Baby Books

So, am I the last person alive to know about this marvelous book? We got it a bit ago and I've been meaning to write a post about it because it is JUST. THAT. AWESOME.

I love so many things about it; it's so lyrical, really just a sweet poem. I also LOVE the fact that it is not specific to biological children; it's just as suitable for fostered or adopted children (in my opinion--feel free to correct me if I'm wrong! Cause I know you will. Heh).

I really think it's a great book to spur discussions about nature and magic. At least I hope that's how Tori will react when she's older. I hope she doesn't say things like, "Arctic turns don't speak to eels!" because if there is anything I want Tori to NOT inherit from her dad, it is his complete and utter inability to suspend disbelief. I hope she gets my utter and complete gullibility instead (at least when it comes to all things fiction).

It's such a lovely, lovely story! I love the "tiny knees curled to chin" line, and the "washing your tiny hands" and the "whispered into your curving ear, we're so glad you've come."

We read it to Tori all the time, and it makes both me and Charlie cry. In fact, Charlie will tear up while I'm reading it to Tori in another room (so perhaps he can suspend belief, after all).

That's a good book.

So, do you guys have a baby/kids book that rocks your world? Share! I need more. So many of the books out there are stupid, stupid, stupid. And I'm too lazy to write a full post today because I'm too busy working on my venture. :)

Comments

[Chantal]

For the discussion of what would happen when their brother was born, we read Welcome With Love by Overrend. But that was specific to the topic of homebirth.

I'll have to give thoughts to other books though, but my mind is so bogged down with Walter The Farting Dog that I can't think of others. My four year old boy LOVES that one!

[Nancy]

Not for babies necessarily yet. Former pre school teacher here a few of my all time fav-

The Nutshell Library - Sendak

The Incredible Book Eating Boy

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

Harrold & The Purple Crayon

The Lorax

Yertle the Turtle & Other Stories

Cant think now I'm sure I'll post again

xo

[suzanne]

For babies:
"You are my I Love you"...Cusimano
"The Twelve Gifts of Birth"..Costanzo

Toddlers:
"Where do Balloons Go?" Jamie Lee
Curtis

Pre-schoolers:
"I'm gonna like me"....JLC

The one book that people either love or despise is "Love you forever" by Robert Munsch.
In my opinion,it may be the creepiest thing I have ever read, but others find it charming.

[suzanne]

Chiming in again...Concurring with Nancy....
"The trees the trees the Truffula trees." My son loves the Lorax more than any book on earth. It's a fabulous book to guide you into an environmental discussion with a 5 year old! Truthfully, though, I think he loves it most because the Onceler says "Shut up if you please".
I am a HUGE fan of Suess. Six by Suess should be in every babies library!

[Kim]

I don't have a book, but I do have a poem that I love. I found it in a scrapbook store when my niece was a baby, and it just sums up how I felt so perfectly:

Dear Little One

we never dreamed you'd be so beautiful...
In all of the times we tried to imagine every last detail of who you would be,
thru all of the nights we spent quietly thinking of how we would feel
when we first looked at you,
we patiently waited
and silently wondered.
We hoped and we prayed and we tried to imagine...
but we never dreamed you'd be so beautiful.

- Kimberly Rinehart

That still gives me chills.

[SandyC]

To raise a subversive child (which I did):

Tacky the Penguin (you can sing part of this book, which is fun)
Stella Luna
But Not the Hippopotamus (pretty much anything by Sandra Boynton)
Home for a Bunny (I HATED this book, but my kids loved it) Another "singing" book)

[legalmama]

There are so many great books that I love to read, most of which you probably already know about, like the Sandra Boynton books, Where the Wild Things Are, Olivia, etc. But there a few more obscure ones you might not know. One I love that is a nice sweet rhyming book for little ones is "When Mama Comes Home Tonight." It is about a mother coming home at the end of the work day, and spending time with her child, and getting the child ready for bed. The only book I've seen that has a working mom as a character. I also like "Kiss Goodnight Sam" and "The Bear Snores On" fun to read rhyming books. They each have sequels that are not as good as the original. I forget the authors' names.

[suz]

My two-year-old LOVES the Lorax. Also Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. And also a book called The Three Grumpies.

Plus everything Sandra Boynton. Mads's first forms of intentional communication were to cough (to get our attention) and to wriggle and shake like a hippo going beserk.

Her favorite book until she was sixteen months or so, was Guess How Much I Love You. She and her dad read it every night, often many times a night. We went through multiple copies.

[lisa]

Oh god, we got "On the Day You Were Born" as a shower present, and it still makes me tear up.

My son (now two) likes the classics ... "Goodnight Moon," "Pat the Bunny," "The Very Hungry Catepillar," "Goodnight Gorilla," etc. Some more modern books he likes are "Tickle the Duck" and "Ten Little Elvi." And one older book that I didn't know about until recently was "A Color of His Own" by Leo Lionni, which is totally awesome and beautiful and sweet (and could be interpreted as gay-positive, though it's really just about two male chameleons becoming life partners, so they'll always be the same color).

[melissa]

For fun reading - The B Book, The Spooky Old Tree, Bears in the Night (if you can find it) - the old Bernstein stuff is fun. (I have these three memorized... read them to both my little sisters ad nauseum, then both my daughters)

Where the Wild Things Are. Madeline. Cordoroy. Swimmy. Fredrick (anything by Leo Leonini - but these two are my favorites). The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The Very Angry Ladybug.

Green Eggs and Ham. The Sneeches. If I ran the Zoo. Horton Hears a Who.

Goodnight Moon. (I know, I know - but we've loved it).

I'm not much for the sentimental books, am I?

[DoctorMama]

I guess I'm too mean and jaded. We have that book, and my son likes it, but it always makes me roll my eyes. (Especially the "with a gentle push" part -- I want to substitute "After grunting and pushing and pooping and tearing from stem to stern ...")

So you should probably take any suggestion from me with a grain of salt. I do like just about any Maurice Sendak book.

[Maura]

Right now, my 21 month old nephew loves the board book version of the "Foot Book" by Dr. Seuss. He's bilingual and so far is not crazy about books (he'd much rather be up and running) so it's a total thrill to me when he cries, "Mas!" (Spanish for "more") every time we get to the end of the Foot Book.

He has also loved two Sesame Beginnings books since he was a little baby -- "Cookie Kisses" and "So Big!" (starring Elmo). He's been crazy about Elmo from the beginning, more than a year before he ever saw Elmo on TV.

He also loves "Chugga Chugga Choo Choo", which is especially topical since we live right next to the railroad tracks, so "choo choos" are a big part of his life.

My favorite new children's book is "Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type", though it's a bit beyond Sean just yet. It truly made me laugh out loud, and it's now on my list of "great books to raise kids with progressive values"...since the book is basically a story about cows going on strike for better working conditions. Gotta get kids to appreciate the labor movement early! :-)

[Whitney]

"Love you Forever" (mentioned above) is my favorite book to read to my kids. My childhood favorite was "Richard Scarry's Great Big Book of Words"......what can I say, I like words!!

[Heather]

I love this book too ! We have a board book and my little girl enjoys munching on it if nothing else..I almost wish that I had done a "book inspired" nursery. My favortie is "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein. we read "love you Forever" though i agree it is a tad creepy- but it was read at my mother-in-laws memorial service ( even more creepy in a way...) so it's special. "Goodnight Moon" is great..." Very Hungry Caterpillar" "Brown Bear Brown bear " ( first book my son ever specifically asked me to read...) anything eric Caryle...mostly just because the illustrations are so captivating. My 3 year old is currently captivated by "moses" a book about Harriet Tubman... books are the one the thing I tell myself never to feel bad about spending money on...

[Nancy]

Anything Leo Lionni!! as mentioned above esp - Swimmy The Fish & Fish Is Fish
I'm sure I'll be back!
o

[Megan]

I'm a midwife and "On the Day You Were Born" is my gift to every baby I catch, along with an inscription about their birth. I always sign, "Welcome to the spinning world! With much love-Your Fairy Godmother" (Everyone needs a fairy godmother, I think)

I bought the book for my own baby before he was born, and though I'd obviously been well acquainted with it before hand, I still cried the first several times I read it to him. Now I can usually get through it without tears, but I still occasionally choke up on the last few pages.

I'm so glad you found this for your sweet Tori. Its a wonderful book!

[Rayne of Terror]

My son calls "On the day you were born," the mommy cry book.

[Teenuh]

I loved Blueberries for Sal and Corduroy growing up (I even re-bought them as an adult without children).

Btw, I voted for your pic. :)

[Teenuh]

Oh yeah, plus the Richard Scary and Dr Seuss books. And the Alexander bad day book (I am feeling lazy to type out the whole title!).

[priscilla]

I NEVER tired of reading any of the Maisy books. My youngest could recite them all by 15 months. Very cute.
Other favs: Ferdinand, What Do You Say, Dear, and What Do You Do, Dear (illustrated by Sendak, I believe). Lately, a bit heavy, but eventually a great book to gently present history to your kids, The Man Who Walked Between The Towers, by Mordechai (sp?) Gerstein. It is a great story about the Twin Towers, and only hints at the tragedy of 9/11. It has been a great starting point for my youngest, who wasn't aware of things on 9/11 but is old enough to understand the significance that event has had on the rest of his life.

[Heather AKA Epiphany Alone]

Love LOVE that book. I also really like You Are My I Love You:

http://www.powells.com/biblio/61-9780399233920-0

[Julia]

We love Dr. Seuss's Oh, the places you'll go...just love it. They are 8 and 5 and get it.

[mamadaisy]

good god, that book makes me bawl every time! i don't read it often because i don't want the kids to watch me dissolve into a sniveling ball of goo.

another one that gets me: Let Me Hold You Longer. most of the time we remember the firsts, but this book is about all the important lasts -- the last time you change a diaper, the last time you hold your child's hand while crossing the street, the last running hug, the last time you help with homework... niagara falls, i tell ya. every time.

[jen]

Love You Forever - Robert Munsch
*The Paper Bag Princess - Robert Munsch
But not the Hippopotamus - Sandra Boynton
Barnyard Dance - Sandra Boynton
There's a Wocket in my Pocket - Dr Seuss
The Eye Book - Dr Seuss
The Gruffalo - Axel Scheffler and Julia Donaldson
Goodnight Moon - Margaret Wise Brown
Farmer Duck - Martin Waddell and Helen Oxenbury
*Spring is Here - Taro Gomi
My Friends - Taro Gomi
The Big Red Barn - Margaret Wise Brown and Felicia Bond

[Kim]

My daughter loved "Guess How Much I Love You", "Kiss Goodnight Sam" and "I Love You Stinkyface" when she was little. My son is 3 and not interested in books at all yet.