# Books for Toddlers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 15, 2010, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-for-toddlers/529057 "2010-02-15T11:03:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-for-toddlers/529057/61 "2010-02-26T02:10:57Z")
[The curious adventure of the Abandoned toys.](http://www.amazon.com/Curious-Adventures-Abandoned-Toys/dp/0805075267/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I29XB84VOWDL5S&colid=327JHLGM8SLFZ) [Apple Cake](http://www.amazon.com/Apple-Cake-Nienke-Van-Hichtum/dp/0863152287/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I3JLH81IX4OS1A&colid=327JHLGM8SLFZ) Never seen it in a bookstore. Got it from interloan and fell in love with it. One of these days I will buy it. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-for-toddlers/529057/62 "2010-02-26T12:10:17Z")
> [@Charley](#): > > Lots of seconding/thirding from me… > > The ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ series seem to be popular, though I’d say as a parent if you can avoid them, so much the better - I think they’re dreadful, but sadly children seem to love them. (Not sure if that’s a bit UK-centric, is Thomas a global thing?) I loved Thomas the Tank engine. If someone was being a little cocky, they were sure to get a set down AND further along in another story, learn to help out someone else who had just done pretty much the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-for-toddlers/529057/63 "2010-02-26T19:03:44Z")
Good. We’ll look into it this weekend. You can record and upload your own stories onto it, right? We’d like to record a bunch of Gnat’s favourites. ---
**Author:** ![maplekiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@maplekiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maplekiwi)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-for-toddlers/529057/64 "2010-02-27T00:24:52Z")
Originally Posted by Charley View Post Lots of seconding/thirding from me… The ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ series seem to be popular, though I’d say as a parent if you can avoid them, so much the better - I think they’re dreadful, but sadly children seem to love them. (Not sure if that’s a bit UK-centric, is Thomas a global thing?) \ I _hated_ those books. _&_ Postman Pat. My son loved them & wanted them every frigging night for about 3 years! My daughter was given lots of Little Golden Books - I hated them too. My favourite series was the Mr & Mrs Large books by Jill Murphy. Lots of sub text for adults to have a quiet chuckle about. i don’t know if the later books are as good as the originals as my youngest is now 17! Also recommend Margaret Mahy. My favourite of hers was The Great White Maneating Shark but she has written lots of good tales. As a child I enjoyed storybook versions of Aice in Wonderland & went on to read the original as an older child, a teen & again as an adult. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-for-toddlers/529057/65 "2010-02-27T15:52:49Z")
The Skippyjon Jones books are really cute (turn the sound down - Skippyjon talks!): > **[Skippyjon Jones](http://www.skippyjonjones.com/)** > > Skippyjon Jones ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-for-toddlers/529057/66 "2010-03-02T18:00:38Z")
The first batch of books we checked out from the library were: _The Gruffalo_ by Julia Donaldson. A total hit. The Firebug and I are both totally in love with this story. I do different voices for the different animals, which he seems to like. _The Super Hungry Dinosaur_ by Martin Waddell. Another big hit. We have a couple of earlier books of Waddell’s (_Tom Rabbit_ and _Webster J. Duck_) which were OK but hardly standouts. This thread got me to give Waddell a second look, and I’m glad of it. He had a new illustrator for this book, and I think that helped too. _Dogger_ by Shirley Hughes. I think he’ll like it more because of the actual story when he’s 3 or 4 than right now - right now I think his main fascination with it is that he’s got a playmate named Bella, and that’s the name of the older sister in the book. He wants me to read to him about Bella! (I’m going to have to find out when Bella’s birthday is, and give _her_ a copy of the book!) I think it’s a terrific story. _How to Catch a Star_ by Oliver Jeffers. Both of us were kinda ‘meh’ about this one. Nice artwork, though. _Hairy MacLary from Donaldson’s Dairy_ by Lynley Dodd. Couldn’t stand it at first, mostly because you get most of the way through the book before you get to a verb, but it’s growing on me. The Firebug definitely likes the rhythm of it. Anyway, I’ll be buying copies of the first three books listed here, and checking out more books from this thread from the library soon. Thanks, y’all! ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-for-toddlers/529057/67 "2010-03-02T18:36:54Z")
Other thoughts: Shoulda mentioned _Chicka Chicka Boom Boom_ which we already have, which is great fun to read. And he’s in the midst of learning his letters right now, so he’s having a fun time identifying which letters are which on the page as I read. We’ve only got one Thomas the Tank Engine book, and while he likes it somewhat, I find it to be just totally boring reading. Not to mention the one we’ve got just reeks of a spirit of “the more we can make ourselves useful to this very very rich guy, the happier we’ll be.” We had one of the Llama Llama books (_Llama Llama Misses Mama_) which he enjoys, but nowhere in the book is there any clue that there are more Llama Llama books, which is weird. Seems that this omission is not unusual with kids’ books that are part of a series. Now that we know there are more Llama Llama books out there, we’re going to get some more, but I’d have done so months ago if I’d have known. > [@FeAudrey](#): > > In addition to taking books out of the library for test drives, you should talk to the children’s librarian about what your kid might like – they are the pros at matching books and readers. The problem with this is that they’ll recommend the same books to a lot of parents. For instance, they _love_ the Mo Willems books, so you can’t find any on the shelves, and have to put a hold on one for weeks in order to get one. But this is one reason why this thread is so great - the fact that my fellow Dopers and their kids have loved certain books hasn’t made them scarce in the Southern Maryland library system, so the ones I reserved were all waiting at my local branch in a couple of days. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-for-toddlers/529057/68 "2010-03-23T17:12:33Z")
> [@McGeek](#): > > Another good set of CDs is “Beethoven’s Wig”. My wife and I have really been enjoying these. The Firebug seems to think they’re OK too! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Why\_Bird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@The\_Why\_Bird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Why_Bird)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-for-toddlers/529057/69 "2010-03-23T17:59:18Z")
Ooooh… I collect picture books so it’s really interesting to see everyone’s suggestions. To add some of my own: -Click Clack Moo - Cows That Type - the cows go on strike until the farmer provides electric blankets. -Rumble in the Jungle - Short poems about jungle animals, fun to read aloud and nice bright pictures. -Voices in the Park, by Anthony Browne - I actual just did a study on this book for university. Might still be just a tad old for your little one, but buy it anyway. You will be amazed how many things you notice in the seemingly-simple illustrations. -Handa’s Surprise - Simple story with a simple twist. You can get copies with also come with a short animated version to compliment it. There’s so many more, but not having a kid of my own yet I struggle to judge what level of sophistication might to too much for 2.5yrs. Sorry if any of these are too old yet. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-for-toddlers/529057/70 "2010-03-23T18:45:44Z")
> [@The\_Why\_Bird](#): > > not having a kid of my own yet I struggle to judge what level of sophistication might to too much for 2.5yrs. Sorry if any of these are too old yet. That’s perfectly OK! We’re checking books out from the library at about a half-dozen at a time; the ones that he doesn’t like for whatever reason go back onto the return pile more quickly and don’t get ordered from Amazon, while the ones he likes get read a lot, and then get ordered. So it’s no big deal if people recommend books that he doesn’t like. Besides, I expect a number of parents here are using this thread as a resource, and if my kid isn’t the right age for a book, their kids might be. So it’s all good. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-for-toddlers/529057/71 "2010-03-23T18:49:59Z")
My daughter is just 19 months old, but her current favorite book is “Hopop” by “Docker Shoosh”. (Better known as “Hop on Pop” by Dr. Seuss.) ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-for-toddlers/529057/72 "2010-03-24T13:29:23Z")
**Love You Forever by Robert Munsch** This was my favorite book to read my kids when they were little. Also Hello Moon. [Love You Forever](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e2HPSSh_Z4&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-for-toddlers/529057/73 "2010-03-24T14:13:50Z")
> [@Perciful](#): > > **Love You Forever by Robert Munsch** This was my favorite book to read my kids when they were little. Also Hello Moon. > > [Love You Forever](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e2HPSSh_Z4&feature=related) There was an episode of Friends where Joey forgot to get a gift for Ross and Rachel’s baby’s 1st birthday, so on the spur of the moment he says he’ll give them a “dramatic reading” and pulls that book at random off the shelf. He ends up reducing the room to tears . . . which in my experience is a pretty accurate depiction of the effect that book has on people. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-for-toddlers/529057.md?page=3)