Best books for infants and toddlers

Kids who are read to every day hear about 1.4 million more words by the time they are 5. All these extra words boosts learning and leads to a more robust productive vocabulary. Read more about the benefits in The Read Aloud Factor by Rekha S. Rajan.

Wondering what to read to your infant or toddler? I’ve got you covered with my (growing) list of favorite books for youngsters, organized by theme and topic. All links go to Amazon.

Most of these books are board books so your child can handle them (i.e. chew, throw, sit on) without destroying thin pages.

Concepts

• Sounds: Mr. Brown can Moo! Can you? By Dr. Seus

• Spatial: Bears in the Night by Stan and Jan Berenstain

• Body parts: Horns to Toes by Sandra Boynton

Big Ideas

• Politics: Duck for President by Doreen Cronin

• Space: Tell Me About Space by Lisa Perron

• US history: The ABCs of the American Revolution by Connor Boyack

Skills

• Volume: Hush Now, Banshee! by Kyle Sullivan and Derek Sullivan

• Potty training:

Bedtime

• The Going to Bed Book by Sandra Boynton

• Tell Me About Space by Lisa Perron

Poetry

• Slow Down, in the Park by Rachel Williams

• Falling Up by Shel Silverstein

Books Kids can move to

• Sway like an octopus by Nicole LaRue

Songs with alternative lyrics

• Over in the Forest by Marianna Berkes

• Baa, baa, Black Sheep by Jane Cabrera

For Parents

• Mom Genes by Abigail Tucker

• The Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp

• Baby and the Biome by Meenal Lele