Book for 5 year old birthday

[GustavaKlimt]

My granddaughter loves books. She'll be 5 soon and I'd like to buy her some. Any recommendations?

The Adventures of Mr Penguin. Chapter book series with illustrations and a fun mystery story.

Ive not heard of that. I'll have a look, thank you

Children love these books. My two did. Sorry about the long link.

https://www.books4people.co.uk/products/lynley-dodd-hairy-maclary-and-friends-series-15-books-collection-set-hairy-maclarys-bone-hairy-maclarys-hat-tricks-shoo-sit-hairy-maclary-and-zachary-quack-scattercat-slinky-malinki-and-more?variant=55627748835705&country=GB&currency=GBP&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=18286127658&gbraid=0AAAAACYvQE07mHWmtPJL70lxkNHbIieGc&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyKbb48T3lgMVgZRQBh0YLBLgEAQYBiABEgIpn_D_BwE

Elmer books go down well and you can buy an Elmer toy

https://www.books4people.co.uk/products/elmer-books-10bks?_pos=1&_sid=69e0a5752&_ss=r

https://www.books4people.co.uk/collections/infants-5-7/products/mog-the-cat-books-8bks

https://www.books4people.co.uk/collections/infants-5-7/products/julia-donaldson-books-the-gruffalo-coll-10bks

Book sets are great for presents.

I would think five is a bit old for hairy mac lary and definitely for Elmer. Depends on the child but there’s a good chance they’re at an age to be interested in chapter books.

i LOVE the rabbit and bear books, they’re designed specifically for 4-6 year olds for that in between phase where they’re growing out of picture books and maybe not quite into chapter books. Plenty of jokes about poo but they’re beautiful and surprisingly philosophical, lots of lessons about friendship. By Julian Gough.

another hit in that age group is isadora moon- I’m not a big fan, don’t love the writing, but they are pink and about a vampire fairy and lots of girls love them.

Hairy Mcclairy is a bit young for a 5 year old isnt it? what about the Oi Dog books? Or Harry and the Dinosaurs?

My DD has just turned 6 and she's been enjoying chapter books for a while. Short, illustrated ones (preferably colour illustrations). She loves the Faraway Tree adventures box set that we have.

https://www.axelbooks.com/products/the-complete-faraway-tree-adventures-10-colour-stories-books-collection-box-set-by-enid-blyton

These are all too young. We were reading these to DD age 3-4 (and we all enjoyed them a lot) but we read them very rarely now.

Oh Wigglesbottom primary are also very good

Retired teacher. The books I recommended are great for developing independent reading, confidence and enjoyment.
Hairy Maclary books are recommended for under 5s to be read aloud and 6 plus for independent reading. There’s quite a lot of text in Elmer books.
Child is in Reception. Elmer frequently used in YR.
Chapter books are great but picture books shouldn’t be overlooked for young readers developing confidence.

Sorry I would disagree that Julia Donaldson books are too young for a 5 year old.

But surely they will have them already? We've owned a set of Julia Donaldson books since my oldest was a toddler.

If you want to get any JD my advice is to ask the parents if they have it first.

Maybe I was too hasty in dismissing them, though. My DD is a year older than OP's granddaughter and they do grow and change a lot in a year. We probably did read and enjoy JD and Hairy Maclary over the last year. But we already had them all and I'd say they were enjoyed more before she turned 5. She does absolutely love books though and is a clever cookie - her reading age is higher than her actual age.

What about Milly Molly Mandy? Lovely, beautifully-written and illustrated stories about a little girl and her family and her two best friends (one boy, one girl) having everyday adventures like getting to keep shop for a day, blackberry picking, having friends to stay overnight etc. They're simple chapter books where each chapter is a self-contained story so five is the perfect age to have them as a read-aloud. This is the first in the series:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1035048736?ref_=dbs_m_mng_wam_calw_tpbk_1&storeType=ebooks

Thank you everyone. They do have the Julia Donaldson books, Hairy McClary and Elmer. I like the idea of The Faraway Tree books. I'd forgotten about those. I loved them when I was little.

The Claude books are great fun - https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/collections/claude-book-series

Bonkers enough to inspire a 5 year old, but fun enough for the adult to enjoy them too. Same author as Mr Penguin, who I am also a huge fan of.

The Claude books are silly but fun. Also books by dick king smith are good and have quite short chapters- babe, the hedgepig (i think) etc.
There's also a series of books about animals having different adventures that are short chapter books. Can't remember the author's name, but one of the books is the owl that's afraid of the dark. These are nice books.

@Topbird29 Plop! The owl who was afraid of the dark.

Kes Gray's 006 and a bit or similar. Ths star is Daisy. She's in some picture books like this one then segues into early chapter books. A real family favourite here. Don't start with daisy and the trouble with life - it's about diarrhoea!

There's a lovely angle to them like with AA Milne that Daisy is not always completely honest with the reader (oh no, I wasn't scared at all) which a 5 year old can enjoy, and see more and more as they re-read.