enJOY it

an archived personal and craft blog from Elise Blaha Cripe.

our favorite baby books

Kiddobooks

We were very lucky: my mom saved my entire baby book collection and we were gifted many beautiful books so when Ellerie was born she had a full library at her disposal.

For this post, I wanted to share some of the non-classics that were totally new to me and we are loving. I've starred the ones that Ellerie (at 9 months) actually engages in and listens to (that I don't mind reading 14 times in a row). The others are ones that I personally love because they are gorgeous/fun/sweet and have an awesome message. I know she'll grow into these in time.

Book3

Ten Little Ladybugs*

Book4

Giraffes Can't Dance*

Book9

I Had a Favorite Dress

Book2

Snuggle Puppy*

Book8

Beautiful Oops!

Book5

One

Book6

Press Here

Book7

On the Night You Were Born

Book1

Sylvie

Any other new favorites I have to add to our collection? I would love your suggestions.

*links throughout are affiliate.

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91 responses to “our favorite baby books”

  1. Lauren Avatar
    Lauren

    Our new favorite (OK, my husband and my favorite) is The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt. SUPER cute!

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  2. Amy B Avatar
    Amy B

    Not sure if anyone has commented this yet (I tried to read through), but many of Sandra Boynton’s stories are songs. You can find “Snuggle Puppy” on Philadelphia Chickens: http://www.amazon.com/Philadelphia-Chickens-Too-Illogical-Zoological-Musical/dp/0761126368/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1395941126&sr=8-2&keywords=sandra+boynton+music
    The music is so much fun and some songs are sung by celebrities.
    Another of her CD’s (Dog Train) has the amazing songs “Evermore” sung by Allison Krauss and “I need a Nap” a hilarious tune sung by Kate Winslet and Weird Al!

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  3. Birgit Avatar
    Birgit

    Have you thought about taking Ellerie to “story time” at the local library. We started when my first born was 6 months old and enjoyed it so much. Basically the little ones sit in their moms lab and together we would sing nursery rhymes, do finger plays and “read” books. We went once a month until my children started school. They are now 10 and 13 and still remember Miss Debbie. And she always had great book recommendations no matter their age or interest. I highly recommend to look into it at your public library. Good luck

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  4. Andrea @ HMRM. Avatar
    Andrea @ HMRM.

    Several of these are our favorites too. I actually do a blog post every few months on our favorite books and have several. I’ll list the links to the posts below. (Totally not a blog plug either, lol, just too lazy to write them all out.)
    http://heymamablog.blogspot.com/2013/08/books-to-read-with-your-18-month-old.html
    http://heymamablog.blogspot.com/2013/10/evie-reads.html
    http://heymamablog.blogspot.com/2014/01/evie-reads-books-for-toddlers-ii.html
    http://heymamablog.blogspot.com/2013/11/evie-reads-fall-favorites.html

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  5. Welcome Home Taylor Avatar
    Welcome Home Taylor

    I love “Press Here” and “Snuggle Puppy”! Awesome books for little ones!
    xoxo
    Taylor

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  6. Jamie Avatar
    Jamie

    “Someday” by Alison McGhee. It’s a mother/daughter relationship book that she will grow into. It makes me teary eyed every time.

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  7. Tiffany Avatar
    Tiffany

    Ooh, we love all of the ones you wrote about and the ones other people mentioned in the comments section.
    One I haven’t seen mentioned is “We’re Going On A Bear Hunt”. We read it to the kids with sound effects and it has been one of our kids’ favorites for quite some time.
    I’ll second that “The Dot” and “Ish” by Peter H. Reynolds are also wonderful.
    For a little one like yours, “Yummy Yucky” and “Binky” are cute.
    I also just wanted to say how much I enjoy reading your blog. I’m a relatively new reader (I started reading when you were pregnant with your daughter), and I love your take on motherhood in addition to all of the projects and inspiration you share. You write with a very honest eloquence that is charming and relatable. Best of wishes to you always and I look forward to reading about whatever comes next. 🙂

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  8. Carla Lane Avatar
    Carla Lane

    –All the Eric Carle books (if you buy the big hardcover versions some of them do stuff like light up (fireflies) or chirp (crickets).
    –The “How Do Dinosaurs… Say Goodnight, Say I Love You, Clean Their Rooms, Go To School, etc series are great shirt reads with awesome illustrations and a good learning message in each book.
    –The Giving Tree
    –Puppies For Sale (makes me cry good tears at the end every time I read it).

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  9. Stacy Avatar
    Stacy

    If you enjoy the Boynton books, I highly recommend “Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs.” Both my teenagers still remember reading that with me from an early age. In fact, my 19-year-old daughter recently took it off the living room bookshelf and put it in her room. 🙂

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  10. Stacy Avatar
    Stacy

    Oh! Forgot to mention the “Sheep” books. “Sheep in a Jeep,” “Sheep Out to Eat,” “Sheep Take a Hike”…they are hilarious. The misadventures of a group of sheep. I think my kids would ask me to read them just to hear me laugh every time.

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  11. Robyn Avatar
    Robyn

    Absolutely love Beautiful Oops! I teach art to kids and it’s the first book we read. You might also enjoy, The Dot!

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  12. Susan Avatar
    Susan

    Oh I will have to check those out! Marisol’s two favorites are “Shoe La La” and her number one favorite is “brown bear brown bear”. She giggles every single time!

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  13. Emily Avatar
    Emily

    We LOVE “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus” by Mo Willem. There are other pigeon books in the series. 🙂 And yes to the Sandra Boynton books – especially Hippos Go Beserk or Barnyard Dance.

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  14. Lucy Avatar
    Lucy

    I’m from Australia but our fave book is “Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes” by Mem Fox, my boys and I never tire of it!

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  15. Kaytie Avatar
    Kaytie

    “On the night you were born” is our go to bedtime story. When Hazel was little she would always smile at the last page, now she laughs out loud everytime. It’s so funny (even though I don’t really get what’s funny, haha)!

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  16. Patricia Avatar
    Patricia

    “You Are My I Love You” by Maryann Cusimano is the one of the sweetest books I’ve ever read and I recommend it to all my mom friends. http://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Love-Little-Letters/dp/0448463075

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  17. Nikki M Avatar
    Nikki M

    There are some great suggestions here. Two others that we’ve loved are The Stuffed Animals Get Ready for Bed by Alison Inches and The Good Mood Hunt by Hiawyn Oram.

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  18. jasmine Avatar
    jasmine

    I love baby books so much! I’m always looking for great board books. I like books that my daughter (17 months) can hold, play with, and “read” on her own without destroying. All of her books with paper pages get put away right after reading. Our favorite board books right now are I Am a Bunny (illustrations br Richard Scarry – it’s a beautiful book), Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit by Il Sung Na (this book is GORGEOUS) and Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet and Allan Ahlberg.

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  19. Gerry Avatar
    Gerry

    Children’s books are one of my passions! I loved buying books for our daughter, and now I love buying books for our grandchildren. I love picture books like the series about cookies, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal–great teaching in them and beautiful illustrations by Jane Dyer. Classic like Make Way For Ducklings, by Robert McCloskey plus his other books–fantastic illustrations as well as good stories. Kevin Henkes has wonderful books–look at his many stories–really great! Julie Andrews and her daughter write books with a princess theme–very nice. Charlotte Zolotow is a wonderful author, with many books. Remember the books like Anne of Green Gables and the Laura Ingalls Wilder series, when your daughter older. Oh, I have to mention the series of books by Maud Hart Lovelace–the first one called Betst-Tacy. About girls growing up around the turn of the century in Minnesota. Start out when Betsy is about six, continuing with the final book, when she marries. Illustrated by Lois Lenski–great pencil-like illustrations. Lois Lenski also wrote and illustrated series of books for older kids, about different regions if the country. Marguerite D’Angeli wrote and illustrated beautiful books. Thee Hannah s about a Quaker girl in colonial Philadelphia. Henner’s Lydia about an Amish girl– others too. I love to look on Amazon and other sites for book ideas. I could keep on naming books! I love connecting books and people.

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  20. lindsey Avatar
    lindsey

    Tap the Magic Tree by Christie Matheson (interactive like push here).
    You are Special by Max Lucado (has my son’s name in it which is fun)
    Polk-a-dot: Old MacDonald’s Farm (fun popping book great for counting)
    the list goes on and on. what a great post!!

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  21. Sam Avatar
    Sam

    For when she’s just a little older, read The Day The Crayons Quit — hilarious.

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  22. Jodi Avatar
    Jodi

    LOVE ‘I Had a Favorite Dress’ — so pretty.
    We love ‘Rosie Revere, Engineer’ quite a lot, too.

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  23. Jodimckee Avatar
    Jodimckee

    LOVE ‘I Had a Favorite Dress’ — so pretty.
    We love ‘Rosie Revere, Engineer’ quite a lot, too.

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  24. Marcie L Avatar
    Marcie L

    Snuggle Puppy (I think) is from Philadelphia Chickens. We have 2 copies of that book with the CD. The songs are the BEST! In fact, don’t tell anyone but my 13 year old boy still listens to it at night sometimes 🙂

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  25. Jessica Dunn Avatar
    Jessica Dunn

    My little 11-month old girls fav is “We’re going on a Bear Hunt”!

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  26. Marianne Avatar
    Marianne

    Anything by Eric Carle. His illustrations are wonderful. And Sandra Boyton. Her books are FUN to read and never boring. Dinosaur’s binkit was a particular favourite in our houseold.

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  27. Amelia Avatar
    Amelia

    We have all but one of those you listed. Other family favorites include:
    Knuffle Bunny
    The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear
    Exclamation Mark
    all of the Piggie and Elephant books
    Iggy Peck Architect (for when she’s older)
    Spoon
    Every Cowgirl Needs a Horse
    Birdie’s Big Girl Shoes
    (i was not the biggest fan, but my girls loved) Little People flap books

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  28. Rachael MLS Avatar
    Rachael MLS

    “Room on the Broom” is an excellent one about friendship and my absolute favorite. Also “A color of our own” and Dr. Seuss “ABC” book.

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  29. Nessa Avatar
    Nessa

    Little owls night and kittens full moon are the two right now in heavy rotation.

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  30. musingsofamartin Avatar
    musingsofamartin

    Where is the green sheep?
    Dear zoo
    My dad

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  31. Natalie (QSOgirl) Avatar
    Natalie (QSOgirl)

    THanks for the recommendations– I now have a long(er) list of requests in at the library 😉

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  32. Linda Avatar
    Linda

    Hands down- Napping House! I can still quote it and my baby is 26. It is always included as part of a baby gift. I buy multiple copies at a time. There is now a board book version, but the original is beautiful. The illustrations are amazing. “And on that bed there is a granny, a snoring granny , in the napping house where everyone is sleeping….”

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  33. Melissa T Avatar
    Melissa T

    My 9month old loves Mo Willem’s book Knuffle Bunny… she loves to “read” along with me. We also love the Sandra Boynton books – “Not the Hippopotamus” is a favorite right now.

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  34. Cass Avatar
    Cass

    Anything by Oliver Jeffers (though How to Catch a Star is a great start), and the Book of Sleep by Ill Sung Na. Both have a lovely story and gorgeous illustrations.

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  35. rach Avatar
    rach

    I loved reading “Wyt ti’n barod Mistar Croc?/Ready or Not Mr Croc?” to my children. It’s in Welsh and English (love bi-lingual books, it’s good to start learning another language as young as possible) and full of vibrant colours and interactive features – http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wyt-Barod-Mistar-Croc-Ready/dp/1843237687

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  36. Kara Avatar
    Kara

    Wherever You Are, my love will find you by Nancy Tillman is another great one if you love On the Night You Were Born. Also, my son loves any Eric Carle books because of the colorful illustrations. The pout pout fish books by Deborah Diesen are great fun to read. 🙂

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  37. Eliza Wright Avatar
    Eliza Wright

    The ‘bear series’ by Karma Wilson. The first book is “The Bear Snores On”. Also, “Sometimes I Like to Curl Up in a Ball” and the other wombat books by Charles Fuge. Oliver Jeffers “How to Catch a Star” and “Lost and Found”. There is also a beautiful book called “Haiku Baby”, written by Betsy Snyder which prompted us to buy “Sweet Dreams Lullaby”.

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  38. Leonie Avatar
    Leonie

    You definitely need to add ‘Hairy Maclary from Donaldsons Dairy’! Great New Zealand children’s books!!
    Am happy to send one to you and share the book love!

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  39. Sarah Avatar
    Sarah

    Press Here is a great book – we found that at the library recently!
    My kids are big-time readers and reading to them has always been one of my very favourite rituals/priviledges as a parent.
    Here are some of our very favourites:
    ‘Knufflebunny’ by Mo Willems (and the two sequels to it)
    ‘Night Cars’ by Teddy Jam (this one is magic)
    ‘Ten in the Bed’ by Penny Dale (absolutely the best rendition of this story ever – and has two followup books, Ten Out of Bed and Ten Play Hide and Seek – equally awesome)
    And, Richard Scarry! When she is two or so, try The Best Story Book Ever. And closer to age three, Cars and Trucks and Things That Go and What Do People Do All Day?
    Seriously – I swear, with my two eldest I read from one of those three books every.single.day. for a good three years straight. From when they were two to when they were five. And my youngest is just getting into them.
    Oh my goodness… so many wonderful books out there. It’s hard to stop.

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  40. Alicia Avatar
    Alicia

    My little one is 17 months and loves loves loves “Ivan the Terrier”. She knows when to bark in the story. So cute! We also love “Diggers Go” and “Tip Tip Dig Dig”.

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  41. Rachel Dallaire Avatar
    Rachel Dallaire

    just came across flora and the flamingo by molly idle. beautiful illustrations, and no words. i know how much you and ellerie enjoy flamingos. 🙂 it’s a super cute, simple book.

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