Our Top 10 Favorite Toddler/Baby Books

1. “That’s Not My…” Series by Usbourne Books
   
   We have a ton of books from this series (That’s not my… Monster, Kitten, Truck, Robot, Tiger etc). When Gordie was super little they were great because the touchy-feely spots helped keep his interest in reading. As he got bigger they made great bedtime books because they were soothing and predictable. Now, he’s starting to be able to read them himself. I buy these as gifts a lot for baby showers.
2. Grumpy Bird
   
   I had never heard of this book before Gordie got it for his first birthday. It stars a bird so grumpy he can’t fly so he takes a walk meeting his friends along the way who oblivious to his bad mood join him on his walk eventually cheering him up. Gordie would bring it over to me to read it over and over and over again. Despite that, I never got tired of reading it to him. It was the first non-baby book that Gordie took an interest in. It’s a cute story with a nice rhythm. If you haven’t read it, I’d definitely recommend giving it a try.
3. Me Hungry!
   
   After loving Grumpy Bird so much, I looked for other books by Jeremy Tankard and found this one. It’s a lot shorter than grumpy bird, and even really little kids will be able to identify with wanting something while their parents are busy. Gordie would drag this book over (it’s bigger than most board books despite the limited words) to read again and again.
   
4. Green Eggs and Ham
   
   I’m sure everyone is familiar with this book. It’s one of the longest books that Gordie and I both enjoyed while he was a toddler. The repeating phrases and common words used make it a great choice to help make the transition from super short stories.
5. But Not the Hippopotamus
   
   This book features a hippopotamus who feels left out of all the fun. It is a short lively read with a great rhythm and cute rhymes.
6. Moo Baa La La La
   
   There aren’t many book that use animal sounds extensively that don’t make me wish I was reading something else pretty quickly. This book is the exception. This twist on animal sounds both engaged Gordie and kept me from throwing the book across the room. One of the great things about books with animal sounds is that your little one can ‘read’ with you from a very young age by filling in the right sound.
   
7. The Going To Bed Book
   
   A lot of books designed to lull kids to sleep are a little… dull. This book manages to be both fun and soothing in the end.
8. Are You My Mommy?
   
   Little duck can’t find his mommy and so goes off in search of her. This book was one of the first that Gordie helped pick out himself (he loved ducks). The little touchy-feely spots helped engage him when he was little and he still likes reading it sometimes now.
9. Sometimes I Like To Curl Up In a Ball
   
   This bedtime book was perfect for an energetic toddler. Little Wombat talks about all of his favorite things to do and ends with him going to sleep. For months this book was a necessary component of our bedtime routine.
10. Tinkerbell Look and Find
    
    I’ve always liked Tinkerbell, so Gordie had seen Tinkerbell here and there around our house. When he was a year and a half I put on the Tinkerbell movie. Up until this point he hadn’t paid any attention to TV at all. He was amazed to see “Tinkerbell! In a movie!” Tinkerbell was Gordie’s first love. He loved looking searching through these books to find the objects on the list. There is a whole series of these books which are great for toddlers with their thick pages and straight forward list of objects to find.
11. The Very Hungry Caterpillar

This book is kind of an honorable mention on this list. It has been one of Gordie’s favorites and he will still pull it out for us to read. But it is one of the few books that I actually hid for a while because I just couldn’t stand reading it one more time. It’s funny, because it isn’t that I don’t like the book, but I reached my limit with reading it over and over again quicker than many of Gordie’s favorite books.

So that’s our list, what’s on yours?