I’ve always loved children’s books. I started to build our collection of books at my baby shower, when friends gave me several of their favorites. I started reading the books to Little M when he was a newborn and when I’d read a book that I liked a lot, I’d search the author’s or illustrator’s name on Amazon and buy more of their books. By using the “new & used” option, I rarely paid more than $4 or $5 for a new-to-us book, shipped. When Little M was around 9 months old, we were given a big bag full of hand-me-down board books. We have quite the little library now!

I keep his books in Little M’s nursery. His story books are lined up on one shelf and his board books, which he’s allowed to take to bed with him, are on a second. Every night after bath he chooses two books for Daddy to read to him and every day before nap he chooses one book to read with me. When he was younger we could strongly influence his choices so we read different books every day, but that doesn’t happen at two. Two year olds have strong opinions. In Little M’s opinion, these are the best books for a young two year old.


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1. The Circus Ship – We read this so often that I have it memorized. Five miles off the coast of Maine and slightly over due, a circus ship was steaming south in fog as thick as stew. On board were 15 animals who traveled to and fro… The story is inspired by the true story of a circus ship that sank off the coast of Maine. The children’s book version of the book has circus animals and people living alongside each other in harmony on an island in Maine. The illustrations are excellent, the book rhymes, but not in an obnoxious way, and there’s a very cool page where little ones can hunt for hidden animals in the illustrations. We all love this book.

2. Curious George Around Town Set – My mom gave this set of Curious George books to Little M after a trip to the library where he was heartbroken to return a few borrowed George books. He absolutely loves monkeys, “eee-eee” as he calls them, so Curious George books are a huge hit. My favorites in this collection are the pancakes and chocolate factory books. I don’t love that in all these books George ends up getting praised for helping clean up what’s essentially chaos of his own creating, but M loves him. I throw in a few extra sentences of my own creation here and there (ie. “George said he would never jump in the water without his mommy or daddy ever again” when he jumps off of a boat to try to fly like a bird.)

3. Mr. McGee Books – A Camping Spree with Mr. McGee, Learning to Ski with Mr. McGee and Down to the Sea with Mr. McGee are some of Little M’s all-time favorite books. The illustrations are bright and bold and there are lots of animals to point out. Mr. Stroller wonders why Mr. McGee is always getting stuck high up in the air, but it works. These three are in very heavy rotation.

4. Steam Train, Dream Train – This book and Good Night, Good Night, Construction Site are new to our collection. M loves animals so Steam Train is already a big hit. The words have a nice rhythm to them and I like that it’s a subtle counting book. I love the illustrations!

5. The Animals’ Christmas Eve – Little M discovered this book in a collection of Christmas books at his Nola’s house that were Mr. Stroller’s as a kid. He picked this one out of dozens of books and has been stuck to it since. It doesn’t matter that Christmas was months ago – or is months and months away – he loves this book. Animals, hay, ladders and a barn, what’s not to love? I try to emphasize the counting aspect of this book, but it’s great for animal sounds too – hee haw!

7. The Polar Express – Little M loves trains, snow and “ho-ho.” This book has all of that and more. I love the illustrations and the innocence of the story. M loves the train. It’s a big hit…even when it’s not Christmas time.

What are some of your little one’s favorite story books?