Home LearningParenting5 Interesting Storybooks for Preschoolers

Storybooks for preschoolers are like a box of magic that can help your child’s develop at different levels. Language development is just a part of it. Therefore, we at Totto Learning have created a list of five wonderful books that you can read with your child to have fun at the same time as a learning opportunity. Let’s jump into the list.

 

The story of GINGER and its Life-altering moment

Whether you’re an adult or a kid, emotions can be overwhelming. Therefore, it is imperative that we nurture our children’s emotional and social intelligence. Wondering how is it done!! I think the best way is to tell a story. There are plenty of digital or e-media options today, but nothing beats the pleasure and beauty of a good story. It catches the attention of a child and takes them on an imaginary journey. It’s fun, entertaining, and relatable. Today, we’ll review storybooks for preschoolers that teaches your kid kindness and care, plus we’ll discuss pets.

We see a lot of cats and dogs on the street every day. Ever wondered what is going on in their life?  Charlotte Voake has beautifully portrayed the story of one such orange-colored stray cat and its life-changing moment in the story ‘Ginger’.

Ginger is a small orange-colored skinny cat with a string-like tail. He lived on his own. He slept in patchy weeds down the garden, hopped dustbins for food, and drank from puddles. Like every day, he scrounges for food, but something magical happens. Following night the same happens. He then discovers something that changes his life forever. An act of kindness. 

Who do you think kept this food for Ginger? What happened that changed his life? Is it a good change or an unpleasant one? Did you think about how Ginger got his name? To quench all your queries, read aloud the story to your child.

The fantastic watercolor-and-ink drawings by Charlotte Voake again make the read relatable, pleasing, and fun to read. This book is an appropriate read for children (Ages 4+) to understand the power of love and kindness. It serves the motive of how an act of kindness can change someone’s life, portraying the essence of the beautiful human-pet relationship; this book assists the importance of love and cares to pets.

 

The story of How to be a lion

Adults are often pressured by social expectations. Imagine how our little ones would feel under such a scenario! Everyone in society demands others to be in a particular way according to social norms. If anyone is different, they pounce at them, stating them as the faulty example for society. Though over time, the community has started accepting new changes and appreciating the uniqueness. There is still a large part of the society with old-school thoughts. 

We cannot protect our children from encountering such people. But we can teach them to hold on to their uniqueness and be true to themselves. One way to do this is by making them familiar with characters in stories who have fought for who they are. Ed Vere has beautifully written this pleasant and soothing narrative about avoiding the forceful voices in our culture and listening to our own, calmer thoughts in the book ‘How to be a Lion’. Vere’s artwork is as evocative as ever, with bright oranges and yellows as soothing as the narrative itself.

As the title suggests, what do you think about how to be a lion. Fierce, strong, roaring, and prey animals. See, we have already categorized lions in one of a kind. This read is about Leonard, the lion, a gentle and thoughtful lion. Yeah, you read it right, a friendly, kind, and intellectual lion. While Leonard is aware that the general consumption of lions is that they are aggressive, he chooses not to live up to that idea. 

This  is one of the highly recommended storybooks for preschoolers. This lovely, hilarious, insightful, and much-needed narrative will show readers the value of being true to themselves and not succumbing to cruel criticism. It’s an uplifting story about connecting with people and choosing compassion over bullying, and it demonstrates to kids how to defeat angry and provocative comments with empathy and courage.

 

The story of Forgetful Ponnu and Kozhukatta

Between after-school activities, rainy or idle weekends, sick days, and, of course, a pandemic that caused children to remain home for months on end, parents understand how difficult it can be to keep bored children interested and busy. The most beneficial tech-free entertaining activity for your kid would keep your preschooler or toddler occupied (without the eye strain) is by reading them stories. Stories are real fun, entertaining, relatable, and an opportunity to learn. Let us review one fun and super entertaining read.

We all love food. Every time we think of Indian delicacies and snacks, our mouth waters. The author, Sumi Chandrasekharan, has successfully brought the essence of a small village in Kerala and introduced many Indian delights in a fun way with a character named Ponnu.

The captivating illustration by Zafouko Yamamoto brings the story and characters to life. At the start, the beautiful village scene with coconut trees, houses, auto-rickshaws, and buses is so exceptional that it takes me to that land. My favorite was the Mundus, a piece of cloth worn around the waist in southern India, also known as dhoti, worn by the character.

This narrative will be an entertaining read for a preschooler (Age 3+) who can explore the beautiful land of Kerala, Indian delicacies and have hilarious moments with the forgetful Ponnu. This read is real fun giving your child tickling moments at regular intervals. By enjoying hilarious moments, you get to know about the culture and food dishes in Kerala.

 

The story of Gajapathi Kulapathi and his lovely friends

Having cheerful and caring friends provides an endless amount of love and sometimes food. Food! You must be thinking, how can friends provide excess food?. This unusual combination of friendship, love, care with food is successfully portrayed in a very delightful and cheerful way in this story “Gajapathi Kulapathi” by Ashok Rajagopalan.

Are you wondering who Gajapathi Kulapathi is? What do you think? What is the first image that pops in your mind hearing the word “Gajapathi”?

Yes, you guessed it right, it is our favorite and friendly animal, the elephant. Gajapathi Kulapathi is a lovable elephant with a cute, funny name. Everyone loves him, and he has many friends. All his friends love Gajapathi Kulapathi so much that they offer him various kinds of food. As he loved them back and did not want to hurt their feelings, he ate them all one after the other. Thinking, what all he could have eaten. He had ten banana bunches, a bundle of sugarcane, coconut, jaggery, and a big ball of rice. Quiet a heavy meal, even for an elephant. The twist is what happened to Gajapathi Kulapathi after having such a heavy meal. How his friends helped him is another sweet part of the read.

The story of an endearing elephant with cheerful and relatable characters, lots of fun sounds, a gentle tone, and lively illustrations by Ashok Rajagopalan himself is sure to tickle your child. The characters are highly relatable in terms of getting a deeper understanding of India’s southern region.

The story of Elmer, a patchwork Elephant

 

Though we live in a diverse world, we tend to create a uniform society and standards. Most of the time we feel low esteem if we are different or unique. Although there are many great examples where uniqueness has been a boon. I feel stories can be a great role model for kids to relate easily. Whether it is to teach an important lesson, to touch various emotions, to feel empathy, a story can do it all. So let’s review one such story that can help our child understand and address various social aspects.

As the world is becoming shorter, it is more vital to celebrate diversity and uniqueness. By this read, David McKee is successfully inspiring children and adults to be unique and confident.

Elmer is a patchwork elephant. In contrast to all the other herds of elephants, he had multicolored skin, whereas all the others were grey. Not only was he different in appearance but also, has a great sense of humor that made all the others happy around him. All his friends loved him but he felt everyone laughed at him. He thought to change himself and be like the rest. So one day he left the place without informing anyone. 

What do you think Elmer did to disguise himself? Was he successful in that? If he was successful, was he happy to be like others? This is something you must read aloud to your child.The amazing illustrations by Happer Collins make the book more interesting, fun, and relatable for kids. The bright varied colors of Elmer in patches are eye-catching. The book also allows learning about forest animals giving a glimpse of the animal family in the forest.

This book is a must-read for preschoolers (Age 5 +) who can explore the Jungle world and celebrate friendship and uniqueness. Everyone is special and unique in their way. We can be different in color size, shape, intellect, agility, interest, and the list can go on. The world is rich because of these differences. We humans should appreciate and accept the richness in uniqueness.

Reading is important and on this World book day these storybooks for preschoolers can help them learn emotions, care and let their imagination go wild. Bonus: Here is a list of five books to read to your children about friendship!

You can join the Totto Parents community to get more parenting tips and tricks to make your parenting journey, better.

Download the Totto Parents App-