Building baby's library

ceclarlinetlo · August 2016

So we are starting to build our kids book collection from scratch - what are your favorite kids book from birth through pre-school? I would love to have a range of quick stories or learning specific (picture or word or concept recognition like shapes or numbers etc) books for play time and longer stories for bedtime.

ElleMF728 · August 2016

DS1's favorites were/are: Moo Baa La La La, Good Night I Love You, The Very Busy Spider, The Going to Bed Book. Where the Wild Things Are will hopefully be up next as it is a favorite of mine.

Mo Willems writes the Elephant and Piggie books which my 3 year old is just starting to get into. They are amazing for kids and teach and talk about so many lessons in fun ways for them to understand. So far we like:
Should I Share My Ice Cream?
A Big Kid Took My Ball and
Waiting is Hard

mommy2ane · August 2016

My son's favorites are Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Pout Pout Fish and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. They're so much fun to read!

sweetyjenj · August 2016

I'm a huge book person myself, so I started this collection a while ago. I like going to garage sales just to look at if they have books. I'll only get them if they look new, have not been written in, pages are in excellent condition, and they do not smell like smoke. There's a TON out there!!!!! I likely already have enough to create a small library, but you never know what they'll like and when you just might have the right book for the right moment. I love teaching style books, where there's a cute story but there's a good lesson behind it. I have been getting most of my books for 50 cents to a few bucks a piece, and way worth it!!!

themuffinman16 · August 2016

On the Night You Were Born- by Nancy Tillman. It's a beautiful book with beautiful pictures all describing the magical things that happened in the world the night they were born. Go The F*ck to Sleep- a timeless classic I have given to my niece and nephew, The Giving Tree. Madeline (for a girl), Bear Snores On, Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site. The Hungry Caterpillar. Corduroy, and the Llama Llama books (I nicknamed my nephew llama, and these books are really cute.), and my all time favorite The Velveteen Rabbit (even though baby won't understand such a long book until they are older, I find the longer stories bore the child to sleep, in the beginning, which is okay in my book!). The Day the Crayons Quit is a hilarious book for toddlers. I might not get it in the beginning as we are still in an apartment, and have limited room.

spano41 · August 2016

Any board book that rhymes is a hit over here. We put away most of her paper books for now because most of them are pretty long for her attention span and she tears them up if unsupervised. The indestructible books and the books that are just pictures of babies doing things or just random objects are good when they're really young. She also really liked some of the cloth type books that had different textures and stuff when she was an infant. My daughter LOVES anything by Sandra Boyton....like to the point I have to hide them sometimes to get a break from reading them. Little blue truck, chicka chicka boom boom, brown bear brown bear, there's a wocket in my pocket are all favorites right now, but her favorites are constantly evolving.

scgirl6113 · August 2016

A few of our favorites:
Little blue truck
I love you stinky face
the runaway bunny
where the wild things are
simple I spy books
that's not my elephant.
anything else that has touch and feel areas.

christac1010 · August 2016

I'm a huge book nerd so the first item I bought for the baby was a book. I've continued to buy books ever since then and force DH to read them to my bump. My mom also bought me a few books, because she knows how much a love to read.

Our favorite books so far are The Kissing Hand (I cry every time), Pat the Bunny, Where Do Giggles Come From, Just Keep Swimming (a Finding Nemo storybook with an adorable message), Your Baby's First Word will be Dada, Five Little Monkeys, and an adorable book with bears and how much you're loved that I cannot remember the name of right now.

ETA the name of the book is I Love You As Big As The World which I see a few other people have already mentioned!

karaelaine1991 · August 2016

Anything by Sandra Boynton is an instant hit with DD. There's a really cute book that MIL gave us at my baby shower for her called You Mean the World to Me ( forget the author; it's not someone who's particularly well-known) that's a great mother/child book and has become a bedtime staple for us. Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See? by Eric Carle is another favorite... I love Dr. Seuss but at 14 months DD is still a bit young for those books, though I do try them every few weeks or so.

sagoon · August 2016

We have a trillion books. We're big readers, plus when I had my shower with my son, it was one of those where guests were asked to bring a fav book instead of a card. We got more than we could imagine.

some of our favorites over the last 4 years:
-any of the Matthew Van Fleet books (Moo, Cat, dog, etc). Lots of moving parts and different textures.
-any of the Poke a Dot books - 'buttons' for kids to push
-Goodnight Moon
-Runaway Bunny
-Pat the Bunny
-Make Way for Ducklings
-The Story about Ping
-Blueberries for Sal
-The Very Hungry Caterpillar (the current favorite)
-just about any board book featuring counting or the alphabet
-Green Eggs and Ham (had to read this every night for about 3 months. I now hate it)
-The Snowy Day
-all of the Pete the Cat books

LastMango · August 2016

I love this thread! Since so many good ones have been suggested, I'm going to second a few of them as must haves plus add a few more:

Brown Bear Brown Bear
The Very HungryCaterpillar
The Giving Tree
Hooray for Fish
The Alphabet Room
10 Little Ladybugs

I swear it was because of some of these books that DD knew her letters, numbers and colors well before she was two.

ThePax89 · August 2016

E loves the Karen Katz books (where's baby's belly button, etc), Sandra boynton books, and brown bear brown bear. I would hold off on buying books until later. You will receive a bunch.

AshleySparkle720 · August 2016

Guess how much I love you, Rosie revere engineer, pigeon/elephant/pig books, books with textures are DDs favorite, on the night you were born, Pete the cat books, where's baby's belly button....we have like 3 book shelves full ha I could go on all day!

serah-2 · August 2016

Try the author Lisa Campbell Ernst - lots of lovely books that are great for kiddos! I bought the whole library for the babe!

sherrera92 · August 2016

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom holds a special place in my heart. When I was in charge of the kindergarten after school program we used to read that damn book so often they started asking for it as a reward for a good day and had every word memorized lol

The Grouchy Ladybug
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Green Eggs and Ham
Where the Wild Things Are
Harold and the Purple Crayon

ChaoticWolf · August 2016

The book I remember most growing up was The Poky Little Puppy, read by my grandmother. I think it's less about what you read to them, and more about who reads to them.

cjs260 · August 2016

From babysitting, I LOVE the Llama Llama books. I want this baby to have them all!

Teach123 · August 2016

We just have board books out right now, and they fill 4 cubby holes and two plastic book bins plus some more. I love books and LO does too. We keep them down on his level, so he can access them at any time (hence the only board books rule for now). He loves to pick out two every night to read before bed.

Favorites include:
Good Night, Good Night Construction Site
I Love You As Big As the World
Brown Bear, Brown Bear
Dr. Seuss ABCs
Pumpkin, Pumpkin was that you? (A Halloween book)

He loves counting books, first 100 word books, anything with flaps that he can open and see what's underneath, books with repetitive text that he can "read" on his own after hearing it a few times, there's one about traffic signs and stop lights that he loves too. He's become quite the backseat driver because of it.

nolemomma14 · August 2016

My son loves Pout Pout Fish. My husband and I both have it memorized at this point! We also love:

Baby Bear Baby Bear what do you see?
Little Blue Truck
Are you my Mother?
Things you didn't know about Dinosaurs
Bear on a Bike
Thats not my Train

My MIL kept all of DHs Berenstain Bear books and I can't wait till DS will sit a bit longer and we can read those too!

LoveIsOwlYouNeed · August 2016

Sandra Boynton books for sure. And pretty much anything by Eric Carle. Goodnight Moon is a classic too. And for when they're a little older, lift-the flap books, like Dear Zoo and Where's Spot are always popular!

BAJDesigns · August 2016

So many good books! I have a giant amazon cart of a few hundred dollars of board books I just keep staring at. Right now I just pick up one or two of the classics every time I go to Target. But I am deeply obsessed with Orla Keily and Charley Harper board books. They are beautiful! I have to limit myself to board books right now because I work at a library and every time I see the cart of new picture books come in I keep thinking I need all of them for baby! We do a set of early readers about a grey cat named Mittens that my sister in law bought us when we got married-because we have a grey cat named Mittens. I always think of how cute it will be when Baby thinks our cat is famous enough to have his own book series.

ashanne88 · August 2016

Some of our favorites:

Anything Sandra Boynton
Anything Eric Carle - DS's favorite is Polar Bear Polar Bear What Do You Hear?
The Little Blue Truck books (I personally love these too)
A Sick Day For Amos McGee
Goodnight Moon
Goodnight Goon (Halloween twist on Goodnight Moon)
Dear Zoo
If I Were A Duck - textured book for when they're little, DS still likes to feel it
Guess How Much I Love You

Teach123 · August 2016

I forgot about Little Blue Truck. Love those.

canavara · August 2016

I'm not sure how many bilingual families we have here but for those of you who are, are you planning on getting the bilingual versions of books or buying books in separate languages? I've been buying a few in English and a few in Spanish but I'm suddenly seeing a selection on Amazon that have both translations in the same book and I don't know how I feel about it or if it even matters...

We're planning on having OH do most of the reading in English and me in Spanish with the hope that he absorbs each language better that way hearing it from different parents but I'm guessing I'll read to him in English too sometimes since I certainly plan on speaking to him in both languages.

nolemomma14 · August 2016

@canavara we have a pretty good mix of Spanish books as well as English books. Some are the same, we have both versions of are you my mother, and others are totally different. I do the reading in Spanish, although bless DH, he will try if DS brings him a Spanish book. I speak Spanish to DS 90% of the time and between that and his Spanish books I think we have a little bilingual baby on our hands! My mom and grandma only speak Spanish to DS so that definitely helps.

They are such sponges when they are little, I love that I can pass my Spanish onto DS!

emtimme · August 2016

I love this thread, so many suggestions I'm going to have to pick up! My mom is a librarian and she said that (as others have mentioned above) board books with pictures of real babies are really great to have. She's already gotten me this one. Obviously I wouldn't know from personal experience, but apparently babies love seeing other babies in print.

keifekm · August 2016

As others mentioned anything by Sandra Boynton is good. Our favorites were Moo Baa LaLa, Pajama Time, Barnyard Dance and Snuggle Puppy. We would always sing Pajama Time, Barnyard Dance and Snuggle Puppy. Kind of embarrassing but my husband will sing/read Barnyard Dance and I act out the animal parts. It is a humbling experience but the kids love it.

Another favorite in our house is Peek a Who. The rest have been covered by previous posters.

mommywesley · August 2016

I'm a sucker for the Bernstein Bears lol. I love all their books! I remember as a kid reading the Halloween one in October every year.

keifekm · August 2016

I'm glad some of you mentioned The Little Blue truck. Someone gave that book to my son for his first birthday and up until tonight I hadn't read it because I had never heard of it. It is a cute book!

AlabamaRedhead · August 2016

Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site (ours is worn out!)
Stream Train, Dream Train
Little Blue Truck books
Busy Spider
Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp

Wholesome · August 2016

I recommend getting them in phases and not have a huge library to begin with. We've had to hide books because we had them too soon and they were getting destroyed. At first, board books are awesome, and depending on your baby, may be the only thing you can have out for the first 2 years. My sons first favorite was That's Not My Frog.

its recommended to get new books with every time they grow into the next set of clothes.

NinaLCC · August 2016

Moomin books! No one, who grew up in America probably knows of them, but they are absolutely adorable and my baby will know everything about them:) You can find some Moomin books online, such as on Amazon. Otherwise, Dr.Seuss goes a long way

ceclarlinetlo · August 2016

I bought just a few books yesterday - I'll probably hold off getting any more until I see what we get as gifts but I just thought these were so precious and fun. They are all by Sandra Boynton:

The Going to Bed Book
Birthday Monsters
Hippos Go Berserk
But Not the Hippopotamus
Green Shirt, Blue Shirt
Are you a cow?

DH read all of them to Cletus the Fetus last night - it was so sweet. He (DH) preferred the first four that had some what of a plot to the other two which are just vehicles to teach colors, articles of clothes and animals.

karaelaine1991 · August 2016

ceclarlinetlo said:

I bought just a few books yesterday - I'll probably hold off getting any more until I see what we get as gifts but I just thought these were so precious and fun. They are all by Sandra Boynton:

The Going to Bed Book
Birthday Monsters
Hippos Go Berserk
But Not the Hippopotamus
Green Shirt, Blue Shirt
Are you a cow?

DH read all of them to Cletus the Fetus last night - it was so sweet. He (DH) preferred the first four that had some what of a plot to the other two which are just vehicles to teach colors, articles of clothes and animals.

We love Sandra Boynton! DD just started responding to the questions in Are You A Cow? It's adorable

cjs260 · August 2016

I found several Sandra Boynton books at the consignment sale today! Love them!!

mommy2ane · August 2016

I need to look into some of these books!!! We tell family and friends that he loves books and that's what they tend to get him now. It helps to not have to always spend the money on the books and get introduced to books you may have never chosen yourself.

adorebella · August 2016

I'm terrible about buying books because I feel like there are SO MANY and I get overwhelmed by the choices/cost. So now I'm buying Owen 3 new books a month. This month I got him:

Beautiful Oops
The Wonderful Things You Will Be
Where The Wild Things Are

OMG I sob when I read The Wonderful Things You Will Be. It is so stinking adorable.

Also, for the first year of your baby's life you can really read them ANYTHING. We read our own books and magazines to Owen to keep ourselves entertained and it was really just important for him to hear words, they didn't have to be children's book's words.

ceclarlinetlo · August 2016

@adorabella do you have a TJ maxx Ross or Marshalls near you? I've been really impressed with what I've been able to find there for a lot cheaper than a normal book store or target. But that's a good point that reading anything is a good option - the more words they hear the better.

karitubbs · August 2016

Books are my 1 year old's favorite thing. She loves the interactive books- where you can slide pieces to reveal animals. Or books like That's Not My Bunny- has touchy-feely parts to it!

adorebella · August 2016

@ceclarlinetlo Oh I love Marshall's! That's a good place to look, thanks for the tip! I haven't been going there lately since I know I can't clothes shop there but I'll be hitting them up when I'm getting nursery room decor

ThePax89 · August 2016

At marshals yesterday, I found a Clifford book that looked like a bit maybe chewed on the corner. It was marked down to $.50 and it was a Clifford flip book, my daughter wanted it...so I obliged. I'm gross.

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