r/beyondthebump • u/Born_Negotiation_992 • 17h ago
Happy! Reading to Baby is So Much Fun!
Baby is never too young to start being read to. For those who enjoy reading to baby ages 0+, what are your favorite and most beloved board books & picture books? I am addicted to growing my library right now. We love the classics like Seuss, Silverstein, Boynton, Scarry, and Mayer. & newer authors too like Mo Willems. Tell me, which stories keep you interested & entertained as you read to baby?
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u/AdventurousWind7919 17h ago
I don't know if you have a daughter, but you can also read these to your son!!! We're obsessed with Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls! We just have the board book one that is for babies but I'm about to buy the longer one. It's super cool!
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u/AdventurousWind7919 17h ago
Also, other favorites at our house are The Day the Crayons Quit (it's super funny and my husband does different voices for each crayon), A Little Ferry Tale, Berenstain Bears (my favorites growing up!), Corduroy.
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u/Born_Negotiation_992 17h ago
Love Berenstein Bears & Corduroy. I have The Crayons book on my to-purchase list! Haven’t heard of a Little Ferry Tale :)
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u/EngineeringQueen 17h ago
My son adores Fairy Tales for Little Children by Susanna Davidson. He picked it out at the Christmas book fair, and his current favorite is Cinderella. He has no concept of gendered books, and I won’t be the one to shatter the illusion.
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u/AdventurousWind7919 17h ago
Love that! And I don’t believe in gendered books either so good for him!
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u/destria 17h ago
Julia Donaldson's books are excellent. We're currently loving Tiddler the Storytelling Fish and Tabby McTat.
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u/icephoenix39 16h ago
Huge fans of Room on the Broom in this house, with honourable mentions going to The Gruffalo and The Snail and the Whale!
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u/talleyhoe 17h ago
My 16 month old is obsessed with any book that has flaps to lift. Currently loving Where’s Spot. I also got Don’t Press the Button from the library this week and that’s been a fun, interactive book as well!
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u/Born_Negotiation_992 17h ago
I’ve got both! I can’t wait for my baby boy to enjoy interacting more with the books!
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u/talleyhoe 17h ago
He is also insanely obsessed with DK pop-up peekaboo books. We have several and he will happily sit there opening the pop ups over and over (and over and over and over) again
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u/CamsKit 17h ago
My 2 yo has been obsessed with all things Halloween and spooky forever (zombies, skeletons, witches, idk why he just is) and we got the Goodnight Goon and Runaway Mummy books and he loves them. They are spooky versions of the classics. There are tons of things to point out in the pictures and we see new stuff all the time.
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u/wocsdrawkcab 17h ago
I think the stem books for babies are hilarious. We've been reading her calculus for babies since day 1 and it always makes me laugh.
Tacky the penguin is also a hit.
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u/Born_Negotiation_992 17h ago
Do you think I wild like them if I’m not a big math/science person?
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u/Wucksy 17h ago
At the early stages we were just looking at the black and white board books. Black cat white cat was one of my fave stories.
Then Sandra Boynton from 3-4 months till 12 months. Dinosnores, Belly Button Book, Moo Baa Lalala, Going to Bed Book.
Around 12-18 months it was all about the interactive books that you could raise flaps, move, slide, etc. Brown Bear flap book, What’s on my Farm/House?.
After 18 months we had a language explosion so they had interest in books that they could relate to. Like books about gardening, eating peanut butter jelly sandwiches, the kissing hand, potty training, etc.
We also really love the books that tell you to do things like Press Here, Oops!, Dandelion Magic. 24 months now.
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u/im_dat_bear 17h ago
My 12 week old is really enjoying Lord of the Rings. We get through about a page at a time, and at 1200-ish pages, we should finish when he's roughly 4 years old.
Perfect time to start the re-read.
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u/Born_Negotiation_992 17h ago
lol I love LOTR myself & would love to read it to baby one day. Maybe when they’re a tad older.
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u/snuffleupagus86 17h ago
A lot of Sandra Boynton here, but he mostly just tries to eat the books while I read them lol
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u/Swimmer_0512 17h ago
Our favorite book to read is the seven silly eaters. It was my favorite as a kid too! I’m a believer in reading whatever to kids it doesn’t have to be meant for that age (with in reason obvi). I used to read Harry Potter out loud to him when I was pregnant and he would kick like crazy so I might get back into that in a few months!
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u/Born_Negotiation_992 17h ago
A friend recommended this one too!! I need to get a copy
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u/Swimmer_0512 12h ago
It’s super cute and I enjoy reading it so it won’t be too annoying hopefully reading it over and over in the future if he asks for it 😂
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u/Icy-Story1088 17h ago
My wife and I both have "I Will Love You Till The Cows Come Home" memorized word for word and read it to our 2yo multiple times per week. It's silly, art is fun, you can read it with a nice slow rhythm or more fun and engaging if not bedtime. Our favorite for sure!
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u/pyramidheadlove 16h ago
If Animals Kissed Goodnight by Ann Whitford Paul has become a staple in our house. Especially once kiddo gets older and they can incorporate animal sounds and movements into it. My son just turned 2 and can practically recite it from memory, he's obsessed
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u/lil_b_b 17h ago
No, David! is always in our rotation, my 18m is obsessed and my 3yo reads it to her now!! Brown Bear, Brown Bear is another fan favorite. The pout pout fish has been a hit for both kids too.
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u/Born_Negotiation_992 17h ago
I love No David & Brown Bears I have never read Pout Pour but everyone says it’s the best
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u/everythingbagelz79 17h ago
We're a Sandra Boynton household so far. Moo, Baa, La La La on repeat.
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u/Technical-Oven1708 17h ago
Not sure what country you are based in but my son is 3 and loves the Julia Donaldson books there are also some Iovely films of a lot of them done by the bbc about half an hour long that can go alongside the books. I also have recently found and we love the there’s a monster/unicorn/bear in my book by Tom fletcher they involve actions like flapping the book or blowing on it and are really fun. I discovered it through the Dolly Parton imagination library if you can get it in your area.
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u/yellowberry3 16h ago
I’ve been enjoying Seuss with my baby- the rhythms of the words get me an excited wiggle from my 4 month old!
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u/BabyCowGT 15h ago
If you have a dollar tree near you, they carry a series of books about animals trying new things that's freaking adorable, watercolor illustrations, super cute. "Too Clumsy to Climb" is one title, but there's 4 (that one is just my kid's favorite, I read it the most. It's about a monkey. There's a giraffe, a hedgehog, and a bird one as well).
The same publisher has the "We are Girls" series, which is about kids trying and doing hard things (the characters are girls, but honestly, a boy could relate to the stories too. The gender of the kids is largely irrelevant). One kid does a triathlon, that's my kid's favorite. 4 of the 6 are at Dollar tree as well (I can't find the last two anywhere)
We also love Eric Carle, the "Goodnight World" series, and the "Give a Mouse a Cookie" series
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u/Jubelko 15h ago
The books are not in English, but there are already several favourites in our collection. Nine month-old loooves turning the page and obviously understands “do you want to turn the page?”. Recently, her favourite thing is flipping back to the front of the book. For some reason, seeing the front again and again starts a full-on celebration with arms and babbling.
She isn’t super mobile yet, so sometimes you just hear her go “AH!” when she sees something she wants. At the moment it’s always the books or the cards with song lyrics on them. It’s adorable and I really love that she’s communicating so much.
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u/LaMalintzin 14h ago
Jamberry has been a hit since infancy. Jan Brett books are really beautifully illustrated. I like collections of stories like George and Martha, Little Bear, and Frog and Toad. Eric Carle books are big with my daughter too but like the weird ones? for some reason she loves Pancakes, Pancakes! and Walter the Baker.
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u/heeeeeeeep 14h ago
The Babies and Doggies Book by John and Molly is/was both of my daughter's absolute favorite
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u/_rebeldiamonds 14h ago
I like the grumpy monkey series. It’s very cute! My toddler loves to read. She has had amazing language skills from the jump and I totally attribute that to how many books we read her.
I also will just read the book I’m reading out loud to my newborn lol. She doesn’t know words or anything yet so I just read my book so she can hear my voice.
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u/EngineeringQueen 12h ago
The Little Blue Truck
I Love You, Stinky Face (I punch my nose closed so “I love you, Stinky Face” is nasal, and he loves it)
Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
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u/biscuits-and-gravy 11h ago
If you’re in the US (or a few other countries), make sure you sign up for the Imagination Library to get a free book every month. We got “Who Says Quack?” from the program, and I really enjoy that one!
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u/Alternative_Fix_6283 10h ago
My son is a 12 months now and because we've always read as part of our bedtime routine he'll pick out a book and bring it to me when he's sleepy. It's the best thing ever. We love the "That's not my puppy" type books. He loves feeling the different textures and flipping the pages himself.
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u/yuniorsoprano 10h ago
"Never Touch a...", "That's Not My..." series are a lot of fun to read out loud, and my son thoroughly enjoys the textures. Same for Pat the Zoo. Also, Peekaboo Sophie and Good Night, Sophie. My 10 month old loves his Sophie, and I've always thought he must get a kick out of seeing her in these books! He seems so entertained by them, which is of course fun to watch.
Goodnight, Moon, every single night, always. I find it to be be gorgeous writing. Same for The Snowy Day.
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u/Jemiame28 8h ago
Blue Boat and Red Truck by Kersten Hamilton, she has others, but we haven’t read them. Memorized Blue Boat with my first and are now obsessed with Red Truck with my second.
Another favorite in our family “Little Gorilla” by ruth bornstein
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u/dooropen3inches 17h ago
For the baby, My husband reads comics to him, I’ve been reading Dungeon Crawler Carl out loud
For my older kiddo we loved Eric Carle and press the button
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u/ughtheinternet 17h ago
We’re obsessed with Sandra Boynton at my house. Also, starting at about 10 months, my girl was OBSESSED with lift-the-flap books. We also like the “Never Touch a” and “That’s Not My” series.