Our Favourite Children's Picture Books

It's raining and blowing a gale here on what was meant to be a beautiful summer's day. Hmmm how to keep the kids occupied? We decided to pull out all our favourite books and cosy up under a blanket in our teepee tent. 

We have so many special books that we love to read time and time again and in case you're looking for some recommendations, we've compiled a list!

Title	Author(s)	Age	Comments
For Just One Day	Laura Leuck and Marc Boutavant	1.5+	Beautiful retro feel to the illustrations. Writing feels a bit like Dr. Seuss with a good message about liking who you are
All Through the Year	Jane Godwin	2+	Great illustrations and a fun way to learn about the calendar year
Moon Rabbit	Natalie Russell	2.5+	Pretty illustrations with a whimsical feel, story about friendship
Brown Rabbit in the City	Natalie Russell	2.5+	Pretty illustrations with a whimsical feel, story about friendship
The Snail and the Whale	Julia Donaldson	2.5+	Story about helping others and living your dreams
Me...Jane	Patrick McDonnell	2+	Simple but sweet book about the life of Jane Goodall and following your dreams
The Splat the Cat Books	Rob Scotton	2+	fun, sweet characters with a subltle underlining lesson
Anything Dr. Seuss	Dr. Seuss	All :)	Crazy, fun illustration with equally fanciful stories
This Moose Belongs to Me	Oliver Jeffers	2.5-5	Everyone has fed that stray cat that they thought had adopted them only to find out everyone in the neighborhood was too.
The Great Paper Caper by Oliver Jeffers	Oliver Jeffers	2+	All Jeffer's books are simply written and let the reader expand on his ideas and explain his illustrations. Great books for using imaginations.
The Book Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers	Oliver Jeffers	2.5+	Knowledge is power but it also gives the book eating boy a very sore tummy ;)
How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers	Oliver Jeffers	2+	Sweet simple story with simple but lovely illustrations
Stuck by Oliver Jeffers	Oliver Jeffers	2+	One, two, three, four how many things will he throw into the tree to finially dislodge his kite
The Heart and the Bottle	Oliver Jeffers	2.5+	a sweet book about dealing with loss explained mostly through the illustrations
Lost and Found	Oliver Jeffers	1.5+	A sweet simple story about finding friendship
The Way Back Home	Oliver Jeffers	1.5+	Perfect for any kid who loves space, space ships or martians
Feathers for Phoebe	Rod Clement	3+	a great Australian book about not trying to change yourself to fit in, not conforming
Edwina the Emu	Sheena Knowles	2+	another fantastic Australian book about appreciating what you have
LMNO Peas	Keith Baker	2.5+	not your normal alphabet book
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On	Jenny Slate and Dean Fleischer-Camp	3+	very funny with short films found on youtube to accompany book
The Tilly and Friends books	Polly Dunbar	1.5 -3	simply illustrated with fun characters like Pru
Children Make Terrible Pets	Peter Brown	2.5-5	great illustrations and fun story
You Will Be My Friend	Peter Brown	2+	great illustrations in the style of his other books and a funny read
The Curious Garden	Peter Brown	2+	lovely illustrations and kind story about seeing potential and taking care of things
Little Owl Lost	Chris Haughton	1-2.5	sweet story and lovely retro feel to the illustrations
The Book About Moomin, Mymble and Little My	Tove Jansson	3+	Fantastic illustrations and beautifully written and fun to read aloud
Any Alison Lester Book	Alison Lester	2+	Imagine is great for learning about different animals, and her other books are great Australian children's books
Any of the Ella Bella Ballerina Books	James Mayhew	3+	Fanstastic introduction to famous classical ballets, perfect for any little ballerina
Fancy Nancy Explorer Extraordinaire	by Jane O'Conner	4+	Fancy Nancy books are great for older girls as the books introduce a more 'fancy' vocabulary
Can I Cuddle the Moon	Kerry Brown	1-2.5	Very beautifully illustrated and sweet story for very little ones
A Book of Sleep	Il Sung Na	1-2.	Very beautifully illustrated and sweet story for very little ones
Harry the Dirty Dog	Gene Zion	2+	Classic and fun
Iggy Peck Architect	Andrea Beaty	3+	A story about following dreams
Mr. McGee and the Big Bag of Bread	Pamela Allen	2+	Funny story from a classic author
Josephine Wants to Dance	Jackie French	2.5+	Any little dancer will love this story about following their dreams
The Very Hungry Caterpillar	Eric Carle	1+	A classic and for good reason, cleverly illustrated and simple but effective story

These are only the tip of the ice berg but are the one's that we seem to keep going back to (some umpteen million times!). What are your favourite children's picture books?

Happy Reading!