Childrens' educational book series

October 6, 2012 8:04 AM

I'm looking for recommendations for childrens' educational book series. It's for a 4-5 year old, but writing level is not important, as long as it has good pictures we can talk about (e.g. the DK Eyewitness series). Preferably, each volume is devoted to a single subject (no encyclopedias), and be available cheaply second-hand. Thanks!

At the moment I'm picking up the DK books for $1-2 each used, and am looking to discover other series that are worth getting hold of.

posted by carter to shopping (9 answers total)

The Golden Guide are right for an educational series, for fun you might look at Junie B., Fancy Nancy, and Skippyjon Jones (our personal favorite). We read on iPads and just found the entire Golden Series books from my childhood for it.
posted by Mertonian at 8:22 AM on October 6, 2012

My daughter has really enjoyed the science books from Basher.
posted by mogget at 10:03 AM on October 6, 2012

I don't think Basher is for that age range. I have found most kids in the 4-5 age range learn better from and have more interest in stories that contain educational components but are not overtly educational type books. You could read A Bad Case of Stripes and talk about disease, viruses, bacterial, and fungus. You could read Doctor De Soto and talk about dentistry. You could read How I Learned Geography and talk about geography. You could read In the Sea and talk about sea life. You could read Otis and the Tornado and talk about weather. You could read The Ugly Vegetables and talk about horticulture. You could read Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin! and talk about musical instruments. Etc. Only question is whether you can find these used in the price range you mentioned.
posted by Dansaman at 10:46 AM on October 6, 2012

Dr. Seuss's Learning Library Books. :)
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 12:11 PM on October 6, 2012

There's a DK series for younger readers called Eye Wonder, basically scaled-down Eyewitness books.
posted by Flannery Culp at 1:42 PM on October 6, 2012

Those are definitely in the ballpark, Flannery Culp. Kind of wondering why I didn't see those on the DK website ...
posted by carter at 2:22 PM on October 6, 2012

What about the childcraft series from world book? We had them as children and they were great. Lots on eBay.
posted by dpx.mfx at 2:44 PM on October 6, 2012

Ah yes - I'll check those out - and that pointed me to the How and Why Wonderbooks, which bring back memories ...
posted by carter at 11:38 AM on October 7, 2012

You could check out a book called Why?
posted by Dansaman at 5:42 PM on October 7, 2012