Books for Babies

I'm a bookworm at the best of times, and there's little question about wanting to share my love of books with my daughter. Yet where to start? The choice of books for babies and toddlers is vast, and it's a forest where you can get lost so easily. In Scotland, we have a fabulous scheme called bookstart. It hands out a goodie bag of books through health visitors or libraries at the ages of 4 months and again at around about 18 months. These books come free, but also have a nice booklet giving ideas for buying, or lending books. Bookstart also runs rhyme time music sessions at local libraries, where parents can learn songs and nursery rhymes to sing with their babies and toddlers. These sessions were great for me, as a non-British mum who simply didn't know all the nursery rhymes. And they were great for my baby who was hard to settle most of the time, and singing was one of the tricks that worked really well.

Getting into libraries had the added advantage that you can take out books and try them out. Which is what I did. Often though, what I thought would be liked wasn't, and vice versa. It was also interesting to see how some books lasted well beyond the time that I thought they would be of interest. So here's my top ten of baby and toddler books, recommended by my now 20 months old daughter:

1. Where's that Baby. This was a freebie from Bookstart, a first book with flaps under which a baby face is hidden. From 3 months to today, it's an absolute favourite. She now even reads it herself.

2. Waterbabies. I got this from the library and never liked it much myself, but my daughter loves it. She enjoys the texture, the bath theme and the clear presentation, which helped her identify first words. I used it from 9 months on.

3. Baby's busy day. Another library book which gets renewed again and again. It's full of photos of babies who get dressed, have breakfast, have a bath, go to bed, play, help in the house etc. The real photos are engaging, and there is a lot of fun to be had with it, pointing and talking about the photos, learning more words and moving from passively understanding words to saying them. Age range: 12 months plus.

4. Penguin. This is a new acquisition and I used it from 19 months. You can probably use it much earlier but my daughter finds it hilarious. She loves the way the penguin talks in images at the end, the way he is shot into space and the way that the boy is eaten and then spat out by a lion. Basically, she loves the way it is slightly different.

5. 100 first words. This book was given to us as a present and my daughter loved it from 11 months up to maybe 18 months. She still reads it but won't pick it as a favourite now. She enjoyed being able to point to pictures and linking words and images. Each page is full of photos of categories, very bright and with a few odd ones as well.

6. Katie Cat and Beaky Boo. Also known as "eeaiee" (impression of "miaow"). She adores it. Lucy Cousin's drawings may sometimes make it hard to tell a mouse from a squirrel, but the colours are just intense and beautiful. There's opportunities for learning about colours, shapes, numbers, sounds, animals, and much more. It's a flap book and because they're a bit fragile, suitable from maybe 15 months.

7. We're going on a Bear Hunt (pop up book). Oh how she loves this one - it goes under the name of "man" and she'll cry if she doesn't get it read out at least three times a day. She loves the pop up pages, and while she cannot really work them herself, she has to give it a go - and rip them apart. Really only suitable for older children, and only under adult supervision, but what a hit it is in our house!

8. Go wild with Colours. Great for learning colours, comes with some flaps which daughter is rather keen on.

9. The very hungry Caterpillar. This classic can't not be on a best books for babies list. Great for numbers and first words.

10. Where's that monkey (duck/cat etc). This was a favourite around the one year mark. She still loves the optic illusions and has more patience now to explore the wonderful drawing around the hiding monkey.

oh, and I just can't miss this one out:

11. The secret seahorse. Find the seahorse on each page as it swims through the undersea world. A lovely lovely book from the barefoot books series (those are the ones where the pictures are made from fabrics sewn together and decorated with beads). And the octopus - well, he passes as a "baby" every. single. time.

Enjoy!