Baby Books List 1

While Saffron Tree is a wonderful resource for children's books, Kay gave me the impetus to chalk up a book list of sorts here - nothing lofty and tedious, just some fun classic and not-so-classic books that we can read to our babies from as early as 2 months old.

This list is by no means exhaustive or comprehensive. This is just a short list of books that were a hit with Ana.

Most of these initial books are board books as they are sturdy and have withstood Ana's saliva and teeth well. And this is just a sample list, not her entire library.

I like to borrow books from my public library and give it a chance. If Ana loves it too much, I end up buying them for her, within reason. Many books from the library have been a disappointment, so, before I plonk hard-earned money, I like to run it by Ana if I can :-)

I've tried to group them according to when I first introduced the book to her. We continue reading some of her early books even now - except she "reads" it herself, without my help. So, the age range is not to indicate when we started-stopped reading that set of books to her, but just a rough indication of when I got around to reading them to her for the first time...

She is not even 2½ yet, so, I would like to keep adding to this list as and when we hit upon a favorite... at least I've made a start here...

0-6 months: mostly rhyming books, with very few words, and bright baby-friendly illustrations and pictures and so on like:

Mr.Brown Can Moo Can You? -Dr.Seuss
I Spy Little Book -Jean Marzallo (*Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal Award 1998)
Goodnight Moon -Margaret Wise Brown
Brown Bear, Brown Bear -Eric Carle
Hop On Pop -Dr.Seuss
Classic Books With Holes Series board books of popular rhymes like Five Little Ducks, Ten Little Monkeys, There was an Old Lady, This is the House that Jack Built and so on
Some interactive books like Crazy Animals, Lucky the Duckling and such where there is a built-in toy to squeeze or squish or rattle so the baby gets to do something when we turn each page.

6-12 months: nursery songs, animals, Mother Goose nursery rhymes - board books still, but, with songs/tunes, and pictures of animals, babies and such that they recognize well, repetitive text, something that develops prediction skills like the Brown Bear series of books by Eric Carle, and even some lift-the-flap style books, introducing colors and such:

Guess How Much I love You -Sam McBratney
Very Hungry Caterpillar -Eric Carle
Polar Bear, Polar Bear -Eric Carle
Panda Bear, Panda Bear -Eric Carle
Ten Apples Up On Top -Dr.Seuss
The Foot Book -Dr.Seuss
I Spy (Letters and Numbers) -Jean Marzallo
Nursery Rhymes, Farm Animals Touch-and-Feel and such...

12-18 months: more wordy books with rhyming verses, possibly some sort of story, vivid action-oriented rich illustrations that bring out the words, mostly board books, but regular books with heavy-duty kid-proof pages are good too, Rebus style lift-the-flap books, multicultural books and so on like:

My Granny Went to Market -Stella Blackstone
Alphabeasts -Wallace Edwards
Peter Rabbit -Beatrix Potter
The Tooth Book -Dr.Seuss
The Lorax -Dr.Seuss
Dr.Seuss's ABC's book -Dr.Seuss
I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew -Dr.Seuss
Toot and Puddle books-Holly Hobbie

18+ months: Ana seems to gravitate towards books with some sort of lilt or rhyme, but, she also likes books with good illustrations and some form of story; around this time is when I started introducing more counting books and consciously tried to teach her counting - as by now she could recognize the numerals she learnt from the I Spy Little Numbers book...

Red is the Dragon -Rosseane Thong
Who Are You, Baby Kangaroo? -Stella Blackstone
Prita Goes To India -Dr.Seuss
Tiger On A Tree -Dr.Seuss
Gruffalo -Dr.Seuss
The Color Kittens -Dr.Seuss
Owl Babies -Martin Waddell
Fox on Socks -Dr.Seuss

p.s: There are a few Welsh and Tamil books that have been a hit with Ana, which I have not listed here as they are not readily available at the library or bookstores locally.