What books did you most enjoy reading for your Newborn/Toddler?

There's a brilliant book in M&S called Ten Wriggly Wiggly Caterpillars, it's €7 and well worth it. It's in 3d with a pop out of 10 butterflies at the end.

We are going on a Bear Hunt.
The Selfish Crocodile.
Guess How Much I Love You.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

When they were little, ie until about a year old and not much interested in "reading" with me, I read a lot of my own books (politics, mediveal mysteries) aloud to them at playtime. That way they could hear me talk and understand books were important, and I got some quality reading in

Bill2673 wrote: »

@ Bear Hunt

".......we can't go over it, we can't go under it, we'll have to go through it....." :-)

My twins loooove the book. We editorialise and include grandma sometimes, as my husband's mother- 78 this year- goes bear hunting in South Dakota with a bow and arrow still! So if they had grandma with them, they would not need to be afraid of the bear.

Clip clop by Nicola Smee
The Dirty Bertie books - hilarious
Guess how much I love you

I've also made up a few books using photos of family - it's great for practising names etc (my lad is only 12 months). You can make them up online on photobucket or love2read.co.uk.

Every night at bedtime Wolfcub gets read actual childrens books. Reading this I dunno if thats a good a plan as I thought it was.

I have read several to him as he hates repetition, these include;

The Silver Brumby,
Under the Hawthorn Tree,
Wildflower Girl,
Fields of Home,
The fantastic Mr. Fox,
Medicine for Grandma (or something like that),
I know it sounds rediculous but he starts screeching at any I have read before. He adores new material and especially loves nursery rhymes aand babbles tunelessly along with them.

Our 3.5 yr old has a bookcase that has all sorts on it...

- nature books
- Dr. Seuss
- a rotating stock of random library books
- the classics (Babar, nursery rhymes & books my mom kept from my childhood)
- random books that the library sold at €0.20/ea
- Some Disney (Aladin, Jungle Book, Little Mermaid...)

When our daugther was younger (ie: before the arrival of #2) we'd all curl up in bed & read at least a chapter out of larger books. Don't know if she got as much from them - if she remembered the story line from one night to the next - but we all benefitted from the longer cuddle time.

Since the arrival of #2, #1 picks a book off her shelf everynight for bedtime and that's what we read to her. I really love the books by Jez Alborough ("Where's My Teddy?", "Fix it Duck," etc) and "Snuggle up, Sleepy One" by Claire Freedman. All these have lovely illustrations & a nice reading rhythm. Sometimes, though, she'll pick out the nature books & we'll spend 10 mins or so learning & talking about whatever we're reading.

Haven't managed to settle the 10 mo old into reading yet...she's still too fixated on eating the pages

my girls all love books. The smallest one is 2 and her favourites at the moment are:
Dirty Bertie,
The Gruffalo
The Gruffalo's Child
The Cat in the Hat series.

She can recite the gruffalo books along with me as I read, which is my favourite thing ever!!

ebmma wrote: »

maybe a stupid question, but do people really read books to newborns??

I started to read to my lady when i was pregnant (from around 20 weeks), i read to her as a newborn as well, i wanted her to hear my voice, as it is supposed to be soothing...... TBH i cant say its better either way as i didn't read to my boys as newborns or when i was pregnant with them.


TBRH i think that my lady now hates the sound of my voice!!!!!!!!