Toddlers love books! Being read, turning them and trying to make sounds as they read themselves. My little one spreads all his books around him and jumps from one book to another – my little multi-tasker. We do love his enthusiasm to read and we like to encourage them, even at this early age. Now that he is 18 months old, I want to document all or almost all his favorites to date. I could see his character developing based on the books he prefers and it’s been very cool to watch.
Where most of our books come from:
- We have wonderful friends and relatives who gift us books on special occasions and we couldn’t be more grateful.
- We shop the annual library sale, where they sell their old’er’ books. They are mostly in great condition and the price most books are $1, which is such a steal for the collection we get in the end.
- We hit the library almost every week. We go for the storytime at our local library. J enjoys them so much. We stay after and let him browse, that is, pick through many books and I watch which books pique his interest and we pick 2 books that he likes best.
- We subscribed to ‘Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library’ even before he was born. It is a free resource for anyone in the U.S and it is such a blessing. We get age-appropriate books every month that are mostly a hit with our little one.
- We do get books on Amazon – mostly based on what kind of books he seems to like best out of what we’ve collected.
- Usborne books! We love love them. There is so many different activity-based curated specifically for each age. I try to get some now and then from Facebook parties my friends put on now and then. I’ve never regretted any of the books I got from them so far.
J’ favorites:
1. All about trucks, trains, and planes:
J currently loves cars, trucks, and anything that moves really. His fascination for vehicles came alive as we read books like the ones below-
- PUSH! DIG! SCOOP!
This book has different construction vehicles on each page, like the little cranes helping their mom lift heavy things. It’s a very cute book and slides in the concept of counting as you read through it. - Trucks
It might look like a really simple book. But that’s all it takes to catch the attention of a toddler. This book is all about trucks – each pa - What can a crane pick up
The book is all about what a crane could pick up – from small things to really big things. I personally love the rhyming throughout the book. - Digger man
This book is his favorite book of all! It’s about a big brother dreaming about owning his own digger one day and sharing it with his baby brother. It’s a really cute book.
2. Bedtime favorites:
Our bedtime routine is pretty simple – We read a book, say a prayer and read the Lor’s prayer book and he’s off to bed. Here are some of his favorites:
- Goodnight moon
This is a must-read for J every night. It’s a bunny saying good night to all the things in his room. Hubby acts out everything and it keeps J enthralled through the end. - One Ted Falls out of bed
This book is full of adventure of a teddy bear who falls out of a young boy’s bed. Each page counts down all things he sees before he gets back in bed. - Where do Jet planes sleep at night
We first got this book from our public library. We have not returned it officially yet, but keep on renewing it. We read this one every night as well. It is a story of kid planes with their parents wondering how they sleep at night. - The Lord’s prayer
This was a gift from a dear friend, and we intentionally end the bedtime routine with this one. He now says ‘Amen’ with us in the end, and it’s the cutest thing ever..
3. Usborne books:
I have already said that we love Usborne books. I could link a lot more books we use from them, but I just want to mention his most favorite ones.
- ‘That’s not my’ series
This is a great first book for a baby/toddler. Each page has different textures that the baby could touch and feel as he discovers the different parts of the animals as well. - Bab’s very first touchy-feely Lift-the flap Playbook
A great book for the toddler to work on his fine motor skills as they use their hands to lift the flaps. And the book is of really good quality and is filled with lots of colors. - Wipe-clean Dot-to-dot Animals
The last two are his recent favorites. The books come with a temporary marker and you can use other temporary markers from Dollar Tree. It’s a great book to use in a restaurant when you are trying to avoid a meltdown. - Wipe-clean 1 2 3
4. Bible stories
Scripture comes first in our household, so we invest in books to teach him God’s word from the start. We tried a few and have found a few that are best suited for his age.
- Found. Psalm 23
This book walks through Psalm 23 in a descriptive way that is relatable to toddlers. J especially loves the sheep in the story. - God Made Me and You
Living in a world where there are so many diversity around us and it’s so easy to see the difference from one another, this clearly yet simply explains that God loves every single child in the world. - The Jesus Storybook bible
We’ve had this book even before J was born. It’s a great book to introduce anyone to the gospel story. We love them personally. But we feel at this stage, J does not want to stay on one page long enough to hear the story, so we brush through the pages pretty fast. - The big book of bible stories for toddlers
This book is perfect for J. It does not have lot of reading on one page. It also has beautiful pictures and a big question & answer that each story points to. We use this every day in the morning when hubby and I are having our quiet time.
5. ABCs
It is far too early for J to learn ABCs, but he does love some books because of the pictures and the rhymes.
- Disney’s ABCs
This is a lift-the-flap book that J has tore most of the flaps out of. That tells us how much he loves it really. I personally love all the characters in the book as well, so I am planning to get a new one when almost all the flaps are torn, just to keep it as a collection. - Chicka chicka boom boom
The letters going up the coconut tree and falling down, some wounded and some with their parents. J loves the rhyme in this one and follows along giving the same expressions as we would as we read the book.
6. Other all-time favorites:
We do have some random books he reaches out to all the time.
- Moo, Baa, La La La!
This was the very first book he started reading with us aloud – like he makes the sounds of the animals as we read to him. - Thank you God, for daddy
This is such a wonderful book that goes about listing all the things that Daddy does for his son every day. J says ‘Dadda! Dadda!’ as we read every single page. - The hungry caterpillar
Oh, this one is a classic! The hungry caterpillar, which eats so many things along the way and finally turns into a beautiful butterfly. J recognizes most of the food in the book, which keeps him very much interested.
