I love this idea and I'm so excited!! So, I need suggestions. This baby will be a girl, and the mom is very traditional feminine, so things like that would definitely be appreciated. Pretty covers, pretty colors. Think Beatrix Potter, Brambley Hedge, etc. All of which she's been starting to buy lol, so please give me other suggestions. They're a Christian couple too, so religious suggestions are also welcome! 0-5 age range 🩷🧸🍼
EDIT I just re read the text, and oops! 0-5 age range. That hopefully will make it easier
by irishcreammm
35 Comments
*A is for Annabelle* by Tasha Tudor
I love the Ladybug Girl books. Also Sandra Boynton.
Frog and Toad
Everywhere Babies – Susan Meyers
10 Little Fingers and 10 Little Toes – Mem Fox
Any/all of the three Shell Silverstein books. Where the sidewalk ends, a light in the attic, the giving tree.
When my great niece was in the 3-4 year old range she adored “Grumpy Monkey.” I think her parents had to read it to her before bed every single stinking night for a good 4-5 months.
Oh my goodness, so many…..
“On the Night You Were Born” checks all of your boxes. A beautiful book that I loved reading to my babies.
“Blueberry Girl” would be a sweet gift for the mom of a baby girl, but I hate to recommend it after the news broke about Neil Gaiman.
Also, I know you’re looking for something lovely, but some of the books I loved reading the most are board books:
– You can’t go wrong with any Sandra Boynton books. So much fun to read.
– Mr Brown Can Moo Can You just scratches my brain 🤣
– same with the Little Blue Truck. I used to recite it in my brain when I was running because the cadence matched my pace.
Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne
The Little Bear series by Else Holmelund Minarik
Sandra Boyton books are a must for babies/young toddlers.
Classics like THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR, GOODNIGHT MOON, BIG RED BARN are good. Also DEAR ZOO and OH DEAR!
My kid loved BABIES IN THE FOREST, and there are others like BABIES ON THE FARM and BABIES IN THR OCEAN.
Everybody Poops is the best potty training book. It really takes the embarrassment out of the process for both the kids and parents.
[I Love You, Little One](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1270564.I_Love_You_Little_One), by Nancy Tafari. It goes in and out of print, but it’s the sweetest board book imaginable. I’ve been giving a copy to all parents for whom I make baby blankets for the last five years, and it’s only recently that I’ve been able to read it through without getting all emo over it.
Julián is a Mermaid by Jessica Love.
Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf – one of my favorite books as a child and now I am reading it to my son :’)
All of the Emma Dodd animal series are beautiful books. Lovely illustrations and heart warming stories.
For the older end of the age range, all of the Julia Donaldson books are fab.
Any of the Madeleine books!
I love all books by Oliver Jeffries or Deborah Freedman. I’d avoid the classics (like Everywhere Babies) that others will likely get. It would be cute to get “Finding Winnie” which is about the real life bear that inspired Winnie the Pooh along with a Winnie the Pooh book (and maybe a little Winnie the Pooh figurine if you want to go all out, ha!).
This is also a fun reason to go to a local bookstore, especially if you have a kids oriented one, and ask for help from a bookseller!
Oi Frog! Or any of that series. Great to read out loud and nice bright and good pictures
I think you’re pretty covered in suggestions for classics (and also those are more likely to have overlap with other guests anyways) so:
[Mermaids Fast Asleep, by Robin Riding](https://a.co/d/iOFr2UZ)
[Franklin’s Flying Bookshop, by Jen Campbell](https://a.co/d/98FlqAt)
[Day Dreamers, by Emily Winfield Martin](https://a.co/d/fbHVWME)
[Rocking Bed of Dreams, by Carin Meister](https://a.co/d/5mQBYBx) (board book)
[You Nest Here With Me, by Jane Yolen](https://a.co/d/dh0FT5n) (board book)
[Little Owl Lost, by Chris Haughton](https://a.co/d/8IX7eTO) (board book)
I love you, stinky face!
All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon
The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton
The Little Fire Engine by Lois Lenski
If You Were My Bunny by Kate McMullan
Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey
Good Night Moon; Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown
Corduroy by Don Freeman
In the Night Kitchen; Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
My kid is a year old and you wanna know the only book he has ever liked in his entire short life? “Where’s the dog?” A simple “lift the flap” book with felt flaps he can flip up and down
Richard Scarry has the *best* books!
And “Love You Forever” by Robert Munsch.
Mo Willems! My favorite is Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.
The Harriet the Hamster Princess books by Ursula Vernon.
Where’s Wallace? by Hillary Knight (not to be confused with Where’s Waldo)
Where the Wild Things are by Maurice Sendak
Winnie the Pooh books by AA Milne
Dr Seuss books
I don’t know if anyone mentioned this yet, but some areas offer Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. You go to the website and look up your address. It will tell you if you qualify to receive a free book a month from ages 0-5. So by the time a child goes to kindergarten they will have 60 books of their own at home. It is a really great program and my kids used to love going to the mailbox every month to see what book they got from Aunt Dolly!!
These are classics that my kids loved.
Really, though, anything that is rhyming or interactive (touch & feel or lift a flap) is great.
Also, when you have the option. I recommend getting Board Books over soft bound or even hardback with regular pages. The board books will last longer!
– Blue Gat, Green Hat (the Oops Book)
– Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See?
– Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
– Corduroy
– Goodnight Moon
– Guess How Much I Love You
– Harold and the Purple Crayon
– If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
– Knuffle Bunny
– Llama Llama Red Pajama
– Moo, Baa, La La La!
– Olivia
– Pat the Bunny
– Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you Hear?
– Press Here
– The Going to Bed Book
– The Rainbow Fish
– The Very Hungry Caterpillar
The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear illustrated by Jan Brett was one of my favorite board books to read to my kids.
My first kiddo adored Peek-a-who by Nina Laden. She would giggle like crazy to this book before she was even very verbal.
I love reading Aesop’s fables to my son! half the stories make zero sense but hey it’s a plethora of words and situations I can’t come up with with my mom brain
Before bed we would read my son Mommy Hugs and Daddy Kisses and it was so very sweet. Another one is Good Night I Love You. All of these I took from my childhood bedroom. I think many people will gift books like Where’s Spot, Goodnight Moon, Brown Bear, Very Hungry Caterpillar, we got a couple duplicates for these books because they are easily found at Target, so that’s why I think maybe it would be nice to pick one that is a bit harder to find.
B is for Betsy
Betsy-Tacy
Everything Dr. Guess, but his ABC book particularly
Curious George
So the last time I had a baby shower, I knew the dad was a bit of a science fiction.
Golden books make some great kid adaptations of various pop culture stuff. I bought back to the future, star trek trouble with tribbles, and x files children’s books.
Probably for a slightly older child but Wind in the Willows. I think my daughter was 6 when we did a chapter a night and she found it hilarious. Of all the books I read to her, she seemed to enjoy this most.
Go to the bookstore and ask for something new. They are going to get a million copies of Goodnight Moon and all the classics, so find something new – and maybe even by a local author.
I love the art in the Lisa & Gaspard series, give that a look!
the runaway bunny by margaret wise brown. Get the board book edition so the kid can look at it on its own sooner