Good quality picture books for 5 year old

[LoveWine123]

Hi all, I have a 5.5 year old (Y1) who is doing really well with reading. His favourite books at the moment are the Gruffalo, anything Julia Dinaldson really, Harry and the Dinosaurs series, Elmer books, Dr Seuss, the storm whale series, the Nat Geo little kids first big book of...(ocean, space, dinosaurs, etc.). He reads these very well, gets the story and can relay it back so his comprehension is also good.

Although he is capable of reading chapter books, he really isn't quite there yet as there is a lot of text in these and not many pictures. I am looking for recommendations for high quality (longish) picture books which are varied in terms of the language and sentence structure? Please could you give me any suggestions?

My child also jn year one is enjoying “early reader” chapter books which are half and half, such as horrid Henry; also Winnie and Wilbur books are great, or Claude the dog books.

Following as my dd is the same age and needs moving on from picture books. I had a glance at horrid Henry but not sure I want them for her. I'd rather nice stories!!

I came on to say the 'triangle' trilogy by klasse. But they aren't long books!

Mine have all loved the Claude books by Alex T Smith.

Thanks everyone, I had a look at some of the suggestions and I think Winnie the Wilbur will go down a treat. The Claude books look good too so will get some of these as well.

My 4.5 year old isn't reading yet but he likes the more modern Mr Men books (e.g. Mr Tickle and the Dragon , Mr Men Adventure in the Ice Age), they are a half way house in terms of the amount of text versus pictures.

The classic Mr Men books are very good for vocabulary.

Shirley Hughes picture books (Dogger, Alfie) are gorgeous and have a fairly large amount of quality text, whilst still being picture books.

DS also had a stage where he just enjoyed the pictures so much, a book wasn't quite the same without them. He could spend ages studying the pictures. Eventually he moved on to Early Reader books with colour pictures, and only later was he ok with occasional b&w pictures. But there is no rush, and there are such lovely, quality picture books out there, that are well worth exploring.

I would go for the "rabbit and the bear" (there are a few others if he likes that). Really good transition from picture book to chapter book. There's also a collection of books called "branches" which are great. My DD loved the "dragon masters" series in Y1.

Planet X Alien Adventures is good - it's book banded (starts at band 7) but it's designed as an intro to chapter books as each individual story is part of a bigger narrative that builds from one story to another, getting more complex as it goes up the book bands. At band 9 they start to introduce separate chapters within each individual story.

We also have a box set of Usborne Young Reading Level 1 (and 2 though haven't got to those yet) which have some nice stories in a similar vein - The Dinosaurs Next Door was popular.

Another vote for Shirley Hughes, lovely pictures and a bit more text! Alfie lends a hand is good as are all the Alfie and Annie Rose books... they were my favourite as a child and my nieces and nephews loved them at that age. Can't wait for DS to get to them!

The Enormous Crocodile is good. Also, a different suggestion, but I would really recommend reading some poetry with him. It's so good for language development, but very under-used. You can get really nicely illustrated books.

Don't discount shorter chapter books - my 5 year old Yr 1 is loving Fantastic Mr Fox - familiar and stretching sentences, some longer words but on comprehension and suspense, it's perfect for her.

I am also a big fan of Frog and Toad - Julia Donaldson wrote the foreword for the full set and the stories are funny and have a moral of the story.

Oh, and the Owl who was Afraid of the Dark, that's a great intro to chapter books.

There are different coloured levels of the early reader books - I forget what order they come in but some of them are really really accessible level. Have a look in Poundland as well - they quite often have some in - and charity shops as it's a phase they go through quite fast so not worth massive investment in it.

Ooo another good one I just thought of 'a classic story firceveryday' is a lovely book with a mix of shorter and longer stories and beautiful illustrations.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. We got the Bear & Rabbit books are they have been brilliant. My son absolutely loved the first one and has now started on the second one in the series. We also got some Claude and Alfie books from the library and well try those as well.

@User6853 Do you have some suggestions about poetry books? I have never thought of that.

DS who is 5 likes all of Sue Hendra's books. She does the Supertato series among others. We read a lot of Claude and Alfie books but I know they've been mentioned already. He also likes Shifty Mcgifty. Some are proper picture books, others are short chapter books with pictures. We have both.

There's been a thread on poetry books recently:
here

DS loves the Ottoline books and Once Upon a Wild by the same author. The Ottoline books are chapter books but have at leat one illustration per page and the details in the pictures tie into the story. So a great crossover to read together.

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Sorry there were pictures attached

Any Emily Gravett book but especially Wolves and Rabbit problem
Jampires by Sarah Mcintyre
Jack and the Flum Flum tree Julia Donaldson
Here be monsters and Pigs might fly Jonathan Emmett
A beginners guide to bear spotting Michelle Robinson
Leaf Sandra Dieckmann
Perfectly Norman Tom Percival
Dragon Stew and Itchy Scritchy Scratchy Pants Steve Smallman

Forgotten Beasts
One small Step
The skies above my eyes and the street beneath my feet
The big book of beasts/bugs/birds/the blue
Lifesize

favourites of mine are Winnie the Witch, Claude and The Lighthouse Keeper books. there are early chapter books of Winnie the Witch and there is certainly one Lighthouse Keeper one which is published more like a chapter book