Hello friends! I always love sharing what *I’ve* been reading and I thought it might be fun to share with Riley (and I) have been reading together every so often. We obviously read through the same rotation of books a lot with all the ones we own but we do go to the library often and I’m always buying new books when I see a good deal or when she finds one she likes A TON from the library and I know we have to own it.
Riley is 18 months right now and it’s been THE MOST FUN in our reading life together (seriously having a kid TOTALLY made my reading life better). She has always loved books since early on but she really is INTERACTING with them — remembering what things are on certain pages, making the sounds the animals make on a page or pointing out things she knows and saying the word, etc. It’s SERIOUSLY THE MOST FUN.
Hopefully these will helpful for any of you with little ones or anyone in a position to read or gift books with little ones. We are always happy for any recommendations. And if you want to know what books Riley already loves and has read, check this list of her favorites.
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I though this one was really, really sweet. It’s about these toys that sit on the windowsill waiting to be played with but all waiting for different things to happen. Riley liked it enough but it wasn’t one of her favorites. Definitely one *I* want for her collection (we got this from the library) because it’s really sweet and I think she will really like it when she gets a bit older. Nothing much really HAPPENS in the book but I don’t know I just thought there was something lovely about it!
This is a fun book with flaps. Riley loved this one because she loves animals SO MUCH and it’s a nice one if you are trying to work on the bigger and smaller concepts which kinda went over Riley’s head for now but each page the box that the zoo sends the narrator gets smaller with a different and smaller animal. Glad to finally have this book in our collection!
I love providing Riley with all sorts of books but ESPECIALLY books with realistic photographs. This one is all about babies all over the world. It’s not one with particularly a lot to read on the pages (and the long sentence it does string together feels awkward stretched out on all those pages) but Riley likes looking at the other babies — although I really think this book would have been so fantastic for her when she was a lot younger. I think she would have been fascinated. What a great way to introduce some diversity in your little one’s life with all the babies from all over the globe. Probably won’t buy this one for our collection but wish I would have discovered it earlier because I probably would have.
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
I grabbed this one from the library because I knew it was supposed to snow and I heard great things about it! I really enjoyed it — a cute story about this little boy enjoying a snowy day and all the things he does. I really enjoy books that have babies or kids just doing normal things because I see Riley really start to connect the things that she does to her own practical life. Even though she doesn’t understand the magic of a snowy day as a kid quite yet (she hates the snow so far haha) I bet she is going to love this one more when she starts playing out in the snow. Also I’ve been really trying to make sure I have a lot more diversity in the books Riley reads and the main character is a young black boy. This is one I plan to add to our collection — perfect for our winter rotation of picture books!
Related: Get a jump on great Fall & Halloween books for toddlers
I’d been meaning to snag this series of books for Riley for a while and finally did! I started with the puppy one because she’s obsessed with dogs. She LOVED this one. So fun. She also still seems to dig the touch and feel books which this book is one.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
This one is a classic that *I* loved as a kid so I finally decided to get it for her and she seemed to like it. We had fun counting the fruits! A classic ya gotta have on your kid’s bookshelves and also nostalgia points for me!
We are huge Karen Katz fans over in this house and we got a new one! She enjoyed this one (though not as much as the flap ones Karen Katz has) but she’s really enjoyed counting right now (thinks it’s really fun when we count!) so I wanted to grab a book with some counting that wasn’t what we already had.
Related: Great books to read at bedtime with your baby or young toddler
Yummy Yucky by Leslie Patricelli
The publisher was so kind when Riley was born to send us Potty and Tickle and just recently Riley has begun to think Potty is the funniest book in the world so I wanted to grab another one of these books so picked this one up at the library. I can’t say *I’m* personally the biggest fan of them but I can see the appeal and will be continuing to grab a few more of these because she really likes them. She thought this one was a riot like the rest. I AM pretty animated when I read them.
One Snowy Night by M Christina Butler
I only read this one once because Riley hated it and every time I’d try to read it she’d slam it shut. SOOOO I don’t know what her damage was with this book! I personally thought this book was ADORABLE and was excited to add it to our winter-y collection of books to read from the library. Bonus — it’s a touch and feel book!
The Pigeon Has Feelings Too by Mo Willems
I am IN LOVE with the Pigeon books and I didn’t know there were shorter board books of them until I was browsing the library one day. She is SO into the Pigeon! She laughed and laughed. Can’t wait to really get her into the full Pigeon books because they are hysterical and I loved reading them with the boys I nannied. I think I’m going to collect these as part of our collection! I just love them in addition to the larger picture books!
Panda Bear Panda Bear by Bill Martin Jr and Eric Carle
Okay Riley seemed to like this one okay but this is my LEAST favorite — Brown Bear and the Polar Bear one are far superior to me haha. Riley was cool though — she just likes animals. Probably will get it just to complete the collection but definitely not my favorite out of the 3.
Have you read any of these with your kids or any kids in your life? What did you think?! Any of these going on your TBR? Tell me what you’ve been reading with the kids in your life!
PPS. I’ve GOT YOU if you need some adult reading and are in search of new books to read in 2019!
Pin for later for ideas with books to read with your 18 month old (or toddler in general)
Heather says
Once you get through the Pigeon books, you HAVE to check out Elephant and Piggie (same author)!! They are SO fun to read and soo soo good for when she’s a bit older. Also, for a bit older, we LOVE Julia Donaldson – Stick Man, Room on the Broom, The Gruffalo 🙂
Jamie says
I LOVE Elephant and Piggie!! Cannot wait to introduce them to her! I only know The Gruffalo out of those books you listed…thanks for the recs!!
Daisy says
The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a favourite here as well, as is Goodnight Everyone from Chris Haughton and another one of his A Bit Lost (with owls 😄). Oooh, and Guess How Much I Love You! Which is so fun because Julia knows all the arm movements and such. Another one we both love is Don’t Wake Up the Tiger which is more interactive and has you blowing stuff and rubbing the tiger’s belly and such 🙂
Jamie says
We have Guess How Much I Love You and I adore that one….she’s so-so on it right now. She will listen to it for sure but it’s not a fave yet! Gotta check out Don’t Wake Up The Tiger!! That sounds SO fun. Love interactive books like that!
Angela says
I think my niece would love Waiting. She’s endlessly amused by books where inanimate objects come alive and talk.
Jamie says
It’s SO cute! I think she would absolutely love it if she is into that. I feel like Riley doesn’t “get” it yet!
Lil pingwing says
I love these posts! My son is 14 months so it gives me some great ideas of books to get.
I love all the Eric Carle books. My favourite is “the grouchy ladybug” — about a ladybug who wants to fight animals that get progressively larger. Also there’s a series of kids books made my the Whitney museum of art that are just stunning. One is called “a pile of leaves” and is made of clear pages that have a leaf or a bug on them. When put together they make up all the things you would find in a pile of leaves.
Thanks for doing this post! It was great to read after a sleepless night with a kid who just learned to walk!! (Did your daughter just forget how to sleep when she went through this?)
Jamie says
Ooh I need to check out grouchy ladybug! And yes def a couple days of crap sleep when she learned to walk! She’s also currently sleeping like crap right now for some unknown reason lol We go through waves….really good sleep and then bad sleep. Last night was a sleepless night so I FEEL YOU
Annemieke says
My friend also really likes books with realistic photos for her twins. Though in this case they will probably also be a bit too old at this point to get that book for.
Merijn still really prefers books with sounds and flaps. Books he can do things with where he doesn’t need me. He loves to just sit with books and talk about it. But on occasion he is starting to open up to the longer picture books to be read too. Now if only I wouldn’t lose my voice as often ugh.