Book Finder: Ready-to-Read Tales of Best Friends

Book Recommendation Request For: 2 ½ year old girl. Description: Outgoing when comfortable. Smart with a great memory. Good sense of humor. Likes to read. Likes to play outside--running around, playing tag, dressing up, playing with her twin sister, playing with dolls. Favorite Books: Knuffle Bunny, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Good Night Gorilla, Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, Elf on the Shelf, Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? Ready-to-Read Tales of Best Friends Since this child is a twin, her early experience is unusually sociable. So I suggest even though she is a pre-reader that you stock the house with Ready-to-Read series books featuring amusing tales of friendship. Mix-ups, misunderstandings, adventures of separation and reunion all offer opportunity for self-identification within a social context. The exemplar would be the Frog & Toad series, written by Arnold Lobel in the 70s and 80s. Each of the four books in this series contains several funny stories written in simple language. If you read them aloud to a 2 ½ year old in a few years the child will be able to read them back to you. Arnold Lobel has set the bar high, but many terrific authors have worked in this genre. Since your child is already a Mo Willems fan (via Knuffle Bunny) you will want to try some of Mo’s Elephant & Piggie books. (In fact, these should probably come into the house before Frog & Toad since the language is easier.) In addition I’d recommend Olivier Dunrea’s Gossie & Gertie books (especially appealing for you because these feature two female central characters) and Rosemary Wells’s Max & Ruby books (good for your situation since these feature siblings). Also to consider: Laura Vaccaro Seeger’s Dog & Bear books, Holly Hobbie’s Toot & Puddle books, and Peter McCarty’s Hondo & Fabian books.