Looking for books recommendation for DS

[lovemaggie]

hi,
DS just turned 6 months. I wonder if this is right age introducting books and would like to give it a try. Can you give any recommendation on the books you have and like? Any such books that are classice for babies?
Thanks
-maggie

[o_mom]

>hi,
> DS just turned 6 months. I wonder if this is right age
>introducting books and would like to give it a try. Can you
>give any recommendation on the books you have and like? Any
>such books that are classice for babies?
>Thanks


Some would say you are 6 months too late :-) but I think this is a great age to get them started. Stick with board books for durability. Look for books with one sentence per page or less. Simple pictures that are easy to see. Most of the best ones have either predictable text (Brown Bear, Brown Bear, for example) or rhyming text that keeps them entertained (Moo, Baa, La La La), but there is a wide range. Go to the library and check out 10-12 different board books and see which ones he likes then look for similar ones or buy those to keep.

Some of my favorites at that age (and certainly not a complete list):

Most anything by Eric Carle, but notably:
Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?
The Very Busy Spider

Bean Soup, Bean's Night, etc. by Sarah Hines-Stephens

Nursery Rhymes - Lucy Cousins and Rosemary Wells both have a series of board books with nursery rhymes

Moo, Baa, La La La by Sandra Boynton

Chicka Chicka ABC by Bill Martin Jr.

A Picnic with Monet by Julie Merberg

Snuggle Wuggle by Jonathon London

[kensjen]

We starting to read to DS when he was first born, so anytime is good. I'll suggest a few books my son liked at that age (some of them we still read every day!)

Goodnight Moon
Mama Mama
Papa Papa
Counting Kisses
Where is Baby's Belly Button?
Daddy Kisses
Mommy Hugs
Pat the Bunny
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Sandra Boynton books...too many to mention!

This should help get you started, I'm sure you will get lots of suggestions!

[barbarhow]

I started reading to Jack before he was born. Eye roll from my DH. I did. I loved it-it was a special time for me and it started a routine for us. When he was born I was always the 4 Bs. bath, book, boob and bed. The book and boob were always together. I love Goodnight Moon and now at 2 1/2 he asks for it while I rock him in the rocking chair-I have read it so many times I don't need the book anymore and he says it with me. Another cute one that we love is Time for Bed-I have seen the board version at TJ Maxx. Jack loves this one and can also recite much of it. so-
Goodnight Moon
Time for Bed
One is One
Brown Bear Brown Bear

TJ Maxx is a great resource for board books-they tend to be alot less expensive there-some of the board books I have had to replace due to enthusiasm with reading them...

Barbara-mom to Jack 3/27/03, a Red Sox fan
and Anna 5/12/05, my little Yankee fan!

[SummerBaby]

My DD's favorite books, since she was 3 months old, are Peek-a-Who and Ready, Set, GO, by Nina Laden. For a while these were the only books that would hold her interest. I know them by heart!

Val
Mom to Madeline
7/28/04

[Zana]

I too started really reading to DS only between 6-8 mths and now we cannnot remain stationery for more than a minute before a book is dumped in our lap :)

As PP said it really depends on what he takes a liking too - there were a lot of reccomended books that he was really bored by and some that he loved. I generally stuck to a few (3-4) in the beginning - A few that he enjoyed are:
1. Goodnight moon
2. Moo Baa lalala (He still makes the lalala sound whenever he sees a pig!)
3. 10 little ladybugs (he loved the colors and I sang it out to him kind of like '99 bottles of beer on the wall' :P)
4. Mr Brown can Moo (Again he loved the different noises)

DS spent a lot of the time jsut wanting to chew the book, but hang in there...they really do enjoy it!

[buddyleebaby]

The Golden Egg Book by Margaret Wise Brown, it is a very simple, cute story.

I wouldn't worry too much about what you're reading, as long as your reading. I went out and bought a whole bunch of board books for dd, but her favorite story is How the Grinch stole Christmas, which is looong. She actually pays attention through the whole thing and always laughs at the same line, so go figure. I never would have even thought of reading it to her had that not been the book dh brought over from the bookshelf.
There's no accounting for taste.

[lovemaggie]

Thanks very much for the replies. Whoa, seems like I am way behind the readings. Gotta catch up now.
About these books, did you buy them immediately or after you borrowed from the library and tried with your kids first?
Also regarding the reading time, it seems to me it's hard to find during the weekday. I work full time, leaving early in the morning. By the time I get home after dinner, it's almost DS's bed time. Sometimes if we are lucky to squeeze a bit more time, I normally take him for a stroller ride outside. If I read to him while his lying in bed, he won't be able to see the books himself. How do you moms manage?
Beside TJMAXX ( I don't have one closeby), is amazon.com another good place to shop books? Where else?
Thanks

[jhaud]

we LOVE sandra boynton. my dd really enjoys her books at a year (we didn't start real early on a consistent basis, but have always read to her occassionally and there have always been books for her to play with. we also enjoy the sesame beginnings books (baby face, cookie see cookie do, so big) she also enjoys chika chika boom boom and is even starting to hop up and down (dance) to the rhythm!

we don't buy board books at amazon - they are not discounted. we do buy at books a million, walmart, and our children's consignment shop. or even yard sales and flea market. our walmart always has a few s. boynton and i have seen 1 or 2 of the sesame street ones, as well as other classics.

at this point (almost 13 mo) dd is playing with her books all the time... she will carry them around, empty the book bin in our living room, read them to herself (this is so cute!!!) and also bring them to us to read to her!

[lovemaggie]

Thanks very much for the replies. Whoa, seems like I am way behind the readings. Gotta catch up now.
About these books, did you buy them immediately or after you borrowed from the library and tried with your kids first?
Also regarding the reading time, it seems to me it's hard to find during the weekday. I work full time, leaving early in the morning. By the time I get home after dinner, it's almost DS's bed time. Sometimes if we are lucky to squeeze a bit more time, I normally take him for a stroller ride outside. If I read to him while his lying in bed, he won't be able to see the books himself. How do you moms manage?
Beside TJMAXX ( I don't have one closeby), is amazon.com another good place to shop books? Where else?
Thanks

[ellies mom]

You are not way behind in reading to your child. You are just fine. Our DD loved any book with baby faces. She destroyed her first one she loved it so much. I think it was called "Baby Faces". Another huge hit at our house is the Bright Babies series by Priddy Books. The books are "First Words", "Colors", "Animals" and "Trucks". DD is 22 months and still loves these books. They have a picture and word on each page. She learned a lot of her first words from these books. You can buy them separately or in the set.

[brittone2]

DS's favorites then (many of these are still favorites at 18 months) included Goodnight Moon (I'm not sure if the book caused it but he's somewhat obsessed with the moon in general), Barnyard Dance and Birthday Monsters by Sandra Boynton, Tails (we didn't get this until closer to 9 months I think but he would have enjoyed it sooner), the Hungry Little Catepillar, Green Eggs and Ham, One Fish Two Fish, and a bunch of small board books by Leapfrog (I think?)...one is just shapes, one is colors and one is numbers. They are all lift the flap. He always enjoyed those for some reason. No real text to speak of. He has always enjoyed anything Maisy from the time he was 2 months old. He also liked a cloth book by Lamaze that was called Discovery Farm that has some interactive stuff (a chick that you can slip inside an egg, a baby horse that can be velcroed to the page, etc.).

Others we got later that I'm sure a younger baby would still enjoy:
Mama Mama
Papa Papa
He likes Brown Bear Brown Bear now, but didn't really seem to enjoy it that much until the past few months

I'm sure I'm forgetting tons of things I should mention but he absolutely LOOOOOOVES reading and has for many months now. The boy seriously has a thing for books :)

[ykc]

All the previous suggestions are great, and many are favourites in our house. It's also a great idea to check books out of the library before buying, but don't get discouraged if you buy something and your son doesn't seem to like it. He may next week, or next month, or next year.... Right now, he may at times be more interested in playing with the book than reading it, but that's normal and unpredictable.

To answer your question about when to read: I work full-time too, and getting supper and baths and the rest of the bedtime routine squeezed in is definitely a challenge at times. We should probably go for more walks after dinner, but instead, we usually save the time for the bedtime routine. We read after bath and pajamas, before brushing teeth. Both kids started probably around 6 months. We read in the bedroom when they were/are younger (kids share a room, so my daughter, who goes to bed 1/2 hour later, reads in the family room). The kids used to sit on our laps, but now even the younger one mostly just sits next us (his choice, not ours). We sit on the floor in the bedroom. Our routine is to read 3 stories (3 board books) before bed, but it's flexible depending on how much time we have. Even if we come home late from an outing, we nearly always squeeze in one story in because it's part of the routine. At 6mos, reading stories probably adds about 10-15 minutes to the bedtime routine, depending on how cooperative your child is being and how much description you feel like adding.

HTH and happy reading!

[erosenst]

Lots of good suggestions. A few more that Abby liked/likes:

My Many Colored Days by Suess - not a typical Seuss book. Not sure why, but from 8-12 months, this was one of her favorites. It fell out of favor for a while, but she likes it again now.

Monkey's Play Time - a great gift! I would have never bought it (I thought too boring, even for an infant), but she's loved it since very early, and we just read it again tonight. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0763617954/qid=1125109657/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/104-2708228-4281525?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Any of the Touch and Feel books - we have several, and they've been popular for a long time. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/ref=br_ss_hs/104-2708228-4281525?platform=gurupa&url=index%3Dstripbooks%3Arelevance-above%26dispatch%3Dsearch%26results-process%3Dbin&field-keywords=touch+and+feel&Go.x=8&Go.y=15&Go=Go

Any of the Karen Katz books - the bright colors are great. DS will like the flaps later. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/104-2708228-4281525

Baby Colors, or any of the other books from this series http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/031249047X/qid=1125109842/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/104-2708228-4281525?v=glance&s=books

As you can tell, books are a big deal in our house. We have a basket she can play with at any time, and more in the bookshelves in her room. At first, eating them will be the primary activity (what a friend calls the "reading is delicious" stage) - but that's part of the process.

Happy reading!

[R2sweetboys]

Don't feel bad about "being behind". Yes, many start from day one but you obviously didn't know(no big deal)and now is a great time to start. Many of the books mentioned are favorites here too. I'll mention them b/c you'll see which books are really favored by many children.
Moo Baa Lalala-LOVE this one!
Barnyard Dance-another fave-I like all the Sandra Boynton books
Goodnight Moon
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Dr. Seuss Mr. Brown Can Moo Can You?,The Nose Book,many others
Time for Bed-both my boys loved this and DH and I could both recite it sans book on cue. :)
Baby face books are great-babies seem to love seeing other babies-you could even make one w/pics of DS and cutouts from mags,etc.
Eight Silly Monkeys

Oh, there are so many. Enjoy this time w/ your son. It's a great thing to do before bed as part of his routine to settle him down. Our boys are 2 and 5 and we HAVE to read before naps and bed. You can always check out your local library. TJMaxx, I agree, is a good place to look. You could also check out ebay or children's used clothing/toy stores for gently used books. Have fun!


~Leslie

SAHM to...
Ryan 8/14/00
Matthew 2/14/03

[HannaAddict]

You've been given great ideas for books to start with. The board books can be kind of dinged up from the library and I would feel comfortable investing in at least a few of your own to get started. Like those mentioned by other posters including Goodnight Moon, The Runaway Bunny, Mama Mama, Papa Papa, the Karen Katz books mentioned. My son really liked Time for Bed too, it has a very lyrical rhythm to it.

You might try www.bookcloseouts.com and hunt around their site. It wasn't the easiest to navigate, but after reading posts in the Bargains forum (do a search) I found a bunch of great board baby books for super cheap. Also, check overstock.com and even half.com (though for children's books I think that free shipping at amazon is a better deal than a slightly reduced book price + shipping). And try craigslist. I've seen people selling groups of board books in nice condition for reasonable prices occassionally. If you have a Half Price Books store in your area they might have some too, new, even though they sell used and new books.

It doesn't take much time to do this, especially with a baby this age. Maybe make a new special time, even just 10 or 15 minutes at night, maybe before or after strolling to sit and look at a book together. We didn't always get through the entire book or sometimes shortened it a bit.

Have fun picking out books. I love books in general and had so much fun finding books and learning about new ones, many from posters on this board (like Mama Mama, etc.).

Kimberly
DS 3/18/04

[mamaharsh]

Here are some of Nate's favorites (I've started giving them as baby shower gifts now) that have lasted us from baby until almost 4...

Goodnight Gorilla
Any of the Sandra Boynton books
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Chicka Chicka 123
Mercer Mayer board books
Any of the Touch and Feel books
Are you my mother?
Berenstein Bears board books

We've moved on to much longer books and some chapter books, but we still read the short books as part of our bedtime routine, or I'd be in there for hours reading LOL.

[lovemaggie]

Thanks all the moms for the excellent suggestions. Hopefully DS will benefit greatly when he grows up.
-Maggie

[knaidel]

Another suggestion for buying books: Do you have Borders in your area? YOu can sign up at the cash register to get on their email-list and they frequently send coupons. Usually about once a month there's a coupon for 25% off any book. Also, someone will usually post it in the Bargains folder as well.