How to choose the right book to read with babies and young children

A little while ago, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex chose to mark their son Archie’s first birthday (and also raise awareness of the work of Save the Children) by posting a very cute video of the Duchess sharing a book with him. Her reading is excellent – engaging and genuinely enthusiastic – and Archie is clearly very familiar with books. He understands their cues and conventions – listen to the reader, look at the pictures, turn the pages – and is poised to be entertained. But while she is enthusiastic about their title of choice, Duck! Rabbit!, I couldn’t help but notice that Archie isn’t massively interested in the story. He’s obviously enjoying sitting with his mum but he is fidgety and never quite connects with the book. At one stage he even tries to give her a different title to read!

Now, I have no idea what the set-up was for that video-shoot. For all I know, they could have been told to read that title and Meghan might be perfectly aware of what books suit Archie and what don’t. Or Archie could have been tired, or hungry or just having a bad day. But my immediate response was to think how I could get Where’s Mr Lion? to the pair of them as quickly as possible! (Obviously, a stupid idea, as royals don’t accept gifts). Because though Duck! Rabbit! is an ingenious and excellent title, and is presented as a board book so appears to be aimed at babies, it is a series of jokes based on optical illusions, in which one can interpret the image as either a duck or a rabbit. It is actually quite sophisticated, both in terms of its humour and the visual interpretations it is asking the child to make. Archie just didn’t GET it. And why should he – he’s only one.

But this did prompt me to think how hard it is for new parents, grandparents, aunts, god-parents, friends, indeed anyone choosing books for babies, to find a book that is right for any particular stage of their development. Search ‘best baby books’ on Amazon and you’re presented with quite a number of books that are, in my opinion, entirely unsuited to babies under eighteen months old. It’s not helpful at all!

So I thought I’d do a very quick list of some things to look out for when picking a book for children from six months (to around fifteen months old):

Interactivity – find a book which involves the child, which clearly asks them to join in with it, either by engaging with the novelty, or repeating the sounds/words or answering the questions. This turns the child into an active reader and this is what you want. Active readers feel good about books and good about themselves!
Pictures – It’s all about faces at this age. Babies are programmed to respond to faces from birth, so a book with bold, friendly characters – animal or human – to engage with is a must.
Story – Babies can’t follow much of a ‘story’ but even a very simple book can have a narrative that develops, and an ending of sorts. A search for something that’s lost or hiding (and which is finally found) is a perfect example of this.
Text – Rhyming texts are great because they help children to start to predict, and eventually remember the next word, and this goes back to the active reading thing. But texts with questions, or repeated refrains do the same thing. The more a child can engage with and anticipate the words, the more empowered they feel.
Novelty – I love a flap to lift because, even very young babies realise that their involvement is needed to push the story on. And as I’ve said, by giving them agency in the book, this makes them feel good, so they’ll keep returning to their favourites, and seeking out new ones too.
Format – board pages (as opposed to paper or card) are a good idea at this age. The key thing is that the book can withstand a little manhandling by the baby. Babies need the chance to learn how to use books and parents need to be relaxed and confident that the book won’t be damaged.
The adult reader – try to choose something that gives you a little fun and joy too – if you are charmed by the book, the child is more likely to be too.
The child ­­reader – Be guided by the baby. Give them a choice of a number of books – if they don’t respond to one, try something else!

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