Today is the first day of my Read 1000 Books before Kindergarten series. In the coming days I’ll talk about how to read to your baby/toddler/preschooler, why you should read 1000 books to your child before kindergarten, and more. Today I’m talking about who you’ll meet in favorite picture books and what to read with your young children. I’ve collected a list of my favorite picture book characters you should “get to know” by reading the books with your kids before kindergarten. Your kids will love them!

A Few Favorite Picture Book Characters (in Series)
The first set of characters I’d like to introduce are Elephant and Piggie. Elephant is named Gerald, and he’s a worry wart
. Piggie is more of a carefree spirit
. In their books, which are award-winning
early readers by Mo Willems, the two friends have adventures
, talk about sharing
, play games
, and meet new friends
. There are 25 books in the series, and the last one is a thank you
to the readers who have read their books. I love the personalities of these friends, but the characters also face similar issues to those the little kids reading them may face. If you love Elephant and Piggie or if you’d love to meet them, scroll to the end of the post to enter a special giveaway!
We also love the Berenstain Bears series in our house. Brother and Sister Bear, and later Honey Bear, helped me learn how to clean my room
, get ready for the doctor
and dentist
, and more. The stories are highly relevant to kids. The newer ones are not as “classic” or memorable to me, but maybe that’s just because I didn’t read them as a kid. (I admit that as a grown up, there are many words in the text!)
How could a favourite picture book characters list not include Curious George by H.A. Rey? The stories both old and new show a monkey that is usually pretty naughty, and yet very lovable. Just a note for those who love originals only and not copy-cat sequels: Many of the stories in our Five Minute Curious George
stories are excerpts from the originals.
Corduroy and A Pocket for Corduroy
(created by Don Freeman) is a another picture book set with a memorable character. We love Corduroy the teddy bear. He joins his owner, Lisa, in more adventures (probably written by a ghost writer).
Amelia Bedelia (created by Peggy Parish) features a very literal person who “strips the sheets” by ripping them in strips, and “runs home” during baseball instead of running to home base. Although my 3-year-olds never seemed to like her, by ages 4 and 5, they enjoyed her ridiculous personality. Modern-day picture books of Amelia Bedelia as a child also add more double meanings into the kids’ vocabulary.
Llama Llama is a memorable little Llama who has red pajamas
and loves his mama
(by Anna Dewdney).
Duck from Fix-It Duck, Captain Duck
and more (created by Jez Albourough) is also a silly guy we’re sure to remember.

More Favorites Characters in a Series
There are dozens more series that we love. Here are a few of the picture books (first in the series):
- Duck and Goose
by Tad Hill
- Pete the Cat
by Eric Litwin
- Kipper
by Mick Inkpen
- Maisy by Lucy Cousins
- Bear Snores On
by Karma Wilson
- Big Dog, Little Dog
by P.D. Eastman
- No, David!! by David Shannon
- Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
by Mo Willems
- Froggy Gets Dressed
by Jonathon London
- Biscuit
by Capucilli
- Harold and the Purple Crayon
by Crockett Johnson
Some Stand-alone Favourite Picture Book Characters
These favorite characters don’t have a whole shelf of sequels for reading about them. But the authors who created themmade them memorable enough that even just one book makes them our favorites. Great books for your young “1000 Books Before Kindergarten” reader.
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar
by Eric Carle. See my hermit crab and moon activities for more books inspired by this author.
- Where the Wild Things Are
by Maurice Sendak. Kids relate to Max in his wolf suit.
- The Little Engine that Could
by Watty Piper
- The Polar Express
by Chris Van Allsburg
- Green Eggs and Ham
by Dr. Seuss
Want to meet more amazing book characters? Get picture book inspiration and see some of my favorite picture books with my mega list of 100+ picture book preschoool activities. I’ve also written about favorite pictures books my toddler loved and favorite ABC books. Although those don’t necessarily have memorable characters, they are memorable in their own right!
More about Reading 1000 Books Before Kindergarten

Favorite Picture Book Characters to Read before Kindergarten (today)
Why Read 1000 Books before Kindergarten? (Tuesday)
Stages of Reading with Babies, Toddlers, and Preschoolers (Wednesday)
Building Your Home Library (Thursday)
Pete the Cat!
Elephant
Skippy Jon Jones and Pete the Cat
I can’t choose just one. It’s like asking which child is your favorite!
A new favorite of mine is the gingerbread man from the g.m. gets loose in the school.
Marley the dog!
“a” from Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Pete the Cat
Have loved Bernstein Bears since I was a kid!
Pet the Cat
My littlest loves Maisy!
Piggie, Elephant, and Pigeon!
Brown Bear
Pete the Cat
Elephant
Trixie and Knufflebunny
I loved Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs when I was little, but my students love Princess Pinecone from the book “The Princess and The Pony” by Kate Beaton.
Anything by Cynthia Rylant or Arnold Lobel. Poppleton and Frog and Toad are huge favorites in our house.
Winnie The Pooh
we love elephant and piggie in “my friend is sad”
My class loves Elephant and Piggie! I also like Splat the Cat.
Pete the Cat! ?
Elephant and Piggie and The Pigeon
I love SkippyJon Jones!
Elephant and Piggie and The Pigeon!
My favorite read aloud is “Sylvester and the Magic Pebble” So my favorite character would be Sylvester!
Pigeon
We love Curious George
I’m a fan of Curious George.
Little Bear!
We love all the Dr. Suess characters!
I loved the Sneetches from Dr. Suess.
Love the Little Critter books!
I have always loved Laura Ingalls Wilder, and she has picture books now. My kids love them.
Elephant & Piggie
Splat the Cat!
Bernstein bears
I love Boo Boo the gosling and Peedie the duck
We love elephant and piggie!
The Lorax!
Curious George
Tacky the Penguin!
Winnie the Pooh!
Dr. Seuss characters.
Winnie the Pooh!
Gerald
Amelia Bedelia!
Elephant and Piggie ❤️
Cordelia
Splat the Cat!
We LOVE Piggie!!
My kids love winnie the pooh and Piggie and elephant are big ones in this house too.
Junie B. Jones
I always loved the Bernstein Bears There was another when I was little and I can’t remember but it was insects that had milk carton houses and such
I always loved the Bernstein Bears There was another when I was little and I can’t remember but it was insects that had milk carton houses and such
Curious George is so great!
We just discovered George and Martha!
Piggie!
I love the Llama Llama books!
Amelia Bedilia
We just discovered piggie and elephant and we love them! So entertaining and lots of learning opportunities with each book!
Berenstain Bears are huge in our house.
Amelia Bedelia has always been a hit with my girls ?.
Madeline!
Frog and Toad! Really, anything by Arnold Lobel is my favorite.
Little Cloud by Eric Carle
Right now in our house, it is definitely Curious George!
Berenstain Bears, Dr. Seuss, Pete the Cat, and so many more but those are the top!!
Totally love Curious George
Curious George is a favorite around here!
My favorite picture book character is Winnie The Pooh.
My 6 year old says Pete the Cat and I say Dr. Seuss characters 🙂
I love the Berenstain Bears.
We really like Dr. Suess & Amelia Bedelia!!
I think my favorite storybook character is corduroy the bear.
Oh gosh, too many to choose, but we really like Cyrus the Sea Serpent recently!
This is hard. Skippyjon Jones
I love Skippyjon Jones.
I’ve always loved Amelia Bedlia.
My favorite picture book character is Max from Where the Wild Things Are.
I love Amelia Bedlia.
Oh my aunt came back
Amelia Bedelia! My son also takes everything literally 🙂
Right now my son’s favorite character is Pout Pout Fish.
Gerald of course!
Piggy
Piggie!
The Berenstain Bears and Mo Willemstad are my favorite.
Mo Willems not Mo Willemstad. ?♀️
Pete the Cat
Winnie the Pooh
Frances! (Created by Russell Hoban)
My favorite story book characters are the Berenstain Bears.
Pete the Cat!
Pigeon books
I loved Amelia Bedelia growing up.
Burglar Bill (kids picture book from the UK)
Amelia Bedelia!
George and Martha
So many fond memories of George and Martha from my own childhood!
brown bear
Piggie
Corduroy
The Berenstain Bears
Berenstein Bears!!
Curious George
winnie the pooh
Berenstain Bears
Pete the Cat!
Horton the Elephant!