Want to raise a child who loves reading? Start here! A parents' guide to the best children's books by age

When you're a busy parent, reading with your child can sometimes feel like the last item on a never-ending to do list. Yes you know that a child who reads at home is likely to have better educational and life outcomes, better developed empathy and creativity and ability to find belonging. 

You even know that reading with your child is a wonderful way to boost your bond, get them relaxed and ready for bed, and creates a comforting routine that will likely help them settle sooner so you can step out of their bedroom and get back to your work/clearing down the kitchen/time to be yourself and not 'on duty'.

But, there will be seasons when taking time to pause, snuggle up and share a book at bedtime can seem like a monumental effort (not least when you've just had a new baby and are struggling to divide your attention between two or more children). 

Reading doesn't have to be structured parent to child to make it count though. You can use Audiobooks that allow you to be the audience together, and we love Yoto for this. With cards for babies to tweens, we think the Yoto is the best audio player for kids out there, and yes the compact, easy-to-store Yoto Card format is a big selling point for us. 

Remember, reading with your child doesn't have to be at bedtime! Sitting on the sofa and sharing a story while you drink a cup of tea that's actually hot (well lukewarm maybe) is the sort of multitasking that parenting a toddler is all about. Or sitting with them while the bath runs, or the pasta cooks or any of the other short tasks that usually see you trying to stuff another chore in. Step away from the laundry basket and pick up a book. Even if you just share a few pages or simply look at the pictures together, it will be worth it. 

 

At Kinder Collective we've worked hard to ensure our Children's Book Nook is well-stocked with books that children from babies to tweens love. And because we know that reading for pleasure can easily drop off at certain stages, we're all about encouraging their own interests, breaking things down into manageable chunks and finding comfort in the familiar. 

 

Read on for a parents' guide to children's book formats by age, and click through to discover our favourites with classics and new publications covered. 

 

Board Books for Babies (0-1 Years)
Simple rhymes & rhythms, contrasting colours and engaging illustrations, simple interactive elements such as sturdy felt flaps and mirrors. Pages usually contain short sentences, sometimes just a single word.

Interactive Board Books (1-3 Years)
Push, pull, slide mechanisms to encourage fine motor skills, simple stories that follow a character, theme or plot. Making sense of the world and their day to day life, including potty training, new sibling, starting nursery. Vehicles, dinosaurs, food, music and animals are all popular themes. 

Picture Books (3-7 Years)
This is one of the most exciting categories: illustrations, characters and stories develop and we get into allegories and tales covering emotions, tricky situations such as loss and family change, surreal stories and fantasy elements.

Even as literacy develops in school age children, picture books remain a brilliant way to keep the pleasure of reading and build confidence, while they will feel comfort in revisiting familiar stories years after they 'should' have outgrown them. 

Short Stories  & Graphic Novels (5-8 Years)
Good habits are so often built on little and often routines, and short stories and graphic novels are a brilliant way to incorporate this into a KS1 age child's reading ability. We love playful short stories and funny graphic novels that feel like they're talking directly to the child. Simple illustrations break up the text and help them to get deeper into the story and characters. 

Non-fiction kids books are great to introduce at this age too, supporting and deepening their school learning and helping them identify the subjects they're interested in. 

Chapter Books (7+)
When they start reading chapter books independently it can feel like their learning-to-read journey is complete. But, it doesn't have to be, and we encourage you to stay involved in their reading so that you can provide practical help with context and definitions of tricky words, but also so that you can keep that beautiful bonding time. Allow them to read to you, or take it in turns. Read the same book alongside each other, or share a favourite from your own childhood and see how they react to it (and if you react differently to the material as an adult)

We find that there's a tricky point in the tweens, where once voracious readers suddenly start to lose interest, especially among boys who are less catered to than girls in this category and often have sports and active play pushed on them by society. If you're struggling with keeping a boy reading, remember that a relaxed, low-pressure environment, books that make reading feel fun (and not like homework) and that are related to their interests are really important.

For boys and girls, seeing parents and carers model reading for pleasure (a physical book or magazine, not on a screen), hearing them talk about books, and visiting bookshops and libraries together to put them in control of their own reading all make a world of difference when raising a child who loves reading.