We love reading at our house.  I am a voracious reader and have been since I was a kid – I was the child who was literally hiding under the covers with a flashlight, and secretly, I hope Little C is the same way (not that I want him staying up extra late or anything, but for the love of a good book, I would hardly be able to fight it).  My heart flutters every time Little C toddles my way with a book firmly in his grasp, and when he chants “Again!” when we read the end of a story, I am happy to comply.  We have been especially lucky to have been gifted and handed down a large children’s book collection, but as with any child, Little C has asserted some strong preferences and like cream, these are the books that have risen to the top:


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Trains Go: We received this book as a gift, and for a long time, it sat on one of Little C’s shelves, buried behind a handful of hardback books.  One day I was flipping through the shelves, shuffling the contents to shake things up, and we read this book.  25 times.  And the next day, 20 more.  It has beautiful illustrations of different kinds of trains and the sounds that they make.  It’s simple, captivating for C and fun for me to read (thankfully, since we read it A LOT!).

That’s Not My Puppy: In general, I find most touch and feel books to be overrated – usually they just aren’t touchy or feely enough.  This one is not the case.  We are pretty obsessed with puppies in this house, and this book is so fun for Little C.  He pants and woofs and touches all of the pages and giggles, and this book is an all around win.

NFL Football ABCs: My First Alphabet Book: Mr. Confetti bought this one for Little C last Hanukkah, and we have been reading it multiple times a day for many, many months.  I would have never thought that a boy this young could be so into football at such a young age.  This book has taught me some football lingo, and Little C is captivated by the photographs.  He knows that T is for “Touch! (down)” and I am starting to catch him announce the letters on a few of the pages.

Dora and the Rainy Day: On the opposite end of the spectrum, this is a book that isn’t quite my favorite.  We received it in a large stack of books from a friend whose children had outgrown their board books.  Little C has never actually seen the television show, yet somehow he just loves to hear about Dora’s indoor adventures in the gloomy weather.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?: When Little C was so tiny that it felt like I was just reading to myself, this one was a regular in my very short stack.  Clearly that repetition got into Little C’s head, because now this is one of our most requested books.  I have actually had to move from one copy to a new one, because the spine collapsed on the first (thankfully this is a very frequently gifted book – I think we have 2 more copies hidden somewhere).

Blue Hat Green Hat: We love Sandra Boynton at our house – this is one of the many that Little C has grown to love (other faves include Moo, Baa, La La La!, Are You A Cow?, Doggies, Pajama Time! and Night Night, Little Pookie). Little C brings me this book shouting “Oops!” and thinks that it is just the funniest thing.  It has helped him learn different articles of clothing, and I’ve been catching him use the word “oops” in the correct context, which is quite a hoot.

 

Baby Cakes: Little C loves this book more than all the others, and honestly, I kind of do too.  It’s an endearing rhyming book with adorable illustrations of children with their loveys.  Little C does all of the steps in the book from touching his nose before I kiss it to clapping his hands and playing peekaboo.

It’s a very short list of books that we read many, many, many times (of course, with a few others sprinkled in here and there).  What books are the tried and true favorites in your house?