Favorite books?

[candybomiller]

I wasn't sure the correct forum to post this, but since books are briefly mentioned in the corresponding chapter of Baby Bargains, I'll post here. I'm looking to buy books and was just wondering if people could post their and/or their kids favorites. There are so many books out there, it would be nice to have some sort of "guide" when I go shopping. Thanks! Candy

[ma2be]

A few board books that are popular: Pat the Bunny, Guess How Much I Love You, Goodnight Moon, Goodnight Gorilla, and DK First Word Book.

[kk]

favorites in my house are: anything by Eric Carle (brown Bear, Busy Spider, etc), all the PD Eastman and Dr. Suess books, and Maisy books. Also a bit trickier to find but enjoyable: Carl the Dog, any "baby faces" book, Olaf & Venus, and Curious George. One book that is annoying but the babies seem to like is Teletubbies. KK

[jojo2324]

I love the Miss Spider books...the illustrations are so beautiful! I think that the author used to make toys a long time ago. I'm not quite sure of his name, but there's Miss Spider's Wedding and Miss Spider's New Car. They're a bit long and maybe too much for little ones, but they're also a nice break from the books that are three pages long that you need to read over and over again.

[suzska]

I love the Boynton Board Books! My fav is "Oh, My! Oh, My! Oh, Dinosaurs!" But my DS's favorite book (non-Boynton) is "Cow Moo Me!" He giggles as soon as I pick up the book! Of course he's still in the "I must chew everything" phase, so we don't get to read many books--any board book he'd get ahold of would turn to mush. We have "Goodnight Moon," too.

Some other good ones--that survive chewing--are any of the Lamaze Learning Curve cloth books (I like "In My House" now because it has different textures to touch on each page, although this is a board book), and the Soft Shapes ones (DS's likes "Whose back is bumpy?"). And we have a few "vinyl" books that can also go in the tub--one Pooh Bear, one Spot the Dog.

Lamaze makes some great toys, too. Here's their site:
http://www.learningcurve.com/ourProducts/lamaze.asp


Hmmm...what else? (Can you tell I spent 9 years working in a library? OK, it was a University library, but I still love books!)


If you haven't already, try checking out the Children's Book of the Month Club (http://www.cbomc.com). Although when you sign up they ask for the child's name and birthdate, which always bothered me because I wanted to join before he was born. Anyway, I've gotten a bunch of books from there. My cousin's wife just had a baby in February and I had books shipped to them in CT (I'm in PA) for no extra charge.

Oh, and I know Border's (at least the last time I was there) had a "club card" for children's books--get a "punch" everytime you buy a children's book, get 10 "punches," get a coupon for $5 off anything in the store, even books for you.

--Sue B.
SAHM to Evan Jeffrey 03-11-01

[egoldber]

A great place to pick up kids books is Costco/Price Club. They don't have much variety, but what they have is very reasonable. The last time I was there, I got a 3 pack of Dr. Seuss classics for $10 (the nice large hardbound ones). I also got a 4 pack of Dr. Seuss board books for about $10. I have also seen soft foam books for the bath there also, but I have not purchased these.

I would caution against buying the "classics" like Goodnight Moon, etc. for yourself. We received THREE copies each of Guess How Much I Love You and of Goodnight Moon as gifts (of course without gift receipts). People like to give these classics.

I also received as a gift a soft cloth book (made by Kids II) in the ubiquitous red and black patterns. It is just a simple thing and I would have never have bought it for myself, but my baby adores it. She liked to look at it when she was younger and she loves to teeth on it now. :-)

I think that some of the best books you can get are those that you enjoyed as a child or have special meaning for you. This last year at Christmas time (baby's first), we brought back boxes of OLD children's books from my parents and from my in-laws. These were books that WE enjoyed as children. I know that I can hardly wait until my baby is a little older to start reading them to her. (I know I can start reading now, but it really doesn't do much for her yet.)

HTH,

[vivianm]

I received a book as a shower gift called The New York Times Parents' Guide to the Best Books for Children. It really is a wonderful resource for choosing age-appropriate books for children from newborns on up. It has all of the favorites I remember from my childhood plus lots of new classics. I just looked it up on www.amazon.com and it sells for $12.60.

[Elaine]

A good friend gave me "The Twelve Gifts of Birth" by Charlene Costanzo. It is a beautiful book, esp. for a slightly older child. A wonderful board book is "Baby Angels" by Jane Cowen-Fletcher. Some classic children/baby books I just love are "The Runaway Bunny" by Margaret Wise Brown, "Love You Forever" by Sheila McGraw, and probably my all-time favorite "The Velveteen Rabbit" by Margery Williams (there are various re-tellings/re-writes of this one).

[docreeler]

I really like "Love You Forever" by Robert Munsch. (My DS is too young to get feedback from him on whther he likes it.) It follows a mother and son over the course of decades. In the story, the mother repeatedly sings a lullaby to her son in which she assures him that she will always like him. At the end of the story, he, as an adult, sings the same song to his new baby daughter. It's a beautiful story which brings tears to my eyes each time I read it.

Another excellent book is "The Napping House", by Audrey Wood. It is a cumulative tale about a house in which everyone is sleeping. It has become a standard just-before-bedtime read.

By the way, for what age range are you looking?

- Lynn

[candybomiller]

Well, my edd is May 15, so basically I was thinking books we could start with at an early age. My husband and I are both big readers, so it's important to us that we expose our ds to a variety of books. I've spent quite a bit of time on amazon researching, and it seemed to me as though most of the books always got mixed reviews, with the exception of a couple of Sandra Boynton's books, so I figured I would just ask everyone here their favorites. So far, it seems it's working! Thanks to everyone!!!
-Candy