Best Books for Ages 3-5 in 2016

Recommended picture books for pre-schoolers and early readers, ranked by real Amazon UK sales during 2016.

“Guess How Much I Love You” by Sam McBratney was the best-selling book for ages 3-5 in 2016, ahead of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar [Board Book]” and “The Tiger Who Came to Tea”. 93 of the 94 books below hold an average rating of 4.5 stars or better, led by “Dogger” on 4.9 stars from 1,363 reviews.

Ranked by how well each book actually sold on Amazon UK across 2016 — not by our opinion, and not by how they sell today.

Ages 3-5 Ages 6-8 →

2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026

Guess How Much I Love You: This bestselling classic is the p...

by Sam McBratney

4.8 · 10007 reviews

The Very Hungry Caterpillar [Board Book]

by Eric Carle

4.8 · 97597 reviews

The Tiger Who Came to Tea

by Judith Kerr

4.8 · 16444 reviews

The Day The Crayons Quit: A Funny Picture Book About Express...

by Drew Daywalt

4.8 · 24398 reviews

Giraffes Can't Dance

by Giles Andreae

4.8 · 11281 reviews

We're Going on a Bear Hunt: The bestselling classic family f...

by Michael Rosen

4.8 · 5264 reviews

Oi Frog! (Oi Frog and Friends)

by Kes Gray

4.8 · 4480 reviews

Where's Spot?: Eric Hill (Spot - Original Lift The Flap)

by Eric Hill

4.8 · 36139 reviews

Where The Wild Things Are

by Maurice Sendak

4.8 · 36484 reviews

The Dinosaur that Pooped a Planet!: A laugh-out-loud rhyming...

by Dougie Poynter

4.8 · 4247 reviews

The Very Hungry Caterpillar: Eric Carle

by Eric Carle

4.8 · 97583 reviews

Mog the Forgetful Cat: Everybody’s favourite cat – as seen o...

by Judith Kerr

4.7 · 2740 reviews

Elmer: Beloved classic bestselling picture book celebrating ...

by David McKee

4.8 · 6441 reviews

The Tale of Peter Rabbit: Rediscover the classic children's ...

by Beatrix Potter

4.7 · 14763 reviews

The Book With No Pictures: A Hilarious Read Out Loud Book fo...

by B. J. Novak

4.7 · 19997 reviews

Lost and Found: A beautiful children’s picture book from int...

by Oliver Jeffers

4.8 · 3915 reviews

I Want My Hat Back: "The funniest book ever written" - Guard...

by Jon Klassen

4.8 · 5380 reviews

Beautiful Oops!

by Barney Saltzberg

4.8 · 4390 reviews

The Bear and the Piano

by David Litchfield

4.8 · 1758 reviews

The Pirates Next Door (Jonny Duddle)

by Jonny Duddle

4.8 · 1174 reviews

Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes: The bestselling mode...

by Mem Fox

4.8 · 3124 reviews

Dogger: the much-loved children’s classic

by Shirley Hughes

4.9 · 1363 reviews

The Rainbow Fish: The international bestselling picture book...

by Marcus Pfister

4.8 · 4006 reviews

Badger's Parting Gifts: 40th Anniversary Edition of a pictur...

4.8 · 1457 reviews

That's Not My Monkey: 1

by Fiona Watt

4.8 · 1201 reviews

Handa's Surprise: A classic read-aloud picture book, loved b...

by Eileen Browne

4.8 · 2326 reviews

Man on the Moon: a day in the life of Bob (Bartram, Simon Se...

by Simon Bartram

4.7 · 745 reviews

The Most Magnificent Thing: 1

by Ashley Spires

4.7 · 4285 reviews

It's Okay To Be Different

4.7 · 2588 reviews

Beegu

by Alexis Deacon

4.7 · 836 reviews

Oh No, George!: A hilarious read-aloud classic about a dog t...

by Chris Haughton

4.8 · 1481 reviews

Only One You

by Linda Kranz

4.6 · 2598 reviews

Mixed Up Fairy Tales: Split-Page Book

by Hilary Robinson and Nick Sharratt

4.6 · 441 reviews

Meg and Mog: A magical Halloween picture book classic

by Helen Nicoll

4.8 · 1033 reviews

Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs (Harry and the Dinosaur...

by Ian Whybrow

4.6 · 1105 reviews

Can't You Sleep, Little Bear?: A beloved classic picture boo...

by Martin Waddell

4.8 · 1440 reviews

Please Mr Panda

by Steve Antony

4.5 · 1228 reviews

Dave's Cave

by Frann Preston-Gannon

4.6 · 81 reviews

Would You Rather?

by John Burningham

4.7 · 359 reviews

The Storm Whale

by Benji Davies

4.8 · 1256 reviews

The Dark

by Lemony Snicket

4.6 · 1145 reviews

Princess Smartypants

by Babette Cole

4.7 · 346 reviews

Silly Billy

by Anthony Browne

4.8 · 458 reviews

Six Dinner Sid

by Inga Moore

4.8 · 1715 reviews

Dinosaurs and All That Rubbish

by Michael Foreman

4.7 · 286 reviews

Grandad's Island: Benji Davies

by Benji Davies

4.8 · 1300 reviews

Dogs Don't Do Ballet

by Anna Kemp

4.7 · 577 reviews

One Snowy Night (A Tale from Percy's Park)

by Nick Butterworth

4.9 · 2768 reviews

Until I Met Dudley: How everyday things really work

by Roger McGough and Chris Riddell

4.7 · 186 reviews

Spot's Birthday Party: A lift-the-flap board book for toddle...

by Eric Hill

4.8 · 1778 reviews

We Are All Born Free: The Universal Declaration of Human Rig...

4.7 · 328 reviews

Home: A touching tribute to the various places we call home ...

by Carson Ellis

4.7 · 992 reviews

In My Heart: A Book of Feelings (Growing Hearts)

by Jo Witek

4.8 · 8956 reviews

Something Else

by Kathryn Cave and Chris Riddell

4.7 · 217 reviews

Amazing Grace

by Mary Hoffman

4.8 · 1159 reviews

The Blue Balloon

by Mick Inkpen

4.3 · 179 reviews

On Sudden Hill

by Linda Sarah

4.7 · 299 reviews

Meerkat Mail

4.7 · 785 reviews

The Lion Inside: From The World of Rachel Bright & Jim Field

by Rachel Bright

4.8 · 9319 reviews

That Rabbit Belongs To Emily Brown

by Cressida Cowell

4.6 · 355 reviews

Blown Away: From bestselling author and illustrator Rob Bidd...

by Rob Biddulph

4.8 · 374 reviews

Pumpkin Soup: Celebrate 25 years of this timeless classic: 1

by Helen Cooper

4.7 · 1395 reviews

My World, Your World

by Melanie Walsh

4.5 · 109 reviews

How to Hide a Lion: an international bestselling modern clas...

by Helen Stephens

4.8 · 264 reviews

Wild

by Emily Hughes

4.7 · 731 reviews

Claude in the City

by Alex T. Smith

4.7 · 333 reviews

Toys in Space

by Mini Grey

4.6 · 251 reviews

The Snowman

by Raymond Briggs

4.6 · 968 reviews

Big Red Bath

4.6 · 505 reviews

Knuffle Bunny

4.8 · 2896 reviews

Ada Twist, Scientist (The Questioneers): 1

by Andrea Beaty

4.8 · 5155 reviews

Under the Ocean (Pop Up Book)

by Anouck Boisrobert and Louis Rigaud

4.8 · 314 reviews

Lila and the Secret of Rain: 1

4.7 · 225 reviews

The Snowy Day (Picture Puffin Books)

by Ezra Jack Keats

4.8 · 10543 reviews

Tree (A Peek-Through Nature Picture Board Book): Seasons Com...

by Patricia Hegarty

4.8 · 656 reviews

George Saves The World By Lunchtime (George and Flora)

by Dr Jo Readman and Ley Honor Roberts

4.7 · 106 reviews

A Dark, Dark Tale

by Ruth Brown

4.8 · 554 reviews

Hooray for Fish!: From the creator of Maisy – now on TV! A c...

by Lucy Cousins

4.8 · 1175 reviews

Not A Box: A Beautifully Illustrated Children's Book About t...

by Antoinette Portis

4.7 · 1823 reviews

Rosie's Walk

by Pat Hutchins

4.7 · 999 reviews

The Wonder

by Faye Hanson

4.7 · 122 reviews

The Gruffalo: The classic rhyming picture book adventure and...

by Julia Donaldson

4.9 · 31535 reviews

Polly and the Puffin: Book 1

by Jenny Colgan and Thomas Docherty

4.5 · 141 reviews

The Colour Monster: Celebrating 10 years of The Colour Monst...

4.8 · 17667 reviews

Emily Brown and the Thing

by Cressida Cowell and Neal Layton

4.6 · 145 reviews

Squishy McFluff: The Invisible Cat!: 1

by Pip Jones

4.6 · 132 reviews

Hugless Douglas

by David Melling

4.7 · 316 reviews

A Seed Is Sleepy: (Nature Books for Kids, Environmental Scie...

by Dianna Aston and Sylvia Long

4.7 · 1457 reviews

And Tango Makes Three

by Peter Parnell

4.8 · 3123 reviews

Ten in the Bed

by Penny Dale

4.8 · 614 reviews

Miffy at the Zoo

by Dick Bruna

4.8 · 178 reviews

Leon and Bob

by Simon James

4.6 · 67 reviews

10 Things I Can Do to Help My World

by Melanie Walsh

4.8 · 236 reviews

So Much

by Oxenbury Helen Cooke Trish

4.8 · 1143 reviews

Best Books for Ages 6-8 (2016) Early chapter books and illustrated fiction Best Books for Ages 9-12 (2016) Middle-grade fiction for confident readers

FAQs

What were the best books for ages 3-5 in 2016?
The best-selling book for ages 3-5 in 2016 was "Guess How Much I Love You: This bestselling classic is the perfect gift for babies, toddlers and any little loved one!", measured on real Amazon UK sales rank across 2016. See the full top 94 below.

How is this list ranked?
By real Amazon UK sales rank averaged across 2016 specifically, so it reflects what actually sold to this age group during that year rather than what sells today.