Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You : Dr. Seuss’s Book of Wonderful Noises (Bright and Early Board Books): One of my favorite books when I was little!  A fantastic book for engaging the littlest of us because of the sounds.  Really get into the sounds and your child will avidly follow along.  My two favorite parts were knocking on the book (for “hand on a door, knock knock!”) and the “boom, boom boom!” of the thunder (Dada really got into this one, and Mama liked to bounce me a little on her lap with each boom).

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle: Clearly a classic, but I loved it because my Mama used signs and sounds throughout the book.  Moon sign, sun sign, eating sounds, and caterpillar sounds (ee, er, ee, er) and finger inching like a caterpillar.  My favorite part of the book was always the beautiful butterfly at the very end.  My Mama loved talking about all of the colors on its wings.

The Foot Book: Dr. Seuss’s Wacky Book of Opposites: Another good book for baby signs and sounds.  Going up and down stairs (Mama’s voice would pitch up and down and she’d walk her fingers up and down the stairs, too), sun sign, moon sign, sick sounds (stuffy nose) and well sounds (happy voice).

Pajama Time! (Boynton on Board)by Sandra Boynton: I loved this book for two years!  The rhyme and rhythm are both so catchy, and there are so many things to do and talk about with this little gem.  My favorite part was “Pajammy to the left, pajammy to the right!  Jamma, jamma, jamma, jamma, P! J!”  Mama would dance me to the left, to the right, and then bounce me a little on the P! J!  Sandra Boynton is a genius.

For more information about why my Mama and Dada used baby signs and lots of other hand motions while reading with me, see the Mama’s Corner post from March 25, 2014: Baby Signs and Nurture Shock: Why Baby Signs Work.

Happy Reading!

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