Tails by Matthew Van Fleet was the first book I remember my daughter really loving. It's a parental favorite as well... easy to read over and over again. For my son, it was Jungle Boogie by Sally Crabtree. It is also easy to read. Both of these books feature moving parts, strong rhythms, and creative rhymes. They are well worth a look if your youngish child hasn't shown much interest in books yet.
And now onto the list. If you're browsing quickly looking for a few recommendations, this might help:
- Red font indicates the books that were the most favorite for my kids. You know, the ones they ask you to read again as soon as you finish reading it.
- Asterisks (*) note those books that are/were parental favorites as well.
Tails (Van Fleet) *
Are You Ticklish? (McKendry, Mitchell and Young)
Jungle Boogie (Crabtree) *
Mirror Me (Aigner-Clark)
Good Morning, Good Night (Mitchell) *
Ten Little Ladybugs (Gerth) *
Bedtime Bunny (Magsamem)
Moo Baa La La La (Boynton)
Tootles (Crampton)
That's Not My Train (Watt and Wells)
That's Not My Monkey (Watt and Wells)
Pooh Blocks (Random House Disney)
Gossie and Friends (Dunrea)
Goodnight Moon (Brown)Winnie the Pooh 123 (Milne) (British)
The Saggy Baggy Elephant (Jackson)
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? (Martin and Carle)
The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Carle)
Thomas Goes Fishing (Awdry)
Good Night Gorilla (Rathmann)
Thomas Goes Fishing (Awdry)
Good Night Gorilla (Rathmann)
Guess Who? (dollar store bath book featuring Lightning McQueen and co.)
Care Bears Easter Egg Hunt (Lee and Johnson)
Slide and Seek Thomas and Friends (Awdry)
I'm a Big Sister (Cole)
I'm a Big Sister (Cole)
Five Little Ducks (Raffi)
A Crack in the Track (Awdry)Llama Llama Red Pajama (Dewdney) *
Llama Llama Mad at Mama (Dewdney) *
Biscuit's Pet and Play Christmas (Capucilli)
Biscuit's Pet and Play Halloween (Capucilli)
Dear Zoo (Campbell)
Peter Rabbit Sleepy Time (Potter)
Tale of Peter Rabbit (Potter) *
Charlie the Ranch Dog (Drummond)
Nobunny's Perfect (Dewdney) *
Knuffle Bunny (Willems)
Knuffle Bunny Free (Willems)
Where Is the Green Sheep (Fox and Horacek)
No Biting, Horrible Crocodile! (Shipton) *
Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa: Partners (Silverman and Lewin)
When We're Together (Freedman) *
The Very Busy Spider (Carle)
Yankee Doodle (fabric book full of patriotic songs, poems and illustrations)
Duck and Goose (Hills) *
Harold and the Purple Crayon (Johnson) *
Harold's ABCs (Johnson)
Danny and the Dinosaur (Hoff)
Time to Sleep, Sheep the Sheep (Willems)
Rainbow Fish (Pfister)
Miss Spider's Tea Party (Kirk) *
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (Martin) *
Hand Hand Fingers Thumb (Perkins)
Ten Naughty Little Monkeys (Williams and Watts)
Bright and Beautiful (recordable book) (Hallmark)
What's Your Sound, Hound the Hound? (Willems)
Spring is Here (Hillenbrand)
Down By the Station (Hillenbrand) *
Crocodiles Are the Best Animals of All (Shaw)
Ghosts in the House (Kohara)
Dirk Bones and the Mystery of the Haunted House (Cushman)
Where the Wild Things Are (Sendak)
