Today, we’re sharing our favorite books for the letter R. You can find all our letter of the week book lists and printables here as well as our Letter R Packs below:
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Books for Letter R
The books in this list feature these letter R words: red, riding, run, ring, roller coaster, ripe, row, Rosie’s, rain, rainbow, & rhinoceros.
If you’re going to read a fairy tale, reading James Marshall’s versions is the way to go! Red Riding Hood is no exception. While he sticks to the main story line, he has a way of inserting humor into the story, and sometimes I’m the only one that gets it. I will say that younger children may become frightened of granny and little red being eaten by the wolf, although the pictures don’t show it. Kids will love surprise on the last page!
The Gingerbread Man by Karen Schmidt is another classic. I love that the refrain rhymes as he sings, “Run, run as fast as you can…” Kids will enjoy reading this one any time of year, but Christmas time is usually when we read it. My kids all love singing the refrain with me…and it starts with R {run}!
Ring! Yo? by Chris Raschka, the author of Yo! Yes?, was a favorite the moment I read it. I love the open-endedness of the book, which can lead to some great conversations and/or stories written by kids. The premise of the book is that we, the readers, can only hear one side of the conversation and must infer the rest. Love it! {I do hate that it’s harder to find/purchase.}
Roller Coaster by Marla Frazee is a cute, little book about going on a roller coaster. I love the simple figurative language and how the pictures fill in some of the story, making them interactive in a sense. So cute!
The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood…oh my! SO adorable! My girls {ages 3 and almost 5} LOVE this book. I got excited every time I opened it to read it as a classroom teacher, too. It’s great for helping kids make inferences of emotions, words {such as disguise}, and who the narrator could be.
Row, Row, Row Your Boat by Jane Cabrera is another one of those rhyming books that you can sing, which is GREAT for kids in building that important pre-reading skill of phonological awareness. And Jane Cabrera has an entire set of these that all look fantastic {we have not read them all.}
Rosie’s Walk by Pat Hutchins is such a BRILLIANT book that teaches the use of prepositions in such a clever way. Rosie goes on a simple walk to stretch her legs, but the pictures tell such a fantastic story that will get kids giggling. That poor fox…
Rain by Robert Kalan was introduced to be about 12 years ago by another first grade teacher and I’m so glad she did! I’ve used this book in our rain units, with color word units, and spring-themed units. It’s a great one for kids to use a springboard to make their own rain books. And it’s a wonderfully predictable text for beginning readers, too!
Who Wants a Cheap Rhinoceros? is one of my Top 10 favorite books. The humor in it will get kids asking for you to read it again and again. My kids’ favorite page is, of course, the potty page. and my own 3rd grader knows this book well and even knows what a record player is {as it it mentioned in the book.} It’s also a great book on teaching about persuasive writing.
Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert is a good read about that teaches color words of the rainbow, but also the seasons, as the child and his/her mom plant in different seasons. It’s not a book that my kids ask me to re-read, but I still included it on my list because I like it. 🙂
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~Becky