Best Books for Ages 3-5 in 2021

Recommended picture books for pre-schoolers and early readers, ranked by real Amazon UK sales during 2021.

“The Very Hungry Caterpillar [Board Book]” by Eric Carle was the best-selling book for ages 3-5 in 2021, ahead of “Giraffes Can't Dance” and “Where's Spot?”. 100 of the 100 books below hold an average rating of 4.5 stars or better, led by “The Gruffalo” on 4.9 stars from 31,535 reviews.

Ranked by how well each book actually sold on Amazon UK across 2021 — 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

The Very Hungry Caterpillar [Board Book]

by Carle, Eric

4.8 · 97597 reviews

Giraffes Can't Dance

by Andreae, Giles

4.8 · 11281 reviews

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

by Hill, Eric

4.8 · 36139 reviews

The Tiger Who Came to Tea

by Kerr, Judith

4.8 · 16444 reviews

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

by McBratney, Sam

4.8 · 10007 reviews

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

4.8 · 17667 reviews

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

by Bright, Rachel

4.8 · 9319 reviews

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

by Daywalt, Drew

4.8 · 24398 reviews

There's a Monster in Your Book

by Fletcher, Tom

4.8 · 8324 reviews

Ruby’s Worry: A Big Bright Feelings Book

by Percival, Tom

4.8 · 3619 reviews

Oi Frog! (Oi Frog and Friends)

by Gray, Kes

4.8 · 4480 reviews

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

by Rosen, Michael

4.8 · 5264 reviews

Elmer: Beloved classic bestselling picture book celebrating ...

by McKee, David

4.8 · 6441 reviews

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

by Fox, Mem

4.8 · 3124 reviews

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

by Novak, B. J.

4.7 · 19997 reviews

Where The Wild Things Are

by Sendak, Maurice

4.8 · 36484 reviews

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

by Donaldson, Julia

4.9 · 31535 reviews

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

by Poynter, Dougie

4.8 · 4247 reviews

Peace at Last: A funny family bedtime book, perfect for tire...

by Murphy, Jill

4.8 · 3369 reviews

All Are Welcome

by Penfold, Alexandra

4.8 · 1857 reviews

Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy (Hairy Maclary and Frie...

by Dodd, Lynley

4.8 · 2830 reviews

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

by Jeffers, Oliver

4.8 · 3915 reviews

The Very Hungry Caterpillar: Eric Carle

by Carle, Eric

4.8 · 97583 reviews

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

by Browne, Eileen

4.8 · 2326 reviews

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

by Kerr, Judith

4.7 · 2740 reviews

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

by Marcus Pfister

4.8 · 4006 reviews

Julian Is a Mermaid: The ground-breaking and award-winning L...

by Love, Jessica

4.8 · 4436 reviews

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

4.8 · 1457 reviews

The Bear and the Piano

by Litchfield, David

4.8 · 1758 reviews

Dogger: the much-loved children’s classic

by Hughes, Shirley

4.9 · 1363 reviews

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

by Klassen, Jon

4.8 · 5380 reviews

Six Dinner Sid

by Moore, Inga

4.8 · 1715 reviews

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

by Witek, Jo

4.8 · 8956 reviews

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

by Butterworth, Nick

4.9 · 2768 reviews

Grandad's Island: Benji Davies

by Davies, Benji

4.8 · 1300 reviews

Somebody Swallowed Stanley

by Roberts, Sarah, Peck, Hannah

4.8 · 924 reviews

Ada Twist, Scientist (The Questioneers): 1

by Beaty, Andrea

4.8 · 5155 reviews

Beegu

by Deacon, Alexis

4.7 · 836 reviews

You're Called What?

by Gray, Kes

4.8 · 1310 reviews

The Storm Whale

by Davies, Benji

4.8 · 1256 reviews

Rain Before Rainbows: An uplifting picture book about optimi...

by Halls, Smriti

4.6 · 1603 reviews

Mixed: An Inspiring Story About Colour

by Chung, Arree

4.9 · 3199 reviews

Greta and the Giants: inspired by Greta Thunberg's stand to ...

by Tucker, Zoë

4.7 · 1008 reviews

Meerkat Mail

4.7 · 785 reviews

The Pirates Next Door (Jonny Duddle)

by Duddle, Jonny

4.8 · 1174 reviews

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

by Bartram, Simon

4.7 · 745 reviews

Odd Dog Out: A bestselling story all about standing out and ...

by Biddulph, Rob

4.8 · 817 reviews

The Littlest Yak: The perfect book to snuggle up with!

by Fraser, Lu

4.8 · 638 reviews

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

by Hill, Eric

4.8 · 1778 reviews

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

by Potter, Beatrix

4.7 · 14763 reviews

Chocolate Cake

by Rosen, Michael

4.7 · 482 reviews

After the Fall: How Humpty Dumpty got back up again

by Santat, Dan

4.7 · 4190 reviews

Be Kind

by Zietlow Miller, Pat

4.7 · 4260 reviews

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

by Haughton, Chris

4.8 · 1481 reviews

Beautiful Oops!

by Saltzberg, Barney

4.8 · 4390 reviews

The Paper Bag Princess (Classic Munsch)

by Robert Munsch

4.7 · 5895 reviews

Mr Wolf's Pancakes: The hilarious classic illustrated childr...

by Fearnley, Jan

4.8 · 1159 reviews

The Pirate Mums

by Lydia Corry

4.7 · 291 reviews

What Happened to You?: 1

by Catchpole, James, George, Karen

4.8 · 530 reviews

Dogs Don't Do Ballet

by Kemp, Anna

4.7 · 577 reviews

Meg and Mog: A magical Halloween picture book classic

by Nicoll, Helen

4.8 · 1033 reviews

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

by Waddell, Martin

4.8 · 1440 reviews

That's Not My Monkey: 1

by Fiona Watt

4.8 · 1201 reviews

Rosie's Walk

by Hutchins, Pat

4.7 · 999 reviews

The Perfect Fit (Readerful: Books for Sharing)

by Jones, Naomi

4.7 · 320 reviews

It's Okay To Be Different

4.7 · 2588 reviews

Tidy: A funny story about the importance of trees, by the aw...

by Gravett, Emily

4.8 · 520 reviews

Only One You

by Kranz, Linda

4.6 · 2598 reviews

I Will Not Ever Never Eat A Tomato (Charlie and Lola)

by Child, Lauren

4.6 · 961 reviews

Hotel Flamingo: The flamboyantly fun animal adventure!

by Milway, Alex

4.8 · 505 reviews

All the Ways to be Smart: the beautifully illustrated intern...

by Bell, Davina

4.8 · 827 reviews

Leaf

by Sandra Dieckmann

4.7 · 292 reviews

Coming to England: An Inspiring True Story Celebrating the W...

by Benjamin, Baroness Floella

4.7 · 697 reviews

Kitty and the Moonlight Rescue

by Harrison, Paula

4.8 · 984 reviews

Which Food Will You Choose?: An entertaining story to entice...

by Potter, Claire

4.6 · 306 reviews

Would You Rather?

by Burningham, John

4.7 · 359 reviews

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

by Whybrow, Ian

4.6 · 1105 reviews

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

by Biddulph, Rob, Biddulph, Rob

4.8 · 374 reviews

Mister Magnolia: Celebrate Quentin Blake’s 90th Birthday

by Blake, Quentin

4.7 · 401 reviews

There's a Rang-Tan in My Bedroom

by Sellick, James, Preston-Gannon, Frann

4.8 · 362 reviews

Welcome to Our World: A Celebration of Children Everywhere!

by Moira Butterfield, Harriet Lynas, Harriet Lynas

4.8 · 744 reviews

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

by Hegarty, Patricia

4.8 · 656 reviews

Triangle: A SHAPE trilogy story for 3, 4, 5, 6 year olds fro...

by Barnett, Mac, Klassen, Jon

4.8 · 1175 reviews

The Most Magnificent Thing: 1

by Ashley Spires

4.7 · 4285 reviews

There's a Tiger in the Garden: 1

by Stewart, Lizzy

4.8 · 431 reviews

Izzy Gizmo

by Jones, Pip

4.8 · 442 reviews

Mixed Up Fairy Tales: Split-Page Book

by Robinson, Hilary, Sharratt, Nick

4.6 · 441 reviews

The Dark

by Snicket, Lemony

4.6 · 1145 reviews

Princess Smartypants

by Cole, Babette

4.7 · 346 reviews

That Rabbit Belongs To Emily Brown

by Cowell, Cressida

4.6 · 355 reviews

Claude in the City

by Smith, Alex T.

4.7 · 333 reviews

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

by Cousins, Lucy

4.8 · 1175 reviews

On Sudden Hill

by Sarah, Linda

4.7 · 299 reviews

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

by Ellis, Carson

4.7 · 992 reviews

And Tango Makes Three

by Parnell, Peter

4.8 · 3123 reviews

Silly Billy

by Browne, Anthony, Browne, Anthony

4.8 · 458 reviews

Amazing Grace

by Hoffman, Mary

4.8 · 1159 reviews

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

by Cooper, Helen, Cooper, Helen

4.7 · 1395 reviews

Lila and the Secret of Rain: 1

4.7 · 225 reviews

The Darkest Dark

by Hadfield, Chris

4.6 · 1329 reviews

Best Books for Ages 6-8 (2021) Early chapter books and illustrated fiction Best Books for Ages 9-12 (2021) Middle-grade fiction for confident readers

FAQs

What were the best books for ages 3-5 in 2021?
The best-selling book for ages 3-5 in 2021 was "The Very Hungry Caterpillar [Board Book]", measured on real Amazon UK sales rank across 2021. See the full top 100 below.

How is this list ranked?
By real Amazon UK sales rank averaged across 2021 specifically, so it reflects what actually sold to this age group during that year rather than what sells today.