Our Favorite Baby Books: Part 1

Last time, Taryn shared the latest research about the value of reading to your baby or toddler. After talking excitedly about the special baby books we had read to our own children (or remembered from childhood), we realized that we needed more than one post to share our favorites with you! As you know, we don't promote or name products on this blog but we had to make an exception for these wonderful books (and no, we don't have any investments in bookstores or publishers). First up, JenG and Kerri share their favorite baby/toddler books.

JenG's Favorites

1. Counting Kisses By Karen Katz
This was a fun interactive book that I read to my daughter from the time she was only a few weeks old all the way until she was about 2 years old. In the beginning she simply loved being talked to and kissed. As she got older she learned all of her body parts as we kissed them throughout the book.

2. Goodnight Moon By: Margaret Wise Brown
This is a classic! If you haven’t already added it to your library, you probably should! This book is written as a beautiful poem that starts with saying goodnight to everything in a little bunny’s room. At an early age my daughter would point to the objects we were saying goodnight to as we went through the book, later she would finish my sentences: Goodnight ____. Goodnight____. The story ends with bunny asleep in his bed. This book provides a great transition to bedtime.

3. Guess How Much I Love You By: Sam McBratney
This story is the tale of a daddy rabbit and baby rabbit that try to outdo one another with examples of how much they love each other. It is very sweet. When I read it, I changed the wording so that it was mama rabbit. My daughter would always have this wide, confident smile after we read this book.

4. Llama Llama Red Pajama By: Anna Dewdney
A very sweet bedtime book that I found when my daughter was 12-18 months of age and struggling with bedtime. The rhyming was very comforting and almost lulled her to sleep. I was working during the day and so my favorite line was: “Mama is always near, even if I'm not right here." I wanted her to know that just because she couldn’t see me at times, didn’t mean I wasn’t coming back to her.

Kerri's Favorites
1. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

The Very Hungry Caterpillar teaches about the days of the week, and the life cycle of a caterpillar. My daughter loved this book, especially the end when the caterpillar came out of the cocoon and was a beautiful butterfly.

2. White Rabbit’s Color Book by Alan Baker

This is a fun book about a white rabbit who jumps into different colors of paint (red, yellow, and blue) to become a different color. The rabbit takes a shower to wash each color paint off, but soon runs out of water and only has a little paint left. This is a great story to teach your child about colors and how 2 different colors can be mixed together to make a third color.

3. How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? By Jane Yolen

My daughter and I read this book every night before bed for months. This book is about “dinosaurs” that don’t want to go to bed but by the end they let the parent tuck them into bed and say goodnight. “They give a big hug, then give one kiss more. Goodnight, goodnight little dinosaur."

4. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr.

This is a great rhyming book that teaches about colors and animals. My daughter’s favorite part was at the end when it lists all of the animals that the children would see!

Now its your turn! What are your favorite books?

Next time: More of Our Favorite Books!