Top 10 books you should add to your child’s library
Most of these books are great for all ages, and as you will be able to tell, I do not really believe in hard age recommendations (just giving appropriate explanations or edits if needed). For reference, my children are 4 1/2 years old, 1 1/2 yeas old, and 4 months old. You may want to stick with the more durable board books with your toddlers who can be overzealous while turning pages. I love allowing my children to flip the pages themselves- great for building fine motor skills and autonomy. It also gets me through books much faster as 2-3 pages are flipped at a time, but that just means I get to the next two or seven books faster!
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1. What Do You Do With an Idea?
A book for children, adults, and those of us in between that delivers such an inspiring story of believing in yourself. I got chills as I read the last sentence. After reading this book, I started thinking about my own ideas that need nourishing not just to have for myself but to change the world. It is a simple yet engaging read that allows for further discussion regarding emotions. The illustrations are extremely thoughtful as the color on the pages progress as the idea grows. Author, Kobi Yamada, also has other books in this series and What Do You Do With a Problem? is on its way to us!
This book rhymes and begets an effortless cadence as you read, which allows for pretty quick memorization. Reading it nightly for months on end will do that too. It features large print of both upper and lower case letters and a small picture corresponding with the letter in addition to the illustration of the sentence. My babies began reciting this story with me well before they turned two. This is the “extra” book that I read without even opening it (easily memorized), so I can usher my little lady to bed right after a quick prayer.
Written and illustrated by Sharee Miller, this book introduces the discussion on consent and allows readers to understand the need to first ask for permission (and sometimes hear “no”). The illustrations are beautiful and vibrant. There are many opportunities to review multiple topics including animals in the jungle, creatures in the ocean, and outer space as the girl travels to different places to avoid the pesky hands trying to touch her hair. There is also a show of hair love with how she can wear her curly coils in various ways. Lastly, I love the representation of humans of different abilities, religions, and races.
It’s always the right time to learn about the reason for the Christmas season. Go ahead and check out this entire series as I have at least 4 others (including God Gave Us Sleep and God Gave us Heaven). If you have a child who fights naps and bedtime, definitely get God Gave Us Sleep. Now, the books in these series are long. I have skipped over some sentences or paraphrased a page or two after a long day with these books and a bedtime prayer being the only thing separating me from my pillow, but they truly do a great job explaining the subject in a way that a toddler can understand. The bear family has a girl cub and twins (boy and girl). God Gave Us Two is a great addition to any family preparing for a new sibling, especially if twins. I’m kind of cheating by adding so many books to this one, but it is so hard to only pick 10!
Team work makes the dream work seems to be the theme of this engineer-inspired book. The book rhymes and was recorded into a song, which comes with sheet music AND a CD that can be played on a computer or CD player (if you still have one of those). I like the activities at the end of the book that help to tie the information learned together as if this book was designed to be a teacher’s complete lesson plan. If all of the extras aren’t good enough, this book has nice illustrations, a diverse group of children working together to build their tree house, and a simple way to discuss safety as the kids have on proper protective wear.
This book’s illustrations are simply captivating! I began reading this book to my first born right around 2 1/2 years old. I found myself editing specific words referring to death, but after he slept off in my arms, I continued reading on. I don’t know how many pages I cried over while he slept as I continued to read the story of African-Americans in America. This is a great book for all to have, but I would recommend breaking it up – reading specific chapters based on your child’s level of understanding. We have not finished this book, but there is no need to discuss such hate like the KKK at this stage in his life. Age-appropriate is relative, so I always recommend the adult reading any book first. It’s good to be prepared for a follow-up discussion. I brought this book out for a read and discussion of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s life during MLK Jr Day 2020. My son is “almost 5 years old” as he says, and he had much more of a reaction to my words as I read. He was saddened by the shooting of Dr. King, but it brought up the discussion of sacrifice. This book has discussion questions and an interview with the author and illustrator, Kadir Nelson, at the end as if it is ready to be dropped right into an adolescent history class.
As a yoga enthusiast and teacher, I love this board book! It easily introduces yoga poses and breathing techniques to young children, and there is a diverse group of children practicing the different yoga poses. I also love that this book gets us moving every time my little lady picks it up.
8. Tails
This is a thick rhyming book with fun, interactive pages – different textures to feel, a scratch-and-sniff scent, pull tabs to create movement, and flaps to uncover an extremely large tail at the end of the book. It nearly covers all senses! This book is still appropriate for older toddlers because it challenges them (and maybe even the adult) to learn unique animals including tamarin, pangolin, and bush baby. It may not last that long because while it is very well made, the attractive swishing tails and other moving parts are able to be ripped out.
This book, originally published in 1985 in Japanese, takes the concept of numbers from rote memorization to the next level by showing how we see and use numbers in our daily lives. It is a simple read. Due to its original published date, there are some outdated illustrations – home landline and television with channel buttons on the front, but I do not feel like this takes away from the message. My children enjoy calling out the numbers they recognize and pointing toward our wall clock and calendar when we read about them in the book.
This is such a great children’s devotional that builds a solid foundation in the Christian faith and explains a variety of topics such as disagreements, death, and adoption. The devotions are arranged by the days of the year and include a memory verse, fun fact, and verses and a question to read more. The devotionals are engaging and can grow with my children as they age and read on their own. I have also learned from these devotions as they have a way of being right on time, even when my son prefers to randomly pick one. We also enjoy I Will Follow Jesus as it flows in a more chronological order through the stories of the Bible.
Whew! That was pretty hard. I have three children and have accumulated many books for them over the past 5 years. During this review, I purchased three more books! This is just a subtle way of saying part 2 through never-ending are coming! Be warned. PLEASE share your must have children’s books. I would love to rotate a few more new books into our line-up.
