We read Lucy three or four books three or four times a day. That means she reads at least a dozen books a day, so it’s a good thing she really likes the three dozen on her shelf.
Lucy has a single shelf of board books, and these are the ones we read together over and over. She loves to turn the pages herself as we read (and has from a very early age). Some of these you’ve seen already here at BNN, including “_Baby Faces_”:/news/2006/baby-faces/ and “_This Is My Hair_”:/news/2007/this-is-my-hair/. And we plan reviews of several other titles, a critique of the shoddy astronomical (dis)information conveyed by some authors {cough} Sandra Boynton {cough}, and even audio of Lucy “reading along” with one title! So stay tuned.
As they say, “The literature is vast.” After tomorrow (her birthday), we figure the chances are good these holdings will have increased. But these earliest titles are ones that have certainly made an impression on Mama and Papa — and we figure, on Baby, too. We hope that she’ll learn to kiss (not to mention count) as in _Counting Kisses,_ that she’ll acquire a taste for playing pranks on authority figures as in _Good Night, Gorilla,_ and that she’ll remember to seek the Lord’s blessing “from head to toe” as in _Bless Me._
Here’s the entire catalog as of today:
- Boynton
- “_Barnyard Dance!_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1563054426/octothorppres-20
- “_Belly Button Book!_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0761137998/octothorppres-20
- “_But Not the Hippopotamus_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0671449044/octothorppres-20
- “_The Going to Bed Book_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0671449028/octothorppres-20
- “_Horns to Toes_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0671493191/octothorppres-20
- “_Moo, Baa, La La La!_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/067144901X/octothorppres-20
- “_Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs!_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1563054418/octothorppres-20
- “_Opposites_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0671449036/octothorppres-20
- “_Pajama Time!_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0761119752/octothorppres-20
- Brown
- “_A Child’s Good Night Book_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0694008397/octothorppres-20
- “_Goodnight Moon_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0694003611/octothorppres-20
Buehner, “_Snowmen at Night_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0803730411/octothorppres-20
Buller et al., “_I Love You, Good Night_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0689862121/octothorppres-20
Butler, “_Hush, Little Ones_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1561452971/octothorppres-20
Cowley, “_Rrring! Tick Tock_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1552090361/octothorppres-20
Ellis, “_Buenos Dias, Baby!_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0811842703/octothorppres-20
Gamble, “_Good Night, Chicago_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0977797929/octothorppres-20
Katz, “_Counting Kisses_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/068985658X/octothorppres-20
Kirschner, “_Bottoms_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0735820260/octothorppres-20
Kunhardt, “_Pat the Bunny_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0307120007/octothorppres-20
Maccarone, “_Bless Me_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0439623324/octothorppres-20
Parr, “_This Is My Hair_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0316908118/octothorppres-20
Porter-Gaylord, “_I Love My Daddy Because…_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0525472509/octothorppres-20
Rathmann, “_Good Night, Gorilla_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0399230033/octothorppres-20
Seuss, “_Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0679882820/octothorppres-20
“_Baby, Boo!_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1592235859/octothorppres-20
“_Baby’s Day!_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1592235883/octothorppres-20
“_Baby Faces_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0789436507/octothorppres-20
“_Bright Baby: Animals_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0312492480/octothorppres-20
“_Bright Baby: Colors_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0312492472/octothorppres-20
“_Bright Baby: First Words_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0312493886/octothorppres-20
“_Good Night, Baby!_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1564585328/octothorppres-20
“_Little Butterfly_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0811856453/octothorppres-20
“_Mo’o’s Colors_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/089610477X/octothorppres-20
“_My First Colors Book_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0756602807/octothorppres-20
“_Touch and Feel Farm_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0789429160/octothorppres-20
Yay for reading! It’ll be so exciting when she can read chapter books like the Narnia series! =)
My current favorite is Sheep in a Jeep. You should check it out!
Naomi has really been enjoying the copy of Babybug that she got in her Easter basket. It is published by the Cricket Magazine Group. Delightful illustrations.
All of our children have enjoyed this one.
Thanks for the recommendations! Keep them coming….
was reading about child development and you learn the most and fastest (and retain the most) between 0-3 years! Wow. Makes being a parent even more important.
On Ann’s recommendation, we got Ben “Good Night Gorilla” and whenever he even just sees it, he starts laughing! He loves the whole premise and the “twist” in the middle.
A few recommendations from Ben:
Seuss, One Fish, Two Fish (not the whole book, we have a shorter, waterproof version)
Katz, Where is Baby’s Belly Button?
Poitier, Who am I in the Dark?
Eastmann, Are You My Mother?
Carle, The Very Hungry Caterpillar; The Very Quiet Cricket; The Very Lonely Firefly; Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
Bostrom & Kucharik, God Loves You
Mitchell, Good Morning, Good Night
Ahhh, one more opportunity to describe the villain just waiting to spoil all the good that books can bring to a person’s life. As we celebrate the pleasures and meaning and joy of reading, keep your eyes peeled for TV, the monster lurking out there, waiting for the opportunity to steal creativity away from each and every child.
Your daddy and Uncle Jim grew up hearing, over and over, that ‘TV is a cancer’. I believe that – and I am grateful that your parents have protected you from that monster. Your Uncle Jim and Aunt Lisa have done the same from cousin Violet. I think the message has gotten through and you (and Violet and all other children who have parents who read to them) are truly the lucky ones.
Grandma and I fully intend to keep that bookshelf growing in the years to come. We send you our love today and always…
Well, there is a typo in there. Sorry about that, but the ‘from’ should be a ‘for’. Just wanted to set the record straight.
Abby loves Goodnight Gorilla as well! She also likes books with flaps like Peekaboo Zoo (Lamaze) and Bedtime Peekaboo (?). There is also a book called Lift and Look Creation that’s made out of that foam board material and has pieces she can pull out and there’s another picture underneath.
Bill Martin Jr: Brown Bear, Polar Bear, Panda Bear, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom – that is such a jazzy, fun one to read!
Baby Blessings cloth books: Baby’s Bible, Baby’s Noah’s Ark, Family Photo album
Check out this article on reading:
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/departments/elementary/?article=WhatEffectReadingHasonOurMinds
Here’s an excerpt:
“In speech, the average word frequency is 400–meaning, when we talk, we are likely to use a small set of frequently occurring words.
Meanwhile, words in children’s books, which people think of as being simple little things, have an average frequency of 627. In other words, the language in a children’s book is likely to be more sophisticated than your average conversation.”