There are so many great books for kids out there! I love discovering new favorites with the kids at school, at the library, or through friends. In fact, my two favorite questions to ask other moms are:
- What are your go to items from Trader Joe’s? (The frozen rice, chocolate sea salt almonds, cowboy bark, and the freeze dried fruit are my favorites).
- What are your favorite kids books?
In the hope that you’ll share your favorites with me, here are a few of my favorites.
Books for babies:
When my babies were little, they LOVED black and white books. They also loved books with baby faces peering out at them as well as things with flaps, textures, and surprisingly, books with no words. At first I actually hated reading books with no words because it required so much effort! Now I tend to enjoy them as I can change the pace and story each time.
Black and white books
Books with no words:
Interactive books:
- Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? (with the sliding panels)
- Dear Zoo
- Can You Say It Too? Roar! Roar!
- That’s not my Baby
Books for toddlers:
I really start to see a difference here in what my boy liked vs. what my girl likes. My son was SO into books about vehicles (construction, trains, planes, cars, etc). My daughter has gravitated towards more plot driven stories (vs. just truck picture books).
Amazing books with strong female characters:
- Rosie Revere, Engineer (my favorite kid’s book)
- Interstellar Cinderella (a modern twist on the classic tale – cinderella is a mechanic!)
Books with incredible rhyming patterns and stories:
- Circus Ship (my second favorite kid’s book)
- Iggy Peck Architect (if I ever write a book for kids, I want to use this rhyming pattern)
Books for toddlers who love vehicles, construction, cars, trucks, planes, and things that go:
- Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site
- Fire! Fuego! Brave Bomberos (half Spanish, half English)
- Richard Scarry’s Cars and Trucks and Things that Go
- Little Blue Truck
- Steam Train Dream Train
- Where Do Diggers Sleep At Night? (so cute, mommy and daddy trucks!)
- Dig, Dig, Digging
- Demolition
- I’m a Truck Driver (my son loved the street sweeper page and sounds)
- My Truck Is Stuck!
- Dig! (fun looking for the puppy and his buried bones on each page)
- I Stink (what kid doesn’t love garbage trucks?!)
- I’m Dirty
Fun stories:
- Olivia
- The Jolly Postman (wonderful book with actual letters to pull out of envelopes)
- Spoon
- The Day the Crayons Quit
- Stuck (so silly!)
- Mr. Tiger Goes Wild
- Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus (my kids laugh out loud)
- Strega Nona
- Toot and Puddle (there are so many in this series that are so cute)
- Lyle Lyle Crocodile (a great collection of 4 stories)
Sweet stories:
- Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes
- Little Black Crow (really sweet)
- Each Peach Pear Plum (kind of a hide and seek book)
- Boy + Bot
Flaps, pop up, and textures:
- Wheels on the Bus (we had to get a second copy, the first was loved to death)
- Dog (my daughter loves this book)
- Bedtime Bugs (I love this author – I had them as a kid and my kids now love them)
- Noodles (out of print, so have to get it used, but SO clever!)
It was so fun to put this list together! It reminds me just how much we love to find a new favorite book. I hope you find something fun for the little ones in your life. If you think I’ve left off something wonderful, please leave the title in the comments!
xo Alice
