Pre-K
Growing Reader
30 of the Best Level 1 Books for Early Readers
by Melissa Taylor
Growing readers want to read the best level 1 books — books with great stories and information that will keep them excited about reading. That’s why we’ve put together a master list of level 1 reading books for children. Here you’ll find excellent, engaging early reader books for your beginning readers.
These level 1 reading books feature short sentences, big type, and supportive picture clues. Often, you’ll see repetition in sentence structure as well as rhyme, both of which help the reader predict and decode new words.
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Clara and Clem in Outer Space
Clara and Clem are in for unexpected surprises when their robot made of blocks transports them into space.
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Let’s Go for a Drive!
Good friends, Gerald and Piggie, decide they should go for a drive. But before they go, they need one thing after another which delays the trip, giving readers plenty of comic relief. This is just one of many in the kid-favorite Elephant and Piggie series.
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Buzz Said the Bee
Giggle along as one animal sits on another, each making their own animal sound.
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What This Story Needs Is a Pig in a Wig
Plenty of rhyming words and silliness comprise this story about a pig in a wig who travels in a boat adding more and more friends until the boat is too crowded.
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Jungle Animals
Learn about fascinating jungle animals from toucans to jaguars in this fact-based book with colorful photographs.
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Go, Dog. Go!
It’s a classic for a reason. Big and little dogs, red and green dogs all go to a dog party in this wild and crazy rhyming story.
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Penny and Her Marble
Penny debates what she should do with the marble she finds on her neighbor’s lawn.
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We Are Growing!
Walt’s stalk of grass friends are growing. As his friends grow and discover their strengths, Walt hopes he will discover what he is best at, too.
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Get the Giggles
Kids will laugh their way through this goofy joke book.
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Freckleface Strawberry: Backpacks!
Freckleface and her best friend, Windy Pants Patrick, have stuffed some goodies inside their backpacks. But when it comes time to pull out their homework, they find sticky gum and oozy donut don’t quite mix with their assignments.
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Cat Traps
A cat sets a trap for a snack but continues to get something unexpected instead.
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Mr. Putter & Tabby Pour the Tea
Meet Mr. Putter, a lonely retired person — that is, until he adopts a cat named Tabby at a local shelter. Now he has a friend and isn’t lonely anymore.
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Uh-Oh, Max
Max is a truck in Trucktown whose exuberant tricks find him stuck under a bridge. Uh-oh is right. Will any of his truck friends be able to help?
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Hi! Fly Guy
Buzz is excited to befriend a fly named Fly Guy just in time for The Amazing Pet Show. The two friends begin a friendship full of fun and adventure in this humorous first book of the series.
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Fire Truck to the Rescue! (City Adventures #1)
The firefighters in LEGO City must use all their equipment to put out the fire. LEGO fans will love this series.
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What Is Chasing Duck?
Duck is running for her life and warning all the other animals about the terrifying creature chasing her. But maybe the creature is not as terrifying as Duck thinks.
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National Geographic Readers: Caterpillar to Butterfly
Gorgeous photographs and simple text show the transformation of caterpillars into butterflies.
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Ten Apples Up On Top!
These animals can do all sorts of amazing things while balancing apples on top of their heads in this beginning reader filled with both silly humor and illustrations.
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One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
Goofy rhyming stories help kids master new (and invented) words with Dr. Seuss’s unusual creatures and their antics.
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Max Finds an Egg
Max imagines the egg he finds is a dinosaur egg and takes very good care of it. What animal will be inside?
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Silly Milly
Use your thinking skills to figure out the clues to what Miss Milly likes — words with double letters — in this beginning graphic novel for children.
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Little Mouse Gets Ready
Mouse just needs to get dressed so he’s ready to go to the barn. Just as he finishes, he realizes something important that will make readers laugh.
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May I Please Have a Cookie?
Alfie loves cookies but must learn how to use his manners to ask for one properly.
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Go to Bed, Blue
After a day of play, a robot named Blue needs some help to get settled into bed.
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Fox on a Box
In this funny rhyming reader, Hungry Fox uses the box to try and get food. Lift-the-flaps reveal the surprises that happen when he goes for pie, honey, a peach, and more.
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Cat the Cat, Who Is That?
Charming and perfect for beginning readers, you’ll meet Cat the Cat’s friends like Mouse the Mouse, Duck the Duck, Fish the Fish, and even an unexpected alien friend.
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At the Beach
Simple sentences describe the wonders of the ocean and beach.
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Meet Biscuit!
Biscuit is a small, yellow dog who does not want to go to bed. He, like many kids you may know, wants a snack, a drink, a story, a hug, a blanket, and more — twice!
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Eggs and Chicks
Colorful photographs showcase information about how chicks grow inside the egg before they hatch as well as life after hatching.
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Vroom, Zoom, Bud
It’s race car Bud’s big race but he gets distracted by a mud puddle and must decide whether to keep racing or play in the puddle.
What other great reads would you recommend to beginning readers?