favorite toddler books

Hello. I'm new to LibraryThing and am delighted to have found it. I've just finished cataloguing all of my daughter's books (in her own account so the recommendations don't skew mine) and thought I would ask you all about your favorite toddler picture books.

My husband and I were disappointed to discover that most of the books we remember loving as children like The Story of Babar and Curious George were just too long (though that is changing, daily) and many juvenile books have so little story that they drive you batty to read over and over again.

Current favorites in our house are Jez Alborough's Duck and Bobo books, Janie Bynum's Altoona Baboona, Push, Pull, Empty, Full by Tana Hoban and several titles by Steve Jenkins which we use primarily as identification books as the text is beyond her. We're particularly interested in books that rhyme as we find ourselves more willing to read things over and over again if there is some sort of story and she's still not ready for more than a sentence or two per page.

So...what do you love?

Anything by Sandra Boynton, The Hairy McClairy books by Lynley Dodd and Sheep in a Jeep etc by Nancy Shaw all have great rhymes that you won't mind reading over and over.
Goodnight Gorilla has very little text but great details in the illustrations. Goodnight Moon is another favourite. Eric Carle is great, particularly The very Hungry Caterpillar, The very busy spider and The very lonely Firefly. And Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Eric Carle and Bill Martin jr is not to be missed.

I would try some of Dr. Seuss's simpler books - Dr. Seuss's ABC, Hop on Pop (on which I learned to talk and my sister learned to read), and Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?. Though these aren't short, they're very interactive for toddlers, and pretty easy to shorten.

LOL, yes to all of the above - I think we've had most of these out of the library and in many cases we now have our own copy. I think I should have asked, what do you love beyond the classics...things that are less usual. I'd classify Lynley Dodd that way -- no one seems to have heard of the Hairy Maclary books out here. Our library system only has 4 Lynley Dodd titles, all of which we've had out multiple times and I've been collecting Hairy Maclary titles sight unseen because I love the cadence of them.

I have Kathleen Odean's Great Books for Babies and Toddlers and have actually made an index sorted by recommended age range and we've been working our way through that. We tend to further explore both authors and illustrators that we like, and I sometimes look for books at the library that Amazon recommends, but I have no idea how we discovered Hairy Maclary, or Steve Jenkins.

The daughter's library, incidentally, is under elfschild.

Ohh I forgot about Mr Brown Can Moo. My kids loved that. Another good one is the Bears in the Night by Stan and Jan Berenstain. It's NOT a Berenstain bears book (which my kids love and I hate!).
Mick Inkpen's books are great also, although not rhyming. There's the Kipper stories, Wibbly pig - In Wibbly's Garden, Everyone Hide from Wibbly Pig etc and others such as Billy's Beetle, One Bear at Bedtime and Lullaby hullaballo

We have board book versions of several Seuss books - it's what she will sit through right now - and I try one of the proper versions every now and again to see if she's ready. Thank you for the Mick Inkpen suggestions, she picked up one of the Kipper board books the other week and we liked it for what it was but hadn't sought out more.

Mo Willems - Knuffle Bunny, Edwina, the Dinosaur who didn't know she was extinct, Leonardo the Terrible Monster, and the Pigeon books are all big hits here. (Pigeon is more suitable for younger toddlers; Edwina and Leonardo for older toddlers; he also has a toilet-training book Time to Pee which is great fun for the appropriate age!) We also like Maisy, Miffy, Kipper, and odd/quirky titles like Gordon's Got A Snookie, Meet Wild Boars, and Found You, Little Wombat.

Books by Nancy Tafuri and Martin Waddell's Can't You Sleep, Little Bear?. His other books with Big and Little Bear are ... good, but this one is terrific.

Big hits around here are almost anything by Martin Waddell, John Burmingham (especially Mr. Gumpy's Outing), Marjorie Priceman, and Molly Bang.

Tacky the Penguin LOL Also, the Dr. Seuss books are always a blast to read.

Just thought of a couple more I never tired of reading and the kids never tired of hearing:

Zomo the Rabbit by Gerald McDermott
Fat Cat: A Danish Folktale by Margaret Read MacDonald

#7. My husband and I had such a visceral reaction to Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus that I haven't looked at any more Mo Willems - I suppose we might have reacted differently if our daughter were a little older but so far that behavior is unknown to us. I'll try some of the other titles you suggested.

Thank you all for the other suggestions. Most of them are new to me and I look forward to discovering them. The book of the day was Denise Fleming's The Cow Who Clucked. Daughter enjoyed pointing the cow out to me on each page.

for the baby in your lap...Zoom City by Thacher Hurd. This is in a series of books that Harper Collins came out with a few years ago called Harper Growing Tree...my son loved many of these...he loved books and since he was son #4..i need more than Good Night Moon and The Runaway Bunny. Other titles in the Growing Tree series that we liked were Pots and Pans, No No Jo, Mrs. McNosh and her Squash.

My niece loves Olivia by Ian Falconer.

Her parents really enjoy books that focus on the relationship between her and her daddy:

Daddy Kisses by Anne Gutman - fun to act out all the ways to kiss (like a daddy wolf kisses his pup by touching noses)

Daddy Hugs 1 2 3 by Karen Katz - daddy kisses Baby in all sorts of fun ways -- he isn't leading or protecting or spouting wisdom, he's just kissing

The Daddy Book by Todd Parr - a very good daddy book

I Love My Daddy by Sebastien Braun - the story is about lots of things a father and child do together and celebrates the loving relationship between them

Daddy Loves Me by Karen Moore - daddy cooks, plays, exercises, shops, and eats healthy with his child

Hi. I've compared your daughter's library with our kids' collection, and most of what I would have recommended you have.

I'm not sure about your daughter's age (sorry if you mentioned it and I skimmed) our Elizabeth is 3, so these books have been added since then. Our collection is a mix of Australian, UK and North American books so hopefully there'll be some you don't have.

I can highly recommend the Mem Fox books. (Including the book about reading written for the Mummys and Daddys, " Reading Magic "). Where is the Green Sheep is one of the first books E. read to us. And it's one of the books I consistently give to new parents.

E. received Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell at birth from someone who said it was her grandson's favourite and it's certainly been loved to pieces (so much so that the second bub was bought his own copy!). It's another that she can "read" to us.

The formula from "That's not my..." board books really works. (And just about the first joke E. ever made on her own was "That's not my daddy, his face is too dirty") And they are short, which helps with the annoying!!

And in a similar vein to those and Brown Bear, Brown Bear and Polar Bear, Polar Bear (which are must haves), is Jeanette Rowe's "Whose" series (Whose nose? Whose Hands? and yes, Whose Poo?)

Unfortunately, Maisy books have to be included. There's something in the Lucy Cousins style that they just get (Can't say I do!) and was a big step in the supervised transition from book to television. Maisy also became a source of much imaginative creation. (Maisy likes this, Maisy does this, Maisy will, Maisy won't etc)

I love the "This is the Bear" series by Sarah Hayes . They rhyme! (And rhyme). Great for really small ones, just starting to talk, because there's only one line of text on each page and very simple concepts.

Bear Hunt by Anthony Browne is great (to read and hear).

As they're getting older I'd add Nick Sharratt and Sue Heap. Sharratt's illustrations really make Julia Donaldson's Chocolate Moose for Greedy Goose and his own Don't put your Finger in the Jelly, Nelly is great fun.

Nick and Sue's combined books have fabulous art work (they are both illustrators and they do alternate pages in their own styles). Plus they tackle "concepts" such as Counting (One to Ten and Back Again, Alphabet (Alphabet Ice-cream), Colours (Red Rockets and Rainbow Jelly), Opposites (Faster, Faster, Nice and Slow) without anyone even noticing. (By which I mean, you feel like you're reading a story, not a counting book)

Finally, I second (or third) the Olivia series by Ian Falconer and for a similar age group would recommend the Blue Kangaroo (I love you, Blue Kangaroo) books by Emma Chichester Clarke

(Oh and for anyone else reading, I'd add Doreen Cronin's Wiggle and the Click Clack Moo books and Sandra Boynton (especially Moo, Baa, la la la) along with any Mo Willems (but extra-specially Knuffle Bunny). Because they are all great!)

eeep. Sorry about the tag abuse and touchstone problems! (I think the link might be trying to reach an Amazon site, which is blocked by my work ISP) I'll try to edit them from home.

And I also meant to say, off of your Pigeon books comment - Yes! We do the same thing. We don't read books about behaviours or issues we don't have yet. E hasn't expressed any fear of monsters, so we don't read books that explore that issue.

And we didn't read any of the Tony Ross, "Little Princess" books (I don't want to go to bed, I don't want to wash my hands etc) until the issue it tackled was an issue for us. That said, when bedtime or dinnertime or bathtime (or potty time or handwashing time) does become a problem, they are great books to bring out.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is my favourite book for toddlers. They can stick their fingers through the holes in the food on the pages, count along with the reader and generally love the story. As I do!

Thanks E-Liz-a for all the great suggestions. Our daughter is 19-months-old. I've found that she will usually sit for a picture book aimed at the 3-6 or 7 crowd but books aimed at 4-8 are often too long for her (there are exceptions, particularly if they rhyme or something about the illustrations grabs her). That's been the main problem with Mem Fox so far...most of them are a little too long for her.

We love Doreen Cronin's Click Clack Moo books, including the short alphabet and counting adventures. I'm really looking forward to exploring some of your other suggestions as a number of them are completely new to me. We've tried some Julia Donaldson (The Gruffalo's Child, The Snail and the Whale) and have liked her so far so I'm looking forward to the Chocolate Moose!

And thank you for your take on my Pigeon comment. I can see that once she has the behavior, or understands that it's not a good behavior, that book could be quite funny.

#15
You might try Up! by Kristine O'Connell George. It's a rhyming story about a toddler/preschooler and her father going to the park that's a favorite of my 19 month old. Up was one of my daughter's first words and I'll never forget her toddling up to me with that book in her hands saying "up up up"

#16
I don't mind the Maisy books as much as some of the other toddler directed books. I'm not sure why. I can't stand Spot. We just discovered the Gossie books. My daughter will flip through them herself for 20 minutes or more and neither my husband nor I mind reading them repeatedly.

It's an interesting challenge, isn't it...finding books you don't mind reading over and over and over again?

My son is two and a half and his current favourites are:

anything by Shirley Hughes especially Alfie Gets In First which is a lovely story about when toddler Alfie locks himself in the house while mum and his baby sister are stuck outside. Very sweet.

Allan Ahlberg's The Baby Catalogue has no words just beautiful illustrations about every day things - other babies, things a baby might see in his or her day to day life - I really can't recommend this highly enough - it has been a firm favourite ever since my son has been able to look at picture books. Our other favourites by the Ahlbergs are Peepo and Each Peach Pear Plum.

A good book about first words is always a good bet. We have Heather Amery's First Hundred Words

Thre Lynley Dodd books are fabulous. Complex words but fantastic rhymes and amusing pictures. A firm favourite.

Martin Waddell's Owl Babies is a beautifully illustrated book about three baby owls who wake up to find their mother has gone (hunting). I dare any mum not to get choked up when she returns and those little owls start bouncing up and down on their branch!

Julia Donaldson's books are possibly designed for 3-4 year olds but my son has adored them especially the prizewinning The Gruffalo.

Malachy Doyle's Cow has the most incredible illustrations and is dreamily poetic - a must for any toddler obsessed (like mine) with farm animals and cow noises.

My son loves Muncha Muncha Muncha by Candace Fleming: it tells the story of a gardener who goes to ever extreme lengths to protect his vegetables from a trio of resourceful rabbits.

Sarah Hayes' This Is The Bear... books are excellent. I agree with #16 - perfect for a young toddler (and short!).

The Tiger Who Came To Tea and the Mog books by Judith Kerr are just lovely and were my favourites as a child. I'm pleased to report they're just as popular with the next generation.

We're Going On a Bear Hunt is brilliant! Fantastically scary with excellent rhymes.

My little boy loves dinosaurs so Dinosaur Roar! by Henrietta Stickland is a favourite - good pictures too.

Finally our Ladybird Fairy Stories despite being far too complex in theory are definite successes especially The Three Billy Goats Gruff, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little RedRiding Hood, The Elves and the Shoemaker and Goldilocks and the Three Bears

I've had my grandson stay with me two days a week ever since he was a couple months old, and one of our favorite activities is reading. (And of course, when his father was that age, we read a lot together.) It's hard to know what to recommend without having an age, since the comprehension really changes from month to month, but here are some other ideas:

Any of the Critter books by Mercer Mayer. That author really knows how to get inside kids' heads, and even last year my grandson started picking up on saying "WHAT A MESS!!" and "I can do it all by myself!"

Other favorites:

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

What Was I Scared Of -- a darling story by Dr. Seuss about a Seuss-critter who encounters a pair of empty green pants walking around. He is terrified of this, until one day he realizes the pants are just as afraid of HIM! There is this fun line in there which says "what were those pale green empty pants standing in the air for?" One day I had a "senior moment" and was trying to figure out what I had walked into a room for, and he said "Grandma, what are you standing in the air for?"

A Fish Out of Water by Helen Palmer

Robert the Rose Horse by Joan Heilbroner

Mary Engelbreit's Mother Goose -- the illustrations really capture his imagination and he loves to find his favorites

Goodnight Sun, Hello Moon by Karen Viola. The book is constructed with pages in increasing lengths so as you flip them, the sun disappears on one side and the moon appears on the other.

Wynken, Blynken and Nod by Eugene Field. A real classic.

Rich Cat, Poor Cat by Benard Waber -- out of print and the copy I have is from my own childhood. It is a book my grandson asks for repeatedly.

Hope that helps!

Oh we love Lynley Dodd...or rather, the daughter (20 months) and I do. I love the fact that Dodd doesn't stick to simple vocabulary and employs both rhyme and repetition in her stories. We've liked the Julia Donaldson books that we've tried. I agree that they work younger than their intended audience - I find that true of a lot of rhyming books, but less so for straight text (though we are transitioning to more text.

Thank you all so much for all kinds of titles that I have not heard of.

I always give the toddlers in our family board books that teach colors, shapes, numbers, alphabet, etc.

Once my nephew was in my mother's bed room playing. He pulled the bedroom door and the closet door to him to make an enclosure (a playhouse). He looked up and noticing where the two doors came together said "a triangle." It was one of those a ha moments. It was wonderful. He went and got his board book and showed us the triangle in the book and the one he'd made with the doors. Just wonderful.

Here's my list of favorites, not all are for toddlers-

http://www.books.hwtk.net/Favorites.html

You mentioned Jez Alborough so you probably know about Hug. I love "reading" this to kids since there are no words other than "HUG" and they get involved with figuring out what is going on.

My daughter is 18months and she is really into nursery rhyme books at the moment. She loves reading other books, particularly ones with pages (as opposed to board books). But her favourites are the nursery rhyme books, which she sings "ro - ro - ro - ro -ro -ro" (Row, row, row the boat). We have two, and they are bright and she gets them out over and over again.

Paper pages are the promised land for my daughter (21 months) as well. She started ripping pages a couple of months ago so we put all the paper paged library books up on a high shelf. Suddenly the board books are of no interest - she'll flip through a "mommy book" or stand in front of the bookcase and say "boop"

We're currently bridging beyond stories that rhyme - not that we're giving up on rhyming stories, but she's finally sitting through stories that don't rhyme. Too much text on a page doesn't work so collections and treasuries don't get much use right now.

In the group Book Talk there is a conversation about books for little kids. You may want to check it out.

can you tell me the subject line so I can find the thread? please? thank you

never mind - I think I found it (the books for 4-8 year olds thread?)

Yes, I tried to post a link but was unsuccessful. It was started by Dr.Robert looking for boosk for his young neices and nephews.

Belle

Dane's (2 yrs.) favorite books are Please Baby Please by Spike Lee and Down At The Farm by Merrily Kutcher. He LOVE to have a rhythm in his books. He's also obsessed with nonfiction books about hot air balloons and gardens. We mostly look at the photos in those ones! He also really loves the pictures in The Peace Book and other Todd Parr books.

Harper Learning Tree did some really good toddler books. My youngest really liked Zoom City Zoom, No No Jo, and Pots and Pans.

I remember being read Each Peach Pear Plum which was a brilliant rhyming toddlers' book. Also I think Where the Wild Things Are and... Ooh I can't remember the name... It was about a princess who was asleep and all the creatures in the castle were going 'SSSHHHH' at each other to help her sleep... Omigosh, the name's escaped me...

That sounds a lot like LullabyHullaballoo by Mick Inkpen but they is a relatively recent book I think.

My 4-month-old doesn't quite get plots yet, but he loves Julia Donaldon's Room on the Broom. It has nice rhymes to his little ears and a tale that I find amusing.

All my children loved Hide and Seek Duck by Cyndy Szekeres. They loved trying to figure out where Little Bunny was hiding from Duck on each page. They also loved Sandra Boynton board books.

My daughter likes the Miffy books by Dick Bruna (seem dated to me but what do I know!). A moose in a Maple Tree by Troy Townsin is one of my all time favourites for the memory development I saw in my daughter as a result of it (she also LOVES it). There is a series of books called "Learn to Read" that I'm now addicted to as they seem to be developing her awareness of how to read (she's two). Karen Katz's baby series is fun. On the religious side "The Donkey's Dream" by Barbara Helen Berger seemed to stimulate my daughter's mothering side (she loved seeing the baby at the end). Beyond that...we've just started her library here.

Oh - and thanks everyone for your ideas here. I've started ordering the books through my library!

This LT account focusses on what I'm reading to our son, who will be 3 in June, and his responses to the books he's had since he was born - well, before he arrived, actually!
As a New Zealander, I'm stoked at the people who have mentioned Lynley Dodd, and so I recommend to you Margaret Mahy's books, especially Down the back of the chair, Bubble trouble, and A summery Saturday morning. She also has written wonderful kid's and YA novels too.

Elfschild - some ideas for 19 months... or is it 20 months now. Boynton and other big names are already covered, so this list is somewhat off the beaten track, hopefully there is something new to you here.

1. Cows in the Kitchen by June Crebbin => Which you can sing...actually, I think you need to sing it.
2. Everywhere Babies by Susan Meyers - borderline for 20 months though
3. Windows to Color (a Baby Einstein book) by Julie Aigner-Clark - perfect for very young toddlers
4. Oh! and also Ah! - wordless fold-out books by Josse Goffin - perfect for very young toddlers
5. Brian Wildsmith's ABC
6. The Mini Masters books by Julie Merberg & Suzanne Bober - These are board books. Each books is based on a famous artist and each page about one painting. Usually there is a storyline or theme through the whole book. For example A Picnic with Monet
7. Maybe Little Critter Books by Mercer Mayer...but these might be too long. See for example Just Me in the Bath

Somehow Byron Barton hasn't been mentioned so far, although I saw a few in elfschild's library. Planes, Trains, Airport and Trucks are perfect for 19 months.

I'm a bit out of the market for this, since my daughters are in their 20s, but I read Rosemary Wells's Max board books every day for six years and never tired of them.

fyi - Little Critter books can be found here: http://www.librarything.com/series/Little%20Critter

he he...I just noticed the first post came from 2007! I guess those books won't help at 3.5 yrs.

I couldn't resist putting "my two cents worth" in, although my kids are now grown.

Books we loved, that I never tired of reading aloud:

Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, by Judith Viorst
Millions of Cats, by W. Gag
If I Ran the Zoo, by Dr. Seus
(I can still recite most of the last one from memory, almost 30 years later) 8-}

Classic books I loved myself as a very young reader:

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, by Virginia Lee Burton
Stone Soup, by Marcia Brown
The Story of Ferdinand, by Munro Leaf
I was at a booksale recently, and was gratified to see that all three of these have been reprinted.

One of the daughters I read aloud to, is now a school librarian. These are now "hot" with the elementary school crowd:
Chester, by Mélanie Watt
Grumpy Bird, by Jeremy Tankard
Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity, by Mo Willems

Hmmm . . . The touchstone for Chester, is not going to the correct book. If anyone is interested, here is information about Chester:
http://www.accessola.com/forest2009/BlueSpruce/chester.html

I hope to read some of these recommended books. I'm a big fan of Lynley Dodd and Julia Donaldson. Also of Dr Seuss, though Mummy says she is beginning to loathe the Cat in the Hat because I ask for it so much as a bedtime story.

One big favourite of mine that hasn't (I think) been mentioned is Mrs Armitage, Queen of the Road by Quentin Blake.

It can sometimes be hard to find url="www.parentricity.com/great-toddler-books"great toddler books/url that both you and your toddler will enjoy. I've found that sometimes I have to just read the ones I find dull but my little toddler loves and gradually help her move on to more advanced books to read. Most of the books that have been mentioned so far are pretty good. You'll have to just experiment and find the ones that work for you.

My 8 month old loves the Sandra Boynton books. Our favorite is Moo-ba-la-la-la, but Doggies and The Going to Bed Book both tie in at second

Most of my favorites have been mentioned, but I want to bring up the Gossie and Gertie books by Olivier Dunrea. They were big hits when my nieces were little, very simple and sweet.

I'd suggest:

I Know an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly by and Five Little Speckled Frogs by Nikki Smith

Our twins are 3 1/2 now and starting to appreciate a scary story. They completely love Not Now, Bernhard and we like reading it to them as well, with its lovely pictures. We thought it might have been too scary (SPOILER: Bernhard gets eaten by the monster) but apparently it's not.

Another favorite is We're Going on a Bear Hunt - slightly more text but most of it is repetition. Lovely as well.

Wait, nobody mentioned But Not the Hippopotamus yet? That book is great!
Also, The Monster At the End of This Book has lovable, furry old Grover. Another favorite.

But not the hippopotamus is one of my all time favourites. My husband always read it as a rap and I still know it off by heart even though my youngest is 6 now.

I may have missed it, because I did not read through all the messages in detail, but when my kids were young, I found that http://www.chinaberry.com/ The Chinaberry book catalog was a wonderful source of recommendations, and turned me on to a number of books I might otherwise have missed entirely.

Especially because if you just grab a book at random off of the library shelves, you can wind up with something that is an absolute nightmare to read over and over and over again. A great children's book is delightful, and a mediocre children's book can drive you straight up a wall.

OK, I see Stellaluna by Janell Cannon has somehow escaped mention.

I also liked Not Counting Monsters which is probably long out of print. Each page had pictures where you were supposed to count something, but skip the monsters who were disguised as whatever you were counting (with silly teeth and eyes to let you know that they were the ones you weren't supposed to count. It wasn't one of the magical books of childhood, but it was one that was a lot of fun.

Kidlet's got a lot of board books because of the bright pictures, short text and sturdy pages- his favorite part of storytime is getting to turn the page, but he's very rough on pages and has torn more than a few. He has lots of other books, but he doesn't sit well through them because of his impatience to turn the page.

His favorites right now are Dr. Seuss stories, A.A. Milne stories (snippets pulled from the Winne the Pooh books), anything with fuzzy or bumpy textures, and anything with sounds.

my favorite toddler book is the Cat And The Hat and those kinda books. i read those books when i was little and i loved them.
good luck, 24owls

It's been a while. Do you will want/need advice or do you now want advice for preschoolers or for early readers?

#59 conuly - Not sure the op is still reading this, but there's probably a lot of interest from people like me - I'm very interested in your ideas. But, perhaps a new thread?

I just thought I'd add some of my toddlers favorite books that I don't remember seeing on here:

Anna Dewdney's Llama Llama books (there are 4) My son loves them.
Do Like a Duck Does by Judy Hindley
Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson (there are other bear ones as well that we haven't read yet)
Hooray For Fish by Lucy Cousins (and of course her Maisy books but this one is his favorite)
Jane Yolen's dinosaur books

I took a long absence from the forums here - big move, second child - but am finding time once again and the second one is now a toddler so reviewing this thread is fantastic.

and very belatedly, #59 and #60...yes to wanting advice for early readers and good early chapter read alouds for the kindergarten-ish set...but agree that it should be a new thread and will do a search to see what's there first.