Best Books for Kids

Not that I'm an expert, and I haven't read every book out there, but these are some of our very favorite children's books that we've read over and over. Many of these books have been taped and glued together multiple times from so much reading.  I attempted to group them into rough age groups, but most of them span various age ranges. Lauren still likes to listen in on Andrew's books and Andrew has taken a strange fascination to Lauren's Pinkalicious books. (Note:  The only thing I recommend about Pinkalicious is that you never read one to your child.)  Here are some of our favorites. Feel free to share your own!

Best Books for Babies

Any book with a repeating gentle rhyme and contrasting colors is good for babies. They're mostly just listening to the rhythm of your voice.



1. I Love You Sun, I Love You Moon
2. Goodnight Moon
3. Baby Sleeps - I couldn't find this on Amazon, but I used to read it to Lauren before each of her naps.
4. Peek-a-Who - also loved by toddlers



5. The Baby Faces books. Babies are supposed to like looking at other faces.


Best Books for Toddlers

1. I Love You Through and Through - I think I like this book more than the kids do, but it's really sweet and can help them learn body parts.


2. Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? and Polar Bear, Polar Bear What Do You Hear? These have been favorites of both kids at various times and seasons and can help with color recognition.
3. The Very Hungry Caterpillar 

4. Goodnight Gorilla - I like looking for the balloon on each page. Andrew likes looking for the banana on each page.
5. Chicka Chicka ABC  - Good introduction to letters

Best Books for Preschoolers

1. We're Going on a Bear Hunt

2. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie - Lauren was pretty young when she started requesting this book every single day.
3. Little Blue and Little Yellow - I like that this book doesn't have animals or people as the main characters. It has blobs.


4. Sheep in a Jeep - I get tired of most books and sometimes have to hide certain books so they can't be requested any more, but I never tire of reading this one.
5. Whatever series they become interested in


Best Series for Kids

Biscuit, Clifford, Curious George, Berenstein Bears, Jesse Bear

Best Books by Interest

For kids who love trucks:  Little Blue Truck series,



For kids who love dogs:  Biscuit, Clifford, or Carl - I'm not a big fan of wordless books, but Andrew loves the Carl books



For girls:  I don't like a lot of the books targeted to girls (Pinkalicious, Fancy Nancy, etc) but the Ladybug Girl series is good.

Early Chapter Books

I started reading Lauren chapter books when she was 4. I keep a running tab of the books we've read in the sidebar. Some I've enjoyed more than others, but Mr. Popper's Penguins was a good place to start.