Worried that your baby is too busy climbing around and sticking everything in his or her mouth to actually foster a love of reading. Be not afraid!!
My (currently 22 month old) girl was always busy doing EVERYTHING except for sitting and reading with me. As a teacher, this was a source of anxiety and depression for me. Can you not just SIT with me and LEARN WONDERFUL JOY FROM THIS STINKING BOOK?!?!
It got better.
Blessedly, a few months ago something clicked and she was fully-fledged in a language building schema (learn more about what I mean by that by reading my Montessori posts). Suddenly she was getting all of her exercising running to and from her book shelves. We were devouring books, reading each one two and three times in a row (okay, so more like ten times in a row) and I was starting to feel like my brain had been strength training. I can officially boast to having memorized eleven children's books.
These have been her top seven favorites and the ones that pulled her into her language building frenzy. There are so many beloved children's books, so please tell me your favorites in the comments.
Books you must have on your shelf for your baby and young toddler
- Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle - It has a great rhythm, filled with all of those farm animals we expect them to know (even though they only regularly interact with dogs and cats), and teaches to be good to one another even when others aren't considerate to us.
- Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt - Perhaps this is an Irish or UK classic and not American (yet), but this was the breakthrough book that taught my girly that she can engage with the books we read.
- Dr Seuss' ABC - Duh. How else can you watch an ostrich oil and orange owl?
- Little Owl's Night by Divya Srinivasan - I adore the illustrations in this book and I enjoy that it's a book about nocturnal animals. The rhythm is perfect for preparing for bed and cute Little Owl is so full of joy about his life in the forest.
- 10 Little Rubber Ducks by Eric Carle - We have the paper version and the board book version. One of the reasons this became a favorite is because the last page of the paper version includes an electronic button for making the 10th little rubber duck squeak alongside his new duck family. This book touches on cardinal directions, other forms of directions, sea animals, manufacturing (ha), ordinal numbers, and loneliness.
- Hail Mary by Maïte Roche - It's a fabulous size for little hands without becoming a teether (does anyone else's child chew on and swallow pieces of tiny books -- maybe she's loved books longer than I give her credit, she's just digesting them instead of reading them) and the illustrations are gorgeous. This book allows her to participate in praying the Hail Mary, as the whole book is simply the prayer accompanied by pictures.
- Trains Go by Steve Light- I have a railfan on my hands. i had to look up a word to describe one who is obsessed with trains. She has this boys' set of PJs that she calls her "choo choos" and has almost literally worn them at some point every single day for the last two weeks. It'll be a blue day when they no longer fit her. Anyway, this book came from the library and uses onomatopoeia to illustrate the sounds of the different variety of train noises. #noteverytrainsayschoochoo #apparently
