Help me spend $400 on picturebooks

[visitor]

Dear all,

 

DS5 loves picturebooks . English is his second language so we need to start with reading lot's of picturebooks. We live in Belgium so I can't borrow english books from the library. If you could spend this year $400 which picture books would you buy?

 

I know $400 is a lot , but DS is only interested in learning English from picturebooks and songs at this moment.

 

My main goal is that DS will build up his vocabulary. So we need a wide range of different picture books.

 

Thanks in advance, visitor from Belguim

[maize]

I like the read aloud sets from memoria press.

[visitor]

I like the read aloud sets from memoria press.

Thanks but I am searching something secular

[TCB]

I love all Patricia Pollaco's books.

[mathmarm]

You can consider buying a big lot of used books on Ebay.

I like nonfiction and educational picture books, but the series that are available in the US may be different than what is readily available to you in Belgium.

Also look into a set of readers meant for children just learning to read.

 

What sort of stories/characters does your son like at this time? What are some things that you think he might enjoy?

How is your printer? We bought a subscription to ReadingA-Z and they have 1000s of readers available on a PreK-5th grade level. Many of their titles are available in British English and translations to Spanish/French, though I do not know how good the translations are.

[purpleowl]

Some favorites around our house (for today at least)...

 

* I Want My Hat Back, by John Klassen

* Frog and Fly: Six Slurpy Stories, by Jeff Mack

* Aaaarrgghh! Spider!, by Lydia Monks

* The Day the Crayons Quit, by Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers

* Harold and the Purple Crayon, by Crockett Johnson

* King Bidgood's in the Bathtub, by Audrey Wood & Don Wood

* any of the Pigeon, Cat the Cat, or Elephant & Piggie books, by Mo Willems

 

 

 

[Renai]

Perhaps check out:

 

Picture books from the 1000 Good Books list http://www.classical-homeschooling.org/celoop/1000-primary.html#picture1-3

from Ambleside http://amblesideonline.org/00bks.shtml

Bookshark lists http://www.bookshark.com/

 

Many books suggested even on Christian sites are not all Christian books, and you may find a lot of crossover in lists.

[maize]

How about books from this list?

 

http://www.mensaforkids.org/MFK2/assets/File/Achieve/Excellence_in_Reading_k-3.pdf

[maize]

Thanks but I am searching something secular

Most of the books are secular. You don't need to buy a package, I mostly just look for book ideas then order from Amazon. Your $400 may go a lot farther if you are willing to do used books.

[mathmarm]

Shipping wise, I would go on Amazon and Ebay for your region (or neighboring regions) and find a few books that I like, then go through suggested/similar items.

There are thousands of read aloud videos on YouTube where you can watch someone else read a story aloud, so you may find several dozen books that your son likes.

 

Greg Tangs Math books are available for free on his website so you can read them there before deciding if they are worth the expense to import them.

[visitor]

Most of the books are secular. You don't need to buy a package, I mostly just look for book ideas then order from Amazon. Your $400 may go a lot farther if you are willing to do used books.

Thanks maize 

[Kerileanne99]

We love books by UK author Julia Donaldson and NZ author Lynley Dodd. The stories are fantastic, but the language and word choices are superior to lots of other kids picture books.

 

Also, have you seen the Wegivebooks.org website? I recommend it to everybody, but especially friends abroad. It is a collaboration between Penguin books and Pearson. Many, many popular kids books are on there available to read for FREE (you do need to register for an account, no CC or anything needed). The best bit is that every time you or you kiddo reads one, Wegivebooks.org donates one to a charity!

[sarahjokim]

Most of this list is picture books - they are the most frequently listed books across award winners and many homeschool curriculums. We've read and enjoyed all of these:

http://www.wellreadkid.com/most-frequently-listed-books/

 

These were our favorites for toddlers - they might be good for English learning as well:

http://www.wellreadkid.com/top-10-books-for-toddlers/

[yucabird]

Five in a Row books for I and II ! (You may wish to include the TMs too.)  

 

Vol I:  https://www.rainbowresource.com/prodlist.php?subject=Curriculum/2&category=Books+Used+in+Five+in+a+Row+Vol.+1/9077

 

Vol II:  https://www.rainbowresource.com/prodlist.php?subject=Curriculum/2&category=Books+Used+in+Five+in+a+Row+Vol.+2/9078

 

Rainbow, the company that supplies the FIAR materials, will ship abroad.       

 

 

 

[Bluegoat]

Some I really like:

The Fern Hollow series (may need to be bought used.)

Caleb and Kate (but really anything by William Stieg)

The Hockey Sweater

Where the Wild THings Are (or anything by Sendak.)

One Morning In Maine

Officer buckle and Gloria

Something From Nothing.

[ByGrace3]

I like the read aloud sets from memoria press.

This. Most of the books are regular picture books, not religious in nature. Just look through the sets and pick the ones you would want. We have enjoyed all of the kindergarten read alouds...

[Barb_]

Anything by Kevin Henkes

[Incognito]

Sonlight Preschool, Pre-K and K also have a lot of good picture books in their lists.  It is pretty easy to tell which ones are not secular by their descriptions.

Edited January 16, 2016 by Incognito

[PeterPan]

Do you have friends in the US so that you can buy used, sending them all to the one location, and then have them shipped to you?  If so, that's what I would do.  It will stretch your $$ a LOT further.  

 

With a 5 yo, you might like to look at Golden Books.  They're picture books, rich in language, and they have all kinds of topics.  He'll love them all.

 

Amazon.com: golden books set

 

 

[ktgrok]

Harry the Dirty Dog

Katy No Pocket

 

[Tanaqui]

Okay. Would you like a list sorted by approximate "reading level" (which we'll be using as a proxy for difficulty of vocabulary and sentence complexity) or unsorted?

[AuNaturel]

At the age of 5-6 my daughter was in love with Dr Seuss. We went to the library and eventually borrowed every last one they had, then began buying them. I'm a fan because I watched her leap from reading Green Eggs and Ham and Fox in Socks at 5-6 to a full 250 page novel for the 8-12 yo age group at 7. She completely skipped the 20-120 page easy readers and mini novels. You can buy very nice sets of Seuss.

 

At that age she also loved the Fly Guy series. The librarian recommended them because they were extremely popular for children her age (6 at the time).

 

I also agree with Golden Books. The Pokey Puppy, The Red Hen, and Kitty on the Farm are among the family favorites.

 

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

[Hobbes]

Authors to check out:

 

Everything by Robert McCloskey and Shirley Hughes!

P.D. Eastman (Go, Dog, Go)

Patricia Polacco

Russell and Lilian Hoban (France books)

Ezra Jack Keats

Virginia Lee Burton

A.A. Milne (a version with pictures, but unabridged)

 

[ikslo]

Timothy Cox Will NOT Change His Socks

 

It was one of my DS' favorites at 5

[AndyJoy]

I'm not familiar with every one of these stories, but this collection combines 12 "classics" in one book (Harold and the Purple Crayon, Caps for Sale, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Goodnight Moon, etc.) http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0060080949/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1453044668&sr=8-1&pi=SL75_QL70&keywords=picture+book+collection

[AndyJoy]

Also Richard Scarry's Best Word Book Ever might be good for learning some vocabulary. The pictures are bright and fun and my son loves it. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0307155102/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?qid=1453044931&sr=8-3&pi=SL75_QL70&keywords=picture+book

[SnMomof7]

Here's my list of good picture books I want to keep 'in stock' for our kids:

 

*4 Seuss/Eastman Treasuries

*3 Little Golden Book Treasuries

 

James Herriot for Children

Harper Collins Treasury

20th Century Treasury

*Beatrix Potter Treasury (to consolidate all our little white and green books)

A Grimm's collection

A nursery rhymes collection

*A common folk tales/Anderson/Chaucer type collection (any suggestions?)

Munsch Grand Treasury

*Frances Treasury

*Amelia Bedelia Treasury

*Mike Mulligan and More

*Frog and Toad Treasury

*Make Way for McCloskey

A Franklin Treasury

 

Papa Papa

Perfectly Arugula

Ten Big Toes and a Prince's Nose

I Saw an Ant on the Railway Track

Such a Noise

The Mitten

Fritz and the Beautiful Horses

A Phoebe Gilman or two

Ferdinand

The Story About Ping

Tikki Tikki Tembo

Love You Forever (sob!)

 

Lots of these are treasuries and if you buy used the main cost is shipping - treasuries help with that (fewer items)

[Upennmama]

I might go for some Dr. Suess if the goal is language proficiency. All the rhyming and word play would be good for him. 

[kitten18]

We loved Rosemary Wells, especially the Max and Ruby books.

[mathmarm]

I have no experience on the matter, but I respectfully disagree.

I might go for some Dr. Suess if the goal is language proficiency. All the rhyming and word play would be good for him. 

 

For a non English speaker, I don't think Suess is a suitable first choice.

Suess writes on two very different streams--the shorter, easy reading books are full of a lot of nonsense.

His lower level books use a lot of fake words and recognizing the fake words seems like it would be difficult for a child who doesn't speak English and has no cache of English words to fall back on. And a young child may not have fully mastered the concept of rhyme to understand the appeal of the nonsense rhyme.

 

[Loesje22000]

When dd was 5 we also started English.

What worked for us was doing science and K/1st grade reading in English.

As she was already familiair with the topics in Dutch she could easily do them in English.

 

I don't know secular science books for K / 1st grade

But we used this type of books:

http://www.amazon.com/Scholastic-Reader-Level-Tadpole-Frog/dp/0545273374/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1453105889&sr=1-7&keywords=Frog

 

I can take a look what we might sell.

[Starr]

My children enjoyed the line drawings in the BobBooks. They are fun and teach letter sounds.

[visitor]

Thanks all for your lovely replies ;

 

@ Tanaqui I am searching both , acording to reading level and unsorted 

@ Loesje thanks let me know if you are selling something , this month I am planning to buy a few books to start with DS

 

 I need to do some easy oral comprehension with him. With questions like; who, where and when . I order to start with my next planning. 

 

 

 

Edited January 18, 2016 by visitor

[visitor]

Sonlight Preschool, Pre-K and K also have a lot of good picture books in their lists.  It is pretty easy to tell which ones are not secular by their descriptions.

 

Thanks thats looks perfect 

[shawthorne44]

You can often find Sonlight book lots on e-bay.  That would combine two of the excellent suggestions you've already received: looking at the Sonlight list and buying lots of books on ebay.   They are often missing a few books that the seller just couldn't part with.  But, for bang-for-your-buck I think that would be your best bet.