Episode 45: Our Favorite Picture Books for Kids (age 2-5) + Special Guest Host Abbey Lile-Taylor

Meredith and Kaytee have a special guest again this week to discuss our favorite picture books for the 2-5 year kiddos in your life! You'll hear a "bookish moment of the week" from each host: an author event, kid librarians, and a fantastic iTunes review. Next, we discuss our current reads for the week. We are each talking about two recent reads and we've got a variety of new titles that we cannot wait to discuss this week. For our deep dive, we are discussing our very favorite picture books for the 2-5 year old range. These kids are enraptured by great pictures, willing to sit for a great story, and ready to laugh at great jokes, so we've chosen some stand-out titles to share with you or the littles in your life. Abbey has a lot of great expertise in this area, so we are only too happy to have her input. As always, we finish up with A Book (yep, capitalized) that we'd like to press into every reader's hands. We've got a childhood favorite, which may not be for kids, that has been read over and over again, a WWII novel told in a totally new way, and a reference book that belongs on every parent's shelves. As per usual, time-stamped show notes are below with references to every book and resource we mentioned in this episode. If you'd like to listen first and not spoil the surprise, don't scroll down! . . . . . 2:39 - City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert 6:11 - The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett 7:07 - The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides 8:43 - Recursion by Blake Crouch 11:29 - Dark Matter by Blake Crouch 13:45 - Pines (Wayward Pines Series) by Blake Crouch 14:55 - Parkland by Dave Cullen 15:01 - Columbine by Dave Cullen 16:40 - The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker 19:08 - The River by Peter Heller 19:45 - Dog Stars by Peter Heller 24:14 - Stay Sexy and Don't Get Murdered by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstack 24:26 - My Favorite Murder podcast 26:21 - The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker 30:01 - The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman 31:58 - Waiting for Tom Hanks by Kerry Winfrey 33:37 - Other People's Houses by Abbi Waxman 33:30 - The Garden of Small Beginnings by Abbi Waxman 34:17 - Beartown by Fredrik Backman 36:09 - A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman 39:37 - Us Against You by Fredrik Backman 42:18 - Books, Inc Campbell - Abbey's local bookstore Abbey's favorites from Henry and Isaac: 43:02 - Elephant and Piggie books - especially Can I Play Too? by Mo Willems 43:54 - Eat Pete by Michael Rex 43:56 - Julia's House for Lost Creatures by Ben Hatke 44:01 - Warning: Do Not Open this Book by Adam Lehrhaupt & Matthew Forsythe 44:08 - The Book with No Pictures by BJ Novak 44:23 - Beyond the Pond by Joseph Kuefler 44:43 - We Don't Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins 44:52 - Children Make Terrible Pets by Peter Brown 44:56 - The "Hat" Series by Jon Klassen, especially I Want My Hat Back Kaytee's Books she shoved down her kid's throats: 45:55 - The Mitten by Jan Brett 45:58 - Do Not Open by Brinton Turkle 46:10- King Bidgood's in the Bathtub by Audrey and Don Wood 46:14 - The Napping House by Audrey and Don Wood 46:20 - Papagayo , Coyote , and Raven by Gerald McDermott 46:31 - Blueberries for Sal and Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey 46:36 - Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans Meredith's Fun Read Alouds: 47:16 - A Mouse Told His Mother by Bethany Roberts 47:18 - Counting Crocodiles by Judy Sierra 47:26 - The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear by Audrey and Don Wood 47:34 - Gilbert de la Frogponde by Jennifer Rae 47:45 - Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. 47:49 - Is Your Mama A Llama? by Deborah Guarino 48:07 - Where is the Green Sheep by Mem Fox 48:13 - Red Truck by Kersten Hamilton Abbey's Character Development Favorites: 48:45 - Pink is for Boys by Robb Pearlman & Eda Kaban 48:50 - Morris Micklewhite & the Tangerine Dress by Christine Bablacchino & Isabelle Malenfant 49:06 - When Sadness is at Your Door by Eva Eland 49:39 - Be Kind by Pat Zietlow Miller & Jen Hill 49:44 - The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld Kaytee's Sweet and Funny Favorites: 50:57 - When God Made You , When God Made Light , and When I Pray for You by Matthew Paul Turner 51:11- Skippyjohn Jones by Judy Schachner 51:15 - Where You Came From by Sarah O'Leary 51:37 - This is My Home, This is My School by Jonathan Bean 51:41 - Maybe God is Like That Too by Jennifer Grant 51:46 - Imaginary Fred by Eoin Colfer Meredith's Favorite Books in Series: 52:24 - Mrs. Piggle Wiggle Treasury by Betty MacDonald 52:54 - George and Martha Stories by James Marshall 53:00 - Berenstain Bears Books by Stan and Jan Berenstain 53:30 - Dinofours series by Steve Metzger 54:44 - The Night Before … books by Natasha Wing 55:02 - Richard Scarry books, especially Busy Town 55:30 - Roadwork by Sally Sutton Abbey's choices for Gorgeous Illustrators: 56:04 - Melissa Sweet 56:11 - The Boy Who Drew Birds by Jacqueline Davies 56:13 - The Right Word by Jen Bryant 56:14 - A Splash of Red by Jen Bryant 56:26 - Some Writer! 56:42 - Genvieve Godbout 56:50 - Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers 56:53 - Goodnight, Anne by Kallie George 56:58 - When Santa Was a Baby by Linda Bailey 57:01 - The Pink Umbrella by Amelie Callot 57:06 - Emily Winfield Martin 57:08 - Dream Animals by Emily Winfield Martin 57:09 - Day Dreamers by Emily Winfield Martin 57:11 - The Wonderful Things You Will Be by Emily Winfield Martin 57:14 - Teagan White 57:16 - Adventures with Barefoot Critters by Teagan White 57:18 - Counting with Barefoot Critters by Teagan White 57:19 - Bunny Roo, I Love You by Melissa Marr 57:26 - Wednesday Kirwan 57:35 - Henry's Bright Idea by Lauren Bradshaw 57:36 - Magnolia's Magnificent Map by Lauren Bradshaw 57: 40 - Jill Barklem 57:43 - The Brambly Hedge Series by Jill Barklem 57:56 - Kaya Doi 58:00 - Chirri & Chirra Series by Kaya Doi Be sure to click through to the website for the full show notes to see Abbey's bookstack with the rest of the books she didn't have time to mention! Other Favorites of my kids that I didn't have time to mention because it was already the longest episode ever: Drew Daywalt's books - The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors , The Day the Crayons Quit , and The Day the Crayons Came Home Usborne Pipkin books: How High is the Sky? How Big was a Dinosaur? How Deep is the Sea? How Big is a Million? Herve Tullet books - Press Here and Mix It Up Pete the Cat books - especially Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site by Sherri Dunsky Rinker Back to regularly scheduled programming: 1:00:57 - Llama Llama books by Anna Dewdney 1:01:39 - Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney 1:01:45 - I Love You Forever by Robert Munsch 1:03:08 - The Suitcases by Anne Hall Whitt 1:05:06 - Life After Life by Kate Atkinson 1:05:28 - Choose Your Own Adventure Books by R.A. Montgomery 1:06:02 - Case Histories (Jackson Brodie series) by Kate Atkinson 1:06:07 - A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson 1:06:58 - The Artful Parent by Jean Van Thul 1:07:02 - The Artful Parent Blog *Please note that all book titles linked above are Amazon affiliate links. Your cost is the same, but a small portion of your purchase will come back to us to help offset the costs of the show. Thanks for your support!*