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Best Books for Toddlers
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I have been letting my 2 yr old twins enjoy nature, get dirty, bring me their findings, and I read to them and they “read” to me (which usually involves babble and them pointing to pictures and telling me what things are or looks like..). Which books are best for toddlers? The books my family tends to buy them is twaddle…you know the Dora, Blues Clues kind of stuff which I do not prefer at all. I love classics but toddlers’ attention spans are not the best so I have to read them shorter books or small clumps at a time. Since I am new to all of this CM – any help would be appreciated greatly! I just want to make sure I am getting started on the right foot with my reading to them:)
Tammy
I second everything on the Early Years list, and will add a few:
- Any of the “Angus” books by Marjorie Clack
- Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
- Just in Case You Ever Wonder by Max Lucado
- Stellaluna by Jannell Cannon
- Horton Hears A Who & Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss (my kids are now 6 and 5 and still love the rhythm and rhyming of those books, even though my 6yo can read them by himself now)
- A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson
That’s all I can think of now. I’ll try to remember more of our favorites and post again later. Hope that helps!
Thanks so much everyone!! I have some of the ones you mentioned and those are the ones I bought for them myself – its the ones that family gives me (LOTS OF THEM) that are the cartoon twaddle type stuff. I would just like to keep my eyes open for the good ones for them!
Blessings,
TammyI recommend a nicely-illustrated book of nursery rhymes. Toddlers love hearing them over and over (and over and over) again.
Post the twaddly ones on PaperbackSwap.com. It’s a great way to get rid of the books you don’t like and get more of the books you want. Or, set some friendly boundaries with your family. You can simply tell them the types of books you want your boys to be reading and suggest some titles you don’t already have. For Christmas and birthdays, when I know books are going to be given as gifts, I just e-mail grandparents with titles I know are appropriate and good living books. They’re never offended. You might say something like this, “Dear Grandma, I know it’s getting close to Johnny’s birthday again, and he’s really expressing an interest in books. I’m reading to him all the time! I thought I’d make it easy for you this year and suggest some great books that I know Johnny would love: Goodnight Moon, Blueberries for Sal, and Mrs. Rumphius. I can read these books to Johnny now, and he will still enjoy them enough to read by himself as he gets older. Thanks for being a great Grandma! Love, Lindsey”
See? That wasn’t offensive or rude. Just a friendly way to suggest books you want and keep away from those you don’t.
Anything by Eric Carle.
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? and Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you Hear? by Bill Martin
The Little Engine that Could
Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McKendry (check that last name) and Anita Jeram.
I agree about the twaddly gifts. My family should know better, but they only want to buy books at dollar stores or thrift stores that don’t have a good selection. My aunt, a retired college professor, gave ds6 a board book! Really! I post them on Paperback Swap or Bookmooch or put them in the donation box for the Salvation Army, Goodwill, or another organization.
Karen
In addition to those mentioned, we enjoy “Before Five in a Row” book suggestions for toddlers. Most are on the SCM bookfinder or you can view them all here
http://www.amazon.com/Before-Five-Row-Book-List/lm/RRWYT3SACMEHJ
I can sympathize … I’ve hidden many of our “Cars” and “Thomas the Train” books!
Some big favorites with my 1 1/2- and 3-year-olds right now:
- Anything by Eric Carle. (They especially love the “Bear” books lately.)
- “The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge” by Hildegarde Swift and Lynd Ward. This is an OLD one, from the ’40s or so, but my oldest just adores it.
- “Green Eggs and Ham” and “The ABC Book” by Dr. Seuss.
- “Harry the Dirty Dog” by Gene Zion and Margaret Bloy Graham.
- “Poems to Read to the Very Young” illustrated by Eloise Wilkin.
- Some may think they’re a bit twaddly, but we really like the Sandra Boynton board books for the really little ones. Some of our favorites are “The Going to Bed Book,” “Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs” and “Barnyard Dance.”
Oh, Sanveann, did Sandra Boynton write “Moo, Baa, La, La, La” and . . . oh, what’s the one with the turkey who always puts the clothes on wrong? My daughters loved those when they were little. And my autistic daughter loved the turkey one, because it helped her see that making mistakes is okay.
Awesome suggestions here. Yes, Sonya those are Sandra Boynton books. We have several of those. They are actually my husband’s favorite. He loves reading Sandra Boynton b/c they are so funny and fun to read.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar in Board Book format has been bought 3 times around here because all of my children loved it so much. It got worn out from their looking at it.
Sonya, the mixed-up turkey book is called “Blue Hat, Green Hat”. My dd2 loves that book! She calls it “Oops!”
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