books for one year olds

For one reason or another, many of my little friends have birthdays in May. This slew of birthdays has inspired me to post a list of the books that I have given to others for their birthdays over the past three years. I consider these books the “best of the best,” otherwise I wouldn’t pass them on! Books are arranged by the ages of the children to whom I gifted the books, but that doesn’t mean that older children wouldn’t enjoy them as well….

FOR ONE YEAR OLDS:
Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by James Dean and Eric Litwin: I don’t know a little one who doesn’t like Pete the Cat! Pete has a new pair of white shoes, but he keeps stepping in different colored things (strawberries, blueberries, etc.). “Does Pete cry? Goodness no! He keeps walking along singing his song.” I loved that this book could be read with tons of inflection and that Mama and Dada sang (I use the word loosely) the little ditty that Pete sings. Fantastic for kids learning their colors.

Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems: I’m not sure how many times I can post this book before I get in trouble for copyright infringement. This book is great for little ones because of the big text, inflection, and funny storyline. See Mo Willems post for more info!

FOR TWO TO THREE YEAR OLDS:

Snip Snap!: What’s That? by Mara Bergman and Nick Maland: One of my all time favorite books just before I turned two! Lots of fun noises for parents to make, a jaunty rhyme, nice repetition, and an alligator on the loose make this book a sure hit. There is a great close up of the alligator that always made me laugh, too!

If I Were a Lion by Sarah Weeks and Heather Solomon: Another huge favorite of mine! A spunky little girl is in time out for making a huge mess and her mother dubs her “wild.” The rest of the book is the girl protesting that if she were truly wild, she’d do all of these “wild” things like “poke and pierce and tear, not sit here nicely in my chair.” Great rhyming text, expressive illustrations, and, of course, the little girl is the quintessential toddler: equal parts mischief and sweetness. (She does apologize and say sorry at the end!)

Gorilla! Gorilla! by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross: Definitely a fun book for toddlers who can talk (or at least yell, “STOP!”). A mother mouse’s baby goes missing, but as mama is looking for him, a giant gorilla yells, “Stop!” at her. She takes off running, of course, and that begins a chase across the globe. In the end, the gorilla turns out to be a great guy who found her baby and has been trying to give him back the entire time. Nice repetitive text, opportunities for audience involvement, and a surprise ending make this book another fun read for both parents and kids.

FOR THREE TO FOUR YEAR OLDS:
Creepy Carrots! by Aaron Reynolds and Peter Brown: What a fantastic book! Jasper Rabbit is obsessed with carrots, and he picks them from a field every day. One day, however, the carrots start following him, “tunk tunk tunk…” or do they? Jasper sees carrots everywhere, but with Peter Brown’s clever illustrations, neither Jasper nor the reader is entirely certain whether the carrots are really there. Finally, Jasper hatches a plan to ensure that those carrots never bother him again, but it is the carrots who get the last laugh! Black and white illustrations with only splashes of orange for the carrots lend a Twilight Zone feel to the book. Entertainingly suspenseful text, too!

The Gruffalo (Picture Books) by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler: Another great book with a clever twist at the end! Everyone wants to eat Mouse, but he foils them all by making up an imaginary creature called a Gruffalo who loves to eat the other animals. Mouse soon discovers that the Gruffalo DOES exist, and it’s hungry for mouse, too! But Mouse is pretty darn clever, and he fools the Gruffalo just like he did the other animals. Nice repetition, catchy rhyme, and Mouse’s cleverness make this book tons of fun for both parents and kids!

Ladybug Girl by David Soman and Jacky Davis: I liked this book for a very long time. Lulu may dress like Ladybug Girl, but she is a spunky girl with a can-do attitude. When her brother refuses to play with her one morning, Lulu makes her own fun and proves to the world that she is NOT too little to do big things (like save ants, count letter Ls, and rebuild rock walls). This book encourages kids to be independent, use their imaginations to entertain themselves, and leave their own pint-sized impact on the world. Illustrations and language are both wonderful.

Happy gifting!

–Luke (age 2.5, blog co-author)

The first short list of my favorite books from when I turned one to when I turned two:

Five Little Pumpkins (Harper Growing Tree) illustrated by Dan Yaccarino: I loved this book when I first turned one. The classic rhyme has been illustrated by many different artists, but this particular version appealed to me most. The illustrations are brightly colored with larger graphics, and they are simple yet filled with expression. In addition to counting, my Mama and Dada liked to talk about colors and do some baby signs (moon, cat, ghost–floating hand with “ooooooo” sound), too.

Horns to Toes and in Between by Sandra Boynton: Ahhh….Sandra Boynton. Genius. Poet. Humorist. All for us little ones! My Mama was teaching me body parts, and this book is one of the “body parts books” that I really liked.

What Will Fat Cat Sit On? by Jan Thomas: Speaking of humorists, Jan Thomas is pretty darn funny, too. I loved this book because of the built-in theatrics. It’s impossible to read this book without using exaggerated inflection (which helps us little ones hear word parts more clearly), and the situation is clearly urgent (especially for the various animals Fat Cat might just pop a squat on) and very funny. The text is also simple, very large, and with few words to a page so children begin to see how individual words are separated.

How to Catch An Elephant by Amy Schwartz: Oh boy. I read this book over and over and over and over again with both Mama and Dada for a full year. It’s much longer and more involved than any other book I really liked in this period. Really, it’s more like a book for a three year old, but I loved it because of the foot stomping and the elephant sounds and the repetition and the complexity of the puzzle. The resolution is a fairly tough idea for a little person (inverted telescope makes the elephant smaller), but that’s part of the reason I liked it. It was challenging!

Mama’s note: This last book was a stretch for Luke, but it exposed him to more advanced vocabulary, sentence structure, and plot line. He requested it multiple times a day for a very long time. We wore out the renewals at our library (12 weeks all told), and then I finally bought a copy. My first record of us reading it was at 12.5 months, and we read it six times that day!

Happy reading!

—Luke (blog co-star, age two and a half)

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