Hi Everybody.

I love kids' lit but know books for 3-12 & up better than books for babies and toddlers.

A friend of mine has a daughter who will be 1 year old in about a month and I wanted to get her a book or two. They're long distance so I don't know what they already have.

And, while I'm tempted to get a book or two for older kids for them to have in the future, they're probably going to move in a year or two so I think I should get them book(s) the girl can enjoy now. I’d especially like some lesser known titles as I assume they already have the more well known books.

Any recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks.

My daughter liked the Karen Katz books when she was younger. I also used to use them for story times for my babies and toddlers when I was a children's librarian. I'm a big fan. Some titles include "Where is Baby's Belly Button?" "Ten Tiny Tickles" "Where is Baby's Mommy?" and "Grandma and Me." There are a lot more and most are board books (nice and sturdy for a 1-year-old). There is even a little box set you can get.

I agree with Suzanne - Karen Katz is a favorite around our household. My daughter also enjoyed the Sandra Boynton board books. We have "The Going to Bed Book" and "What's the Matter Pookie?" One of my favorites is Margaret Wise Brown's "Big Red Barn." Also any kids' song that has been turned into a book is a big hit around here, like " Wheels on the Bus" and "Five Little Ducks."

My favorites for 1 year olds; I used these with kids at the public library for storytimes:

*Cleo the Cat series by Caroline Mockford

*Bear series by Stella Blackstone ['Bear in a Square' is one title]

*the Gossie and Gertie series by Olivier Dunrea

Also, the Bunbun series by Sharon Pierce McCullough! Another storytime favorite.

Suzanne, Jessica, and Tiff,

Thanks for all the ideas! I’d thought about The Going to Bed Book by Boynton because she doesn’t sleep much. Have to buy a box set though. I’ll look up all the others.

Make sure it is a board book, because at one my son was crinkling pages.

But other thoughts:

"Good Night, Sweet Butterflies" (gorgeous)
"I See You, You See Me" (by LaMaze, very babyish)
"We're going on a Bear Hunt" (cute story)
DK touch and feel books
Spot books

Karen Katz books are also very cute!

Also, is there a limit to how many times an author can advertise her own book? Because Becka and the Big Bubble has been advertised THREE times. The next time it is suggested, I will scream.

(And how can it be appropriate for a one year old AND a five year old? Because earlier you suggested it for a five year old. Rolling my eyes!)

Thanks again everybody. Printing out what I've got (a lot!) so far. Appreciate the responses. I agree about it best to give a board book to a 1 year old.

I have a one year old daughter.

Her favorites include:
Click, Clack, Splish, Splash by Doreen Cronin
Opposites by Eric Carle
Any of the Olivia the pig books by Ian Falconer

When my daughter was one, her absolute favorite book was an animal book My Big Animal Book by Priddy. She also loved just about any "lift-the-flap" book. Vocabulary builders are wonderful at that age. TheY love pointing aT pictures and naming them.

Hi,
I am a Mom too. I think we should all be nice to each other. She asked about a new book and a lot of books that are discussed here are not new books. It is hard to buy gifts for people when you do not know what they have - most people in this world do not have our books so that is why I suggested them. Also you are right our books are probably better for a 5 year old vs. a 1 year old but as a gift a 1 year old could grow into it. Anyway I like this group and I read the posts and I only post about once a month or so...Thanks.
Gretchen Schomer Wendel, author

Hi Everyone:

speaking as one of the moderators (and I have never before had to do so), I can say that there is no rule concerning how often an author can promote her book here in the Children's Books Group.

There is also no rule prohibiting criticism and debate among members, although it is my hope that this group will continue to be a pleasant experience for all.


On another note, I have been thinking recently about ways to improve the Children's Books group, so stay tuned for further developments!

Hi, this is my first post to this group.

For readers age 0-3, I strongly recommend Harper Growing Tree books. They are sturdily constructed, expressive illustrations and a fairly decent story, considering they are all written for the baby to toddler crowd.

My favorite is No, No Jo! When I was a story teller for 1-2 year olds, this one was a HIT! In fact for WEEKS after I read it, the older kids would start calling out "No no, Jo!" Whenever I said the word "No" in a totally different story.

http://www.harperchildrens.com/growingtr... That's the website. One neat thing there is tips for reading to kids A different tip for each age group from newborn to three years old.

Thanks so much everybody for all the helpful book suggestions. It's good to know that there are many good books for 1 year olds. I don't know many books for 0-3. I'm more familiar with the 3 & up all the way to ya (and adult) ranges.

Anyway, I sent a list of all the books suggested so far to this friend. I figured that would be helpful to her. I don't know which books they might have already. If any more suggestions are given in this thread, I'll send those along as well. (And I suggested that she join Goodreads.)

This will help me too as I just started volunteering to read to hospitalized kids and their age range is 0-21. So far, I'm being steered to the 2-5 year olds but I especially hope to read to older kids too and to kids even younger than 2 as well.

The hospital already has the books, which are selected and provided by our local public library. But I’m allowed to suggest books to acquire as well, so all your suggestions are appreciated.

I'm sorry for losing my temper and I do respect any author who writes a book, and I'm sure it is difficult to get the word out about it.

It's just that I got peeved after seeing the same book recommended for a five year old and a one year old. I would hate for someone to buy a book that is inappropriate for the age level simply so that an author can make a sale. KWIM?

Thanks, Kirei

There are different books that CAN go across age recomendations...it's all in how you read the book. A book for a five year old can be read differently for a five year old. A one year old may want to only look at the pictures no matter what is 'written' on the page....National Geographic can be used for a one year old...with that said, I saw some GREAT books at the Chicago Institute of Art museum....I wished I had known someone with a baby or toddler as they were board books without enough writing for an older child about artists...perhaps they would have them on the website?

My 5 year old likes most of the same books as my 1 year old. He has just started reading and he likes to read these easier books to his sister.

I echo the Karen Katz books! She's a favorite here. The lift-the-flap books are especially good--we really like "Where's Baby's Pumpkin?" Even though it is centered around Halloween, the story is really cute. Another favorite is "Goodnight Moon" and the picture books with different objects (i.e., categorized by colors, shapes, farn animals, etc.).

One of our favorites is QUICK AS A CRICKET by Audrey Wood. We've been reading it since the kids were babies, my 6 year old just read it to my 4 year old. It has animals, active words, similes and opposites and the illustrations are AWESOME!

I've also used it at school. This year with a small group of 2nd and 3rd graders when we discussed self affirmation and personality characteristics. And a year or two ago with a middle school English class when we talked about similes - it was a great way to show how they're used and just use something different.

I just posted a number of our favorite picture books from when my daughter was little. The Good Dog Carl books were amazing, as was "On the Day You Were Born". But really any of the picture books are good for little ones... even as young as one.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear and it's sequel Polar Bear, Polar Bear.

my daughters liked the gossie series by olivier dunrae. Then the dr.suess reader board books, like i'll teach my dog a lot of words, hand hand fingers thumb. and such. Also sandra boynton books. at one the three favorites were the belly button book, doggies a counting and barking book, and horns to toes and in between. also check out mick inkpen, some of his simpler wibbly and kipper books are awesome for one year olds, and as they grow there are more age appropriate books available.

I've got to second the Boynton books. Both my boys (18 mo & 4 1/2) love the silly rhymes and the illustrations. I'd also recommend Bear Snores On, which is available in board book format. There is a new Bear one, but only in hard cover and those corners are sharp!

My daughter (16 months old) loves the Boynton books. My son when he was a toddler didn't enjoy the Carl the dog books.

Hi, everyone I am new to the group and this is my first post here. Lisa if you are looking for a beautifully designed and sturdy toddler book, please look at one of my new books "Lovely Little Lamb". It has not reached amazon.com yet but is available at xlibris.com. So I doubt your friend will already have it. To see more about this book and my other books, please go to my website www.robinfalls.com.

Hi, I'm new to this group too. My kids and nieces have always loved Eric Carle's books right from babyhood - especially The Hungry Caterpillar and Brown Bear Brown Bear. I completely agree with Carol, the same book can appeal to children of different ages. It really depends on how it is presented to the child. Example, The Hungry Caterpillar (board book) - I read it aloud to my baby girl, with actions for eating and for 'big' and 'small'. When she was older, we counted along. In preschool, she read it on her own and together we did a wall mural on the book as a holiday project. It's still one of my favourite memories!

Hi. I just joined the group too. I have a three year old and she loved Good Night Moon at that age, Goodnight Gorilla, Is Your Mama a Llama? and all the Boynton books - especially the belly button book (but I have a feeling she liked when we poked her be-bo while we read it!) :-) She also loved Quick as A Cricket, too. I saw that mentioned. That's one she still loves, so it has some longevity. The other two she loved and still loves are Blankey and Big/Little. But I think we read Goodnight, Gorilla every night for a year :-)

Hi Prabha and Kim: welcome to the Children's Books Group!

Thanks Abigail! It's good to have a group to discuss children's books and related stuff - great for parents and early educators!

My daughters favorite (she is 6) is The Bus for us by Suzanne Bloom. She now likes to read it to me, but my son who is 10 months like for me to read it to him. I think it would work well for a one year old and still be good in a few years when that same kid can read it themselve.

Judy Schachner writes books for her SkippyJon Jones Series for young babes. Her colors, shapes and numbers books are fantastic.

Goodnight Moon!

Any lift the flap book is wonderful imo. DK makes many of them and they're fantastic.

I also LOOOVE the Kipper series in board book form. Martin Clunes has them for colors, shapes, numbers. The pictures are bright and adorable too. My children loved them when they were tiny.

Oh, we also love the Big Hungry Bear series - THE BIG HUNGRY BEAR AND THE RED RIPE STRAWBERRY and this year we had a Hungry Bear Christmas book. Bear Snores On is also great and there a few more in that series now as well.

Other favorites that I know my husband and I like to read at night :) - I admit to "stacking" the bedtime story deck - are THE Z GOT ZAPPED, THE HAIRY TOE (from Reading Together set from Discovery Toys), DINOSAURS DAY OUT (from the same set), and KISS GOODNIGHT. In fact, now that I'm thinking about it, we got that one through Discovery Toys too. I used to be a home rep for them before I went back to teaching at school and most of our favorite books on our shelf were through them. They had some cloth books and interactive books that we read all the time when the girls were in the older infant, toddler stages and we loved them all! I don't know how to create a link successfully in my posting, but their website is http://www.discoverytoysinc.com.

whoah - okay, apparently, the link will be created automatically......

Rebecca- I just discovered Skippy John Jones and my boys love him. But I totally have to disagree with the flap book thing. In our house all the flaps end up ripped off, which often results in half the page being ripped off along with some key pieces of text.

We struggled with lift the flap too. We had one that was Night, Night Baby that was fairly durable that way.

My daughters also informed me today that good ones for toddlers (in their opinion) were Saltzberg books. They're touch and feel or squeakers - we had Baby Animal Kisses and Peek-A-Boo Kisses. They loved them both until the end of preschool.

Excellent suggestions! My little one loves Goodnight Moon, and the flap books are some of her favorites! She hasnt torn any of them, which i thought she would...but my mom purchased them at a garage sale so i wasnt concerned. She loves those though, and will spend hours looking at them.
Im anxious to check out some of your other suggestions :)

Our daughter loved all of the Boynton books, and now that she is 6 and learning to read, they are coming in handy for practicing!!

Since you mentioned bedtime as in issue ... Mem Fox's Time for Bed is terrific, as are Sleep Tight, Little Mouse by Mary Morgan and Good Night Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann.

In A Blue Room by Jim Averbeck is a beautiful new bedtime story. Perfect for a little girl. Also--I just saw it listed on a mock Caldecott winner list for this year (the illustrations are lovely & peaceful).

Karen Katz is a favorite with my one-year old too. On the lesser known side, you might look for books that have candid photo shots of babies in them. My daughter is fascinated by them, but I would never have thought to pick them up if my pediatrician hadn't handed me one called "Smile". Every time we look at it, Bridget just laughs and giggles along with the babies in the photos. Since then I've been looking for books with pics of babies in them. Every one I've picked up so far has been a hit.

Another idea, although not necessarily a book, is to buy her a small photo album that Mom/Dad can fill with 6-8 pictures of various members of the family. My niece Hannah travels everywhere with hers. My daughter Bridget loves to look at the picture of Daddy in hers when Daddy has to travel or is working late and can't be home before she goes to bed.

My daughter is nearly two now but still loves some of the books I bought for her before she was 1. Lift the flap books in particular have really kept her attention over the months.

I second a lot of the books that have already been mentioned (karen katz, bill bryson, sandra boynton, bill martin jr, etc) Another (fairly) new series that we've discovered is the Scaredy Squirrel books. The pictures are really entertaining and the story is engaging enough to keep me happy as well.

Hi Lisa,
Many of my books were written for very small children, but as Carol said below, it's all how you read it. I thought my books WHO HOPS? and WHO HOOTS? were originally for pre-k through 2nd grade. But the publisher then put them out as board books, and now I've seen them work for babies on up.

You may want to look at The Cow That Went Oink, a hysterically funny book by Bernie Most. Or how about Is There a Horse In Your House? Sorry, I don't know the author.

Just go to your local store and have fun looking! You'll find something just by browsing.

Good luck,
Katie Davis, author/illustrator

I know these have been mentioned before but both my 3 year old son (when he was a baby) and my 16 month old son (currently) love Goodnight, Gorilla. They also both love The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I buy lots of books for my sons and those two were hands down favorites that are read over and over.

I have to mention Owl Babies by Martin Waddell, one of my daughter's (and my) favorites.

Hi...

I know this is kind of late in the thread, but I just joined this group.

I generally don't care for Baby Einstein, but my daughter, who is 18 months old, absolutely LOVES the Baby Einstein books, in particular My First Book of Numbers and My First Book of Letters. We have three shelves of books just for her, but when she wants to read, those are the first 2 books she brings me every time.

Well count me as another one that's newish to the group.

And the great thing about babies is that you can read them anything! I used to read mine bits of Brazelton.

But more seriously, one of our frequent reads was poetry. There are all kinds of kid friendly books out there: some themed (like Barney) and some just of the classics.

I think poetry helps children to read more easily.

Another newbie!

I'll put a plug in for Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes. It is new, published in 2008. It was written by Mem Fox who is a well known and much loved Australian childrens author (most famous for Possum Magic. The illustrations are by Helen Oxenbury, who does fantastic work. I expect that outside the UK and Australia these authors are probably lesser-known. A lovely book about accepting diversity, great for reading aloud.

For a book to leave in their toybox I find my 11 month old loves the Touchy-Feely Books series by Fiona Watt. These are pretty ubiquitous here in Australia (they are actually British), but not sure elsewhere in the world. They are a board book that is extremely robust (not like some of the flimsy constructions out there), they have different textures on each page for them to feel, and bright colours and clear pictures. My son is pretty vain at the moment - so loves the mirror finish on one of the pages of That's Not My Truck.

I agree with Pam that at 11 months X-man is happy with just about anything I read to him - he loves the Melbourne Age newspaper in the morning! Anything with rhyme is good to read aloud, bright clear pictures are the order of the day for board books. At 11 months X-man isn't up to lift-the-flap, pop-up and certainly not vocabulary-enhancing books! (they'll come soon enough I'm sure).

I'd like to thank everyone for their suggestions - I'm also making a list and adding them to my to-read shelf!

Welcome to the group, Jack & X-man! Glad to have some members from down under!

Lisa wrote: "Hi Everybody.

I love kids' lit but know books for 3-12 & up better than books for babies and toddlers.

A friend of mine has a daughter who will be 1 year old in about a month and I wanted t..."

~The Very Hungry Caterpillar
~Brown Bear Brown Bear What do You See
~Goodnight Moon
~Bear and Kite
~Goodnight Gorilla
~I Am A Bunny

You can get all of these in Board Book style. They were my sons favorites at age one.

Thanks everybody. Keep the suggestions coming for others but since I posted the little girl is now almost 2 and also I've found a bunch of 0-3 books because of Goodreads. It's great to know there are wonderful books out there for people of all ages.