Did you know that, besides pulling them all off the shelves with gleeful abandon, books are also fun for reading?
My 14-month-old has been on a real reading kick since his first birthday. In fact, he’s developed enough of a personality that he’s chosen favorites that he wants me to read him over and over again. Not all of his favorites are ones that I want to read over and over again (I’m looking at you, Baby First Words!)
Here are five books that both baby boy and I love. They are all fun enough that I still enjoy them on the 10th… or 20th go.
The first two are fairly popular, so they’d be better for a parent to buy if you know they aren’t in your library. The last three are less common (I’ve never seen them at anyone else’s house), so if you are buying for a friend’s baby, these might be safe bets. You don’t want to buy baby’s third copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
1. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Have you ever wanted to feel like a spoken word poet while teaching the alphabet? Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault is the book for you!
My baby loved listening to the rhythm and sounds of this one when he was really little, and now that he’s bigger, he loves the twists and turns of the story.
2. Where Is the Green Sheep?
Where Is the Green Sheep by Mem Fox and Judy Horacek makes clever use of repetition and rhyme while also building a lot of key vocabulary.
My favorite: here is the near sheep, and here is the far sheep! My baby’s favorite: here is the train sheep and here is the car sheep! (Was my boy destined to be car obsessed?)
3. Here Babies, There Babies
So cute.
My husband particularly likes this book by Nancy Cohen and Carmen Mok because it shows a lot of active, involved fathers.
4. A Traffic Jam of Trucks
Does my baby love trucks because he is a boy, or does he love trucks because people keep on giving us books about trucks?
I don’t know.
In any case, A Traffic Jam of Trucks is mercifully short, has sweet illustrations, and teaches colors and plurals. My boy is obsessed.
5. I’m Hungry!
Best for theatrical parents who are comfortable hamming it up with silly voices, I’m Hungry by Elise Gravel endlessly entertains.
Hope these gave you some ideas of books to buy for a one-year-old in your life! Just a bit of reading and they will all be geniuses, I’m sure!
