After the dark chill of winter, it’s impossible not to be excited about welcoming spring’s arrival. Share these spring books with kids to celebrate new growth and all the fun that longer, warmer days can bring.
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1. The Spring Book by Todd Parr (PreK-1)
Todd Parr never disappoints. Use this cheerful title to mark non-denominational spring days on your class calendar–from International Women’s Day to April Fool’s, Mother’s Day, Earth Day, and Memorial Day. Read it, and then, as Todd says, “Go roll down some hills! Happy spring!”
2. Singing in the Rain by Tim Hopgood (PreK–1)
Tim Hopgood’s cheerful illustrations are the perfect accompaniment to the lyrics of the classic song by Freed and Brown. Because really, what better way to welcome spring than with a rainbow’s worth of galoshes, bright umbrellas, and splash-worthy puddles?
3. Goodbye Winter, Hello Spring by Kenard Pak (PreK-1)
Part of a gorgeous trilogy of seasonal titles, share this book before a class walk in late winter or early spring to notice nature’s signs of the changing seasons.
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4. Spring Stinks: A Little Bruce Book by Ryan T. Higgins
When Ruth the Rabbit finds out that Bruce hates the smell of spring, she sets out to prove to him that spring is actually full of wonderful scents. Once they’re done laughing at the sticky situation in which Bruce ends up, kids could write about spring smells they enjoy.
5. Flower Garden by Eve Bunting (PreK–1)
Jaunty rhyming text tells how a little girl brings spring to the window of her apartment building, just in time for her mother’s birthday. Lest children think spring is only celebrated in woods and meadows, this story is a wonderful example of how the season can be experienced in the city.
6. Abracadabra, It’s Spring! by Anne Sibley O’Brien (PreK–1)
Presto chango and alakazam! Students will enjoy guessing the rhyming words in this lift-the-flap ode to the signs of spring’s arrival.
7. Worm Weather by Jean Taft (PreK–1)
The bouncing, sparse text and happy illustrations perfectly capture the wiggling, squelching delight of a wet and muddy spring day.
8. Let’s Look at Spring by Sarah L. Schuette (PreK–1)
If you’re looking for nonfiction spring books for kids, this is a great option. Simple text and full-page photographs invite students to talk about their own impressions of spring. Re-released alongside the new Capstone 4D app, certain pages link to online resources that feature things such as spring craft directions.
9. When Spring Comes by Kevin Henkes (PreK–1)
Kevin Henkes, with his signature ability to choose just the right words, contrasts the bleakness of winter’s end with spring’s promising arrival. The astute observations (“Spring can come quickly or slowly. It changes its mind a lot.”) and lively alliteration (“There will be buds and bees and boots and bubbles.”) are spot-on.
10. Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel (K–1)
This iconic pair is lovable in any season, but the vignette “Spring,” in which Frog joyously wakes a hibernating Toad so they can resume their fun together, is particularly heartwarming.
11. Busy Spring: Nature Wakes Up by Sean Taylor and Alex Morss (PreK-2)
This is one of the sweetest spring books for kids. You’ll definitely want to add it to your annual read-aloud lineup of personal narrative mentor texts. With details only a child could capture, the narrator recounts an early spring day in the backyard garden. With its back matter about plants and animals, it’s a great science resource, too.
12. Happy Springtime! by Kate McMullan (PreK-2)
This joyful celebration of spring is for everyone who’s felt like the end of winter might never come. You won’t be able to resist smiling as you read the playful commands to enjoy the gradually lengthening days and nicer weather. This would be perfect to inspire student artwork or a spring bulletin board, too!
13. Spectacular Spring: All Kinds of Spring Facts and Fun by Bruce Goldstone (PreK–2)
You’d be hard pressed to think of a topic related to spring not celebrated in this collection of bright, close-up photographs and cheerful, informational blurbs. Topics include everything from plant growth, wet weather, and baby animals to spring-cleaning and spring art projects. Spectacular, indeed!
14. Spring for Sophie by Yael Werber (PreK–2)
Who hasn’t felt like Sophie, who is dejectedly staring out the window at the snow and bored with indoor activities? Her parents implore her to use each of her senses to detect small signs of a new season to come. Eventually, in this delightfully sweet story, she’s rewarded.
15. Everything Spring by Jill Esbaum (PreK–2)
It’s hard to decide what’s more enjoyable about this celebration of spring: the stunning photographs or the exuberantly descriptive vocabulary. Share this title to help your students unfurl, totter, trickle, and scurry into a new season.
16. The Spring Visitors by Karel Hayes (PreK–2)
In Karel Hayes’s Visitors series, when summer guests pack up and head home from a lakeside cottage, some unexpected locals stealthily take up residence. In this most recent installment, the bear family wakes up from a long, cozy hibernation to enjoy wet and muddy spring fun. They make their exit just in time, in an ending that will have children chuckling.
17. Every Day Birds by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater (PreK–3)
Birdsongs provide the soundtrack for spring. This title includes peppy descriptions, written in verse, of common North American birds. Back matter includes more information about each species.
18. Wake Up! by Helen Frost and Rick Lieder (PreK–3)
In the fourth collaboration by this photographer and poet team, short verses invite readers to study stunning photographs that celebrate springtime awakenings.
19. Toad Weather by Sandra Markle (K-3)
A young girl is annoyed at the gloomy March rain until her mother drags her outside to witness a remarkable toad migration across the street to a local pond. It’s based on real events in Philadelphia. We absolutely love that it introduces a new twist on signs of spring for an urban setting.
20. Robins!: How They Grow Up by Eileen Christelow (K–3)
Full of information about robins, one of the most emblematic signs of spring, the author’s note shares that this book was prompted by the author’s own experiences observing a robin family in her garden shed. Inspire students to learn more about the habits of these birds and their bright blue eggs, or whichever signs of spring catch their eyes.