We’re back! I’m so excited to team up with Sarah of Cozy Little Joys and Shannon of A Dash of Solt again to share our favorite toddler books. Between the three of us, we have four kiddos all between 1 and 3 years old. Sarah’s adorable Henry is just a few weeks older than Jacob and Shannon’s sweet Lily will be 2 the day before TJ turns 3 in October. Reading to our little ones is so important to each of us, and we love sharing our favorites with each other and with you!
From the second I found out I was going to be a Mama, I knew that I wanted to instill a love of reading in my children. Some of my favorite childhood memories revolve around books – having favorite stories read to me over and over, learning how to read myself and graduating from being a listener to an actual reader of the ever-exciting chapter book, and growing my library as my preferences changed from American Girl books and The Babysitter’s Club to Pride & Prejudice and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.
Each of my boys’ nurseries has had a dedicated spot for reading, and now their playroom does, too! I love cycling books in and out in their rooms so we always have new stories to read and new characters for them to discover, but I also love keeping some of their absolute favorites as nightstand staples. For TJ, it’s Little Blue Truck. He’s had it memorized for months. He loves the seasonal variations (Halloween, Christmas, Springtime, all the Little Blue Trucks). He also recites it to Jacob whenever we’re in the car and it just makes my Mama heart melt hearing “Hey, Jacob, horn went beep, engine purred” from the backseat. For Jacob, it’s a toss-up between Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See, and That’s Not My Owl. He loves picking out the animals and colors he can recognize, and he loves making the sounds each animal makes. It’s so fun to watch him really start to remember his favorite parts and pages, and get so excited when he knows they’re coming up.
Here’s a list of some of our current favorites. I hope you and your littles ones love them, too!
Book to teach the ABCs and STEM: The ABCs of Science
This book is a fun way to go through the alphabet, which we all know toddlers LOVE to do. As a scientist myself, I love sharing some of the things I love with my boys. We were absolutely flooded with fire truck books, toys, clothes, lamps, pillows, everything because Tim is firefighter and that’s great, but I love teaching them about what Mama does for work and introducing new science words into their vocabulary, too! Some of the words and concepts are definitely a little advanced for young toddlers, but the sooner you know about amoebas the better, right?!
Book to teach about Diversity and Inclusion: Otter and Odder
This is a newer-to-us book after it was suggested by my dear friend Claire, and let me tell you, it is a goooooood one. The story is about an otter who falls in love with a fish. I love this story because it can be read to explain having friends that look different from our children, interracial families and couples, same-sex couples, and anything else that fits a “nonconformity” type of relationship. It also normalizes having relationships with people from a different background and experience, which is something we feel is so important to do for our boys.
Book to teach about Compassion: When Charley Met Emma
This book is near and dear to my heart as a person living with MS. My boys have the, dare I say, good fortune of being exposed to different levels of ability and things like mobility aids and handicapped parking stickers on a daily basis. But, despite their ever-present exposure and opportunity for discussions, the conversation about treating every person with compassion is also ongoing. This book is about a little boy who meets a friend who has limb differences and uses a wheelchair. The story is both tear-jerking and heartwarming and such a great way to start a conversation about disabilities and how to be a good helper when someone has a different level of ability.
Book about Following Your Dreams: Mae Among the Stars
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this book is a tried and true favorite around here. TJ asks for it all the time and I’ve heard him repeat the book’s catchphrase line of “If you believe it and you work hard for it, anything is possible”, and isn’t that one of the most important lessons we try to teach in a nutshell. This book tells the story of Dr. Mae Jemison as a child and her ambition to become an astronaut. She met obstacles along the way, but she was the first Black woman to travel to space – and we love to celebrate women in science. The crux of the story is really about following your dreams and working hard to achieve your goals, no matter how many people tell you it’s impossible.
Book about Expressing Your Feelings: My Many Colored Days
This book is by Dr. Seuss so you already know it’s a classic. As I’ve mentioned before, TJ is a big feeler. Since he’s only 2 years old, sometimes those big feelings can be overwhelming since it’s still hard for him to identify what they are. This book does an amazing job of visually expressing different feeling in the illustrations, and gives each feeling a color so it’s really tangible for young children and toddlers. We read this book pretty often and it’s really helped TJ tell us how he’s feeling – sometimes he’ll just say “Mama, I’m feeling a little purple today” or “Jacob seems like he’s feeling really red”. For me, reading to my boys is just as much about emotionally learning as it is about intellectually learning, and this book does an amazing job of tying the two together.
Book about Where We Live: Make Way for Ducklings
Sarah, Shannon, and I live in different parts of the country (but, like, imagine how fun our playdates would be if we lived closer…) so we’ve each included a children’s book about where we call home. Make Way for Ducklings is a Boston classic. It’s the story of a family of ducks who navigate through the streets of Boston to find their new home in Boston Common. There’s even a statue of the little ducks and their Mama duck in the real Boston Common! The illustrations are classically beautiful and it’s so fun to point out all of the places our boys, especially TJ, know and love.
I hope you’ve found a new book or two to add to your library, and be sure to check out Sarah and Shannon’s posts for more ideas, too! I’ve also linked everything in Like to Know It so you can find all these books in one spot and be sure to Pin this post for later.
Happy reading, friends!
xo,
Stephanie
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