The best pre-kindergarten classrooms are teeming with books -- books in baskets, on shelves, on the floor and most importantly, in little hands. During the highly commercial Christmas season, it's nice to remember that books make excellent gifts for some of the little people in your life as well, and EarlyStories was inspired to find a few lists after reading a Washington Post column filled with recommendations.

Education columnist Jay Mathews is a big fan of an excellent list compiled by Renaissance Learning but that list is geared more toward books for older readers in grades 1-12.

So what about the pre-school set? EarlyStories set out looking for good lists, and came up with a few, including one from TeachersFirst, of course Amazon, and the Brooklyn Public Library. Most local libraries will have their own list -- and very likely, classics like Caps for Sale and anything by Eric Carle will be on them. There's a terrific selection of books for toddlers through three at BankStreetBooks.com; a good list at PreKinders and a great read
aloud list at the Children' Literacy Initiative, which also isolates the best books for kindergarten students.

EarlyStories also wants to offer a few suggestions for books journalists -- or anyone else -- who is interested in learning more about pre-kindergarten might like to read, courtesy of Pre-k now.

The list doesn't include personal favorites, like Carle's "The Very Quiet Cricket,'' and "Just One More Story,' by Jennifer Brutschy' -- oh wait, and of course, the much read and beloved "Ghost Train,'' by Stephen Wyllie.

But there comes a time to pass those books down and move on to more scholarly pursuits like "The Sandbox Investment,'' by David L. Kirp..

Happy reading!