Babies and Toddlers

-Newborn to 3 months

Newborns focus best on objects about 9 inches away, preferring to look at faces, patterns and moving objects. Cradle baby in your arms, gazing into his or her eyes and gently rock while chanting or singing lullabies and nursery rhymes. Hearing is well developed at birth; your baby will enjoy listening to anything you like to read aloud, absorbing the sounds and rhythms of language. If books are part of loving parent-child interactions from an early age, children will associate the presence of books with all of the positive feelings of being held and loved.

 -Lullaby Books

Goodnight Moon     By Margaret Brown    P Bro

My Favorite Bear     By Andrea Gabriel      P Gab

Hush, little Baby     By Sylvia Long          T Lon

-Nursery Rhyme Collections

Mary Engelbreit’s Mother Goose    By Mary Engllebreit   P Eng

My First Nursery Rhymes                 By Bruce Whatley      P My

Tomie DePaola’s Mother Goose      By Tomie DePaola    YP 398.8 Mot

-3 to 6 Months

By three months, most babies have well developed vision and can hold their heads up. Achieving these physical milestones means your baby is ready to look at books. Books with large, clear pictures of familiar objects, especially other babies, make good choices for this age. By four months, babies have sensations in their individual fingers and toes. This is a good time to introduce tickling rhymes.

-Books About Babies

Tom Arma’s Paw Print Parade    By Tom Arma            T Arm

Peek-A-Boo                                   By Roberta Intrater    T Int

Where Is Baby’s Belly Button      By Karen Katz            T Kat

I Hear                                              By Helen Oxenbury    T Oxe

Bouncing Babies                            By Mike Brownlow     P Bro

-Books of Games to Play and Sing

Piggies                                               By Don Wood       P Wood

If Your Happy and You Know It     By Annie Kubler   P Kub

This is a very tactile, active period – babies need books to touch, chew on and play with. Board books are the perfect choice. At this age babies become aware that words are symbols for familiar objects and they will vocalize well defined syllables such as “ba, ma, wa.” Now is the time to point to pictures while describing them and read books with bouncy rhythms and lively rhymes that will support and encourage speech and listening skills while laying the foundations for later reading.

-“Point and Say” Books

If You See A Kitten                           By John Butler                P But

Whose Nose and Toes                      By John Butler                P But

Eyes, Nose, Fingers, Toes               By Judy Hindley              P Hin

Who Says Quack                                                                      T Who

Open the Barn Door                          By Christopher Santoro   T San

My First Truck Book                         By DK                               T DK

Farm Animals                                    By Phoebe Dunn               T Dun

Peek-A-Who                                      By Nina Laden                  T Lad

-Rhyme and Repetitive Verse

Little White Duck                        By Walt Whippo    P Whi

Mary Had A Little Lamb             By Sarah Hale       YP 811 Hal

The Wheels on the Bus              By Jarry Smath       T Whe

Babies start to use their fingers independently and can ppoke and pint with one finger, wave bye-bye, clap hands and make a fist. They begin to really understand that things still exist even when they are no longer visible. Pop up toys, lift-the-flap books and games such as “Peek-a-boo” will meet with great delight at this age.

-Books to Encourage Developing Motor Skills

Hand Rymes                                       By Marc Brown    P Bro

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear                                              T Ted

The Itsy Bitsy Spider                                                   T It’s

If Your Happy and You Know It     By Anne Kubler    T If

The Wheels on the Bus                    By Jerry Smath    T Whe

Runaway Bunny                                 By Margaret Brown      P Bro

From head to Toe                             By Eric Carle               P Car

Snowballs                                           By Lois Ehlert             P Ehl

This is the Baby                                By Denise Fleming     P Fle

Whose Mouse are You                      By Robert Kraus         P Kra

We’ve All Got Bellybuttons             By David Martin         P Mar

Splash!                                               By Flora McDonnell    T McD

Do monkey’s Tweet                         By Melanie Walsh       P Wal

I Went Walking                                  By Sue Williams         P Wil

 Toddler Booklist

Toddlers are a delight … when occupied! Reading to your toddlers will stimulate their intellectual development. Listening to language while cuddled on your lap gives young children the ability to experience the world. Choose books that present familiar ideas, easy concepts, simple action stories and recognizable characters. Toddlers will delight in rhythm and rhyme, humor, lullabies, and repetition. Their attention span is short, so choose stories that are simple with bright illustrations.

Deer at the Brook                                    By Jim Arnosky           YP 599.73 Arn

Goodnight Moon                                          By Margaret Brown          P Bro

Hurry! Hurry!                                                 By Eve Bunting               P Bun

Kitty’s Cuddles                                              By Jane Cabrera             P Cab

Little Cloud                                                     By Eric Carle                 P Car

Wiggle                                                              By Doreen Cronin         P Cro

Bounce                                                              By Doreen Cronin        P Cro

A Children’s Zoo                                             By Tana Hoban            P Hob

Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See    By Bill Martin               P Mar

We’ve All Got Bellybuttons                            By David Martin           P Mar

When Sheep Sleep                                            By Laura Numeroff      P Num

Mr. Brown Can Moo Can You                          By Dr. Seuss               P Seu

Baby Shoes                                                        By Dashka Slater         P Sla

Little Quacks New Friend                               By Lauren Thompson  T Tho