best baby and toddler books
posted may 7th, 2008 by cailin
my favorite picks for reading to kids aged 0-2 years. check out related posts on best baby gadgets and best baby and toddler toys. if you're curious about the inspiration behind the list, visit ava's blog.
while picking out my favorite books and classifying them into age ranges, i reflected on how my daughter's "pre-reading" skills had evolved and the relationship between this and the evolution of her favorite books. i'm not a childhood development expert by any means (i'm a software engineer), but here's how things looked to me :
- look there's a . . .
in this first phase, the reader does all of the work and baby is along for the ride, reading the text and pointing out feature of the illustrations. "look, there's a little ladybug in the corner." - where's the . . . ?
reading to your child becomes much more interactive when your child can answer questions about the pictures by pointing. "where's the ladybug hiding?" - what's this . . . ?
following closely on the heels of the phase where you name an object and your child points, comes the reverse : you point, and your child names. - what do you see?
soon your child will be able to respond to looser questions about the illustrations, that don't require you to point at a specific object. this is a different and more advanced skill than naming a particular object in the picture. - what color is the flower? how many bunnies are there? what is the boy holding in his hand? what animal is on the next page?
and finally your child will enjoy responding to complex questions about the illustrations, and even very very basic questions about the plot.
at 21 months, my daughter has only just reached this fifth stage, so i'm not sure what comes next! but, with these phases in mind, here are my picks for the best books for various age groups :
0-9 months
this is phase 1, what i call the "look there's a . . . " phase. for this age group, the reader gets complete control over the reading selection! young infants will pretty much listen to anything as long as you put enough expression into the reading. funny noises are good and moving the baby along with the action is even better.
| name | price | description | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | The Very Hungry Caterpillar | $9 | to call this book a "classic" is an understatement. it's probably the single best book for children under 3. during the story, the caterpillar eats his way through a variety of food items, leaving holes in the book that toddler's find extremely engaging. along the way, the book teaches a little bit about the cycle of life, the days of the week, the numbers one through five, basic colors, common fruit, and why eating junk food is bad for you. not bad coverage for ten pages. |
 | Bunny's Noisy Book | $7 | as implied by the title, there are lots of sounds that go along with this book - perfect for keeping a newborn engaged. however, my daughter really started enjoying this book right around her first birthday when she was able to appreciate the beautiful and intricate illustrations. like all books by margaret wise brown, the text has a lilting beauty. |
 | Big Red Barn Board Book | $8 | of all the margaret wise brown books, the text of this one is my favourite. ludicrously simple sentences that somehow read as poetry. the illustrations are busy and engaging - lots of things to spy and count. |
 | A Color of His Own | $10 | most books written by leo lionni are certainly at the pinnacle of children's "literature". i love them all. however, many of them are a little too subtle for the toddler crowd. this one is an adorable exception to that rule - a story that i truly love to read and that my daughter enjoys too. |
 | The Gigantic Turnip | $8 | i think it was the rhythmic words of this book that my daughter enjoyed. the story and the illustrations are really cute too. |
9-12 months
somewhere towards the end of this interval your baby will emerge into phase 2, "where's the . . . " . i found it much more entertaining to read to my daughter after she made this transition.
this age range was the start of the temporary decline in the literary value of my daughters reading selections. my impression was that since she was really beginning to understand what was going on, she preferred to be read very, very simple books, with bright, bold, plain illustrations that she could fully absorb.
| name | price | description | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Violet's House | $10 | oversized pictures of a perfectly ordinary house, with some really bad poetry. my daughter definitely had a six month phase where she loved this book though. i think this is an excellent example of a book that babies enjoy because the are able to fully understand it. |
 | Baby McDonald on the Farm | $10 | similar to violet's house. oversized pictures of life on the farm. this one is more tolerable to parents though - lots of things in the pictures to point out, count, etc. |
 | Very Lazy Ladybug, Pop-up | $11 | when my daughter started getting mobile, this is one of the few books that she was still happy to sit still for. the text of the book encourages the inspired reader to add lots of sounds and actions. |
 | Where Is Baby's Belly Button? | $6 | this book (and many similar by karen katz) are so simple and engaging that they are certainly appropriate for newborns. however, i found that my daughter really started enjoying and engaging with these books around 9 months, when she was was just starting to "get" what this whole reading thing was about. |
 | Learning Block Books | $25 | this is a box, full of very small, very chunky board books. each little book is about 2" square, and has about 6 pages. each page has a single picture of a simple object like a drum, or a rooster, etc. each book has a different theme : round things, red things, animal things. |
 | Busy Little Mouse | $8 | the literary value of this book is somewhere close to zero. however, the illustration style is unique, and it seemed to really resonate with my daughter around 10 months of age. i'm not familiar with the technical details of how these illustrations were done, but they look as if the entire scene was constructed in clay, and then photographed. it lends a three dimensional feel to the illustrations where every object really stands out. this was the very first book in which my 11 month old daughter was able to reliably respond to "where's the ladybug", and therefore it holds a special place on our bookshelf. |
 | The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear | $7 | this books is a mystery to me. when i got this for my daughter around 10.5 months of age, a certain page in this book made her collapse into giggles. i have absolutely no idea why. this book is funny, but the humor is incredibly subtle, and i'm 100% certain that she has yet to grasp true point of the story (which has to do with the role of the omniscient narrator in manipulating the plot). but . . . whatever . . . she loves it, and watching her laugh always make me laugh too. |
12-15 months
during this phase your child will probably reach phase 3 "what's this . . . " and you'll probably find yourself tailoring your book selections to match your child's favorite words.
i was surprised to find that my daughter's tolerance for plot descended even further during this brief "learn to talk" interval. suddenly she was very interested in the one-picture-and-one-word-per-page "first words" books. however, as her phase 2 ("where's the . . . ") skills were also continuing to develop, she also developed a fondness for books with a certain flavor of illustration. also, my daughter preferred to name animals by making their sounds ("mooo . . . "), so animal themed books were a hit.
| name | price | description | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Who Said Moo | $8 | this books is a great combination of animal noises and "lift-the-flap" fun. each two-page spread features a different animal, until the final page which shows all the animals. my daughter really seemed to like these "summary pages" that brought the whole book together. |
 | Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? | $8 | this book had a high probability of getting my daughter to perform her animal noises. the frog was my favorite. the final "summary page" with all the animals is the best. |
 | Bright Baby First Words | $5 | there are many books like this. this one seemed to be my daughter's favorite. thankfully, she outgrew this pretty fast (boring!). |
 | Apple Farmer Annie | $6 | my daughter loves the pictures in this book. this was the first book that inspired her to answer "what do you see?" . . . telling me all the words she knew in the apple farm picture. |
 | Ten Red Apples | $12 | lots of opportunities for animal sounds, and counting. my daughter eventually memorized the order that the animals appear and like to tell you who came next. |
 | One-Dog Canoe | $12 | at this age, my daughter started enjoying complex pictures, as long as the pictures contained repeating elements. stories where a particular minor character "hides" on each page are extra nice. this book has a little froggy that hides in the corners for most of the book, but then emerges to be the star of the show. |
 | What Does Bunny See | $12 | bunny never sees the little ladybugs that appear on every page, but my daughter sure does! |
 | Papa Please Get The Moon For Me | $9 | this is one of the first books that my daughter started asked for ("papa moon, papa moon"). its a cute story that emphasizes very simple adjectives (up, down, big, small) and favourite toddler nouns (moon, stars, cat). |
15-24 months
once my daughter had acquired a very basic vocabulary, she was amenable to moving on to books with more words and more plot. yay!
this is still a tricky age to pick books for though - i find i a challenge to locate books with a suitably low number of words per page, that still manage to convey a good story. here are my favorites.
| name | price | description | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Mouse Shapes | $11 | shapes are a surprising hit with young toddlers. it seems as if the second they are able to formulate a few words, they are dying to tell you what shape and color everything is. i'm presuming that this is why this book is such a hit with my daughter. |
 | Chameleon's Colors | $6 | a perfect book for this age range. not too many words per page. bright, colorful illustrations. and a charming story too! |
 | How to Catch a Star | $12 | okay, i must confess, my daughter doesn't actually love this book, but she will tolerate it. but i love it, as well as all other books by oliver jeffers. his illustrations are gorgeous, but a little abstract (which may be why its not a favorite with my daughter) and his plot lines are slightly sad and wistful, until the very final page. i'm really hoping that my daughter grows into this author. |
 | Pumpkin Soup | $7 | helen cooper is fast becoming my favorite author for this age. in addition to one main picture per page, there are miniature drawings threaded throughout the text itself. sometimes there are entire subplots in these mini drawings - that are never addressed in the main thread itself. complicated - but also somehow very appealing to my daughter. helen cooper's books always have a "moral", but not a beat-you-over-the-head sort of moral, and sometimes the moral is targeted towards the parent - not the child! this particular book tells the story of "little duck" who wants to take on new responsibilities that his older and wiser companions think are "over his head". |
 | Tatty Ratty | $11 | another beautiful book by helen cooper. this is the story of a lost "lovey", and a little girl and her family who lovingly imagine his journey home to the toy store where a new lovey can be purchased - without quite admitting that its not the same old tatty ratty. the illustrations in this book are on par with maurice sendak. |
 | If You Give a Pig a Party | $11 | there are many books in this series, and my daughter seems to enjoy all of them. i've chosen this one in particular for the ingenious "hide and seek" page. |
 | Take Care, Good Knight | $11 | i don't think my daughter understand the humour in this book yet (dragons in their pajamas toasting marshmellows, funny puns "good night, good knight!") but she likes it anyways. i like it too. |
 | I Took the Moon for a Walk | $17 | the text is a beautiful poem, set to wonderful illustrations that have lots to talk about. |
 | A Visitor for Bear | $12 | bear doesn't want visitors, but friendly little mouse just won't give up. my daughter says "oh no! oh no!" a lot when i read this one as in "oh no! that mouse is back again!" |
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Great suggestions! Lately
Great suggestions! Lately the only book my daughter (also 21 months) wants to read to Bad Dog Marley. I ask her if she wants to read Mouse Colors and she says "Bad Dog Marley Bad Dog Marley! Arf Arf!" It's a great book, but since it's the only book she wants to read I have to add my own counting and colors to it. I ask her to count the number of goldfish and parakeets on the first page and say "What color is this shirt?"
Thanks for the book suggestions. I also enjoyed your travel tips. My daughter loves ice as well, but it makes me a little nervous because I worry ice may be a choking hazard.
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