Ask HN: What are you reading to your kids?

I was inspired by the other thread I saw today about books for adults. For those with young children, what are you reading to them these days? Any good science and technology books appropriate for age 5 or 6? Or other non-fiction?

I can strongly recommend "Mushrooms and Company" (https://greystonebooks.com/products/mushrooms-and-company). My five year old daughter and I really enjoyed it, and now I'm personally very interested in fungi as a result.

14 points | by jopizio 1 day ago

18 comments

kj4211cash 2 hours ago
Just wanted to give a shout out to PJ Library for anyone (willing to claim that they are) Jewish. There is a free service where they send a free book a month. I'm ethnically Jewish but not religious at all. Don't support the current Isreali regime at all. Etc. And I love the books. They are not religious books. My kids favorite one is about a penguin and an elephant and going to grandma's house for dinner.
thorin 3 hours ago
What I remember reading to my kids aged 5-10
The Hobbit
The Fellowship of the Ring (more for me but they liked to snuggle up and fall asleep to it)
Harry Potter 1-5 (the hardback versions with lots of pictures)
Eric the Viking - Terry Jones - a personal fav of mine
Various compendiums of Greek and Norse Myths
Dr Seuss books
What do people do all day - Richard Scarry
My son started reading the Beastquest books very early by himself and was happy to read independently from there. After that at around 8 he started reading diary of a wimpy kid and the 13 storey treehouse type books.
hefner1456 2 hours ago
Calvin & Hobbes, Big Nate, Wimpy Kid. Calvin and Hobbes literaly got him to make a clone machine and got me to play Calvinball with him. lol
lubujackson 8 hours ago
Cars and Trucks and Things That Go is a timeless classic, with a fair bit of real world info about how roads are consrructed and paved, and has a TON of re-readability.
How Did That Get in My Lunchbox? is an age-appropriate look at where food comes from and the effort it takes from farm to lunchbox. Fantastic for giving a glimpse of how the world works.
Human Body Theater is maybe a bit advanced for 5-6, but got a lot of mileage at our house. Think 7th grade human biology in a cute comic book form - depends on the kids, but ours were engrossed.
austin-cheney 1 day ago
When my kids were that age I read several of the Edge Chronicles. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Edge_Chronicles
My childhood favorite is the Dragonlance Twins trilogy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonlance_Legends
robobo96 4 hours ago
Only have a 1-year-old, but I can imagine reading Narnia to them when they're a bit older. Those books are amazing! Currently mostly reading Miffy (a classic in the Netherlands) and Peppa Pig ;)
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- kj4211cash 2 hours ago
  I'm in the same boat with 2-year-olds. It's been years but Narnia is very Christian / bible coded right? I guess it's fine to read to a little one, but I'd be kind of hoping that doesn't become their favorite book series. Or am I overreacting? I'm not letting my kids near Ayn Rand when they are older :p. Phantom Toolbooth would be great.
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  - kj4211cash 2 hours ago
    Just realizing the irony of me complaining about Narnia and recommending PJ Library in the same comment section. Yea, Narnia is probably fine.
meristohm 9 hours ago
Non-fiction: The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating
This prompted me to lay belly-down and listen to the snik-snik-snik sound of a slug munching grass.
atmosx 20 hours ago
Greek Mythology (PG-3 version), God bless Sir Fry for his books. They are amazing.
Fairy tales I make inspired by some famous tale, but using local geography (mountains, woods, local trees, etc.).
Kid loves both. While early on he was just falling asleep, these days I have to stop because between his excitement and the three million questions the narrative might take 1.5 hours...
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- happyrock 12 hours ago
  Mine love the D'Aulaire Book of Greek Myths and Book of Norse Myths. Can't get enough of 'em.
andon 16 hours ago
No kids, but I'm listening to His Dark Materials currently, and would recommend it to every parent. 5 and 6 might be a bit young for it, I would compare it to the third or fourth Harry Potter books in terms of maturity. Got great themes and messages too.
AnimalMuppet 2 hours ago
The Bravest Ever Bear.
The secret to writing a good childrens' book is writing something that an adult can read multiple times without going insane. The Bravest Ever Bear works by that metric.
By the way, note that His Dark Materials is atheist coded in the same way that Narnia is christian coded.
cpach 1 day ago
The Narnia books by CS Lewis are very good IMHO. But you might want to wait a year or two.
Jaoakfowkancnd 12 hours ago
Wizard of Oz to my 7 yo daughter and 4 yo son. They are just captured by the world and characters without ever seeing anything related to the movie.
trumbitta2 5 hours ago
The Hobbit
ifh-hn 21 hours ago
Skulduggery Pleasant currently.
Read Harry Potter obviously. And His Dark Materials.
tagwall 1 day ago
Give 'Rosie Revere, Engineer' a look
syzaree 15 hours ago
The Very Hungry Caterpillar ∞
4lx87 22 hours ago
We go to the library a few times a month and pick out new books. Our reading list is always changing. Buying new books is pretty expensive, as we don't read most books repeatedly for more than a week or two.
Frog & Toad series by Arnold Lobel is a favorite.
x52044893 1 day ago
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