Picture books for EYFS and KS1

Picture books are great for all ages. It is a huge privilege in my role as a specialist children’s bookseller to learn from educators in a range of settings how they share and use picture books across all ages in primary schools. 

I have 15 years experience of sharing picture books, first as a parent, then as an independent children’s bookseller for 9 years. With many competing demands in EYFS and KS1 it sometimes feel the sharing of picture books and why we do it gets muddled.

Not all picture books are as good as each other, the quality of both the text and pictures matter, so does the way they work together to tell the story. What young children also need is to be read aloud stories, which make them eager for you to turn the next page, stories that encourage them to join in and be excited about what will happen next in the story. If you choose the right books, the same picture books will also help develop a range of literacy skills. 

Some things I have noticed about picture books:

• • When surveys are carried out on teachers knowledge of texts they highlight lack of awareness of a variety of key stage two authors. But, there seems to be  little mention of picture book authors AND illustrators. 

• • Stories where the main characters are not human are often under represented in school book collections for young children. This could be an animal main character or something else (eg. crayon, vegetable, toy, cake). Yet many of these stories are great at engaging young children and have just as rich empathy themes. When my own children were  3 to 7 years old, most of their favourite stories were ones that didn’t have human main characters. 

I am passionate about making it easier for children, their parents and those that work in primary schools to find the right book for a particular child or group of children.  I have hand-picked 42 books to introduce you to some of the best children’s authors and illustrators and a variety of texts to enable you to explore what picture books can offer the young children you work with. 

In the collections below there are:

• • 17 stories with main characters that are animals
  • 11 with animal and human main characters
  • 7 with human main characters
  • 4 with other main characters (e.g cake, crayon, toy).
  • 3 Non-Fiction books 

Picture Books Informal CPD for Staff and Discounted books 

I know that when choosing picture books being able to see or ‘view them’ can make a big difference in helping you choose the right books for you setting.

So I’d be very happy to organise a session of up to 70 minutes in person or online (via Zoom) for a small group of your staff to see and choose some books from this picture book collection. Prices start at £60 for 12 books, which must be payed upfront when booking the session. 

Please Contact Me to discuss your needs. 

Melissa x