkes
40. Rosie’s Walk by Pat Hutchins
41. I Love You the Purplest by Barbara M. Joosse
42. The Hello, Goodbye Window by Norton Juster
43. Over in the Meadow by Olive A. Wadsworth
44. Peter’s Chair by Ezra Jack Keats
45. The Three Little Pigs by Steven Kellogg
46. Paul Bunyon by Steven Kellogg
47. Harvesting Hope by Kathleen Krull
48. Ferdinand by Munro Leaf
49. Johnny Appleseed by Reeve Lindbergh
50. Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
51. Frederick by Leo Lionni
52. Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni
53. Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin
54. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr.
55. Washing the Willow Tree Loon by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
56. The Salamander Room by Anne Mazer
57. Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
58. Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey
59. One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey
60. Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran
61. Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel
62. Enemy Pie by Derek Munson
63. The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash by Trinka Hakes Noble
64. Max and Ruby’s Treasure Hunt by Iona Opie and Rosemary Wells
65. We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury
66. Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish
67. Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Pena
68. Little Red Riding Hood by Jerry Pinkney
69. The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney
70. The Ghanian Goldilocks by Dr. Tamara Pizzoli
71. The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco
72. Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco
73. The Classic Tale of Peter Rabbit and Other Cherished Tales by Beatrix Potter
74. In Aunt Giraffe’s Green Garden by Jack Prelutsky
75. When I was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant
76. After the Fall (How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again) by Dan Santat
77. Skippy John Jones Lost in Spice by Judy Schachner
78. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendack
79. And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street by Dr. Seuss
80. Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss
81. Green Eggs & Ham by Dr. Seuss
82. Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss
83. Duck on a Bike by David Shannon
84. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
85. Caps For Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina
86. The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires
87. Elizabeti’s Doll by Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen
88. Emmanuel’s Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah by Laurie Ann Thompson 
89. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
90. Lyle, Lyle Crocodile Storybook Treasury Bernard Waber
91. From Dawn till Dusk by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock
92. Mrs. McNosh Hangs Up Her Wash by Sarah Weeks
93. Here Comes Mother Goose by Iona Opie and Rosemary Wells *
94. Yoko’s Paper Cranes Rosemary Wells
95. The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
96. A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams
97. The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Audrey Wood
98. The Napping House by Audrey Wood
99. What Do You Do With an Idea? by Kobi Yamada
100. Puff the Magic Dragon by Peter Yarrow