The Best First Books for Babies and Toddlers

[Hayley]

Now that Olle is 6 months old (not sure where that 6 months has gone, but 6 months it is!), I've gotten through a fair few books and thought it would be nice to have a thread of the books we think are the best ones for the youngest of readers. 

 

 

[Hayley]

My first contribution:

 

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

 

Even at just a couple of months old, Olle seemed to be fascinated by the pictures in this one. It has high-contrast, bright pictures and I know he's going to enjoy other elements of it (like the texture of the holes cut out of the fruit inside) as he gets older. Also a classic - I have a distant memory of loving this when I first started school. 

 

 

Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy by Lynley Dodd

Lovely and fun illustrations in this one too, but with the added bonus of really satisfying rhythm and rhyme to the story. Olle often watches my mouth when I read this to him, so I think he appreciates it too .

We actually have about five of the Hairy Maclary books and they're all great. 

[lunababymoonchild]

It’s been more than 30 years since I last bought a book for an infant but I do remember the very young looking assistant who sold it to me saying that it was so much better to read a book that you enjoyed because you’re going to read it over and over again, and that has stayed with me. 
 

From my own childhood, I absolutely adored the Ladybird series of books (I have no idea if they are available today or if they might be too old fashioned) and still have them. 

[Madeleine]

I had loads of Ladybird books, I think they're quite collectable now.  Not sure if they're still around.