There are few things in life more beautiful to me than watching my girls begin a love affair with the written and spoken word. It is such a treat to help them to discover literature that speaks to them. Whether it’s something that makes them squeal with laughter, learn the deeper meaning of friendship, opens them up to another culture, or makes a tiny window in their hearts as though it’s speaking just to them, the right book is a treasure.

What’s even cooler, is seeing each girl develop a sort of reading “fingerprint.” Ellie was fascinated with disobedience, injury, and goofy jokes from an early age. Lorelei has a serious thing going for cats and hats (but not for The Cat in the Hat, go figure!). She has also really started to enjoy books where there are small creatures in the illustrations that look like they are hiding, or when a small animal appears on multiple pages and you can try to find where it will show up next.

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As you can imagine, learning your child’s taste in literature and finding books that make him or her beg to read them again and again isn’t always a slam dunk. The worst sin of all is running out of titles from a much-loved author. Then what do you do? So in an attempt to jump-start your own idea bank, here is what our family has been reading and loving.

Lorelei is fourteen months. You’ll notice that not all of her books are board books, and not all of them keep to just several ideas on the page. One of the strategies I use with books that have illustrations that I know will appeal to her, but might have too much text to hold her interest, is to pretend that it is a wordless book. We look at the pictures on each page. I will tell her what I see to develop the story (see the video below). I will also respond to her vocalizations or ask her questions. Then when it feels like time, I will turn to the next page. In this way you can open yourself and your child up to new titles and authors that can grow with your child as he grows.

Here are ten top picks for Lorelei right now, in no particular order:

Mama Cat Has Three Kittens  |  Rain Play  |  Eat Up Gemma  |  Each Peach Pear Plum  |  The Mitten |  Hush! A Thai Lullaby  |  Blue Bowl Down: An Appalachian Rhyme  |  Uh-Oh!  |  The Golden Egg  |  Scaredy Cat

Ellie is six years old, and enjoys a mix of “picture books” and chapter books for read-alouds. I’ll focus on the chapter books here, since there is some overlap between her and Lorelei for other types of books. She especially loves mysteries and books that have something to do with animals. Here are Ellie’s top five (just because they last longer), also in no particular order.

One Dog and His Boy  |  Seaglass Summer  |  The Case of the Stolen Dummy  |  The Complete Little House Nine-Book Set  |  The Ramona Collection Vol. One

Go ahead, share the love. Tell me what your family is reading these days. We’d love to find some new books to turn into old friends!