8 Picture Books to Read Over and Over Again

It is so fun that Ani has really gotten into books lately. Almost all day long, she pulls books out of the library basket and asks “read one?”

And then, when we’ve finished it, she either wants to read it again (we’re averaging 3-5 consecutive reads of any given book) or she wants to pick a new one.

Plus, reading on the couch is a pretty good pastime for a woman who is 39000 weeks pregnant.

Here are eight that have been mega hits at our house and are in our must read picture books category:

8 must read picture books

I Am a Witch’s Cat by Harriet Muncaster – I thought this might be too Halloween-y (I’m not a zealot about not reading holiday books out of season, but I do try to mainly avoid it), but it’s really just a darling book about a little girl who wears a cat costume and thinks her mom is a witch. Together they grow magical herbs in the garden, make bubbling hissing pots of soup, and buy jars of fingers, er, pickles. Plus the illustrations are all little handmade scenes from paper, fabric, and other materials.

This Book Just Ate My Dog by Richard Byrne – Ella thought this was the best book ever. When Bella takes her dog for a walk across the page, he gets sucked right into the gutter (the middle of the book where the two pages join). And everyone who tries to rescue him gets stuck there too.

Please, Mr. Panda by Steve Antony – This reminds me a little of I Want My Hat Back, in the best possible way. The text is brief, the facial expressions on the animals are to die for, and the ending made us all laugh.

Elizabeth, Queen of the Seas by Lynne Cox and Brian Floca – This is a pretty amazing true story about an elephant seal who lived in an urban river in New Zealand. She kept moving onto the road, creating traffic hazards, so she got sent out to sea. And then came back. So they took her farther away and she made her way home again. Be warned that this one is a bit more text heavy than most of the other books on this list.

I Say, You Say Animal Sounds! by Tad Carpenter – Totally a basic little board book, but my girls have both LOVED this one. Also, is there anything cuter than children making animal sounds? No.

Goodnight Already! by Jory John and Benji Davies – We have read this one SO many times since we brought it home from the library. All done in dialogue, a bear just wants to go to bed, maybe for a few months, but his duck neighbor isn’t one BIT tired and wants a friend. Preferably sleepy Bear.

Don’t Push the Button! by Bill Cotter – Press Here meets There’s a Monster at the End of this Book. We spied this one at Barnes & Noble when we were burning a cold morning in the children’s department (complete with a cinnamon chip scone) and it was an instant hit. Now if only our library would buy a copy.

The Bear’s Sea Escape by Benjamin Chaud – This is a huge book; we own a copy and it barely fits on the shelf, because it’s so tall. On a cold winter day, a daddy bear and his cub find a warm place to sleep in the toy department of a big store, but when a little boy buys the cub thinking he’s a stuffed bear, the daddy must go in search of him. My girls loved finding both bears on every page. Now to check out The Bear’s Song.