5 Key Pieces of Literature Every Child Should be Exposed To

Disclosure: This article was contributed by York Notes; leading suppliers in English literature study materials.

I love to read and I am trying my hardest to get my kids to enjoy reading.  My boys are 4 and 6 years old and they hate to read themselves but love being reading to, right now I will take what I can get with them. As I read to them though, there are books that we have grown to love and there are books that I remember from my childhood.

For now I have come up with a list of “5 Key Pieces of Literature Every Child Should be Exposed To.”  There are tons of books out there and I wish I had time to make a bigger list, but here are the books I quickly thought of and polled from my Facebook friends!

One of my favorite authors as a child was Shel Silverstein, especially his book “Where the Sidewalk Ends.”  I remember reading the poems over and over and loved them all.  I remember too thinking how I couldn’t wait to read it to my own child someday.  From its silly drawings to its poems that could always make me laugh, the book had me hooked from day one.

The next book is “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?”  While this wasn’t a favorite of mine before, it is one that all three of my kids have loved.  It has such colorful, kid-friendly drawings and has taught my kids colors and animals.  At this point I can recite the book by heart and while my husband and I joke about the book all the time, we still read this classic over and over.

“Where the Wild Things Are” is my next classic childhood favorite.  Its amazing illustrations sucked me in and I remember escaping away with my old “wild thing.”  I loved the story line and the Maurice Sendak did a great job describing everything in the story.

This book always looked cheesy to me on the outside, but the way it teaches ABCs in a fun way sold me.  I had never heard of this book until my son came home from kindergarten singing about it and I looked it up.  It is adorable!  The book is geared towards 2-6 year olds who are learning their ABCs and sounds.  It is truly a fun way to start off with the alphabet and even now my 6 year old still asks for it!

Finally I can’t let my list end without a Dr. Seuss book.  While his book are crazy and you wonder what Seuss was thinking, I love the rhyming and its impossible not to laugh.  “Green Eggs and Ham” also got me because I was a terribly picky eater as a child and I remember thinking how silly green eggs and ham would be!  I don’t think there is a Dr. Seuss book I don’t like, but this one is my favorite.

Overall, there are so many books that my list could go on and on, but these are the books that pop out at me.

What is your must-have children’s book?