A big list of the best books for grammar read alouds organized by grammar skill! These books are my favorites for kids to learn about nouns and verbs all the way to similes and metaphors.

 

It was a lot of work but I had a lot of fun making this list of grammar books! I hope you love it!

 

Grammar Read Alouds – Organized by Skill

 

There are actually a lot of great books with fabulous pictures to teach all the different grammar skills that I love so I wanted to compile a list for you to be able to find them quickly and easily and save as a reference for when you go to teach each grammar concept during the year. I provided the links for you to see them directly on Amazon if you want to check them out – some links are affiliate links which means I get commission if you buy from the links, it’s no extra cost for you but I wanted to let you know!

 

NOUNS

One of the first grammar concepts taught is nouns!

My favorite way to introduce nouns is to quickly say that a noun is a person, place, or thing and then read a fun book to try to find all the  nouns! A great book to do that with is Incredible Ned – it is a really cute rhyming book about a little boy with an awesome imagination. When he pictures a word in his head, that thing appears… and that thing is usually a noun so it makes it really easy to find a lot of nouns in the book. I recommend reading the book in front of an easel and having kids race to raise their hands when you turn the page if they see any new nouns then write them down before reading the page. It makes it a lot of fun to hunt for nouns together 🙂

 

Any of the books in the There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly series are also awesome for this! Read the book aloud then have students raise their hands when they hear or see a new noun – they think it’s really fun to do that! Since each page is a new thing the old lady swallowed, there are plenty of nouns in the book to find!

 

These books exist for a lot of different themes and holidays so it’s especially fun to pick one from the series for whatever time of year it is! For example, in my Best Halloween Books for October Read Alouds book list, I put the There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat version 🙂

 

 

This book is part of a series you’ll see a few times in this post. I honestly find these books so cute and easy to use to introduce parts of speech. This one, If You Were a Noun, has an adorable space theme and is a great first book to read to introduce nouns.

 

 

 

This book to teach nouns is also part of a series. This author has written a lot of books to help teach the different parts of speech and I like this one – A Mink, a Fink, a Skating Rink – for teaching nouns.

 

 

 

 

 

A Lime, a Mime, a Pool of Slime is also by the same author if you can’t tell 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can also get a 12 book set of his books that includes the 2 above if you end up wanting a lot of these.

 

 

 

 

 

Okay so speaking of bundles of books, this book Chicken in the City also comes in the Grammar Tales 10 book bundle!

This is a cute little book about a chicken named Lu-Lu who lived on a farm then moved to the city. The book has a ton of nouns in it to spot together so it’s a fun one to read while you’re still in the spotting nouns phase of teaching nouns 🙂

 

 

 

Verbs

Okay, moving on to verbs! You’ll notice some of these books in the verbs category (and other upcoming categories) will be books from some of the book series that I mentioned in the Nouns section.

A Verb for Herb is another cute Grammar Tales book I love for introducing parts of speech!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another book for introducing verbs is If You Were a Verb that is by the same author as the If You Were a Noun book above. Like I said, you’ll notice a lot of my recommendations end up being from the same series. I like consistency and think it helps kids realize you’re introducing a new topic when they see the new book. Plus I simply like these!

 

 

To Root, to Toot, to Parachute is another cute verbs book. Be prepared for a lot of giggles when someone points out what a toot can be 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

For even more verbs practice from this author, you can also read Slide and Slurp, Scratch and Burp

 

This book and the one right above this are also in that 12 book set I mentioned in the Nouns section.

 

 

 

So this book, It’s Hard to be a Verb, is actually not a book specifically to teach parts of speech but I still love it to read while learning verbs because it’s about a little boy who has trouble paying attention and sitting still (pretty sure some of your students can relate!)

 

If you want more books to teach specific behaviors, one of my favorite lists I’ve ever made is my Classroom Management Books Organized by Behavior list so you can literally pick any classroom behavior your students are struggling with (tattling, blurting, sharing, whatever) and find the perfect book to read aloud to teach them how to properly behave. It really is one of the best book lists I’ve ever made – definitely check it out whether you’re a teacher or a parent 🙂

 

 

Adjectives

Adjectives are one of my favorite grammar concepts because it’s fun to describe things! You can literally pick any thing or anyone for kids to describe and they are instantly good at finding adjectives 🙂

 

My favorite way to introduce adjectives is with The Very Cranky Bear! You could use this idea with any book you love that has a character that can be described with a lot of adjectives. The picture on the front cracks me up and so clearly illustrates what “cranky” means. Start off with talking about the picture and what cranky might mean based on the picture. Once you establish its meaning, talk about how it’s an adjective and that an adjective is a word that describes something. That starts another great conversation of other adjectives they could use to describe the bear – let them tell you he’s big, hairy, grumpy, etc. and write down the words they come up with to describe him. Such a perfect little lesson to introduce adjectives! Then, of course, you open the book and read it and it’s adorable 🙂

 

 

 

Quirky, Jerky, Extra Perky: More about Adjectives is another great Brian P. Cleary book but this time for adjectives!

 

 

 

 

If You Were an Adjective is another great book for teaching adjectives. It does touch on types of adjectives like comparatives and superlatives so it’s a nice way to introduce that when your kids are ready.

 

 

My favorite book to introduce comparatives and superlatives, though, is Breezier, Cheesier, Newest, and Bluest because the illustrations are just so much fun!

 

 

 

 

 

Another cute book you can read when studying comparative adjectives is a fictional read aloud about 3 pigs that are brothers: Pig, Pigger, and Piggest. You can make this into a fun lesson by taking adjectives and adding -er and -est to them and then deciding if they’re real words or not. You’ll come up with some silly words so it can be a fun lesson 🙂

 

 

 

Adverbs

Adverbs are important but a little trickier to teach than adjectives so I think having great books with examples is especially important for this concept.

 

 

Dearly, Nearly, Insincerely: What is an Adverb? is another funny rhyming grammar book from the series I keep sharing. Can you tell I like these?? 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

There’s another one for even more practice called Lazily, Crazily, Just a Bit Nasally: More about Adverbs to keep practicing what makes a word an adverb.

 

 

 

 

A fun book to practice recognizing adverbs is Suddenly Alligator! It is filled with adverbs that stand out in the sentences. A fun activity you can do is have students raise their hands if they think they hear an adverb. If several hands go up (which they will because, even if they don’t hear them, some kids will notice how the word changes in the sentences and know to raise their hand), say, “Ooh! Okay, let’s read it again and see if you can find it” to give everyone a chance to raise their hand when they hear it. Once you identify the adverb, read the sentence again to have them figure out what verb it describes. I don’t recommend doing this for every sentence but it’s fun to do for a few!

 

I really like this book in general because it is a silly little book kids enjoy and has a ton of vocabulary potential. I feel like it uses a lot of words kids may not know but can easily understand by the picture and/or a quick explanation. For example, “approached” is a word young kids may not know that you can easily act out and help them learn while reading the book. Because of that, I feel like you can read this book multiple times and focus on different things each time – making predictions (the first time you read it), adverbs, vocabulary building, and more!

 

I also like If You Were an Adverb for introducing or practicing adverbs because it emphasizes how adverbs describe a verb with helpful, illustrated examples… even saying verbs and adverbs go together like peanut butter and jelly 🙂 I recommend having your students stop and identify the verb in each sentence then the adverb that goes with it as a fun practice exercise as you read it. You could do this one first instead of the first books I mentioned if this series is what your students are used to.

 

 

This book is super silly and cute!! I love it as a fun read aloud in general but it is also filled with adverbs and adjectives so you can practice the difference between the two. Adjectives are in red text and adverbs are in green text so kids can even practice independently. You could have them write the adjective and the noun it describes… and the adverb and the verb it describes – as a whole group, small group, or even independent activity. I love it as a read aloud though because it’s so fun! The book I am talking about is The Big Problem (and the Squirrel Who Eventually Solved It) as you can see to the left. It also has a great message about not judging others and how everyone can be friends 🙂

 

 

Contractions

I’m and Won’t, They’re and Don’t: What’s a Contraction? is a book you can use to introduce contractions. It introduces kids to apostrophes and shows how they replace letters to form contractions

 

 

 

 

 

If You Were a Contraction is another book you can use to help explain it to kids!

 

 

 

Once you learn contractions, encourage your kids to point them out to you in books or anywhere they see them. It can be a fun game to try to find them. Whenever they find them, figure out with them what 2 words may have formed the contraction they’re seeing. It’s an easy way to incorporate grammar into your everyday life in a fun and meaningful way.

 

Compound Words

Compounds words are so much fun!!! I absolutely love the giggles that come from smushing 2 words together that sound so silly to see if they’re a compound word. It’s such a fun thing you can do all day with 2 words to see if the 2 words make a compound word or a silly nonsense word. There are a ton of books that have compound words in them but these are some fun ones to explicitly teach it:

 

I like Thumbtacks, Earwax, Lipstick, Dipstick: What is a Compound Word? for introducing compound words. It’s just so nice to have these books if you’re new to teaching grammar and want help explaining concepts. Even if you’re not new, it’s nice to have all the visuals and examples. I feel like kids retain the introductory lessons better when they had word and picture examples in a read aloud form, which is why I wanted to make this list, because it’s my favorite way to introduce new grammar concepts.

 

 

 

A fun little book you can read that makes light and fun of compound words is Flying Butter. It’s a silly way to practice compound words in a fun read aloud.

 

 

 

 

Once There was a Bull… (frog) is a cute simple little story where the pages end with half of a compound word and the next page starts with the 2nd half. I love this because it shows how each part of the word is its own word combined into 1 word. Once kids pick up on the pattern, they love to try to guess what the compound word is going to be once they get the first half of the word 🙂

 

 

Then there’s also the If You Were a Compound Word if you’re more into that series. I like the above books better for introducing compound words but I think it’s nice to have consistency if you’ve been using this series (and I LOOOVE a lot of the books in this series for other concepts). I just think there’s a lot of other fun compound word books.. so many books use compound words in the titles (butterfly books, strawberry, etc.) so there are a ton of different books you can use or display while teaching compound words.

 

 

Prepositions

Prepositions are another fun grammar concept to teach. You can hide an object all around the room and then have kids describe its position using prepositions. Have a little toy dog and hide it under a pillow, on top of a desk, and so on! There are also a lot of picture books dedicated to teaching prepositions since it’s usually taught pretty early in a child’s grammar learning.

 

Around the House the Fox Chased the Mouse: A Prepositional Tale is a super fun read aloud that practices prepositions. The illustrations of the animals are awesome in this book! They illustrate the prepositions in such a fun way. I think it’s such a great book for introducing positional words!

 

 

 

 

Of course, If You Were a Preposition to continue following the series.

 

 

 

 

As well as the next book in the other series – Under, Over, By the Clover: What is a Preposition? I think this book and the one above are great as well but prepositions are a pretty easy grammar concept to teach, in my opinion, that I think you could just use fun books that have a lot of prepositions in them, act them out, and have your kids understand pretty quickly. I might make a list of books just for teaching prepositions because there really are so many… and they’re a lot of fun!

 

 

Pronouns

I and You and Don’t Forget Who: What is a Pronoun? is my favorite book for introducing the concept of pronouns. It makes the comparison of pronouns being like a substitute teacher and say they are sub for nouns. It seems a little silly but I think it’s a really easy way to relate it to students. It’s also a great way to remind them what a pronoun is.

 

 

If You Were a Pronoun is also great practice to keep recognizing them in sentences and the nouns they replace.

 

 

 

 

 

Alliteration

There are SO many books with alliteration in them. So many that I want to create a separate post for them – I will compile a list of my favorite kids’ books with alliteration and link it here when I do 🙂

 

 

Conjunctions

Coming soon! 🙂 I already have books picked out for this and the below categories but it takes me awhile to format the lists so they are easy to see the books in an easy format so I am going to publish this now so I can get it out to you right away! Please save this page to check back later so you can see my new recommendations – this has been so fun to write so far to share my favorite books for grammar and I hope you’ve enjoyed it so far!

 

 

Interjections

Coming soon! Cool! 😉

 

 

Similes

Coming soon! Similes are SO fun.

 

 

Metaphors

Metaphors also coming soon!

 

I also have even more grammar books lists I want to make for skills that I have more than just a couple of recommendations for that I want to dedicate an entire post to. You can follow me on Facebook if you want to see when I announce new lists! You can also use the little Facebook icon below to share this post if you want to save it that way to remember to come back for the new books I share.

 

Okay, so I am excited to get the rest of the book recommendations out to you but I can’t wait to get these ones out first! I have been working on this post for SO long and I just don’t want to wait any longer! 🙂 I hope you have loved it so far!!

 

If you want to pin this to Pinterest to remember to come back, here is a quick image I made that you can pin!

 

 

Thank you so much for reading!

 

If you want to see more of my lists, check out this organized list of all my lists:

AWESOME LISTS

I have book lists, teacher tools I recommend, classroom themes and jobs lists, and all sorts of fun lists!

 

If you like this one, I also recommend Best Classroom Management Books Organized by Behavior since it’s organized into categories like this one!

 

Feel free to let me know below if there are any other grammar concepts you would like to see book lists for or simply to say hi – I love chatting with you all 🙂