[Image Description: There is a 6 photo collage of the following books: Good Night Bath Time written by Adam Gamble and illustrated by Mark Jasper, If I were a reindeer... written and illustrated by Anne Wilkinson, Runaway Bunny written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd, The Very Hungry Caterpillar written and illustrated by Eric Carle, I Can, Can You? written and photographed by Marjorie W. Pitzer, and The Little Engine That Could written by Watty Piper and illustrated by Cristina Ong. "18 Book Recommendations for Infants and Toddlers" is in center-aligned teal text with 1 and 8 in "18" as keycap digit emojis.]
As many of you know, I love to collect children's books and teachers read several books to their students every year. In this week's blog post, the below featured picture books are developmentally appropriate and fun for any child ages 0-3. These are some my most absolute favorite infant and toddler books of all time. Short books with colorful, simple illustrations are engaging and contribute to building the language development of infants and toddlers. This is especially true when the books feature familiar themes that connect to the world of infants and toddlers, such as animals, food, transportation, other babies, and people. Take a look at eighteen books for infants and toddlers:
1. Baby Signs: A Baby-Sized Introduction to Speaking with Sign Language written and illustrated by Joy Allen
[Image Description: The image shows the book called "Baby Signs: A Baby-Sized Introduction to Speaking with Sign Language" written and illustrated by Joy Allen. "Baby Signs" is in center-aligned curved blue text at the top of the book cover. Under the title of the book cover, there is a white smiling baby who is sitting on a white floor in front of a yellow wall with eleven scattered white stars on it. The baby has some straight brown hair who is wearing a long sleeved light green shirt, a white bib with a yellow duck with an orange beak, medium green and dark green striped pants, and white socks. The baby's left hand is raised and there is a triangular red block, a cube blue block, and a cube yellow block with a center-aligned orange "C" on it on the left side of the floor. There is an orange block with a center-aligned black "B" on it and brown teddy bear in front of the baby. There is a triangular purple block on the right side of the floor. "pictures by Joy Allen" is in center-aligned dark blue text in the bottom right corner of the book cover.]
Baby Signs: A Baby-Sized Introduction to Speaking with Sign Language is a board book for teaching baby signs. Sign Language is not universal; so, the definition of Baby Sign Language is pretty self-explanatory - it is a type of sign language created for infants and toddlers. The signs are developmentally appropriate gestures that infants and toddlers will typically understand and be able to apply. Baby Sign Language can be a great way to teach infants and toddlers of all abilities since their verbal communication skills are so limited at their age. It is also a great diversity lesson for them since Sign Language is commonly used by many people in the deaf and hard of hearing community. It is common for people who struggle with their verbal communication skills as part of their disabilities to use Sign Language as well. When I was a toddler teacher, I taught Baby Sign Language to my toddler students every day at circle time and incorporated it into our daily routine. I taught Baby Sign Language to my infant students back when I was a Lead Infant Teacher as well. Teaching Baby Sign Language to my infant and toddler students definitely positively and strongly impacted their development. There are many other additional Baby Sign Language books out there as children's books and informational books for families and infant/toddler teachers. I bought Baby Signs: A Baby-Sized Introduction to Speaking with Sign Language.
Related Links:
- To find out more about Baby Sign Language, you can visit the website of the founders of Baby Sign Language: www.babysigns.com
2. Corduroy written and illustrated by Don Freeman
[Image Description: The book cover is rectangular and red with "CORDUROY" in center-aligned yellow writing displayed at the top with "by Don Freeman" in right-aligned black writing displayed in the bottom right corner. There is an illustration of the protagonist named Corduroy who is a brown, fuzzy teddy bear wearing green overalls with his left shoulder strap missing a button. He appears to be standing on furniture in the department store with his hand reaching out towards a button.]
Corduroy written and illustrated by Don Freeman is about a teddy bear in green overalls named Corduroy who comes to life in a department store and is longing to be bought. A little girl named Lisa has a strong desire to buy him at the beginning of the book; however, her mother disapproves of the idea of buying him when he notices that he is missing a button to one of his shoulder straps. After finding this out, he searches throughout the department store for it so that he can tidy himself up for Lisa.
Corduroy is developmentally appropriate for readers between the ages of birth to 3 years old.
3. Farm Sounds: Usborne Sound Books written by Sam Taplin and illustrated by Federica Iossa
[Image Description: The book cover is colorful with a busy farm scene of many different farm animals, their associated sounds, a barn, a bird house, a pond, a tractor, grass with various colorful flowers, and a butterfly. The farm animals on the book cover include three ducks in the pond, a brown and white cow mooing, a rooster crow "Cock-a-doodle-doooo", four yellow birds outside of a bird house saying, "Tweet tweet", a bee saying, "Buzz", and a tractor making a "Brrumm" sound. There is a light gray button with a red circle around it that says, "Press the page to hear the sounds" in center-aligned curvy text on it. "Farm Sounds" is in center-aligned red text in the middle of the book cover.]
Farm Sounds: Usborne Sound Books written by Sam Taplin and illustrated by Federica Iossa is an interactive sound book. Bring farm animals to life with this book by pressing the buttons on the pages to hear their sounds, such as cows mooing, roosters cock-a-doodling, even a tractor brumming, and more!
Farm Sounds: Usborne Sound Books is developmentally appropriate for readers between the ages of birth to 2 years old.
4. Guess How Much I Love You written by Sam McBratney and illustrated by Anita Jeram
[Image Description: The book cover is white with an apricot spine. "GUESS HOW MUCH" is in center-aligned blue text and "I LOVE YOU" is in center-aligned orange text with an illustration of Little Nutbrown Hare and Big Nutbrown Hare who are brown and white hare standing on grass with a blue sky in the background in the middle of the text. "Samy McBratney illustrated by Anita Jeram" is in center-aligned black text with a light green background representing grass at the bottom of the book cover.]
Guess How Much I Love You written by Sam McBratney and illustrated by Anita Jeram is about two hares named Big Nutbrown Hare and Little Nutbrown Hare with the implication that they are father and son. Little Nutbrown Hare asks Big Nutbrown Hare, "Guess how much I love you?" Both Little Nutbrown Hare and Big Nutbrown Hare use larger and larger measures with their bodies to symbolize and express the quantification of how much they love each other.
Guess How Much I Love You is developmentally appropriate for readers between the ages of birth to 2 years old.
5. Good Night Books written by Adam Gamble and illustrated by Mark Jasper
[Image Description: The book cover is dark blue with "Good Night Bath Time" in center-aligned white text the top of the book cover and "Adam Gamble" and "Mark Jasper" in center-aligned white text at the bottom of the book cover. There is a smiling white woman bathing a smiling black baby and smiling white baby with red hair in a bathtub filled with bubbles. The woman is rubbing soap on the black baby's head and the babies are playing multiple bath toys including a pink crab, sailboat, whale, yellow duck, and green turtle.]
When I used to read the Good Night Books children's books brand to my former young toddler class and former infant class at circle time, I noticed that many of the characters in the books have visible disabilities. They are in wheelchairs and using canes and crutches while participating in activities.
I like that these are other books that feature disabled characters/characters with disabilities and focus beyond their differences. The characters' disabilities are not mentioned in the Good Night Books and I was so pleased to see this during the first time that I made this observation. To reiterate, while it is important to have and read children's books about disabilities to spread awareness, understanding of differences, and acceptance, it is also important to have children's books that include characters with disabilities/disabled characters/differently-abled characters and characters of all differences in the stories because just looking at the characters in the pictures will also help readers to gain acceptance and inclusion of differences through the pictures serving as visual representation. Doing this teaches children and all readers that disabilities do not always need to be mentioned because they are not the only part of people. People with disabilities, disabled people, and differently-abled people are more than their disabilities and despite their struggles, they can do many other of the same things as everyone else too. This is because they are capable of being included in other opportunities that focus beyond their differences.
[Image Description: illustration of wheelchair user in Good Night Seashore]
Good Nights Books are developmentally appropriate for readers between the ages of birth to 5 years old.
6. I Can, Can You? written and photographed by Marjorie W. Pitzer
[Image Description: The image shows the book called "I Can, Can You?" written and photographed by Marjorie W. Pitzer. "I Can, Can You?" is in center-aligned white text outlined in pink. "Written & Photographed by Marjorie W. Pitzer" is in center-aligned white text outlined in pink at the bottom of the book. On the right side of the book cover, there is a smiling baby with short blonde hair who is wearing a purple strapped bathing suit with four light pink flowers on the chest part of the bathing suit. The baby is also sitting in green grass.]
I Can, Can You? written and photographed by Marjorie W. Pitzer is a book that features babies with Down Syndrome without their differences being mentioned and focusing on their abilities and interests including playing patty cake, playing in a sand box, self-feeding, etc. While educating about differences to spread awareness is needed when teaching about inclusion, it is also important to teach children to look past people's differences by focusing beyond those differences. This is because differences do not define people meaning they are not the only part of people. There are other qualities about people in the disability community that need to be recognized just like they get recognized in nondisabled people/people without disabilities.
I Can, Can You? is developmentally appropriate for readers between the ages of birth to 5 years old.
7. If I were a reindeer... written and illustrated by Anne Wilkinson
[Image Description: The book cover is dark blue with silver spots on it and "If I were a reindeer..." in center-aligned black text at the bottom. There is an illustration of a brown reindeer with carpeted antlers. There is a texturized gray furry tail attached to the top of the book cover.]
If I were a reindeer... written and illustrated by Anne Wilkinson is a touch and feel Jellycats book that explores the different textures of the body parts of a reindeer.
If I were a reindeer... is developmentally appropriate for readers between the ages of birth to 3 years old.
8. I Like Myself written by Karen Beaumont and illustrated by David Catrow
[Image Description: The book cover is bright pink with "I Like Myself!" in left-aligned curvy yellow text. "Karen Beaumont" is in left-aligned light green text in the bottom left corner of the book cover with "Illustrated by" in left-aligned white text below it with "David Catrow" in left-aligned light blue text below it. There is an illustration of a girl with short dark brown hair who is wearing a red and white striped dress, dark purple stockings, and black shoes dancing on a round black and white checkered platform.]
I Like Myself written by Karen Beaumont and illustrated by David Catrow is about a little girl who expresses what she loves about herself and how she does not let other people's judgment get in the way of this. I Like Myself is a children's picture book with rhyming text that encourages positive self-esteem by celebrating self-acceptance and self-love.
I Like Myself is developmentally appropriate for readers between the ages of 18 months to 5 years old.
9. Love Makes a Family written and illustrated by Sophie Beer
[Image Description: The book cover is light blue with "LOVE makes a family" in center-aligned white text and "Sophie Beer" in center-aligned white text at the bottom. There are four families with children and parents of different races and genders, rainbows, tiny bright orange and dark blue hearts, and other abstract shapes spread out across the cover.]
Love Makes a Family written and illustrated by Sophie Beer shows different families in various happy activities with text that explains all of the different ways that make families loving. Whether a child has two moms, two dads, a single parent, one of each, or interracial parents, this book shows that the love that family members share with each other is the most important part of healthy family relationships.
Love Makes a Family is developmentally appropriate for readers between the ages of infants to 3 years old.
10. Noisy Farm: Usborne Sound Books written by Jessica Greenwell and illustrated by Lee Wildish
[Image Description: The book cover is colorful with a busy farm scene of many different farm animals, a house, 4 bushes, 2 stacks of hay, and many colorful flowers. The farm animals on the book cover include a black and white cow, a rooster standing on a stack of hay, a horse, a snail, 2 chicks, one bird, and 3 mice. ""Usborne" is in center-aligned black text at the top of the book cover with "Noisy Farm" in center-aligned red text below it. "Illustrated by Lee Wildish" is in center-aligned black text at the bottom of the book cover. The sound panel attached to the right side of the book is red and includes pictures of a rooster, lamb, horse, cow, donkey, pig, dog, cat, and all of the animals together (top to bottom) for each sound button.]
Noisy Farm: Usborne Sound Books written by Jessica Greenwell and illustrated by Lee Wildish is another interactive sound book. There is a sound panel full of various farm animal sounds attached to the right side of the book.
Noisy Farm: Usborne Sound Books is developmentally appropriate for readers between the ages of birth to 2 years old.
11. Peter Cottontail written and illustrated by Karen Lee Schmidt
[Image Description: The book cover shows Peter Cottontail who appears as a big white bunny wearing a colorful vest, pink bow tie, blue pants, and bare feet. He is smiling with his eyes glancing to the left and carrying a blue and white checkered basket full of colorful Easter eggs while hopping along a curvy path outdoors. There is grass along both sides of the path with many white and blue daisies as well as three of some type of tall yellow flowers. There is a blue sky with many pine trees in the background. "Peter Cottontail" is in left-aligned curvy pink text in the top left corner of the book cover.]
Peter Cottontail written and illustrated by Karen Lee Schmidt captures the notable Easter bunny character named Peter Cottontail making his annual visits to different outdoor areas to hide decorative eggs for an egg hunt on Easter day.
Peter Cottontail is developmentally appropriate for readers between the ages of 18 months to 4 years old who celebrate Easter. In addition, early readers between these ages can also read this book to learn more about other holidays that people celebrate as a culturally responsive approach.
12. Sesame Street: The Monster at the End of This Book starring Lovable, Furry Old Grover written by Jon Stone and illustrated by Michael Smollin
[Image Description: The book cover shows the Sesame Street logo in the top left corner. "a Little Golden Board Book" is in center-aligned cursive black text in a white rectangular sign outlined in light green attached to a dark pink brick wall. "the MONSTER at the end of this Book" is in center-aligned bright pink bubble letters below the black text. "starring LOVABLE, FURRY OLD" is in center-aligned dark blue text below the bright pink bubble letters. "GROVER" is in center-aligned yellow bubble letters below the dark blue text. "By Jon Stone Illustrated by Michael Smollin" is in center-aligned black text below the yellow bubble letters. Grover appears as a bright blue furry monster with a pink round nose and holding on a pole holding up the "SESAME ST" green street sign with a white light above it with a blue sky in the background. There is a white talking bubble that says, "Hello, everybodee!" is in center-aligned black text on the left side of Grover. The talking bubble is overlapping a yellow green trash can.]
In Sesame Street: The Monster at the End of This Book starring Lovable, Furry Old Grover written by Jon Stone and illustrated by Michael Smollin, Grover expresses great fear to learn that there is a monster at the end of this book! While he begs readers not to turn the pages, the book's purpose intrigues children to continuously turn the pages to see this monster for themselves leaving Grover amazed. Children will love to see who the real monster is at the end of this book.
Sesame Street: The Monster at the End of This Book starring Lovable, Furry Old Grover is developmentally appropriate for readers between the ages of 18 months to three years old.
13. Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes written by Mem Fox and illustrated by Helen Oxenbury
[Image Description: The book cover is rectangular and light yellow. "Ten Little FINGERS and Ten Little TOES" is in center-aligned black text on the top left side of the book cover. "MEM FOX" is in left-aligned black text in the bottom left corner of the book cover. "ILLUSTRATED BY HELEN OXENBURY" is in right-aligned black text in the bottom right corner of the book cover. There is an illustration of a happy baby wearing a dark blue jacket and gray scarf with short straight black hair and their hands spread out. The baby is sitting on a wooden swing attached to 2 strands of rope.]
Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes written by Mem Fox and illustrated by Helen Oxenbury used to be one of the top favorite books in my former infant and toddler classrooms. I have observed that babies often love seeing pictures of other babies, other babies in person, and anything to do with other babies. I love that Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes features babies from various diverse races, cultures, and parts of the world.
Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes is developmentally appropriate for readers between the ages of 14 months to 3 years old.
14. The Little Engine That Could written by Watty Piper and illustrated by Cristina Ong
[Image Description: The image shows the book called "The Little Engine That Could" written by Watty Piper and illustrated by Cristina Ong. There is a blue and yellow train facing to the right with one big center-aligned black and gray wheel outlined in yellow, two small gray wheels outlined in yellow on the left and right sides of the center-aligned wheel, and a gray engine on the front of the train. The train has a smile on the chimney and a yellow bell behind the head of the train. There is a smiling clown who is sitting on the back of the train. The clown is holding a red flag attached to a yellow stick in their right hand. The clown is wearing a white and green polka dotted outfit with red neck and wrist collars, big yellow shoes, a red pointed hat with two white cotton balls on it, a blue clown nose, and red, white, and black face makeup. The clown has their back turned away from the front of the train with their head turned towards the front of the train. "THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD" is in center-aligned yellow text outlined in black. There is white smoke coming out of the train's smokebox and the rest of the white board book's cover matches the shape of the train.]
The Little Engine That Could is about a small blue engine who must help pull toys and animals over a mountain after the little red train stops working. Although the little blue engine is reluctant about performing this task due to its size, they are determined to give it a chance by repetitively saying "I think I can" while doing so resulting in success and pride.
The Little Engine That Could is a colorful, fun, motivating book for readers between the ages of 18 months to Kindergarten.
[Image Description: The book cover shows a smiling big blue train traveling along railroad tracks with green grass on both sides and chugging down a hill with white steam puffing from its smokestack. There is a church and multiple houses in the background of the train with yellow above it. There is a clown wearing a white, green polka dotted suit with big white shoes, and white, red, and blue makeup sitting on the back of the train. There also 2 people and a dog standing in front of the train with their backs turned towards the readers. "THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD" is in center-aligned blue text at the top of the book cover. "by WATTY PIPER" is in right-aligned black text below the blue text. "AN ABRIDGED EDITION" is in center-aligned black text on the right side of the book cover below the author's name.]
15. The Runaway Bunny written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd
[Image Description: The book cover shows "The RUNAWAY BUNNY" is in italicized white text outlined in pink at the top of the book cover. There is an illustration of a big bunny and baby bunny sitting in a field of grass with 9 pink flowers. "by Margaret Wise Brown Pictures by Clement Hurd" is in right-aligned black text in the bottom right corner of the book cover.]
The Runaway Bunny written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd is about a little bunny who keeps running away from his mother in an imaginary game of hide-and-seek. The little bunny's mother tells him that she will find run after him if he runs away and he expresses different things that he will do if she runs after him followed by her saying what she will do. The mother finding her child every time is often very engaging for children who read this book.
The Runaway Bunny is developmentally appropriate for readers between the ages of 18 months to 4 years old.
16. The Very Hungry Caterpillar written and illustrated by Eric Carle
[Image Description: The book cover is white with "THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR by Eric Carle" in right-aligned black text in the top right corner. There is an illustration of The Very Hungry Caterpillar who has a green body curved upward, a red oval shaped head, green oval shaped eyes outlined in yellow, black nose, purple antennas, and 6 tiny brown legs.]
The Very Hungry Caterpillar written and illustrated by Eric Carle is about a caterpillar who eats his way through various foods as he gets ready to grow into a butterfly.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar is developmentally appropriate for readers between the ages of birth to five years old.
17. Things That Go Air & Sea (Greenbrier)
[Image Description: The book cover shows "Things that go" in right-aligned black bubble letters outlined in white and orange. "AiR" is in bright orange bubble letters outlined in white below "go." "&" is in black text outlined in white on the right side of "AiR." "Sea" is in right-aligned dark green bubble letters outlined in white below "&." There are photographs of an airplane, a rainbow-colored hot air balloon, a sailboat with an orange and light green striped sail flag, and rowboat. The book cover also has light blue, light green, and dark blue curvy stripes in the background.]
Things That Go Air & Sea written by Greenbrier International, Inc. is a book that features multiple different things that operate by flying in the air or moving in the sea with pictorial and written visuals.
Things That Go Air & Sea is developmentally appropriate for readers between the ages of 12 months to 2 years old.
18. Touch and Feel Farm written and illustrated by Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Inc.
[Image Description: The book cover is white with "TOUCH and FEEL" in center-aligned red text at the top and "FARM" in green, pink, blue, and orange alternating text below the red text. There are photographs of a lamb, rooster, 2 horses, 3 pigs, and a chick with texturized yellow fur attached to it.]
Touch and Feel Farm written and illustrated by Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Inc. is a touch and feel book that explores different types of farm animals and their textures.
Touch and Feel Farm is developmentally appropriate for readers between the ages of 6 months to 2 years old.
To learn more about how to support the early learning and development of infants and toddlers, click on the below links to some resources:
You might gain a better understanding about children's books and language and overall development in the infant/toddler stage by reading the following blog posts that I have written:
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Citations
1. Allen, J. (2008). Baby Signs: A Baby-Sized Introduction to Sign Language. Penguin Young Readers Group.
2. (2023). Baby Signs. www.babysigns.com
3. Beaumont, K. & Catrow, D. (1 May 2024). I Like Myself. Clarion Books.
4. Beer, S. (2018). Love Makes a Family. Hardie Grant Publishing.
5. Bratney, S. & Jeram, A. (1996). Guess How Much I Love You. Library of Congress Cataloging.
6. Browne, M. W. & Hurd, C. (1942). Runaway Bunny. Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc.
7. Carle, E. (1969 & 1987). The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Philomel Books.
8. Fox, M. & Oxenbury, H. (2008). Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes. Harper Collins Publishers.
9. Freeman, D. (1968). Corduroy. Penguin Random House LLC.
10. Gamble, A. (2005). Good Night Books. Good Night Books. https://goodnightbooks.com
11. Greenwell, J. & Wildish, L. (2011). Noisy Farm: Usborne Sound Books. Usborne Publishing Ltd., Usborne House.
12. (N.d.). Things That Go Air & Sea. Greenbrier International, Inc.
13. Piper, W. & Long, L. (2012). The Little Engine That Could: An Abridged Edition. Penguin Random House LLC.
14. Piper, W. & Ong, C. (1991). The Little Engine That Could. Platt & Munk, Publishers.
15. Pitzer, M. W. (2004). I Can, Can You? WOODBINE HOUSE, Inc.
16. Schmidt, K. L. (1996). Peter Cottontail. Grosset & Dunlap, Inc.
17. Stone, J. & Smollin, M. (2015). Sesame Street: The Monster at the End of This Book starring Lovable, Furry Old Grover. Golden Books.
18. Taplin, S. & Iossa, F. Farm Sounds: Usborne Sound Books.
19. (1998). Touch and Feel Farm. Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Inc.
20. Wilkinson, A. (N.d.). If I were a reindeer... Jellycat Books.
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