The 50 Best Books for
5- and 6-Year-Olds
by Melissa Taylor
There’s so much happening with 5- and 6-year-olds. They’re learning to tie their shoes, practicing cutting out shapes with scissors, some are even ready to ride a bike. There’s a big continuum of development at these ages, and that applies to children’s reading development, too. Some kids are not yet ready to read, while others are reading independently. And that’s as it should be, according to both developmental and literacy experts.
No matter where your child is on this developmental continuum, here you’ll discover the best books to encourage their love of reading. Each book has been carefully selected by our group of experts.
Since we also think that finding books in a series is like discovering buried treasure, we’ve put *asterisks* next to the titles that are part of a larger series.
So whether your 5- or 6-year-old is building their reading foundation with picture books or reading chapter books on their own, here are our go-to books to entice, entertain, and educate.
Heading out to your local library or bookstore? You can download the full version of the list here.
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Picture Books
Sharing a story with your child is always worth it. Whether they can read independently or not, reading aloud is a special experience. It also helps to build their literacy foundations and keep them engaged with reading.
It’s a good idea to keep picture books in the mix even as your child’s reading skills grow, as they offer kids a greater variety of reading choices and have a strong visual appeal.
This list of picture books contains a variety of genres, kid-appealing topics, captivating illustrations, and diverse characters. Best of all, they’re well written and kids love them.
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Beginning Readers
It’s exciting when your child starts to read! Now they’re learning sight words, or words to know at a glance, and the books they’re reading contain these words. At this stage, it’s helpful for them to read books that map to their background knowledge or areas of interest.
Beginning reading books start with a few simple words or phrases per page. As your child grows in their ability, the difficulty increases. The phrases become sentences and eventually paragraphs. Start with the easier beginning books first and adjust as your child progresses.
If you’re curious about the specific reading level of a book, you can check its level here or ask your child’s teacher.
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Go, Dog. Go!
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Early Chapter Books & Graphic Novels
Chapter books are the Holy Grail for growing readers. Kids want so badly to be like the big kids. But don’t rush. Joy can easily turn to frustration if your child isn’t ready. When they are ready, we think they’ll devour these books.
We’ve vetted our list to include books with boys, girls, robots, magic, diverse characters, and child-friendly topics. Even better, all of these books are in a series. So if they like one, your child has more to read by the same author.
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Get the printable version of the list.
Explore our 50 Best series to get great recommendations for other ages.
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in 2015 and updated in 2025.