Our much loved boss is having her first baby. They share custody with the mom of his two (7 and9 ).
We want to get a book for the group to sign - any suggestions for a new classic? I know we all love Goodnight Moon, but are there any wonderful new titles that they might not already have?
How about a book they can grow into like an Anthology of Winning the Pooh? Or The E.B White books? Really timeless.
Sandra Boynton books are great. Our babies were serenaded with many a round of the Barnyard Dance! And the Going To Bed Book by Boynton was a hit as well.
I know a million titles, early literacy is my field…do you mean a board book - where all the pages are hardcover - and therefore good for babies who are going to mouth their book?
Personal favorites that are not hard to find:
Goodnight Gorilla (a story about the zookeeper putting all the animals to sleep at night at the zoo)
Sandra Boyton books - ANY of them!
Infants like books with faces.
Younger toddlers do well with books that have a single object on each page - for pointing, labeling single words (young toddler skills)
Older toddlers like rhyming books (nursery rhymes, familiar songs like Wheels On The Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider) or touch and feel books.
Have fun shopping!!!
That edition is sometimes difficult to find but it is wonderful and so beautifully illustrated.
Our grandson is absolutely fascinated with the You Are not My … started with Goat and now has several). Hard pages and each has something to touch which he loves. Have to say though, he loves them so much they are really beaten up. If you want a keepsake a classic may be good.
Good Night, Gorilla and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?
I realize now that maybe you are looking for a “new” title - one that the 7 and 9 year old might not have in their library already.
Another plug for the books by Dr. John Hutton, a pediatrician and really great guy who also happens to own a children’ book store in Cincinnati. Fiona’s Feelings is a hot book right now due to Fiona’s story which has become a social media sensation!
http://www.bluemanateepress.com/board-books/
http://www.bluemanateepress.com/fionas-feelings
All his books are just delightful, colorful and engaging.
Here’s a link for recommended top picture books by decade (and other time frame categories). I’m really out of the loop on recent picture books, but I noticed many of the ones listed in the “top 20 books of the last ten years” category are award winners. There’s a last 3 and last 5 year list also.
The Lion and the Mouse looks good to me :).
These are older so might not do, but my favorite toddler books are:
Go Away Big Green Monster! by Ed Embersley
More, more, more said the baby by Vera B. Williams
Grandfather Twilight by Helen Berger
and more for the older kids (and because my grandfather wrote it)
A Space Child’s Mother Goose by Frederick Winsor
These are older so might not do, but my favorite toddler books are:
Go Away Big Green Monster! by Ed Embersley
More, more, more said the baby by Vera B. Williams
Grandfather Twilight by Helen Berger
and more for the older kids (and because my grandfather wrote it)
A Space Child’s Mother Goose by Frederick Winsor
You know…it seems kids don’t hear classic nursery rhymes as often. There are some wonderful nursery rhyme books out there…with great pictures. I think I’d be inclined to get one if those.
The other thing…for a little tyke. I find kids love those Spot Books…Where’s Spot? Spots First Walk…there are a bunch.
You could get a few of the books…and a Spot stuffed animal.
If the family celebrates Christmas, I’ve given the Night Before Christmas…it is something read every Christmas Eve.
Thank you all for the great suggestions.
I always give new parents a copy of “the Bunny Planet.” I love that book, and it’s still my daughter’s favorite children’s book. She has the copy I bought to read to her as a baby.
Makes me tear up every time I read it, and I’m not usually a teary person.
Here’s a book of nursery rhymes from the top 20 list I linked above. I looked at a few of the pages on Amazon and the illustrations are exquisite. Very unique. Click on the thumbnail to see!
https://www.amazon.com/Pocketful-Posies-Treasury-Nursery-Rhymes/dp/0618737405
I read several books to GS every time I am with him. Tonight we read Good Night, Gorilla! and If Animals Kissed Good Night. He also likes the That’s Not My Puppy / Dragon / Dinosaur books, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We also ‘read’ First 100 Words and First 100 Animals almost every day.
My young grandchildren have so many favorites!
Tiddler, the storytelling fish.Tiddler makes up amazing stories…otherwise known as fibs. It is hilarious…and it was even more hilarious when my toddler grandchild rolled her eyes when a grown up teased her with a tall tale and said “he has a big imagination”–a quotation from the book. If you search on youtube you can find an adult reading the whole book.
Dragons Love Tacos. ( I do NOT recommend the sequel.)
I Want My Hat Back (Jon Klassen). Some people don’t approve of this book for children, but adults who’ve read a lot of sappy books tend to love it.
Click Clack Moo Cows That Type
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
Personally, I wouldn’t get something too simple. Those books are outgrown too quickly, IMO.
I was always partial to “Brown Bear Brown Bear What do you See?”
Also “The Stray Dog” by Marc Simont. It’s not a board book, but it’s a lovely story told largely through illustration, so it lends itself nicely to all different kinds of discussions and teaching opportunities. There is a Youtube video out there of someone reading the book, so you can preview it if you’d like.
@scout59 Do you mean the Rosemary Wells “Voyage to the Bunny Planet” books? We have a small set of the 3 stories, but it looks like they sell it all in one book now. We (parents and kids) loved those stories. They are about kids having a bad day, then getting whisked away to a perfect day.