English Cymraeg

Great Books Guide Cymru 2024-25: for 4 to 5-year-olds

Here’s a round-up of new children’s books from the last year, which we think any child aged 4 to 5 will love

  • Big Bad Dragon Club

    by Beach 

    2023 2 to 7 years 

    • Funny
    • Picture books
    • Poetry and rhyme

    A funny picture book about dragons learning they don’t always have to be bad!

  • Can You Find My Eid Presents?

    by A. M. Dassu, illustrated by Junissa Bianda 

    2024 2 to 7 years 

    • Picture books

    Hana can’t find the family’s Eid presents! She looks everywhere – will she find them in time for Eid? A fun search-and-find story.

  • Lilly & Myles: The Torch

    by Jon Roberts and Hannah Rounding 

    2023 5 to 9 years 

    • Autistic spectrum conditions

    Lilly is holidaying at Grandma’s seaside house in Wales. She always enjoys her gran’s tall stories about sea monsters living in a cave nearby. When it finally stops raining, Lilly can’t wait to get outside and explore – especially as she’s found an old torch to play with. 

  • Holey Moley

    by Bethan Clarke, illustrated by Anders Frang 

    2024 5 to 9 years 

    • Funny
    • Picture books
    • Poetry and rhyme

    Moles live in holes, right? This funny book plays with rhyme as Gus the Goat tries to guess where his friend Mavis Mole lives.  

  • The Boy and the Octopus

    by Caryl Lewis, illustrated by Carmen Saldaña 

    2024 4 to 7 years 

    • Picture books

    Can Stanley’s octopus help Stanley face his fears? A moving and visually stunning book about expressing your emotions through art – with a lovely father-son relationship at its heart. 

  • Wanna see A Llama?

    by Simon Philip, illustrated by Ian Smith 

    2024 4 to 7 years 

    • Interactive
    • Non-fiction
    • Picture books

    Two children are out and about in a city, looking for llamas. One of the children issupposedly a llama expert, but will the children find one? Funny and interactive.

  • This Rock is Mine

    by Kaye Umansky, illustrated by Alice McKinley 

    2023 4 to 7 years 

    • Funny
    • Picture books

    A great book to open conversations about the joy of sharing and compromise with little ones – and giggle about the silliness of bickering! 

  • Geoffrey Gets the Jitters

    by Nadia Shireen 

    2023 2 to 4 years 

    • Funny
    • Picture books

    Geoffrey’s jitters are out of control! How can he get rid of them? Told with humour and great empathy, this picture book from the author-illustrator of Barbara Throws a Wobbler is both funny and helpful.

  • Hamster Heroes

    by Peter Bently, illustrated by John Bond 

    2024 4 to 7 years 

    • Funny
    • Picture books
    • Poetry and rhyme

    An action-packed and hilarious rhyming adventure which sees a team of hamster superheroes battle against a variety of rodent foes. 

  • A First Book of Dinosaurs

    by Simon Mole, illustrated by Matt Hunt 

    2023 4 to 9 years 

    • Funny
    • Poetry and rhyme

    This fun and inventive collection of thirty roar-some, illustrated poems celebrates the weird and wonderful world of dinosaurs. 

  • Snail in Space

    by Rachel Bright, illustrated by Nadia Shireen 

    2023 4 to 7 years 

    • Funny
    • Picture books
    • Poetry and rhyme

    Gail is a little snail with a big dream – to become the first snail in space! A hilarious story about the power of passion and persistence. 

  • The Concrete Garden

    by Bob Graham 

    2023 4 to 7 years 

    • Picture books

    Children join in to draw a beautiful garden with chalk. A gorgeous picture book celebrating community and the positive effect art has on everyone. 

  • Who’s Afraid of the Light?

    by Anna McGregor 

    2023 4 to 7 years 

    • Non-fiction
    • Picture books

    Meet Fergus, who is a real deep-sea creature. But we can only see his eyes. What could he be? An enjoyable anarchic mash-up of fiction and non-fiction, with facts at the end, and a surprise reveal.

  • Does a Bear Wash Its Hair?

    by Moira Butterfield, illustrated by Adam Ming 

    2024 4 to 7 years 

    • Funny
    • Non-fiction
    • Poetry and rhyme

    A fact-filled, rhyming picture book about self-care routines. Animals are just like you! 

  • Gina Kaminski Saves the Wolf

    by Craig Barr-Green, illustrated by Francis Martin 

    2023 4 to 7 years 

    • Adventure
    • Picture books
    • Autistic spectrum conditions
    • Neurodiversity

    Retelling of Little Red Riding Hood with a neurodivergent protagonist.

  • Aqua Boy

    by Ken Wilson-Max 

    2024 4 to 7 years 

    • Picture books

    Aaron is scared of going under the water. But when he finds an octopus stranded on the beach, he must be brave. A gentle story about facing fears, and about ocean conservation. 

  • Flower Block

    by Lanisha Butterfield, illustrated by Hoang Giang 

    2024 4 to 7 years 

    • Picture books

    Theo’s sunflower has grown right through the tower block! A delightful celebration of nature and community.  

  • Wild Book Day

    by Karl Newson, illustrated by James Brown 

    2024 4 to 7 years 

    • Picture books

    It’s Wild Book Day, when all the pictures escape from the books. What fun they have! This is a book to make children leap about with excitement, but also to encourage a love of reading. Fun-filled book joy! 

  • We Went to Find a Woolly Mammoth

    by Catherine Cawthorne, illustrated by Aysha Awwad 

    2023 4 to 7 years 

    • Picture books

    Join the children as they search for a woolly mammoth and discover lots of other giant Ice Age animals along the way! Charming and informative, with very cute illustrations. 

  • I Really Really Don’t Like Parties

    by Angie Morgan 

    2024 4 to 7 years 

    • Picture books

    Dora finds parties loud and overwhelming. But when she meets a similarly quiet child at a birthday, she realises they may not be so bad after all. 

  • The Thunk

    by Michelle Robinson, illustrated by Deborah Allwright 

    2023 4 to 7 years 

    • Funny
    • Picture books
    • Poetry and rhyme

    This is a fabulously funny picture book by the author of Ten Fat Sausages, brimming full of Michelle Robinson’s trademark silly humour. 

  • One Little Word

    by Joseph Coelho, illustrated by Allison Colpoys 

    2023 4 to 7 years 

    • Picture books

    This is a poignant picture book about the power of friendship and knowing when to say sorry. The gentle, lyrical text from Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho handles the familiar heightened emotions of playground-fall outs in a way that feels sincere and authentic.

  • Bum or Face?

    by Kari Lavelle 

    2023 4 to 9 years 

    • Funny
    • Non-fiction

    A unique non-fiction book using humour to engage readers in amazing facts about rare animals.

  • Mi Wnei Di Lwyddo, Tyrone! / You Can Do Anything, Tyrone!

    by Lenny Henry, illustrated by Salomey Doku 

    2024 4 to 7 years 

    • Picture books

    Follow Tyrone as he endeavours to build a rocket ship to take him to the moon in this fun book from Lenny Henry that encourages imagination and determination.

  • Y Fainc Ffrindiau / The Friendship Bench

    by Wendy Meddour, illustrated by Daniel Egnéus 

    2024 4 to 7 years 

    • Picture books

    Tilly is struggling to make friends at her new school. By working together with a boy called Flint to fix a broken friendship bench, she realises she may have found a new friend after all. 

  • The Best You

    by Nima Patel, illustrated by Cally Johnson-Isaacs 

    2024 5 to 9 years 

    • Non-fiction
    • Picture books

    In this gentle and uplifting picture book, the common question What do you want to be when you grow up?’ is turned on its head. Children are often asked to think about what job they might like to do from an early age. And whilst there is nothing wrong with ambition, this question can feel difficult – after all, there is still so much to learn about the world and maybe you’d like to do many jobs!

  • Spyceratops

    by Alex Willmore 

    2023 5 to 9 years 

    • Adventure
    • Funny
    • Picture books

    Spy goggles? Check. Spy bike? Check. Get ready for a top-secret action-packed Spyceratops mission. Super fun – with a surprise ending.

  • Space Pirate Bears

    by Alastair Chisholm, illustrated by Jez Tuya 

    2023 5 to 9 years 

    • Adventure
    • Funny
    • Picture books

    A funny and inventive picture book that celebrates the power of storytelling. One dreary day Dad tells Jamie and Abby a story about a band of intergalactic heroes – the Space Pirate Bears – who must defeat evil Doktor Drab and save the galaxy from dullness…

  • My Family Your Family

    by Laura Henry-Allain, illustrated by Giovana Medeiros 

    2023 5 to 9 years 

    • Picture books

    An accessible, useful non-fiction guide to all types of families.