What books are good for reading to toddlers?

dundundun: What books are good for reading to toddlers?
For Christmas, I want to get my niece some books to read to her. She’ll be about 15 months, so I basically want things with longevity. She already has a bunch of 123’s and abc’s books, as well as some small story collections, but what else? What did you read to your kids when they were this young?

Answers and Views:

Answer by mom
Dr.Suess books are always good. She can use them until she is 5 or 6 years old for reading level one. There are variety of Dr.Suess books. Choose the one you think is eye-appealing for 15 month old.

Answer by lolachan
Brown bear Brown bear, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, the Going To Bed book, we’re going on a bear hunt.

Answer by Jenyfer
Books that have lots of color and simple pictures are what I read to my 16 month old daughter. Books that have a lot detail i can’t get her to sit still long enough to read though them.

this website might give you some ideas.
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/Baby-Books-Toddlers-Books/379003148

Answer by Aster
My daughter is two, and we have found that the books we bought to read for her when she was one are the kind that she is learning to read on her own now. The 123’s and abc’s are actually VERY good for them learning the basics of how to read and recognize numbers. The ones that you can read to THEM are good ones like the old fashioned Disney collection, or the playhouse Disney learning books that have content good enough for a child up to four.

She’ll probably LOVE pop up books (but don’t let her get her hands on them!) and there are quite a few cute seasonal ones that come out near Christmas. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie is a good book, as well as the other ones by the same author (If You Give a Moose a Muffin, If You Give a Pig a Pancake, and If You Give a Cat a Cupcake, etc…) those are good books that will at least start to catch her attention. 🙂

Answer by New moma!
My son loves Caillou. They have TONS of them. All of them range from “baby Caillou” to school age Caillou. You can really relate to the stories.
I have them on subjects like: Caillou having a “bad morning”, being sick and going to the doctor’s, playing with daddy, playing with mommy, having to get babysat, ect.

It’s Canadian tho so I’m not sure how easy they are to find outside of Canada…

Answer by angedelapitie
My daughter was 15 months last christmas and I tried reading the night before Christmas to her and she just didn’t have the attention span yet. For a child that young they are only going to be interested in very short books. When it gets closer to Christmas you will probably be able to find some of the short story foam books for toddlers witha christmas story. I got a few of them last year and my daughter appreciated them much more than the really pretty collectors edition of “Twas the Night Before Christmas” 🙂 However this year I think she will like that book more. If you are going for longevity, she won’t appreciate it this year, but probably will in the years to come.

Answer by Red
My daughter is 20 months now, it was around 15-16 months that she really started to enjoy looking through the books and being read to at night.
Look for books with bright pictures and things that your niece will recognise (cat, dog, owl, ducks, simple animals are always a hit) Books with recognisable pictures or characters will help to grab her attention. Does she like Blues’ Clues’? They have several board books that are great.
At this age I would go with board books as they will last longer, remember a 15 month old has a lot of energy and can be rough with her books. Clifford the dog are some good books too.
Speak to her parents to see what interests her, does she have any pets at home? If she has a cat, go for something with cats in it, if she has a dog, go for something with dogs in it.

Books are a great idea for a Christmas gift for your niece! They love lots of book choices at this age, and really are like a sponge with them all.

Answer by Karen
Toddlers love books that have rhyme, patterns and colorful pictures. The best books are the ones that little ones can handle themselves. Some examples are the hard cardboard ones or the ones made out of plastic or fabric. Little fingers can hold them and look at them without damaging them. Pick books that have fun sounds in them and simple words that mom and child can enjoy together. Some good titles are: Peek-a Who?; Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See?; and Goodnight Moon. These are all favorites that young children will love.

Answer by Mom to 3 under 8
Check out Sandra Boynton’s books. She has lots of really cute ones that are great for toddlers and preschoolers. Some of our favorites are Hippos Go Berserk, Pajama Time, and Barnyard Dance.

Dr. Seuss’s books are great, too. The ones better geared toward toddlers/preschoolers are:
There’s a Wocket in my Pocket
Marvin K. Mooney, Will You Please Go Now?
The Cat in the Hat
Green Eggs and Ham
The Foot Book
Dr. Seuss’s ABC

Similar books by P.D. Eastman include “Go, Dog. Go!” and “Are you my Mother?”

Some of the simple Berenstain Bears books are great, too. Check out “Inside Outside Upside Down” and “The Spooky Old Tree.”

Others that my kids loved…
Baker Baker Cookie Maker (starring Cookie Monster)
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (and the other related books by Laura Joffe Numeroff)
The Very Hungry Caterpillar (and others by Eric Carle)
Guess How Much I Love You
Jamberry
The Monster at the end of This Book (starring Grover from Sesame Street)
Dear Zoo (a lift-the-flap book)
I’m a Little Caterpillar (finger puppet book — very cute! My daughter read this until we wore it out.)

Answer by MichelleB
You can’t go wrong with the classics! These are books that have thrilled toddlers for generations. It’s all in how animated you are when you read the story aloud to the child. If you make the books sound interesting, your niece will want to hear them over and over again. Hopefully you’ll develop a lifelong reader!

Clifford the Big Red Dog books by Norman Bridwell
Curious George books by H. A. Rey
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown
The Gingerbread Boy
The Three Little Pigs
Little Red Riding Hood
Mother Goose Rhymes

Answer by lunargirl
First of all you def want board books. They will tear the pages at this age. At this age she will like the simple, one picture, one word per page kinda books. My daughter has one like that with animals that also has some texture on the animal’s fur/ears/etc. Then there are classics like Very Hungry Caterpillar or Goodnight Moon. There are also some cute books that have super shiny pictures which my 19 month old has esp liked. Animals are always good, books with faces/people esp babies. Maybe one sentence per page is all they usually have the attention for.