I remember in our early reading days, wondering if my crazy paper-tearing infant would ever be able to handle the paper of regular picture books.  He would rip the flaps and pages of anything non-cardboard, and even board books made excellent teething toys.  And somehow, without even noticing the transition, at some point after Colin’s half birthday, he stopped going into destructo-mode when faced with an book with breakable pages.

We still spend a large amount of our reading time holding cardboard, but venturing into paper books has been fun and exciting. We are tip-toeing slowly into the picture book world when it comes to purchasing, preferring the library and our current tried-and-true favorites.  I avoid stories with complex plot lines, since C’s attention span isn’t always strong enough to follow complicated stories.

Here are a few of our early favorites:


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1) If You Give A Moose a Muffin – When Colin was born, he received a handful of books by Laura Numeroff, and Colin loves all of them, especially this one, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and If You Give a Pig a Pancake. They are funny, the pictures leave a lot of room for discussion and they are a great lesson in cause and effect (or at least how the mind makes connections from one thought to the next).

2) Love You Forever – This classic by Robert Munsch was a gift, and when C was a tiny baby, I couldn’t read it without sobbing.  And then, thinking about it too much gave me the creeps (um, driving across town in the night and climbing into your child’s room = a bit weird) so I shelved it.  But now that I have a toddler who makes choices, this book has rejoined the rotation.  He loves it, and learning that the book was inspired by his two stillborn babies makes me appreciate the sentiment much more.  C loves rocking back and forth while we read it, so of course, I oblige.

3) What Does the Fox Say – C is 100000% obsessed with this song (still).  We got the book, and he loves to read the pages and help me sing along.  (I may sometimes hide this book when I can’t handle one more wha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-chow!, but mostly it is a fun one.)

4) Steam Train, Dream Train – I am sensing a theme in C’s favorites – animals – and this one fits it.  The illustrations in this train-themed book are filled with animals helping to load and riding the train, and Colin loves to point out the kangaroo, the monkeys and the giraffes.  This book has become a bed-time favorite, and the ending has a cute surprise.

5) The Ants Go Marching  – We love singing at our house, and this  classic kids song is even more fun when you can read along and sing while looking at the pictures.

6) The Cat in the Hat  – I grew up as a toddler and preschooler reading Dr. Seuss books, and while some of them aren’t my favorites to read to C (like One Fish, Two Fish or Hop on Pop, ironically two of my childhood faves), Colin is obsessed with The Cat in the Hat.  He would sit and listen to this loooooong book any day of the week, often more than once.  We always talk about cleaning up the messes we make when we read this.  Target has many Dr. Seuss books on sale lately, but I discovered the hard way that The Cat in the Hat Comes Back is not worth purchasing.  I brought this home to discover the words “shooting” and “killing” deep in the plot of the story.  Yikes.  But the original is still in the regular rotation and a huge hit.

7) Dewey: There’s a Cat in the Library  – This hand-me-down book has become a popular one in the Confetti house.  Colin loves the exploits of this cute little cat, especially how he plays with the “big kids” that he totally idolizes.

8) Make Way for Ducklings  – My aunt and uncle who live in Boston sent us this classic, and Colin loves to quack along. It is still a little long for C, but the story is simple enough that it’s no big deal to skip a few pages. I also love that while the daddy duck leaves for a trip, he always comes back (a good lesson at our house).

What are your favorite non-board books for toddlers?