stargazer writes:
> Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Ah, yes. I believe that it’s subtitled “The Child’s Guide to 1970’s Pornography.”
Find a book called “The Boys” by Jeff Newman. That book kills me. There are no words – the story is only told through pictures. And yet it really does tell a touching & funny story. It’s lovely.
I also recommend anything by Mo Willems.
My nephew just turned two, and I spent a goodly part of my Christmas vacation reading Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type to him. The age range suggested on the book is older than that, but he loves it - largely because there are lots of opportunities to do funny voices and moo like a cow, which he thinks is hilarious. He also likes Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel, a classic.
Hey, I remember my Mom doing this with me! Ours was a little different though - my Mom took a notebook and wrote a big letter in the corner of each two-page spread - A for the first two pages, B, C, D, etc. Then I would ‘help’ her find things that started with each letter in her old magazines, newspaper or advertising circulars, and some photos (I espcially liked pictures of our cats and dog). Then we would cut that thing out, glue it in the book, and she would write the word under it. We also had that book for years. My parents might still have it. My nephew is still too young for that (and the OPs son might be too), but it is something I’d like to do later.
Russian, eh? Then he’s a natural for loving big civil engineering projects using effective but outmoded equipment.
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
And I’m not kidding. Kids LOVE heavy equipment.
yup, anything my Mo Willems is well received in this house. Btw, Knuffle Bunny had a sequel now. It’s just as perfect as the first.
Sandra Boynton’s Red Hat Blue Hat was the first book my youngest could read. We love her books. But Not The Hippopotamus is my personal favorite.
If you can find them, Usborn books has a series of touchy feely books that all start with "That’s Not My . . . " there’s a bear, cat, doll, tractor, etc. with cute touchy feely pages that toddlers love. Our library has several of the series, and I was required by my children to check at least one out once a month. You might ask at your library. If not, their website should help you find a seller close to you. Usborn is usually a direct sales company like Pampered Chef or Tupperware. Although I believe they tend to be pretty low pressure sales.
I have to be the dissenting voice regarding Sandra Boynton. Not that the kids don’t love her books, it’s just that I feel like an idiot reading them out loud. I don’t know, I don’t have this problem with other rhyming books. Boynton books just fill me with a sense of deep personal embarassment.
Someone up above mentioned “No, David!” by David Shannon. Yes, yes, a million times yes. I bought this book sight unseen from Amazon because it looked like it contained a few good social stories for one of my students. ALL the kids love this book, SO MUCH. Some days I haven’t even set foot in the door before they are asking for David.
Another good one by David Shannon is “Bad Kitty,” which is a story of a naughty kitty who commits misdeeds from A to Z (Quarrelled with the neighbors, was Violent with the Vet, etc) and then atones for all her wrongs again from A to Z. The illustrations are absolutely hilarious and the humor is very wink wink at the adults.
I’m a fan of Melanie Watt’s Books, she’s got a great sense of humor and the artwork is cute too. Made me enjoy reading along too w/ the kid. And they sometimes have those nice little life lessons on dealing with fears and troubles and things like that in cutesy ways.
It’s the Scaredy SquirrelSeries
Top hits of the Ujest Children.
Anno’s Counting Book One of the best, if not best, wordless books regarding numbers and concepts. (srsly) Like evar.
Goose By Molly Bang. Out of print. If you can find it, buy it. Wonderful story about a goose egg that rolls away from the nest and the goose is raised by other animals (i forget at this point, some forest animal.). It is a quiet, beautiful, short story of adoption or adjustment to a new place and finding your wings. Her Little Rat series is very good as well.
Snipp, Snapp, Snurr and Ricka, Flicka and Dicka are a vintage collection of Swedish triplets and their quiet little adventures. I had you at Swedish Triplets, didn’t I?
Nitpick: David Shannon didn’t write Bad Kitty, Nick Bruel did. And, yes, they’re a great series. The sprog likes “Happy Birthday, Bad Kitty” and “Bad Kitty Gets a Bath,” but these are intended for older readers.
I have to ninth the Cronin/Lewin Click Clack Moo series. The sprog loved all of them, and the one where Duck becomes president is an interesting introduction to the electoral system. Firebug may be a little young to grasp the subtleties, but at this age, it’s more about picking up some of the words.
I’m having trouble finding this on Amazon. Are you sure it’s a Pushkin story? I found a reference to a “The Turnip” Russian folktale here, and that sounds like a toddler-pleaser for sure, but it doesn’t say anything about Pushkin (although other tales mentioned on that site do credit him as author).
Thank you. We’ll look into those.
The That’s Not My books are great for very young kids- That’s Not My Penguin was the first book Gnat paid attention to, from about six months on.
But Not the Hippopotamus is one of my favourites, too.
I gave a friend’s son (a little older than yours) Bats at the Library and Bats at the Beach by Brian Lies. They were, apparently, a big hit.
Is there no love for Olivia anymore? Or do boys not read them?
My daughter LOVED Mr. Brown can Moo…
But warning - we eventually had to hide it under the couch
Toys Go Out by Emily Jenkins.
How about a traditional Russian story, Firebird:
http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/firebird/index.html
Would like to second the recommendation of Michael Rosen – try his Rover (library catalog description):
“Follows the adventures of a small dog and his pet girl and shows how odd humans truly are in this dog’s-eye-view version of the world”
I like Lauren Childs’ “Charlie and Lola” series, but I am a grown-up:
Warning! May induce pleas for a baby sister …
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.
Sounds like a fair trade to me. 
You baaaaaad. 
These were my favorites too. “Hiccup, Little Bear. Hiccup!” was always said in our house when someone had the hiccups. The illustrations (Maurice Sendak) are great, too.
I had to come give a second nod to Dogger! My toddlers are 12 and 17 now, but Dogger was a favorite for both of them. Shirley Hughes wrote several books and my kids loved all of them.
Not sure who mentioned Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, but I really don’t like you anymore! All these years later, and I can still recite that stupid book word for word. (Actually, it is a great book, just really tough to get it out of your head)
Wanted to follow up on this. We ordered the one I mentioned earlier in the thread, have received it, loaded it up, and put it to work. It works great - we love it.