books suggestions for toddlers

Deck the Halls with Books, Books, Books: Books for Babies, Toddlers, Preschoolers, and New Readers

  Each Peach Pear Plum board book (Viking Kestrel Picture Books): I spy for the little guys (and gals). I (Brynn, age 17 months) really enjoy searching through these detailed pictures for not only the main images (“I spy Tom Thumb”), but other things like rabbits, birds, and tea kettles (!).  Yes, I now know what a tea kettle is!

  Baby’s Got the Blues: I (Brynn, 17 months) LOVE this book right now!  Mama sings it in a bluesy way (Dada tries his very best to sound like he’s singing), and I sway as we read it together.  I demand this book by saying, “Baby!” and if the book isn’t within easy reach, we have to go get it immediately.  Great for little ones who love music, but parents have to be willing to get in the spirit, too!  Illustrations are bright and expressive, while text is amusing.

  Got to Dance:  Same kind of book as the above.  If parents will sing it jazzy, with some cymbal sounds (“chh, chh.  chh, chh.”) and some finger snapping, then little ones will really enjoy it.  Illustrations are fresh, but not quite as sharp as Baby’s Got the Blues.

  Mary Engelbreit’s Mother Goose: One Hundred Best-Loved Verses:  I (Brynn, 17 months) am in love with all things nursery rhyme.  Reading experts know that hearing rhyme helps kids become aware of phonemes, the building blocks of language, which helps with future reading success.  But that’s not why I love nursery rhymes.  They just sound cool!  Mama sings most of them (Dada really does try), and I’ll sign or say “more!” over and over again if I want to hear the same rhyme.  My brother did the exact same thing when he was my age.  These illustrations are much better than the original Mother Goose that my mom grew up with, too.

  A Perfectly Messed-Up Story: This book is one that I (Luke, age 4) really like, and it’s for two of my friends who enjoy interactive, funny stories.  Peanut butter, jelly, orange juice?!  What else could possibly be dropped onto poor Little Louie’s story?  Despite his story seeming like a complete debacle, in the end, everything is just fine, just the way I like it.

  Mo’s Mustache:  It’s tough to explain why I (Luke, 4) enjoy this book so much, but I read it religiously for two months straight this fall.  Is it the hilarious, spare illustrations?  Is it the melodramatic exclamations of the monsters (“Murf!” “Huzzah!”)?  Is it the 1970’s reference at the end of the book that always makes my mom laugh but I just don’t quite understand (I like to hear her laugh, so it’s ok if I don’t get it)?  Whatever the reason, preschoolers will enjoy it.

  Mr. Tweed’s Good Deeds: I spy for preschoolers.  I (Luke, 4) read the story once with Mama, but the real appeal of this book is the elaborate search and finds.  The illustrations are vibrant and well done, and the hidden objects are actually quite challenging to find.  I still have trouble finding all of the socks…

  Chalk:  A wordless picture book that is absolutely top-notch.  Stunningly realistic drawings tell the story of three friends who happen upon a bag of magic chalk on a rainy day.  What they draw ends up coming to life, and one creation almost spells disaster.  I’m giving this book to a preschool friend who loves dinosaurs.

  Thank You, Octopus:  Quintessential preschooler humor: slightly gross, but oh so funny.  Octopus is putting his buddy to bed, but every time he tells his buddy something nice he’s going to do for him, Octopus switches the meaning and it ends of being not so nice.

Octopus: Let me give you a bath, Buddy.

Buddy: Thank you, Octopus!

Octopus: In EGG SALAD!

Buddy: Gross!  No thank you, Octopus!

Very clever plays on words that kept me rolling night after night.  My parents and I even started our own “thank you, no thank you” routine.

  The Munschworks Grand Treasury:  This past Fall has been “The Fall of the Robert Munsch Books.”  My parents and I (Luke, 4) have read just about every story Munsch has written.  They are generally clever stories that just beg to be read aloud and embellished with inflection and sound effects.  The stories are longer than typical picture books, and the characters are smart and funny with a modern kid humor, so they are a lot like me.  I love these stories!

  I Really Like Slop! (An Elephant and Piggie Book):  I’m (Luke, 4) giving three of the Elephant and Piggie books to my cousin who is just starting to read independently.  The text in these books is always simple, the illustrations are always expressive, and the stories are always hilarious, for preschoolers and parents alike.

  I Can Read With My Eyes Shut! (Beginner Books):  I’m (Luke, 4) also giving this classic Seuss book to my beginning-reader cousin.  I loved this book when I was starting to read, and I still return to it every now and again just because it’s so much fun.  And with simple sight word text, it really is a book that beginning readers will be able to feel good about reading by themselves.

Happy Reading!

–Luke (age 4) and Brynn (age 17 months), blog co-authors

Clicking on a book will take you to Amazon.com, and if you decide to buy the book, a portion of your purchase comes back to me.  I, in turn, will use the profits to purchase books for our local library or for a children’s literacy project.

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The Birthday Book Post: Books We Have Given

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)

 

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The Interactive Book: A Child’s (and Parent’s!) Best Friend

Kicking my legs like a donkey.  Dancing to get a bug out of my shirt.  Pressing a yellow dot to see what happens to it.  Gleefully yelling, “NO!”  to repeated appeals from a pigeon to drive a bus.

Interactive books are a fantastic way to easily engage little readers (even the most rambunctious).  Unfortunately, as my Mama and I have found, they are difficult to do well.  Some “interactive” books have fuzz to feel, doors to open, slots to slide, or buttons to push, but these gimmicks often add very little to the story, and they don’t have much staying power for me.  The very best interactive books, however, manage to do a much better job of using manipulatives or interaction to enhance or even become the story.  These are the books that I return to over and over again.

By no means an exhaustive list, here are a few of my favorite interactive books in order from least to most complex.  I dislike putting ages on these books because I read them at many different stages for many different reasons, and other children deserve not to be pigeonholed, too.

  Are You a Cow? by Sandra Boynton:  I like saying “No.”  Really, really like saying, “No.”  It was one of my first words and continues to be a favorite.  Hence, the appeal of Are You a Cow?  The question is addressed to the reader and begs to be answered.  No, no, no!  What a great concept!

 

  From Head to Toe Board Book by Eric Carle:  This book is a good one because the animals in the book do all sorts of fun movements and then ask the reader, “Can you do it?”  Some movements are easy enough for a one year old, and others are more complicated and definitely for older children (donkey kick!).

 

   Alphabet (Paula Wiseman Books) by Matthew Van Fleet:  Alphabet is one of those rare touch and feel books that is exceptionally well done.  Not only are the illustrations funny and the animals imbued with loads of character, but it’s a rhyming alphabet book that incorporates the “touch and feel” element into the rhyme.  This book is now on my independent reading bookshelf, and I still pull it out about once a week.

 

  Can You Make a Scary Face? by Jan Thomas:  This book not only addresses the reader, but it asks the reader to do things to help the story along.  Like do the chicken dance to get a tickly bug out of your shirt.  And make a scary face to chase away a GIANT HUNGRY FROG!  How fun is that?

 

  Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems:  This book has become a classic.  It begins with a simple request from a bus driver going on break: “Don’t let the pigeon drive the bus.”  The reader’s job, then, is to say, “No!”  Over and over again.  (See above Are You a Cow? review for more about my fondness for the word, “No.”)  I heart this book.

 

  Press Here by Henre Tullet:  Ahhh!  The granddaddy of all interactive children’s books!  I’ve been reading this book for a long time now.  In fact, I read it yesterday.  It starts with, “Ready?” on a page with one yellow dot.  The next page says, “Press here and turn the page.”  Now there are two yellow dots.  Woah.  That’s crazy.  The rest of the book progresses from there, with the reader pressing dots, blowing dots, turning on lights, tilting the book, and clapping, with each action creating an amazing reaction.  What a cool book.

 

  Have You Ever Seen a Sneep? by Tasha Pym and Joel Stewart:  In the tradition of There’s a Wocket in My Pocket, a little boy in the book addresses the reader about a variety of strange creatures that inhabit his life, and after each creature has been introduced, the boy asks the reader if he or she has ever seen such a being.  I like to mess with my Mama and say, “Yes!”  The illustrations are really well done, and the creatures are amusing.  At the end, the little boy asks if he can come live with the reader.  Ha!

 

  The Big Blue Spot by Peter Holwitz:  Not the most interactive book on this list, but the spot in the book talks to the reader and asks him or her to tilt the book.  I love this book though, and I’ve loved it for a really long time.  My Mama had to buy us a copy because we checked it out of the library for 12 weeks.  The spot is looking for a friend (whom he finds toward the end), and this idea of friendship is very interesting to me.  Simple text, simple message, simple illustrations, golden story.

 

  The Monster at the End of This Book (Sesame Street) (Little Golden Book) by Jon Stone and Michael Smollin:  Classic!  Grover spends the book completely freaked out about a monster that’s at the end of the book, and he implores the reader to, “Stop turning pages!” over and over again.  He even goes so far as to brick up the page to prevent the reader from turning it.   I love this book because Grover is such a character and I feel as though I have the power to influence the story.  Love it!

Happy reading!

–Luke (blog co-start, age two and a half)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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