We’ve got another birthday in our family this week and, as is my custom, I need to survey my favorite books for toddlers.
I’ll give you six choices and you can either vote, or suggest another title for the adorable girl turning one.
Her family already has our absolute favorite book for toddlers, what I consider the best book for a two year old: Go, Dog. Go! by P.D. Eastman
Do you like my hat?
What could be better than this rollicking tale filled with opportunities to learn colors, sizes, up and down, and pure silliness?
I’ve lost track of how many copies of this book I’ve purchased over the years. Five copies were needed for my four children (this book gets read!) and far more for friends. I even carried a copy to China to give to a friend of my brother’s whose twins were turning two.
The little girls grabbed it from the wrapping and immediately sat down to read!
I didn’t have to know them–this book is a keeper!
Cars and Trucks and Things that Go by Richard Scarry.
I think I’ve purchased four copies of this book for the four children and have given it away countless times. For a while there, we had a rule: only one Richard Scarry book out of the library at a time.
The problem is, the depth of the “story” and how long it takes to read. This one is about the worst–because part of the problem is having to find Goldbug on every page before we can move along!
Ostensibly the tale of the problem-plagued Pig family as they set out on a picnic, this book brandishes pages stuffed with every imaginable form of transportation–at least from the 1960’s when it was first written. The cover will give you an idea of how busy the pages are.
It was a godsend when my children constantly asked me to name–as in provide the exact name–for the various trucks we passed on the road.
I couldn’t have done it without Richard Scarry’s assistance!
Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker and Tom Lichtenheld
This is a new favorite, just published in 2011. I heard Rinker speak at the San Francisco Author’s Luncheon last fall and bought a copy. It’s become a favorite with its rhyme and rhythm coupled with trucks.
There seems to be a theme here for books my family loves . . .
Written with good humor, it’s a more robust version of Goodnight, Moon, a book I’ve never been particularly fond of, though again, I love the rhyme and rhythm.
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Okay, I love this one because I always change my voice to match the characters and it ends with my very favorite (and lengthy) last line:
“The wild things roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws but Max stepped into his private boat and waved good-bye
and sailed back over a year and in and out of weeks and through a day
into the night of his very own room where he found his supper waiting for him
and it was still hot.”
What could be better than that for a child?
Adventure on Klickitat Island by Hilary Horder Hippely
Cover via Amazon
Who can say why this one is among the favorite books for toddlers in my family?
My daughter received it as a gift from her godmother, with a nod to her birthplace: the Pacific Northwest.
The story of a boy awakened by a night time storm, with Beary by his side, who sets out with blankie at the request of a cry for help.
While the hapless parents apparently slept through the whole thing, the boy and his stuffed bear row to Klickitat Island where all the forest animals are cold, frightened and hungry.
Together, the resourceful animals and the little boy build a house to keep them all warm and out of the rain and wind.
Beary and the boy wake up, you know where–back in their own comfortable bed.
Among our collection of favorite books for toddlers, my choice every reading session is for a book long out of print: There’s a Train Going by My Window by Wendy Kesselman and Tony Chen.
More rhythm and rhyme:
“There’s a train going by my window
Chucka-chucka-chuck, chucka-choo
It’s going all around the world
I want to go too.”
This little girls travels the world on that train, stopping in at such diverse spots as the Galapagos, the South Pole, Australia and even the Hebrides where, “I’ll parachute with the puffins/Upside down through the sky.”
The pictures are colorful and fun–you can count the animals on each page–but what I love is the author’s innovative onomatopoeia with the train going down the track!
Which book would you choose for an adorable one year girl?
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Well, when I was a toddler, my older brother read me “War As I Knew It”, George Patton’s autobiography.
That may explain a lot.
Fun and uplifting, right, with rhythm and rhyme? 🙂
Well, apparently I thought so…Patton was my earliest hero, and when the movie came out I was positively giddy. I memorized the entire thing.
And recited the opening speech in school, which was appreciated. (Well, I did have a date with a basin of soapy water, but the Head was laughing so hard his attempt at washing out my mouth was a dismal failure.)
And in church, which was not. Cashmere Bouquet smells good, but tastes lousy.
I would add the book, I am a Bunny. It illustrates the seasons, and offers much to talk about with a little one. It was a favorite in our home.
A tall narrow book, right? I think we had it, too.
And of course, Kyla loves Mr.McGee learns to ski! Thanks for the great book recommendations!