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Updated: Apr 10, 2021 27 Comments · by

Which Are Your Child’s Favorite Books — And How Do You Find Them?

Mom Issues· Parenting | · · ·

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A variety of children\'s books.

If you’re like me, I’m guessing books were huge to you growing up — I proudly considered myself a bookworm for years. (I’m trying to get back to it, but I read more articles than books at this point in my life!) For my boys, I’ve always tried to encourage reading, sometimes by adding in some bonuses like knee-bumps, sometimes by reading them the same book three times in a row, etc. So let’s discuss, ladies — which are your favorite books — and for what ages? (And, how do you find new ones — do you have any lists that you swear by? I often will Google “best books for 2-year-old boy” or some such, but finding Amazon’s list of bestseller kids’ books isn’t always helpful.)

A weird thing I’ve done that I kind of cherish now is take pictures of their favorite books, maybe every nine months or so. It’s a wonderful little snapshot of their favorites at that point in time, and I love all the memories that come flooding back to me, like J declaring every food he liked to be “disgustingly delicious!” just like Oscar the Grouch does in Elmo’s Delicious Christmas, or the cute way he would wave at the arriving ship captain in Eric Carle’s 10 Little Rubber Ducks.

Now that H is around, it’s also fun to compare their reading material. J was obsessed with construction vehicles from a young age, but H seems to like animals more. (H is doing this adorable thing right now where he kisses any sleeping animal or kid in our bedtime books. At least, I thought he was kissing them — turns out he’s licking the page. #ProudMama?) I’ve included some of the pictures I could find below, with links to the books that are still in print (a lot of their favorites are surprisingly from my childhood (and my brother’s) in the late ’70s and early ’80s).

Even though it feels like a pretty good snapshot, it’s funny how some books that had a long run aren’t represented — I swear I read Hop on Pop a thousand and two times to J, and both boys went through an obsession with The Robot Book (you have to get the one with the twirly things — ISBN 0740797255), as well as the In My Tree series of puppet-books. J also went through a long era where he was obsessed with Sam the Firehouse Cat (an old book from my childhood, in which Sam saves the neighbor cat Becky from a fire, and then they get married and have babies right away!) and the newer book Pickles the Firehouse Cat.

I do have some hesitations about reading the boys older books sometimes — I saw this interesting comparison of how Richard Scarry has updated some of his books to reflect Mommy and Daddy both doing housework, and things like that — but I also feel free to skip over parts of the books, or “lose books” entirely that raise eyebrows. I don’t get too upset about books that still say “fireman” rather than firefighter, or things like that, but maybe I should police that more. There’s at least one Richard Scarry book with a hippo for a judge whom I purposely refer to with feminine pronouns.

We get a lot of kids’ books from the library (I love ordering them online and then picking them up — quick and easy!), but when people gift us books I try to ask them to inscribe the books, at least with their name/date.

If you’re curious, here are some of the pictures I’ve taken over the years:

J’s Favorite Books at 9 Months
best kids' books for 9 month old boy

Pictured: Urban Babies Wear Black / Pat the Bunny / Goodnight Moon / Brown Bear Brown Bear, What Do You See? / In My Tree/ Sleepy Baby / Tubby / Animal Kisses / Where Is Baby’s Belly Button? / Belly Button Book / The Big Book of Beautiful Babies

J’s Favorite Books at 14 Months

best kids' books for 14 month old boy

Pictured: Llama Llama Mad at Mama / Peanut Butter and Jellyfishes / On the Night You Were Born / Animals Should Definitely NOT Wear Clothing / Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale / Where’s Spot? / Goodnight Moon / The Goodnight Train / Winnie the Pooh’s A to Zzzz / The ABCs of Brooklyn / Billy & Milly Short & Silly / Don’t Squish the Sasquatch / How Do I Love You? / I Am a Bunny / Good Night New York City / Baby Colors / Belly Button Book! / Where Is the Green Sheep? / Dear Zoo / Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs! / Barnyard Dance! / Toes, Ears & Nose / Tails / The Very Hungry Caterpillar Pop-Up Book

H’s Favorite Books at 21 Months

best kids' books for a 21 month old boy

Pictured: First 100 Words / Snuggle Puppy / Where Is the Green Sheep? / Time for Bed / Little Blue Truck / Where’s Spot? / Let’s Talk / Sophie’s Big Noisy Day Book! / Freight Train / Playtime Book and DVD / Hide-and-Peek / Where’s My Teddy / Noisy Orchestra

 J’s Favorite Books at 26 Months

best kids' books for 2 year old boy

Pictured: The Bath Book / The Fire House Book / The Tweety and Sylvester Book / Sheep Out to Eat / Maisy Goes to the City / Room on the Broom / Lights On, Lights Off! / I Can Do It Myself! / The Potty Train / 123 NYC / Wow! New York City / This Moose Belongs to Me / King Arthur’s Very Great Grandson / The ABCs of Brooklyn / Demolition / Richard Scarry’s Best First Book Ever

J’s Favorite Books at 3.5 Years Old

I can’t find one in between 26 months and 3.5 years — boo!

best kids' books for 3.5 year old boy

Pictured: The Knight and the Dragon / King Arthur’s Very Great Grandson / Freight Train / Knuffle Bunny / Blueberries for Sal / The Book With No Pictures / First 100 Machines / Let’s Go Trucks! / The Playground Book / The Bath Book / Big Joe’s Trailer Truck / Richard Scarry’s Great Steamboat Mystery / I’m NOT Sleepy! / The Tweety and Sylvester Book / The Many Faces of Ernie / Sam The Firehouse Cat / Santa’s Toy Shop / Frosty the Snow Man / Elmo’s Delicious Christmas

J’s Favorite Books at 4.5 Years Old

A variety of children\'s books.

Pictured: Where the Wild Things Are / There’s No Such Thing as a Dragon / Richard Scarry’s Great Steamboat Mystery / 5-Minute Marvel Stories / The Book With No Pictures / Dragons Love Tacos / (slew of Lego City books) / World of Reading (slew of Marvel-themed books)

Which are your favorite books (and your child’s!) — and for what ages? Any favorite sources or lists for finding new ones? 

Comments

  1. Lyssa says

    These are cute. I could never keep up with my son’s favorites; they keep changing. The most intense favorite he had was “King Jack and the Dragon” (which was cute and not too annoying, until he got into wanting it read again 10 times in a row) when he was just under 2. Now that he can count, he keeps trying to negotiate the number of bedtime stories (#lawyer’skid?).

    My state has a wonderful program called the “Imagination Library,” which sends a new book every month from birth to age five for all kids who sign up. It was started by Dolly Parton in her hometown, which was poor and had low literacy, but the state eventually took it over. It’s really wonderful to get a new book each month, and now that my older understands it, he really loves that he gets a book “from the mail!” We’ve had a lot of favorites come from that service.

    • EP-er says

      We love the Imagination Library. It wasn’t available in our area until my son was almost 5, so he only got one or two books, but my daughter’s shelves are full from them! We have some definite favorites that came out of there — like “Tea Party Rules.” I love that they send things that I wouldn’t necessarily gravitate to but are none the less awesome. We’ve only gotten on or two real duds.

  2. Philanthropy Girl says

    A topic near and dear to my heart. I, too, am a self-identified book worm, and I find myself obsessing over my son’s books as much as my own.

    My 19 month old has a long list of favorites. Here are a few:
    The Boy with the Drum (out of print Little Golden Book)
    Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
    Beatrix Potter Nursery Rhymes
    The Foolish Tortoise
    Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See (with the sliding panel)
    The Bear Snores On
    Little Blue Truck
    Miss Spider’s Tea Party
    Horton Hatches the Egg
    Corduroy
    The Little Engine that Could
    Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
    Steam Train, Dream Train

    Previous Favorites include:
    The Very Hungry Caterpillar
    Five Little Monkeys
    The Jolly Barnyard
    Ten Little Fish (we’re on our second copy)
    Llama Llama Red Pajama
    Farmyard Beat
    Dancing Feet
    Goodnight Moon
    Goodnight Little One

  3. Anon says

    Oh, love this topic! Some favorites in our house (9 mos and 3 y.o. boys) are

    Jamberry
    The Pout Pout Fish
    The Rainbow Fish
    Giraffes Can’t Dance
    The Circus Ship
    All the Eric Carle and Nancy Tillman and Sandra Boynton
    Little Owl’s Night

    The series board books that are based on classics, nothing makes mama happier than her boys wanting to read Jane Eyre or Pride and Prejudice. :)

  4. FWIW says

    Seeing as kiddo is pre-verbal, I am biased in that I prefer books that I personally don’t mind reading over and over and over. We lean heavily towards books that have a rhythm to them. In heavy rotation in our house are:

    There was a dragon who swallowed a knight
    Pete the Cat: Rockin’ in My School Shoes
    Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? (as well as everything Eric Carle)
    The Butter Battle Book (very interesting from a political science point of view)
    All Mo Willems books: the Elephant and Piggie series + the Pigeon series

    • NewMomAnon says

      I like the rhythm of the Llama Llama books. It feels like singing. I wish my kiddo liked them more….

      Have you checked out the Sandra Boynton books? They have good rhyme schemes and are short. Also: board books, so preverbal kiddos can chew on them! Con: very hard to identify the animals sometimes.

      • AEK says

        Yes to that! In The Going to Bed Book, the dog, the cat, the bear, and the lion are all “DAAH!” (aka dog) to my little one.

  5. Mrs. Jones says

    Our 5-year-old’s current favorites are the Skippyjon Jones books. They are delightfully nutty.

  6. TK says

    My kid has a ton of books because Goodwill has sales once a week where certain color tags are 10 / $1.

    He just turned two, favorites include:

    – Brown bear, brown bear (a longstanding favorite)
    – Where the Wild Things Are (loves to growl with the Wild Things)
    – Peekaboo Morning
    – The Snowy Day
    – Llama Llama Red Pajama (and all of the other Llama Llama books)
    – Goodnight Gorilla
    – The Foot Book (his first love … used to read it 10 times / day)
    – Anything with photographs of animals, the National Geography books for kids are pretty great

    • Philanthropy Girl says

      I just got Goodnight Gorilla from the library – I don’t recall reading it as a child. My 19 month old isn’t talking yet, but seems to enjoy interacting with it. It will be fun watching him grow into the book as he develops his verbal communication!

      • NewMomAnon says

        Another one that you might like is Hug, by Jez Alborough. It has very few words in it, but I play up the many emotions of the little monkey (he is sad/angry/scared because he lost his mommy, and then he finds his mom and is happy/grateful/comforted/excited – it’s a veritable emotional roller coaster). Now that my kiddo is talking, she likes to tell me the story using her “feeling” words and faces. It’s awesome.

  7. Famouscait says

    Yay books! Here are our favorites:

    Hippos Go Berserk
    But Not the Hippopotamus
    Oh No George
    This is not my Hat
    Shhh! We have a Plan
    There’s a Bear in my Chair
    all Usborne Touchy Feely books aka That’s Not my Penguin/Lion/Elephant (which we occasionally change to the positive: “That’s an awesome penguin/elephant/lion! Its wings/mane/tail is soooo furry!”)

    Can anyone recommend good poetry to read aloud to children?

    • Philanthropy Girl says

      I have a couple I like. I have the Jack Prelutsky anthology, which is great (I think also known as The Random House Anthology). I also have The Real Mother Goose (the one from like 1935), which has just about every nursery rhyme you know plus twice as many you don’t.

      The popular one in our house right now is Beatrix Potter nursery rhymes. I’ve found that for my 19 month old, he needs one poem per page, with a picture, or he looses interest very fast. The anthologies haven’t been so useful yet. So the Beatrix Potter complete nursery rhymes has been good, as has Mother Goose by Kim LaFave et al (features artwork by prominent Canadian illustrators) and One Two Three Mother Goose (all nursery rhymes with numbers).

      • NewMomAnon says

        When I was a kid, I had Jack Prelutsky’s “Something Big Has Been Here.” It had pictures and one poem per page; maybe try that instead of the anthology? Also, how did I never realize that Shel Silverstein’s poetry is seriously creepy? I tried reading Where the Sidewalk Ends to my kiddo, and just ended up hiding the book until she is older.

      • Jill says

        Ride a purple pelican by Jack Prelutsky is great. Julie Andrews also has an anthology that I bought but haven’t read yet. It’s probably good for kids 5+ years old. Same with the collection by Caroline Kennedy.

        Barnes and Noble has a book called “an anthology for one year olds” or something similar that is full of mother goose style rhymes with one per page. We’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of that.

  8. Anon says

    I am attending a one year old’s birthday party this weekend. Any suggestions on awesome gifts? TIA!

  9. NewMomAnon says

    As to where I find books: daycare usually introduces us to new books, and we order books from the Scholastic catalogues every few months. I also have a family member who is a librarian, and she sends us books that are recommended by the children’s librarians at her work.

    As to favorites:

    PETE THE CAT. The original three are the best (they rhyme and have repetitive parts that my kiddo likes to recite). The later ones weren’t written by the same guy, and the new guy totally phoned it in. But my kiddo will read anything that has Pete the Cat in it.

    Brown Bear, Brown Bear (with the sliders)

    National Geographic has a series of animal books with big glossy pictures. My kiddo loves the pictures of animals, and they are easy to carry around because they are so light (the ones I order from Scholastic are softcover pamphlet style books).

    We have a couple books with buttons that play music – a Wheels on the Bus book and an Elmo book. I hate them, but they are favorites.

    Any sets of books that come in carrying cases. We have a box set of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, and a relative has a box set of tiny board books. Kiddo loves to open the box, close the box, carry the box around by the handle, rearrange the books, etc.

  10. Jen says

    Anything Mo Willems! His stories are delightful and my new reader has such confidence when he reads them.

  11. Jill says

    For booklists I like to look at the ones on A Mighty Girl website, which has stories about strong female leads that would be good for both boys and girls. Public libraries also generally have great booklists.

    The book called The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease is excellent resource for good books to read to all ages of kids. It was interesting to see how the criteria for read aloud may be different. He talks about how a book like Huck Finn is difficult to read aloud because of the way the accents are written in the dialogue.

    Mem Fox, author of the excellent book Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, also has a book called Reading Magic with some great booklists. It has lots of helpful advice on how to read to kids that I liked.

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