One of the best things you can do for your child is to begin reading to them as early as possible. It is no longer news that reading with your baby or toddler benefits their language and intellectual development, this fact has been well documented in recent years. But
equally important is that reading with your child helps you build a strong, close relationship that benefits your child’s learning and encourages a life-long love of reading.
Giving books as baby gifts and as birthday presents has always been very popular thing to do. I have put together a list of 20 of the most popular best-selling baby/toddler books from recent years (with the tried and true classics mixed in). If you are an expecting parent take note of this list…you may even want to add them to your gift registry to ensure a well rounded baby library by the time your baby is born.
Before I had children I was a huge reader. I loved nothing more than getting into a great book. After my daughter was born I quickly realized that my days of reading for hours on end were over. I figured that since I didn’t have the time to read my beloved novels anymore, that at least I could still read to my daughter and teach her to love books like I do. She sat still and listened to me read intently for the first few months and then it became abruptly apparent that she would rather be doing just about anything other than sitting and being read to. I was so upset with the notion that she would not enjoy reading books so I became determined to find some that she would enjoy. I went to the local Barnes and Noble children’s section and quickly discovered the world of “touch and feel books”. If your child is anything like mine and has a hard time sitting still while you read a traditional book to them, this may be the ideal solution for you too! These books have extremely basic text but on almost every page there is something for your child to touch or a flap to lift. All of a sudden my daughter is obsessed with her books. She won’t go anywhere without them! I really believe there are books out there for every child. You just have to be in touch with your child’s needs to find the perfect type of book for them. Below are two different lists. The first list is the 20 of the most popular best-selling baby/toddler books as I mentioned earlier. Below that is a list of my daughter’s favorite interactive book authors. All of the authors on the list have written multiple books, so if you want to check them out do not search by title, do an author search to find the ones that have subjects of interest to your child.
If any of you (and your children) have any favorites that did not make it on my list I would love to hear what they are. Your suggestions are always appreciated!
20 of the most popular best-selling baby/toddler books
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
Are You My Mommy? by Carla Dijs
Richard Scarry's Best First Book Ever! by Richard Scarry
Giant Treasury of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
Mother Goose Volland by Rand McNally
When We Were Very Young (Pooh Original Edition) by A. A. Milne
Where the Wild things Are by Maurice Sendak
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
Dr. Seuss’ ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book by Dr. Seuss
We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Helen Oxenbury
Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?: Dr. Seuss’ Book of Wonderful Noises by Dr. Seuss
The Going to Bed Book by Sandra Boynton
Dig Dig Digging by Margaret Mayo
Pat the Bunny by Edith Kunhardt Davies
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr
Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney
My Daughter’s Favorite Authors of Interactive Books
Eric Hill (Spot series)
Karen Katz (Lift-the-Flap series)
Fiona Watt (That’s not my… touchy-feely series)
DK Publishing (Touch and Feel series)
Annie Kubler (Classic Books with Holes series)
Lenz Mulligan Rights & Co. (Finger Puppet Book series)
Karen White (BebeBuzz) is a mother of two and the Founder/President of Bebebuzz.com. She also runs an online baby boutique at http://boutique.bebebuzz.com, featuring unique and trendy baby gifts that any savvy new parent would be excited to receive.
BebeBuzz.com is a site built in response to the tons of questions that the baby books just don't cover. Filled with tips tricks and advice for surviving pregnancy and motherhood.
“Please visit my site, and keep the Minti feedback coming.” ~Karen
(August 2006) (
