Best Books for Ages 3-5 in 2024

Recommended picture books for pre-schoolers and early readers, ranked by real Amazon UK sales during 2024.

“The Very Hungry Caterpillar [Board Book]” by Eric Carle was the best-selling book for ages 3-5 in 2024, ahead of “Guess How Much I Love You” and “Dear Zoo”. 99 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 2024 — 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 Eric Carle

4.8 · 97597 reviews

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

by Sam McBratney

4.8 · 10007 reviews

Dear Zoo: The Lift-the-flap Preschool Classic

by Rod Campbell

4.8 · 31796 reviews

The Tiger Who Came to Tea

by Judith Kerr

4.8 · 16444 reviews

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

by Rachel Bright

4.8 · 9319 reviews

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

by Michael Rosen

4.8 · 5264 reviews

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

4.8 · 17667 reviews

Elmer: Beloved classic bestselling picture book celebrating ...

by David McKee

4.8 · 6441 reviews

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

by Eric Hill

4.8 · 36139 reviews

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

by Mem Fox

4.8 · 3124 reviews

The Very Hungry Caterpillar: Eric Carle

by Eric Carle

4.8 · 97583 reviews

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

by Marcus Pfister

4.8 · 4006 reviews

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

by Julia Donaldson

4.9 · 31535 reviews

Here We Are: The phenomenal international bestseller from Ol...

by Oliver Jeffers

4.8 · 6187 reviews

Ruby’s Worry: A Big Bright Feelings Book

by Tom Percival

4.8 · 3619 reviews

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

by B. J. Novak

4.7 · 19997 reviews

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

by Drew Daywalt

4.8 · 24398 reviews

Oi Frog! (Oi Frog and Friends)

by Kes Gray

4.8 · 4480 reviews

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

by Dougie Poynter

4.8 · 4247 reviews

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

by Jill Murphy

4.8 · 3369 reviews

Once Upon A Fairytale: A Choose-Your-Own Fairytale Adventure

by Natalia O'Hara

4.6 · 268 reviews

There's a Monster in Your Book

by Tom Fletcher

4.8 · 8324 reviews

Where The Wild Things Are

by Maurice Sendak

4.8 · 36484 reviews

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

by Oliver Jeffers

4.8 · 3915 reviews

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

by Lynley Dodd

4.8 · 2830 reviews

Giraffes Can't Dance

by Giles Andreae

4.8 · 11281 reviews

A Dress with Pockets: Pockets lead to adventure in this fash...

by Lily Murray

4.8 · 300 reviews

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

4.8 · 1457 reviews

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

by Jon Klassen

4.8 · 5380 reviews

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

by Eileen Browne

4.8 · 2326 reviews

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

by Martin Waddell

4.8 · 1440 reviews

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

by Judith Kerr

4.7 · 2740 reviews

Find Your Happy: The reassuring and positive picture book ab...

by Emily Coxhead

4.8 · 540 reviews

The Pirates Next Door (Jonny Duddle)

by Jonny Duddle

4.8 · 1174 reviews

Dogger: the much-loved children’s classic

by Shirley Hughes

4.9 · 1363 reviews

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

by Nick Butterworth

4.9 · 2768 reviews

Six Dinner Sid

by Inga Moore

4.8 · 1715 reviews

Love Makes a Family (It's Cool to be Kind)

by Sophie Beer

4.7 · 474 reviews

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

by Smriti Halls

4.6 · 1603 reviews

Martha Maps It Out (Readerful: Books for Sharing)

by Leigh Hodgkinson

4.5 · 137 reviews

The Bear and the Piano

by David Litchfield

4.8 · 1758 reviews

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

by Beatrix Potter

4.7 · 14763 reviews

The Lighthouse Keeper's Lunch: The bestselling series is now...

by Ronda Armitage

4.8 · 753 reviews

The Storm Whale

by Benji Davies

4.8 · 1256 reviews

Barbara Throws a Wobbler

by Nadia Shireen

4.8 · 579 reviews

Beegu

by Alexis Deacon

4.7 · 836 reviews

Grandad's Island: Benji Davies

by Benji Davies

4.8 · 1300 reviews

You're Called What?

by Kes Gray

4.8 · 1310 reviews

You Choose Christmas: A new story every time – what will YOU...

by Pippa Goodhart

4.8 · 341 reviews

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

by Claire Potter

4.6 · 306 reviews

Hotel Flamingo: The flamboyantly fun animal adventure!

by Alex Milway

4.8 · 505 reviews

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

by Simon Bartram

4.7 · 745 reviews

Mixed: An Inspiring Story About Colour

by Arree Chung

4.9 · 3199 reviews

After the Fall: How Humpty Dumpty got back up again

by Dan Santat

4.7 · 4190 reviews

Jonty Gentoo: The Adventures of a Penguin - The Number One B...

by Julia Donaldson

4.8 · 1274 reviews

All Are Welcome

by Alexandra Penfold

4.8 · 1857 reviews

Meerkat Mail

4.7 · 785 reviews

Everything Under the Sun: a curious question for every day o...

by Molly Oldfield

4.8 · 669 reviews

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

by Jo Witek

4.8 · 8956 reviews

Dogs Don't Do Ballet

by Anna Kemp

4.7 · 577 reviews

And Tango Makes Three

by Peter Parnell

4.8 · 3123 reviews

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

by Baroness Floella Benjamin

4.7 · 697 reviews

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

by Jessica Love

4.8 · 4436 reviews

Britannica First Big Book of Why: Why can't penguins fly? Wh...

by Sally Symes

4.8 · 273 reviews

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

by Chris Haughton

4.8 · 1481 reviews

Arlo The Lion Who Couldn't Sleep

by Catherine Rayner

4.8 · 457 reviews

No Matter What: The Anniversary Edition

by Debi Gliori

4.7 · 2968 reviews

Chocolate Cake

by Michael Rosen

4.7 · 482 reviews

The Perfect Fit (Readerful: Books for Sharing)

by Naomi Jones

4.7 · 320 reviews

Poems Aloud: An anthology of poems to read out loud (1) (Poe...

by Joseph Coelho

4.4 · 162 reviews

Ada Twist, Scientist (The Questioneers): 1

by Andrea Beaty

4.8 · 5155 reviews

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

by Emily Gravett

4.8 · 520 reviews

Beautiful Oops!

by Barney Saltzberg

4.8 · 4390 reviews

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

by Patricia Hegarty

4.8 · 656 reviews

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

by Ian Whybrow

4.6 · 1105 reviews

Rosie's Walk

by Pat Hutchins

4.7 · 999 reviews

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

by Helen Cooper

4.7 · 1395 reviews

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

by Jan Fearnley

4.8 · 1159 reviews

Octopus Shocktopus!

by Peter Bently

4.9 · 192 reviews

Dragon Post: The perfect enchanting gift book with fun lift-...

by Emma Yarlett

4.8 · 612 reviews

Somebody Swallowed Stanley

by Sarah Roberts and Hannah Peck

4.8 · 924 reviews

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

by Rob Biddulph

4.8 · 817 reviews

The Rabbit Listened

by Cori Doerrfeld

4.9 · 774 reviews

Toys in Space

by Mini Grey

4.6 · 251 reviews

Tadpole's Promise

by Jeanne Willis

4.7 · 506 reviews

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

by Lucy Cousins

4.8 · 1175 reviews

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

by Zoë Tucker

4.7 · 1008 reviews

Would You Rather?

by John Burningham

4.7 · 359 reviews

That's Not My Monkey: 1

by Fiona Watt

4.8 · 1201 reviews

The Paper Bag Princess (Classic Munsch)

by Robert Munsch

4.7 · 5895 reviews

The Dark

by Lemony Snicket

4.6 · 1145 reviews

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

by Eric Hill

4.8 · 1778 reviews

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

by Davina Bell

4.8 · 827 reviews

The Pirate Mums

by Lydia Corry

4.7 · 291 reviews

Kitty and the Moonlight Rescue

by Paula Harrison

4.8 · 984 reviews

How to be a Lion

by Ed Vere

4.7 · 548 reviews

The Most Magnificent Thing: 1

by Ashley Spires

4.7 · 4285 reviews

We're Going to Find the Monster

by Malorie Blackman and Dapo Adeola

4.8 · 212 reviews

Claude in the City

by Alex T. Smith

4.7 · 333 reviews

Leaf

by Sandra Dieckmann

4.7 · 292 reviews

Best Books for Ages 6-8 (2024) Early chapter books and illustrated fiction Best Books for Ages 9-12 (2024) Middle-grade fiction for confident readers

FAQs

What were the best books for ages 3-5 in 2024?
The best-selling book for ages 3-5 in 2024 was "The Very Hungry Caterpillar [Board Book]", measured on real Amazon UK sales rank across 2024. See the full top 100 below.

How is this list ranked?
By real Amazon UK sales rank averaged across 2024 specifically, so it reflects what actually sold to this age group during that year rather than what sells today.