Are your children asking for the bedtime stories? Here are some of the best story books in English for kids! It is obvious that every child insists their parents narrate a story before going to bed. Many of us may not be good storytellers, but you can narrate better stories with some good storybooks. In this article, we will see the ten best books for kids in English.
10 Best Story Books In English For Kids
1. Beauty and the Beast
What’s the one thing that doesn’t matter in love? Appearance! This is a beautiful story that tells us that looks don’t matter when you love someone wholeheartedly. The book narrates the story of a young woman named Beauty who falls in love with a prince who was turned into a beast by a witch.
Beauty’s father was arrested by the beast and Beauty was forced to live with the beast in exchange for her father’s freedom. Meanwhile, she befriends and falls in love with the beast ignoring the looks. This turns the beast into a prince.
- Author: Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve (original), Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont (abridged version).
- Genre: Fairy Tale
- Themes: Inner beauty, transformation, love beyond appearance.
- Moral: True beauty lies within.
2. Sleeping Beauty
This is also one of the best story books in English for kids that have a wonderful fairy tale, where a prince saves a princess from her curse. Aurora is the princess who was cursed by a fairy named Maleficent as she was not invited to the castle for the princess’s birth. She curses the princess that at her 16th age, she will die with her hands on a cursed spindle.
One of the good fairies who has a good heart converts this curse into another where she doesn’t die and lives 100 years in a deep sleep until a prince kisses her with true love. A century later, a prince who was traveling into a forest finds Aurora and falls in love. What next?! She wakes up and has a happy life!
- Author: Charles Perrault, Brothers Grimm
- Genre: Fairy Tale
- Themes: True love, fate, good vs. evil.
- Moral: True love conquers all.
3. Hansel and Gretel
Do your kids love adventurous fairy tales?! If yes, then this is one of the best story books in English for kids. The story is all about two siblings Hansel and Gretel, who are abandoned in the woods by their parents due to famine. Meanwhile, they see a candy-made house which is actually a trap set by the witch in the woods.
Hansel, unfortunately, falls into the trap of the switch and struggles to get out of it. Now, Gretel with his wit outsmarts the witch and saves his brother. This is one of the best story books in English for kids that every child would love to read!
- Author: Brothers Grimm
- Genre: Fairy Tale
- Themes: Survival, resourcefulness, overcoming evil.
- Moral: The importance of family and cleverness in adversity.
4. The Emperor’s New Clothes
I guess everyone loves to have new clothes, and so does the emperor in the story. Knowing that the empower loves new clothes, two thieves enter the kingdom and tell themselves as weavers to the king. They also said that they could make an invisible suit for the king.
After knowing this, the king is eager to wear the suit and hires them both. The thieves gave the king the invisible suit, but there was nothing. Yet, the king, not wanting to appear unfit for his position, pretends to admire the clothes and parades through the city in his new suit. No one dares to tell the king that he was wearing nothing until a child points out! I guess, this is one of the best story books for kids in English which is funny and entertaining for children.
- Author: Hans Christian Andersen
- Genre: Fairy Tale
- Themes: Pride, vanity, the courage to speak the truth.
- Moral: Honesty is the best policy.
5. Pinocchio
I’m sure we as kids would have definitely heard about Pinocchio. Right?! I as a child believed that I would have my nose growing when I tell lies! The story is all about a wooden puppet, Pinocchio, who gets life and wants to turn into a real boy.
But, due to certain characters like Talking Cricket, the fox, and the cat, he disobeys and often tells lies that put him in undesirable events. You can narrate this story to your children and make them realize how bad the consequences would be if they tell lies.
- Author: Carlo Collodi
- Genre: Children’s Novel, Fairy Tale
- Themes: Honesty, redemption, consequences of actions.
- Moral: The value of truth and integrity.
6. The Princess And The Frog
If you want to teach your kids about keeping promises, I guess this is the best book for them. The story is about a prince who was turned into a frog by a witch. The spell of the witch can only broken if a princess spends time with him in her palace.
One day a princess was playing with a golden ball and the ball fell into a well. Meanwhile, the frog prince offers a deal saying that he will get her ball back. In exchange, he asks for her friendship. She hastily agrees and the frog prince gets into the palace with the princess. And then finally, the frog turns back into a prince and the spell is broken!
- Author: Based on the Brothers Grimm’s “The Frog Prince”
- Genre: Fairy Tale
- Themes: Transformation, breaking curses, looking beyond the surface.
- Moral: The importance of keeping promises and the value of kindness.
7. Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs
One important lesson that every child has to be taught in their childhood is not being jealous of anyone. And this is one of the best story books in English for kids that teaches it! The story is all about a young beautiful princess named Snow White who faces undesirable events of a wicked queen.
The wicked queen plans to kill Snow White with a poisoned apple. When she eats it, she falls into a deep sleep that resembles death. Meanwhile, a prince who falls in love with Snow White finds her and kisses her. Surprisingly, she wakes up and leads a happy life with her loved ones!
- Author: Brothers Grimm
- Genre: Fairy Tale
- Themes: Jealousy, innocence, the power of true love.
- Moral: Vanity can lead to one’s downfall.
8. Hide and Seek
Sharing is one good quality that every child has to be taught in their childhood. Why not teach them this by narrating a story?! Hide and Seek is a book that talks about three friends namely James, Sally, and Mark who find out a treasure when they are playing the hide and seek game.
The story then describes the events that happened in these three children’s lives insisting everyone be honest and kind in whatever they do in life.
- Author: T. Albert.
- Genre: Adventure.
- Themes: Playfulness, competition, discovery.
- Moral: Learn to share things and be kind.
9. Cinderella
I bet there can’t be anyone who doesn’t know about Cinderella! It is one of the best story books in English for kids that has made our childhood beautiful. Right? If there is a book that tells us how to be gentle and good-hearted, this is it. Cinderella faces a lot of hardships in her home due to her evil stepmother and her stepsisters.
Once, she was able to attend a grand ball where a king wanted to find a princess for his son. The fairy godmother of Cinderella transformed her beautifully. Then the price sees her and gets impressed by her beauty. The upcoming events in the book tell how they get married after this.
- Author: Charles Perrault, Brothers Grimm
- Genre: Fairy Tale
- Themes: Kindness, mistreatment, magical transformation.
- Moral: Graciousness and virtue are rewarded.
10. The Dancing Shoes
If you want to narrate a story to your kids that has a mystery in it, here is one of the best story books in English for kids. “The Dancing Shoes”! It tells about solving the mystery where the shoes of the princess get worn out every night even though the princesses are being locked.
The king announces that whoever solves the mystery will be the next heir and can marry any one of his 12 daughters. An old man with his invisible cloak solves it and finds out that the princesses get out through a trapdoor and dance in an enchanted land.
- Author: Brothers Grimm (“The Twelve Dancing Princesses”)
- Genre: Fairy Tale
- Themes: Mystery, enchantment, consequences of secrecy.
- Moral: Truth will come out, and listening to elders is wise.
You can either get these storybooks online or just download the e-book apps and read them for your children with your smartphone or tablet, etc.
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