As a child I always loved books. As a pre-teen and teenager, I would sneak my light on after my parents went to bed just to read until 3 am. When I thought my life path was going to lead me into teaching, I began buying lots of books for my future classroom. Half of those books are in the attic since they wont fit on our current 7 foot IKEA bookshelf. When I got pregnant, I asked my mom for one thing at my baby shower – to have people bring a book instead of a card. I wanted to be able to read to my children every single night. Little did I know that around 9 months they become book demons and want nothing to do with the reading and everything to do with shredding the book apart (yay for board books!). I was so excited when Robbie was around 18 months and we could finally start reading again. We’ve read every night since, even while on vacations. Below are some of our favorites.
Robbie went through a HUGE Brown Bear phase. Eric Carle books are definitely our top favorites. Brown Bear, Polar Bear, and Panda Bear are short and sweet, so you can read all three in one night. Robbie has all three books memorized so we basically let him “read” at this point. Other Eric Carle books we love are – “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” and “The Very Busy Spider”. These are also great books for Toddler Book Clubs (stay tuned for that post in the future).
Another one favorite in our house is the Construction Site books. Robbie loves naming all of the different trucks. I love that it has taught him the names of different types of trucks so when we see one while driving he yells it out, “Mommy! Look! There’s an excavator!”. The illustrations are really well done in this book, cute but accurate.
Oh the “Ten Little Ladybugs” book. When we got this one as a gift I had never heard of it. I thought it would be one we never, ever read. Let me tell you how wrong I was. This book is awesome! It is a counting book. Children learn to count down from 10. The ladybugs are actual hard, plastic ladybugs that pop out from the book. Children are able to count the ladybugs on each page. The book also includes the standard form and number form of each number. We were able to practice counting with both boys from an early age. This is another Toddler Book Club favorite!
I bought this book specifically for Toddler Book Club after seeing an activity for it on Pinterest. This book is so cute!! When reading, you can’t help but sing the words. The kids love to sing it too! This is an Usborne Book but I don’t know any sellers so I bought mine on Amazon.
These books by Sam McBratney are timeless. “Guess How Much I Love You” should definitely be in every home. I personally love how Big Nutbrown Hare is a daddy rabbit. I feel most books involve mom, rather than dad so it’s a nice change. My boys especially love “One More Tickle”. They giggle and giggle the entire book. “One More Tickle” also helps teach young ones different body parts. It has become our new “gift” book when there is a new baby.
These next couple books are more my favorites than the boys.
I bought “Orion and the Dark” when I thought Robbie was becoming afraid of the dark (turns out it was just the dreaded Two Year Old Sleep Regression -_-). It’s a super cute book that turns the “Dark” into a character. The little boy who is afraid of the dark ends up having adventures with “Dark” and seeing he’s not so scary after all.
I found “Not Quite Narwhal” while looking for other books. It is beyond adorable. I love it because it’s all about being true to yourself. This book teaches you that it’s okay to be different. The illustrations are amazing. Most boy moms probably wouldn’t give this book a second look but trust me when I say this book is for all!
“I’ll Love You Forever” and “I’ve Loved You Since Forever” were both books I found while in Target (hint – I didn’t go in for books). I fell in love with the illustrations in both books and from there fell in love with the actual stories. “I’ll Love You Forever” assures children that no matter what changes come in their life, their parents will always love them. “I’ve Loved You Since Forever” begins before baby was even born and how parent and child were meant to be.
I am always buying new books and would love to hear some of your favorites! Please be sure to leave them in the comments!
Buy A Book
Props
you said: