Update: Seeking book recommendation for 2 and 3 year olds

[ilovetivo]

ETA: List updated 1/27 with 130+ books, including Toddler 411 recommended books on post #12 below.

I've searched BBB and haven't quite found the age group or the list I was looking for. I want to expand DD's library. She just turned 2. Board books, paperback, hardcover are all ok. Some we have already include (pls forgive spelling and shortened titles):

Jamberry
Corduroy
If you give a mouse a cookie/pig a pancake etc
Oh My Dinosours
Carrot Seed
Harold and the Purple Crayon
Penelope books (at school, in winter, at the farm, says goodnight)
Mama mama/papa papa
Taro Gomi books - Everyone Poops, My Friends, Bus Stops, Spring is here
Is your mama a llama
Your Personal Penquin
Barnyard Dance
Olivia
Goodnight Moon
Moo, Ba, La, La, La
Once upon a potty
The Potty Book
TIme for bed
Miss spider books
Brown Bear
Hungry Caterpiller
SIlly Sally
Guess How much i Love you
Time for Bed

[SnuggleBuggles]

Ones I don't see on your list:

the sequels to Corduroy
How do Dinosaurs [say goodnight, clean their rooms...]
Bear Snores On
Bear Stays Up
Bears' New Friend
Bear Wants More (I love te Bear books!!)
Giraffes Can't Dance
Ten Little Ladybugs
Don't Let the Pigeon [Stay up Late, Eat a Hotdog, Drive the Bus]
Knuffle Bunny (very cute!)
Little Quack
Little Quack's Bedtime (I also love Little Quack)
Color Zoo (a really good board book)
The Mitten (my ds doesn't really like it but his aunt has fond memories of that book)


My ds loves the Little People lift the flap books. They have them at Target. He enjoys "reading" them himself.

Beth

[elaineandmichaelsmommy]

those are great,here's some of our favorites

grover monster at the end of this book
green eggs and ham
mcgelligots pool
stranger in the woods
what moomies/daddies do best
olivia forms a band
olivia and the missing toy
little critter books
thomas the train
curious george

[dules]

The Very Noisy Night
Snowmen at Night
Snow Day
Polar Bear, Polar Bear
Olivia (and sequels)
The Little House
Curious George
Madeline
Dr. Seuss (DD loves The Cat in the Hat and One Fish, Two Fish especially)
Tom and Pippo books


Mary

[TracyBee]

My Monster Mama Loves Me So
Fancy Nancy
Scrubbly Bubbly Carwash
Kittens's First Full Moon
Zin Zin Zin a Violin
Click Clack Moo
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

When DD wakes up - I'll go browse her bookshelf. That's all I can think of (not already mentioned) off the top of my head.

[SnuggleBuggles]

How could I forget "My Monster Mama..." That book is so sweet! It is one of my favorites. :)

Also, the whole "I Stink," "I'm Mighty," and "I'm Dirty" books are lots of fun if she is at all into garbage trucks, boats or construction trucks. :) I really like "I'm Mighty."

Beth

[elliput]

Panda Bear, Panda Bear (to round out the Bears)

My Mom sent two books by Tasha Tudor to DD for her birthday: Around the Year and A is for Annabelle, A Doll's Alphabet. These are beautifully illustrated in a Victorian style.

[mom2emma]

My DD who is 2 really likes

In the Night Kitchen (Maurice Sendack)
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (Bill Martin)

Bess

[ilovetivo]

Snow Day by Lynn Plourde or The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats? I know the latter is a classic. 1st African American main character/protagonist

[ilovetivo]

The Mitten - Alvin Tresselt's version or Jan Brett's? On amazon some people like Tresselt's version better.

One preschool teacher/parent said "In Brett's version, the animals in the mitten each let the next one enter out of fear. I think this can be a dangerous lesson to teach young children. Tresselt's animals let each other in because they want to help them when they see them suffering from cold. I think it conveys more positive and humane values, and it also told with gentle wit and wisdom."

Interesting.

[ett]

Here are some others that I have not seen mentioned. (Some are probably still a bit too long for a 2 year old to sit through.)

Make Way for Ducklings
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
Katy and the Big Snow
Choo Choo
The Little House
The Caboose Who Got Loose
Officer Buckle and Gloria
Puff Puff Chugga Chugga
We're going on a Bear Hunt
The Very Busy Spider
Sheep in a Jeep
Are You My Mother?
Go, Dog, Go
Where the Wild Things Are
Caps for Sale

[JennM]

"Duck on a Bike" by David Shannon is my DD's current favorite.

[ilovetivo]

Thanks all! Call me anal, but I put everything in Excel and got the authors (not the illustrators if both b/c of time & space issues). Please excuse the formatting. I thought this would be easier for when I go to the library to check them out. I'll update the list in this post if more people respond. I hope it's helpful to other people than me.

Updated 1/27 5pm cst
Sarah Albee - Elmo Loves You
Sarah Albee - Time for Bed Elmo
Arlene Alda - Arlene Alda's 123 What do you See
Arlene Alda - Arlene Alda's ABC What do you See
Sara Anderson - Noisy City Day
Giles Andreae - Giraffes Can't Dance
Kathi Appelt - Rain Dance
W. Rev Awdry - Thomas the Train books
Alan Baker - Brown Rabbit's Shape Book
Ludwig Bemelmans - Madeline
Emily Bolam - Go Girl! Go Potty!
Sandra Boynton - Barnyard Dance!
Sandra Boynton - Moo, Baa, La La La
Sandra Boynton - Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs!
Sandra Boynton - The Going to Bed Book
Sandra Boynton - Your Personal Penquin
Jan Brett - Annie and the Wild Animals by Jan Bret
Jan Brett - The Mitten
Norman Bridwell - Clifford Puppy Days Books
Raymond Briggs - The Snowman
Margaret Wise Brown - Big Red Barn
Margaret Wise Brown - Goodnight Moon
Margaret Wise Brown - The Runnaway Bunny
Caralyn & Mark Buehne - Snowmen at Night
Virginia Lee Burton - Choo Choo
Virginia Lee Burton - Katy and the Big Snow
Virginia Lee Burton - Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
Virginia Lee Burton - The Little House
Alyssa Satin Capucilli - The Potty Book
Eric Carle - 1,2,3 to the Zoo
Eric Carle - From Head to Toe
Eric Carle - The Very Busy Spider
Eric Carle - The Very Hungry Caterpiller
Eileen Christelow - Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed
Emma Chichester Clark Blue Kangaroo
Lucy Cousins - Maisy Books
Doreen Cronin - Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type
Doreen Cronin - Wiggle
Alexandra Day - Good Dog, Carl
Bruce Degen - Jamberry
DK publishing
Lynley Dodd - Hairy MacClary
Lynley Dodd - Zachary Quack
P.D. Eastman - Are You My Mother?
P.D. Eastman - Go, Dog, Go
Lois Ehlert - Color Zoo
Ian Falconer - Olivia
Ian Falconer - Olivia and the Missing Toy
Ian Falconer - Olivia Forms a Band
Mem Fox - Time for Bed
Alona Frankel - Once Upon a Potty
Don Freeman - Corduroy (and sequels)
Don Freeman - Corduroy Goes to School
Melanie Gerth - Ten Little Ladybugs
Taro Gomi - Bus Stops
Taro Gomi - Everyone Poops
Taro Gomi - My Friends
Taro Gomi - Spring is here
Deborah Guarino - Is Your Mama a Llama
Anne Gutman - Penelope - at School, In Winter, at the Farm, Says Goodnight
Diana Hendry - The Very Noisy Night
Kevin Henkes - Kittens's First Full Moon
Eric Hill - Spot books
Tana Hoban - 26 Letters and 99 Cents
Syd Hoff - Danny and the Dinosaur
Crockett Johnson - Harold and the Purple Crayon
Karen Katz - Twelve Hats for Lena
Ezra Jack Keats - The Snowy Day
David Kirk - Miss Spider's ABC
David Kirk - Miss Spider's Tea Party
Ruth Krauss - The Carrot Seed
Laura Leuck - My Monster Mama Loves Me So
Melinda Long - How I Became a Pirate
Bill Martin - Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Martin/Carle - Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
Martin/Carle - Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What do you See?
Martin/Carle - Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear
Jean Marzollo - Mama mama/papa papa
Mercer Mayer - Little Critter books
Sam Mcbratney - Guess How Much i Love you
Robert McCloskey - Make Way for Ducklings
Kate & Jim McMullan - I Stink
Kate & Jim McMullan - I'm Dirty
Kate & Jim McMullan - I'm Mighty
Tony Mitton - Down by the Cool of the Pool
Lloyd Moss - Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin
Laura Numeroff - If You Give a Moose a Muffin
Laura Numeroff - If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
Laura Numeroff - If You Give a Pig a Pancake
Laura Numeroff - What Mommies Do Best/What Daddies Do Best
Jane O'Connor - Fancy Nancy
Irene O'Garden - The Scrubbly-Bubbly Car Wash
Helen Oxenbury - Tom and Pippo books
Helen Oxenbury - We're Going on a Bear Hunt
Bill Peet - The Caboose Who Got Loose
Marcus Pfister - Rainbow Fish
Watty Piper - The Little Engine That Could
Peggy Rathmann - Officer Buckle and Gloria
H. A. Rey - Curious George
Sams & Stoick - Lost In The Woods
Sams & Stoick - Stranger in the Woods
Richard Scarry - Richard Scarry's Best Little Word Book
Richard Scarry - Richard Scarry's Just Right Word Book
Maurice Sendak - In the Night Kitchen
Maurice Sendak - Where the Wild Things Are
Dr. Seuss - Green Eggs and Ham
Dr. Seuss - Hop On Pop
Dr. Seuss - McElligott's Pool
Dr. Seuss - Oh the places you'll go
Dr. Seuss - One Fish, Two Fish
Dr. Seuss - The Cat in the Hat
David Shannon - Duck on a Bike
Nancy E. Shaw - Sheep in a Jeep
Shel Silverstein - The Giving Tree
Esphyr Slobodkina - Caps for Sale
William Steig - Pete's a Pizza
William Steig - Sylvester and the Magic Pebble
Jon Stone - The Monster at the End of this Book
Lauren Thompson - Little Quack
Lauren Thompson - Little Quack's Bedtime
Alvin Tresselt - The Mitten
Tasha Tudor - A is for Annabelle: A Doll's Alphabet
Tasha Tudor - Around the Year
Judith Viorst - Alexander & the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Nadine Bernard Westcott - The Lady with the Alligator Purse (Board book)
Mo Willems - Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus
Mo Willems - Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late
Mo Willems - Knuffle Bunny
Karma Wilson Bear Wants More
Karma Wilson - Bear Snores On
Karma Wilson - Bear Stays Up
Karma Wilson - Bear's New Friend
Audrey Wood - Silly Sally
Christopher Wormell - Puff-Puff, Chugga-Chugga
Jane Yolen - How Do Dinosaurs series
Andrea Zimmerman - Trashy Town
Gene Zion - Harry, the Dirty Dog
Little People lift the flap books

[SnuggleBuggles]

Brett's. The animals don't go in out of fear. They climb in because it looks cozy (as far as I can tell by reading it).

" When Nicki drops his white mitten in the snow, he goes on without realizing that it is missing.
One by one, woodland animals find the mitten and crawl in; first a curious mole, then a rabbit, a badger and others, each one larger than the last. Finally, a big brown bear is followed in by a tiny brown mouse, and what happens next makes a wonderfully funny climax.
As the story of the animals in the mitten unfolds, the reader can see Nicki in the borders of each page, walking through the woods unaware of what is going on.
Once again Jan Brett has created a dramatic and beautiful picture book in her distinctive style. She brings the animals to life with warmth and humor, and her illustrations are full of visual delights and details faithful to the Ukrainian tradition, from which the story comes. "
http://www.janbrett.com/bookstores/mitten_book.htm

Ds' aunt liked it because of the illustrations, mainly the ones running along the side bars.

I never read Tresselt's version. Sounds cute. The reviews seem to indicate that Brett's book looks better but people like Tresselt's version of the story better. Probably can't go wrong with either.

Beth

[thomma]

Spot books by Eric Hill.
Ds is starting to "read" them and dd is starting to sit through them. A lot of them are lift-the-flap so they're popular around here.

Kim
ds&dd 5/03

[kcimato]

My vote is for this version. Back when I taught in the primary grades I used this for snow themed lessons all the time. I love the classic look of it. The first set of pages is black and white then the next 2 are in color. There's too much going on visually in Brett's version.However it's good to compare and contrast each story so you might want to get both.

[kaitlinsmommy]

The "Blue Kangaroo" books by Emma Chichester Clark. DD & I have always loved them.

[ged]

Thanks! Very helpful!

[August Mom]

We're big Curious George fans here and started around age 2.

Other recommendations:

Hairy MacClary series by Lynley Dodd (rhyming verse) - our favorite is Hairy MacClary and Zachary Quack

Concept books by Alan Baker (these are great!) - Brown Rabbit's Shape Book is our favorite

Most DK Publishing Books are really good - just pick what DD likes or what you want to work on (ABCs, words, football :))

[ilovetivo]

www.acs.ucalgary.ca/%7edkbrown
CLWG: Children's Literature Web Guide (CLWG): Internet resources related to books for children and young adults. "Still one of the best of the indexes to what's on the web that has something to do with children's literature" according to Peggy Sharp

www.peggysharp.com
Peggy Sharp is "one of the foremost experts in North America on children's literature and literature programs". Peggy reads all new books for kids each year and posts a list of the best ones. She has lists on her website 1997-2006. Most are kindergarten and up. 1998 has some preschool.
http://www.peggysharp.com/peggyspicks/picks.htm

[stefani]

DS is 3, the books he is into now are:

Thomas the Train (several different ones)
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

We make our weekly visits to the library now :-)

[urquie]

this is the newest to join our collection. dd loves it :)

The Lady with the Alligator Purse (Board book)
by Nadine Bernard Westcott

[Hippoharbor]

I read your post today and happened to see this in the bookstore and bought it. I think it is cute but DH "didn't get it".
23 month olds DS seemed to like it.

Michelle

[dules]

Sorry, yes, The Snowy Day. :)

[Hippoharbor]

Thank you for compiling this list and to all of those who offered book suggestions. I just bought five of these titles from amazon.com (had free super saver shipping). I am in the process of transitioning from baby books to toddler/preschool books for my 23 month old DS.

Michelle

[TracyBee]

Some others that I thought of after perusing DD's bookshelf:

The Little Engine That Could
Down by the Cool of the Pool
Pete's a Pizza
Click Clack Moo (don't remember if I already mentioned this - sorry)
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble
Head to Toe
The Giving Tree
Oh the places you'll go
The runaway bunny
How I became a Pirate
Twelve Hats for Lena

[ilovetivo]

You're welcome. Amazon also had buy 4 get 1 free for kids books under $10 (retail)

[Hippoharbor]

Do you have a link or code?

Thanks,
Michelle

[ilovetivo]

it shows automatically on the book page, down just a bit. it's called the 4 for 3 promotion. also here's this http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=amb_link_393922_1/102-7264898-2555336?ie=UTF8&node=108183011

[smokey26]

My daughter, who also just turned 2, really likes books she can chime in on, with predictable flow. I can think of two not mentioned yet that she really enjoys:

Noisy City Day by Sara Anderson. This is more like a poem, with short rhyming phrases on each page, and lots of fun noises like "woof woof" and "zoom zoom zoom". The chunky bright graphics are also amazing. This is sort of a large board book.

Trashy Town by Andrea Zimmerman is a fun book with a kind of retro look and an infectious refrain "dump it in smash it down, drive around the trashy town" and a repeated question that she loves to shout the answer to ("is the trash truck full yet?" NO!!" This is a good toddler type book that is still not super long - I think it's a good transition book from board books.

Julie

[spanannie]

One of our favorites, that no one has mentioned, is Harry, the Dirty Dog

My favorite 2 yr old books:
Is Your Mama A Llama?
The Going to Bed Book
Big Red Barn
Good Night Moon
Olivia
Harry, the Dirty Dog
The Runaway Bunny
The Very Hungry Caterpillar

DD loves:
Time for Bed Elmo
Elmo Loves You
Maisy Books
Clifford Puppy Days Books
Go Girl! Go Potty!
+ the ones above

We have a lot more, but those are favorites. We recently found one called Wiggle (don't remember author's name), but there's a dog on the cover. DD loves it.

Annie and the Wild Animals by Jan Brett is nice, too. Maybe too many words for a 2 year old, but I think perfect for 3-3.5 yr old. My 4 year old son loves it too.

[AngelaS]

All by Helen Lester:
Tacky the Penguin
Tackylocks and the Three Bears
Tacky and the Emperor
A Porcupine named Fluffy
Hooway for Wodney Wat (MY favorite LOL)

We love ALL the Sandra Boynton books.

Hug

Goodnight Gorilla

My 2 yo listens to lots of others since I tend to read to all of them at once. ;)