I was wondering if you all might like to share your favorite children's books for reading aloud to a toddler. I love reading to my son, and he really enjoys listening, but our selection is pretty limited. I take him to the library, but I can't really take the time to read through the books because he gets so excited and is running everywhere, so I end up just grabbing a couple with cute pictures on the front and they end up being uninteresting, both for me and for my son. He is almost two, so he's starting to graduate past the board books and be able to sit and listen while I turn the pages. He and I like the rhyming books best, and books with cartoon-y looking pictures (like Veggie Tales). So any suggestions? Please, nothing with pop-ups or pull-outs, he's still apt to tear those out if he gets ahold of it unsupervised :)
Wow! Thank you mommies for all of your wonderful, helpful suggestions! I will definitely search these out at the library, and then we'll probably get a few of the favorites to add to our collection at home.
My 2yr old LOVES the Llama Llama books, he asks for them by name (lala lala lol) His two favorites are Llama Llama mad at mama and Llama Llama Red Pajama. He also likes the flap books like Where's spot, if they tear them off they are easy to repair.
All of my girls LOVE "Pete the Cat I Love my White Shoes" and "Pete the Cat Rocking in My School Shoes". Pete the Cat I Love my White Shoes might be a better choice for a young one, but they are both AWESOME and very FUN to read!!!!
Rhyming Dust Bunnies. All my kids had me read it a thousand times when they were that small. It held their interest until they were 4! I heard about it on this site when I asked for a book to take into and read to a whole daycare on my daughter's birthday. The kids were shrieking with laughter and had me read it 3 times. I don't really get it...it's short and simple...but kids LOVE it.
All four of my kids love "The Digginest Dog" and "The Monster at the End of This Book". You will love them!
Also, most Dr. Suess Books, they have a ton of creativity and rhyming. Our two faves are, "Green Eggs and Ham" and "Hop on Pop". There is also a book called "Are You My Mother?" by P.D. Eastman.
Good luck and happy reading!
Is Your Mama A Llama
Goodnight Gorillla
My daughter and I have a huge love for books. She is almost 5 and we have too many favorites..LOL..Think back to when she was age 2, here are some thoughts about what we liked.
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin JR....it is an alphabet book, with a fun and catchy rhyme to it. There is also Chicka Chicka One two three - it is a number book.
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see by Bill Martin Jr.
No, David by David Shannon (most of the David books are pretty fun)
One that might be a little older, but is a nice soothing book is called The Wild Little Horse by Rita Gray.
Barn Yard Dance or the Bellybutton book or going to bed book by Sandra Boynton - they are board books, but still cute.
If you give a mouse a cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff.
Hope that give you a few selections.
I love Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? There are four books in this "series". Also, Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed is great, too.
I love you Stinky Face....my kids just crack up. Linda Mc Court she had a whole bunch. You can get used on Better World books for around $3.50 (love that site). Anyway our favorites come and go but this one has been a constant. So so so super cute!
The "If you Give" series
If you Give a Mouse a Cookie
If you give a Pig a Pancake
If you give a Moose a Muffin
Clifford the big red dog books
Franklin the Turtle books
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Anything Eric Carle
Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell
Goodnight, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann
Any of Alan Baker's rabbit books
Any of Ellen Stoll Walsh Mouse books
Sandra Boynton
Where the wild things are
Dr.Sues
Jan Brett's The Mitten
Kiss, Kiss Margaret Wild
Hug! Jez Alborough
I LOVE love love reading, kids like picture books and repetition and I love the ease of reading rhymed text.
We read a lot of the favorites every night and they have not gone bad from age two to now he is 4 and I use some of my faves in my preschool class.
We are also mad about the Llama llama books, I was so happy when Kohl's Cares had a stuffed Llama and some of the books ( yeah!)
I like to buy books at TJ maxx of all places because they sell popular board books cheaply.
I recommend Sandra Boynton, Todd Parr and Eric Carle as they all come in the sturdy board book size, have rhymes and are fun to read. If your library has the option of reserving the books on-line and then picking them up, I would take advantage of that service.
Sandra Boynton --- My favorite books by her are "Snuggle Puppy" and "Moo Baa, La la la"
Llama Llama Red Pajama and all the other Llama Llama books by Anna Dewdney. They're rhyming and my 3 yr old loves them.
Clifford books by Norman Bridwell
Little Critter books by Mercer Mayer
Knuffle Bunny and other books by Mo Willems
I have started reading non-fiction to my son and he loves it. Granted, he's almost 3.5 yrs old. But I found that the author Nic Bishop has the best pictures. We mostly look at the good pictures (big colorful photos) in his books and I will read a few sentences about what kind of animal it is. He has books about Butterflies and Moths, Spiders, Frogs, Maruspials......... They're all great. I even have learned a lot and have been fascinated by the types of frogs ando ther animals I'd never heard about.
@ 3girls -- I just put those Pete the Cat books on reserve for my 3 yr old. Thanks for that suggestion!
Skippy John Jones
George and Martha
Harry the Dirty Dog
Dr. Seuss
Fish Out of Water is a fav. at our house...
And the other great ones the other moms listed. :)
ETA: The Llama Llama books!
I love Peggy Rathman books....
Gloria and Officer Buckle
The day the babies crawled away
bootsie barker
Ten minutes til bedtime
I am late to the game, but my daughter LOVES Where the Wild Things are. :)
In addition to all the awesome works listed previously, my daughter and I love anything by Todd Parr. His books are drawn very simple, almost like how a child would draw, with bold bright colors and they convey positive messages about acceptance and feeling good about yourself and who you are, while using relatively few words. She also loves anything by Eric Carle - again, lots of bright colors! And anything Dr. Suess - rhyming!
My daughter also loves the "Pete the Cat" stories and "I'm The Biggest Thing In The Ocean!"
The Napping House.
I agree with the Little Creature books.
Dr. Suess
Eric Carle
Keats
Dr. Seuss, Theo LeSeig (a pseudonym of Dr. Suess), P.D. Eastman, Mo Willems...he should like them all. I particularly like "Come Over to My House," "The Lorax," and "I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew" by Suess/Leseig, "Go Dog, Go!" by Eastman, and "The New Toy" by Willems.
Mr Brown can Moo, Can you?
Five Little Monkeys
Silly Sally
Mother Goose
Biscuit the dog books
Animal Baby magazines
Big Smelly Bear
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Mrs. Wishy Washy's Farm
Hand Hand Fingers Thumb
Put Me in the Zoo
The Foot Book
What Game Shall we Play?
Are You My Mother?
The Very Busy Spider
Ten Apples Up on Top
We love Clifford, Franklin and Curious George. Books by Tomie De Paola and Kevin Henkes are great for short attention spans too. The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom are colorful and have good rhythm that my kids love. Be sure to ask your librarian to give you some tips on the best books for your age group as well! Happy Reading!
A.
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My boys love tumble bumble. It's really cute. Also, I don't want to live on the moon. It's Ernie from sesame st. Put me in the zoo. All my boys were really into Thomas the tank engine. There was a great book with poems about the trains. They all loved it. I'll have to look at the name when I get home. I'll try to remember to message you.
;)
My twins really love when we read Bear Snores On. The paintings are beautiful, there's a nice meter and rhyme, and when the bear does wake up, it's fun to do the growls and the grumbles. They giggle with delight. It comes in board book style too.
A few that our 2 1/2 yr old enjoys that I read with different voices and sounds.
1. Thomas' Snowsuit by Munsch
2. Boy Soup by Loris Lesynski (poetic rhyme)
3. Born to Read by Judy Sierra (poetic rhyme)
4. The Spooky Smells of Halloween by Mary Man Kong (a scratch and sniff book)
5. All Dr.Seuss Books
Hands down, my/our absolute FAVORITES are
Chopsticks http://www.amazon.com/Chopsticks-Jon-Berkeley/dp/01927245...
Guji Guji
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/guji-guji-chih-yuan-chen/...
Mama, do you love me?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/087701759X/ref=ox_sc_act...
Doctor Seuss ; (anything... but ABCs, Lorax, Star Bellied Sneeches, Green Eggs & hAM)
Poems by Eugene Fields (Wynken, Blynken, & Nod... The Sugar Plum Tree... The Gingham Dog & the Calico Cat)
<3 <3 <3 Three Billy Goats Gruff <3 <3 <3
GREAT rhyming + CUTE illustrations = Jez Alborough!
Some Dogs Do (one of my all-time faves of any author)
Where's My Bear?
My Friend Bear
When my son was younger, he was kind of the same. He would want to flip the page before it was over. He loved books, but he loved to "read" them himself. I would still try to read him SHORT stories or stories that captured his interest before bed. The "I can read" series, level 1 or 2 are good because they have only a couple of words on each page and are over before you know it. http://www.icanread.com/ One book he really loved was called "You're My Little Love Bug". It had his picture in it and played music... and I loved it because it expressed my love for him. The author has some great books for kids called "Love Letters from parents". http://www.target.com/s/Heidi%20R.%20Weimer I'm not sure of your religious affiliation but these books are somewhat Christian (for example the love bug book says something like "You're God's great gift of love").
Anyways now that he's older (4) and able to sit through a book we can do longer books, like Good Night Moon, Green Eggs and Ham, and he loves the Little Creature books. Good luck!!
Anything by Sandra Boynton
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Dr. Suess' ABC's
Chick Chick 123
My 2 year old likes the simple Dr. Suess (Hop on Pop, Green Eggs and Ham), we also like Karma Wilson as an author (Pip the penquin, Bear Snores On), The Big Red Barn is a good one too.
Oh - and we love duck in the truck by jez alborough, and many others by that author.
Good luck!
J.
Blueberries for Sal
Oink and Pearl
Where the Wild Things Are
Sheep in A Jeep
Winnie the Pooh
Any from the Golden book collections
My sons favorite book is "I love you because you Are you" I read it to him everynight, another is "all the ways I love you" and my all time favorite is "puff the magic dragon"
i like sandra boynton, dr.seuss, i spy, thomas, lightning mcqueen and priddy books with any type of vehicle.
Anything by Byrd Baylor.
Lots of our faves are already listed. Have to add Dinosaur Roar (fave of all of our kids, plus now my niece) and Tumble Bumble.
For that age, favorites in our house:
Roaring Rockets
The Best Goalie Ever
Smash Crash
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Richard Scarry's Best Story Book Ever; Cars and Trucks & Things that Go
All By Myself
