From: Luigi (3/98)
I have a hard time finding good books for our 20-month old
daughter, and I am looking for suggestions. My requirements are:
- entertaining for the adults
- good graphics, little text
Some of the books I particularly like are:
- We're Going On A Bear Hunt, by Rosen/Oxenbury
- most of the Boynton Board Books, by Boynton, such
as: The Going To Bed Book, But Not The Hippopotamus,
Blue Hat, Green Hat.
- Where The Wild Things Are, by Sendak
Thank you ---Luigi
One book that my husband's boss gave us as a present, which we all love (parents and kids), is called _Good_Night,_Gorilla_, by Peggy Rathmann. It was a year before we stopped finding new subtleties, which I won't catalog here. The text is extremely simple and the illustration is beautiful. Also, have you asked the children's librarian at the public library?
The first book on the list is my daughter's and my favorite book. My mom teaches first grade and says even her first graders still enjoy the book because they like thinking about how they were as 'babies'. All of these books pass my 'read it again mommy' test although The Very Hungry Catepiller might need to be retired soon.
"More More More," Said the Baby Vera B. Williams My Very First Mother Goose Iona Opie Katy Cat and Beaky Boo Lusy Cousins Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Bill Martin Jr. Ten, Nine, Eight Molly Bang The Snowy Day Erza Jack Keats Goodnight Moon Margaret Wise Brown The Very Hungry Catepiller Eric Carle The Very Busy Spider Eric CarleAnd don't count out the Toys R Us $3.95 specials, they don't all have to carry the Caldecott award sticker. Caitlin loves a paperback Golden Book entitled 'The Puppy Book' which has a series of pictures of different puppies doing basic things like eating, sleeping, chasing their tails, etc. The library is great of course but it's nice to own some books that get read over and over again. One of my favorite things as she approaches 3 is to watch her pull out some of these books and 'read' them to herself. It's amazing how much of a book's storyline they can store up from before they can talk.
few long-time favorites of my two-year-old daughter's (and the adults in her life!) are:
- A Hole is to Dig, written by Ruth Krauss and illustrated by Maurice Sendak - Harold and the Purple Crayon, by Crockett Johnson - Good Night, Gorilla (the only text is along the lines of, Good Night Gorilla, Good Night Giraffe, Good Night Armadillo, etc. The illustrations tell the story.) - a board book called something like, There's an Elephant in Your Kitchen, which cracks my daughter up every time we read it
Dr. Suess and his cohort of writer, Theo LeSieg, et al. are good for this age. I can particularly recommend "Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?" I had to read this over and over again to my son when he was one and a half. Also,
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish Fox in Sox (only if you are good with tongue twisters) The Foot Book The Hair Book The Nose Book etc.
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