Great books for infants and toddlers

As a parent, you are your child’s first and most influential teacher. From a very early age, reading together is one of the best ways to share time with your child. Nothing builds a child’s desire to read better than being held in a lap and cuddled as you read a story.

Lap-time reading fosters feelings of warmth and security. It also expands your child’s view of the world and his vocabulary (the number of words he knows). You can read to your child anywhere – in the waiting room at the hospital or in the living room of your home. By setting aside time every day for reading, your child will see that you love books and reading. Studies show that this is one of the best ways to help your child develop a love of reading.

Let your child pick a story. Then, cuddle up together to enjoy the power and magic of the printed word.

Great books for infants and toddlers

1. The Real Mother Goose by Blanche Fish Wright
2. Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt
3. Where’s My Baby? by H.A. Rey
4. Where’s Spot? by Eric Hill
5. I Went Walking by Sue Williams
6. The Itsy-Bitsy Spider by Rosemary Wells
7. Little Owl by Piers Harper
8. The Bear Went Over the Mountain by Rosemary Wells
9. Good Morning, Baby by Cheryl Willis Hudson
10. How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? By Mark Teague
11. Sleep: Baby Faces by Roberta Grobel Intrater
12. Mommy Loves Her Bunny by Josephine Page
13. Tickly Under There by Debi Gliori
14. I Love You Through and Through by Bernadette Rossetti Shustak
15. Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown
16. Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathman
17. I Love You, Little One by Nancy Tafuri
18. I Love You As Much… by Laura Krauss Melmed
19. Toes, Ears, & Nose! by Marion Dane Bauer
20. Just Like Daddy by Frank Asch
21. Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? by Dr. Seuss
22. Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy Shaw
23. I See a Cow by Richard Powell
24. All Fall Down by Helen Oxenbury
25. Baby Bathtime! by Dawn Sirett
26. The Sleepy Little Alphabet by Judy Sierra
27. That’s Not My Pony by Fiona Watt (look for other “That’s Not My…” titles by same author)

Adapted from materials from the National Education Association, www.nea.org/readacross/, from Scholastic, www.scholastic.com, and from Choose the Right Books for Kids.