20 Best Baby Books For Their First Library

Reading aloud to babies is one of the most effective ways to foster early literacy skills. Here are our 20 best baby books for baby’s first library.

20 Best Baby Books For Their First Library

Next time you visit your baby’s doctor, you may get a somewhat surprising prescription: Reading.

That’s right—the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently recommended that doctors encourage parents to read aloud to children every day starting as early as birth(!) and continuing up until kindergarten and beyond.

How reading helps children

1. Improves literacy skills

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics report, reading aloud to babies and young kids is one of the most effective ways to foster early literacy skills. And early, consistent parent-child reading is a key factor responsible for eventual reading success.

Additional studies suggest that when we read to babies, they grow into children who have larger vocabularies and even more advanced math skills.

Through reading, your newborn will also eventually begin to pick up on changes in tone and inflection that will teach him about language and reading on his own, as well as the fact that different sounds and tones are used to convey certain emotions and feelings (source).

2. Improves bonding

Research also shows that reading to a baby—even a baby as young as a newborn—can promote bonding. Even if it doesn’t seem like your baby is paying attention, think of this as a time to be close—to snuggle up together and soothe baby with your heart beat and the sound of your voice.

You’re also modeling good behavior from a very early age, and showing your child that reading is a fun, interactive activity with importance.

But not enough kids are reading

Also according to the report, more than one third of children in the United States start kindergarten unequipped with the literacy skills they need. Can you believe that?! 

We’re big readers at our house, but still. This is a major wakeup call for us.

We read several books aloud with Griffin every night before bedtime. But our squirrely seven-month old Paloma? Not so much. But that’s about to change—both because of this study, and because she’s just getting old enough to engage with a book.

So it’s time to dust off some of our best baby books, including the titles listed below.

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20 best baby books for your little one’s first library

Pete the Cat
Pete the Cat

Nobody's cooler than Pete the Cat in this first (and best) book of the series, and the lesson about rolling with life's curveballs is valuable for everyone, even parents 😉

— Check it Out —
Pete the Cat
I Love You Through And Through
I Love You Through And Through

I actually bought this book for Mike back when we were dating, so it holds a special place in my heart 🙂 It has cute illustrations and a simple story that every kid can love. There is a Spanish-written version too!

— Check it Out —
I Love You Through And Through
My Big Animal Book
My Big Animal Book

I read this book hundreds of times with baby Griffin. When kids are really young, picture books like this are usually more engaging than stories. As a bonus, it helps cultivate a love of animals.

— Check it Out —
My Big Animal Book
First 100 Animals
First 100 Animals

Another awesome, colorful book to teach kids about animals. Definitely a staple in the first couple years of my son's life. Bonus: it's available used on Amazon for $.01.

— Check it Out —
First 100 Animals
First 100 Words
First 100 Words

Similar to the 100 Animals book, this one's packed with colorful photos that will build your little one's vocabulary and teach them about their world.

— Check it Out —
First 100 Words
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
The Very Hungry Caterpillar

There's a reason why this book is on just about every kid's book shelf. A classic by the master of children's stories. This classic book is also available in Spanish.

— Check it Out —
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Guess How Much I Love You
Guess How Much I Love You

When you're in that new baby bliss, it can be a struggle to express just how head-over-heels you are for your child. That's the dilemma these adorable rabbits hares face.

— Check it Out —
Guess How Much I Love You
Good Night, Gorilla
Good Night, Gorilla

A super cute story told almost entirely in pictures, this one's great for very little kids. Also perfect for kids who love animals.

— Check it Out —
Good Night, Gorilla
Are You My Mother.
Are You My Mother?

A classic tale of a baby bird looking for his mother. The book helps build babies' vocabularies and recall by building and repeating a series of phrases throughout the story.

— Check it Out —
Are You My Mother.
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

I dare you to get through parenting without knowing what that brown bear sees. This is a wonderful story for very young kids, told mainly through photos.

— Check it Out —
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See
The Frog and Toad Collection
The Frog and Toad Collection

Your babies will have to get a little bit older to enjoy this series, but once they do, your whole family will fall in love with these sweet and magical tales about friendship.

— Check it Out —
The Frog and Toad Collection
Fox in Socks
Fox in Socks

This Dr. Seuss classic jumped out as our son's first favorite book! Packed cover-to-cover with crazy tongue twisters, it's a fun read for the parent too. 🙂

— Check it Out —
Fox in Socks
First big book of Dinosaurs
First Big Book of Dinosaurs

There isn't a book on my son's shelf that is more tattered from repeated readings than this one. It's all about the big glorious dino pictures, with almost no violent or scary scenes.

— Check it Out —
First big book of Dinosaurs
Leonardo, the Terrible Monster
Leonardo, the Terrible Monster

Our favorite Mo Willems book by far. Leonardo is a terrible monster because he can't scare anyone! There was a six-month period where my son had every word in this book memorized.

— Check it Out —
Leonardo, the Terrible Monster
The Berenstain Bears and the Baby Chipmunk
The Berenstain Bears and the Baby Chipmunk

The Berenstain Bears are another favorite in our house, although some titles are definitely better than others. My son still talks about Papa Bear getting bit on the leg in this one. "Yip-Yow!"

— Check it Out —
The Berenstain Bears and the Baby Chipmunk
Where's Spot (Little Spot Board Book)
Where’s Spot (Little Spot Board Book)

What childhood would be complete without Spot? These lift-the-flap books help get kids engaged with reading.

— Check it Out —
Where's Spot (Little Spot Board Book)
I Spy A Book of Picture Riddles
I Spy: A Book of Picture Riddles

These visual puzzles encourage your child to concentrate, explore, and really engage with a book. The hidden object scenes are so dense that I still see new things, even years after first reading them.

— Check it Out —
I Spy A Book of Picture Riddles
It's Not Easy Being a Bunny
It’s Not Easy Being a Bunny

Another timeless tale about being yourself. The formula of short, repeating text helps kids stay with the story, and the moral is spot-on.

— Check it Out —
It's Not Easy Being a Bunny
Horton Hatches the Egg
Horton Hatches the Egg

"I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. An elephant is faithful, one hundred per cent!” Written in expert rhyming verse, this book is Dr. Seuss' crowning achievement, IMO. The part with the hunters is dated for sure, but it's a brief blip in an otherwise classic book.

— Check it Out —
Horton Hatches the Egg
Besos for Baby by Jen Arena
Besos for Baby by Jen Arena

Introduce baby to simple Spanish words with this adorable book! Using simple Spanish words, this charming book illustrates that love is the same in every language.

— Check it Out —
Besos for Baby by Jen Arena
Peekaboo Morning by Rachel Isadora
Peekaboo Morning by Rachel Isadora

A sweet story about the classic game of Peekaboo! Awesome illustrations and babies will giggle and smile while reading this playful and interactive story.

— Check it Out —
Peekaboo Morning by Rachel Isadora
Please, Baby, Please by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee
Please, Baby, Please by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee

Written by the famous filmmaker Spike Lee and his wife, producer Tonya Lewis Lee, we have a fun "behind-the-scenes" look at the daily rhythm of parenting a young child. From highchairs, to bedtime to sandbox play, this book reminds us of the precious moments of bringing up baby!

— Check it Out —
Please, Baby, Please by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee
Babies Around the World Dancing
Babies Around the World: Dancing

The title alone is adorable enough! Get your baby wiggling with this multicultural book about babies dancing around the globe.

— Check it Out —
Babies Around the World Dancing
Who Said Moo
Who Said Moo?

This classic deserves more recognition - a fav for all of my kids when they were two years old.

— Check it Out —
Who Said Moo

Reading material for parents

When you’re not reading to baby, you might like the following titles for your own benefit:

The Best Parenting Books for Natural Mamas and Papas: Are you into natural parenting? Check out these ten awesome books that will help you on the road to naturally and intentionally parenting your child.

The Best Pregnancy Books for Natural Mamas: Looking for the best pregnancy books out there? Look no further! Here’s the shortlist of the very best natural and holistic pregnancy books available.

How about you?

Are any of these titles among your favorites?

What are the best baby books you would recommend to a friend?

How often do you read to your children? And at what age did you start?

I can’t wait to hear about your experiences. Share with us in the comments below!

Genevieve Howland

About the Author

Genevieve Howland is a childbirth educator and breastfeeding advocate. She is the bestselling author of The Mama Natural Week-by-Week Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth and creator of the Mama Natural Birth Course. A mother of three, graduate of the University of Colorado, and YouTuber with over 130,000,000 views, she helps mothers and moms-to-be lead healthier and more natural lives.

57 Comments

  1. Room on the Broom deserves a spot on this list!

  2. Your list of books display by your blog is extremely happy to take as it is required to be done to create the functional system of time to manage the time with baby. it makes them actively involve them.
    Thanks!
    Baby Grafitty (https://babygrafitty.com/)

  3. We read to baby every-single-night since he was about a month old. We now read books to him in English and Spanish (dad reads in spanish). We typically read the same books to him over and over (rotating three in spanish and his one favorite in English). Now at 7 months, he is very engaged especially at his favorite book in English. I love reading to him and read more than one book at bedtime whenever we have days together!

  4. My son is going on 4 months now. Dad and I have been trying to read to him every day, since the moment we knew he could hear in the womb. Sadly, we sometimes forget to do story time or get busy. As a newborn he did not stay long with us reading, but a couple of months later and he loves it. Loves the sounds we make and the pictures he sees. I sometimes read him the bible, in Spanish, with an exaggerated voice or my husband sometimes reads to him poems, in English. Right now we are doing black and white contrast books to help with his visual. I think I will switch out books once a week or month from the library. I told my husband that we need to make it a habit to read every night and take a book with us wherever we go because children imitate what they see more then what you say to them. Thank you so much for this page, every question I have you seem to have the answer to. Keep it up!

  5. Without a doubt, there are some great and timeless titles listed here. Many of these I read to my own children and now, my grandchildren. I was hoping to find some books appropriate for 8 months to 18 month-old babies; their interest is ripe, but their attention is hard to keep.

  6. The list is really awesome. The baby would be loving them a lot.
    Keep the nice works.

  7. We love the Serendipity Books by Stephen Cosgrove & Robin James.
    I always liked Captain Smudge and the Muffin Dragon.

  8. We love the Serendipity Books by Stephen Cosgrove & Robin James. My favorites are Captain Smudge and the Muffin Dragon.

  9. I started reading nightly to my oldest when starting his bedtime routine around 3mo. He is now 2.5 and looks forward to picking out his books each night. His favorites rotate, but some made the list, and others include Goodnight Moon, Llamma Llamma books, Go Dog Go, and Tap Tap Bang Bang. My youngest is going on 4mo and he has joined for some bedtime reading, I find it is harder to get into a bedtime routine with him, including reading. He is often asleep earlier or fussy right at our desired bedtime. I hope to include both of them in nightly reading soon.

  10. What a great list! We adore many of the books you’ve shared too! One of my absolute favorites is “Pat the Bunny”. It is really one-of-a-kind! Each page has an interactive piece that my children LOVE!

  11. It would be nice to see more books featuring children of color on this list- please baby please is a favorite in our house

  12. Our son LOVES all things Frog and Toad and Arnold Lobel (Mouse Soup, anyone?) When we aren’t reading the books, he asks for us to tell him stories about them. And the Little Blue Truck and Pout Pout Fish books.

    • Pout pout fish is my favorite ?

  13. Love this list – there are some new ones here for us to try. My 14 month old son really enjoys interactive books where he can lift flaps or press buttons for sounds. There’s a nice Mr Men time telling book with a built in clock and hands he can set that he really loves! Thanks for sharing.

  14. Margaret Wise Brown books! Goodnight Moon and The Big Red Barn are our favorites. My boys liked The Fire Engine book (a Golden book also available as a board book). If You Were My Bunny is a treasure, too, and incorporates lullabies.

  15. One of our favorites is “I Can’t Said the Ant.” Rhyming couplets tell the story of how kitchen implements work together to rescue a broken teapot.

  16. I am a reading teacher. I have worked with K3-12th, and I am *passionate* about early literacy. Like, crazed. I started collecting books for my own child’s library when I was in high-school. (I am 32, now, and pregnant with my first.)

    A couple of things:
    1) If a kid is behind in reading by the end of 3rd grade, there is a 94% chance (approximately, there have been MANY studies, so it varies) they will never catch up. Just google “3rd grade reading threshold,” and follow the rabbit trail!
    2) The students who are behind by the end of third grade comprise 88% +/- of eventual high school drop-outs.
    3) Almost every reading skill they need in order to succeed by that 3rd grade threshold is developed before your child enters kindergarten. Skills *you* build: text rich environment, talking through issues instead of commanding your child (models thought process), phonemic awareness, print awareness, phoneme recognition, vocabulary, and a great start to phonics- all happens at home!
    4) Some of the very best books for early literacy are: nursery rhymes, poetry, fables, and folklore.
    Rhymes and poetry have repeating patterns of letters, or even display how one sound can have a variety of spellings. Fables and folklore introduce inference skills, comprehension, and theme. This is why Seuss and Silverstein are so iconic- they merge all of these genres.

    In conclusion, the cornerstone of my child’s library are: Mother Goose, Aesop’s Fables, Dr. Seuss, and all of Shel Silverstein. I hope they find their way to your shelves as well!

    • Once baby comes, I plan to work my way through my pinterest book lists (by theme) each week. (I know, I know, every mother just through her head back and laughed at my naive mommy-optimism!) Anyway, if you would like to do the same, feel free to check out my pinterest board: https://www.pinterest.com/dejazul17/book-lists/

  17. My 26 month old loves more books than I can count! We read every day starting from birth and now he can’t get enough! He loves Frog and Toad are friends, The Bernstein Bears on vacation, and Snuggle Piggy and the Magic Blanket ( an oldie but goodie)!

    • Would you able to connect with me on Instagram 13_saby or email me on [email protected] so that we can have a chat further. I have a 1 week old baby girl and would like to get bit more understanding around reading books to new born babies.

    • Snuggle Piggy and the Magic a blanket was my favorite book growing up! My grandma even made me a Snuggle Piggy blanket! I recently had my first baby and passed the book and blanked on to her 🙂

  18. My 18 month old love All of Baby Nose to Toes and Dear Zoo. Thanks for the recommendations!

  19. My kids love the pre-K Bob books atm and we love the hot rod hamster books as well. We read about and watch dvds about a hamster called hamtaro too. The hamtaro books have many stories in each book. They are great for my 4 and 5 year olds. My 1 and 2 year olds can’t get into them yet though. To many words and not enough pictures for them yet lol

  20. My 3 year old has memorized the following books and “reads” them to me:
    One Drowsy Dragon, The Very Cranky Bear, The Gruffalo.
    He also loves: The day the crayons quit, Snuggle Puppy, The Gruffalo’s child, The Grannyman, Bony Legs (maybe scary for some kids), Bits and Pieces and How do Dinosaurs love their cats. It’s so cute to hear him say words to me like rambunctious and croquet from One Drowsy Dragon.

  21. Books that are a must read!

    Big Plans, Oh Daddy Bob Shea
    Pete the Cat Life Lessons and Wheels on the Bus
    Pigeon needs a bath
    Toots
    Underpants Thunderpants

  22. We love “Caps For Sale” and “Harold and the Purple Crayon” in addition to many of the suggestions previously mentioned.

    • Oh and “Ferdinand the Bull”

  23. The Frog and Toad stories were priceless for my brothers and I when growing up, and The Bernstein Bears were much loved as well. I just bought these two sets a few months ago in anticipation of my baby’s arrival, and I simply cannot wait to read them to him!

  24. My absolute favorite to read at Signing Story Time is “From Head to Toe” by Eric Carle! AND I love The Napping House. Two simple books that do have a message for the littlest book lover.

  25. Goodnight moon!! And Danny and the dinosaur by sid hoff was a favorite when I was little.

    • Danny and the Dinasour!!! OMG, I forgot about that one. My brothers and I would read that one on a daily basis! And because we didn’t know the word “museum” at the time (we were little foreign kids) we used to read “Danny went to the mustard”… lol, I was always confused as to what that meant!

  26. I really wasn’t read to all that much when I was little, yet I could still read at a very early age. I went into pre-K with fluent reading skills, while classmates next year in Kindergarten couldn’t read at all. I did go to a very good pre-K/Kindergarten though, so I do attribute some of my success to that.

  27. We started reading to Sam at about 8 weeks old. He absolutely loves Dr. Seuss, here are his favorites.

    Hop On Pop
    The Foot Book
    Mr. Brown Can Moo Can You
    Dr. Seuss’s ABC
    Fox In Sox

  28. When I was little I LOVED Chicka Chicka Boom Boom! Someone got me a board book edition for my baby shower and I read it almost every night to my daughter, sometimes twice! Her first birthday is fast approaching (where did this year go) she will be getting some maracas to join in with the “Chicka Chicka” parts!!

  29. Definitely love the Nancy Tillman books! Started with ‘It’s Time To Sleep, My Love’ and grabbed all the other board books. They’re so beautiful written with such breathtaking illustrations.
    We’ve finally reached a point where I’m not just reading to myself! 😉

  30. I love On The Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman. Her books are so beautiful, and help express the love you feel for your child.

  31. I would add The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones and illustrated by Jago. It is a great first bible. And little blue truck…my son and I love this sweet one about how we need one another….we were not designed to live life on our own! Thanks Gen for all you do!

    • We read the Jesus Storybook Bible daily with my 2 year old son! Love it! After dinner my son ask to read the God book.

      • We have the Rhyme Bible Storybook, and it is awesome! Old Testament and New Testament stories, great pictures, and as a pastor and daughter of a kindergarten teacher, I approve both the theology and the poetry. 🙂

  32. The snail and the whale 🙂 and grufflo by Julia Donaldson and anything by Linley Dodd ( the hairy maclary series )

  33. I am a first grade teacher, and a lot of these books are must haves in my classroom library! A few others I recommend:
    The Giving Tree
    Have You Filled a Bucket Today?
    Skippyjon Jones
    The Kissing Hand
    Click Clack Moo, Cows That Type
    If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

    There are tons more, but these are the ones my students really love!

  34. My all-time favorite is “Where the Wild Things Are”. I had never read it as a child, but fell in love reading it to others as a nanny- the poetry of the words, the illustrations, the metaphor of the wolf suit and choosing to come back home- LOVE. So much so, I bought a copy and took it to the hospital with me when I gave birth to my daughter and had the nurse stamp her hand and footprints into the title page of it.

  35. We love “Go, Dog, Go”, “I love you stinky face”, “The Monster at the End of This Book”, “Ten little fingers, Ten little toes”, “Sir Kevin of Devon”.

    • My son LOVES I love you stinky face.

  36. Jamberry! So much fun, especially in the summer. And also Ten Little Fingers. So sweet.

  37. We’ve been given the book called “You are Special” written by Max Lucado. It has a great moral lesson about how we were all created unique and only our Creator can judge us. It also has great illustrations. I plan on reading it often to our son, especially when teasing time will come, to make sure he knows just how great he is and how much he is loved just the way he is.

  38. One of my favorites is a book called “Slinky Malinky” about a ridiculously michevious black cat. It can be quite the tongue-twister!

    And of course, Mo Willem’s Pigeon books. Can’t go wrong with those!!!

  39. I have read and heard from elementary school teachers that the best books for babies to learn literacy/speaking/sounds/words and so on are books written by Sandra Boynton. We have several of her books and our baby loves them! She has been writing books for 30 years so there are lots to pick from. Some of our favs. are…

    Moo, Baa, La, La, La
    The Going to Bed Book
    But Not the Hippopotamus
    Fifteen Animals

    There are so many good ones! Check them out..

    • LOVE Sandra Boynton! We read Moo Baa LaLaLa at least once a week, and Barnyard Dance almost as often.

  40. I’ve been expanding my daughters reading library since my son’s books all consisted of Thomas the Train stories. These are great options to add on! She loves Dr Suess books and Roll Over, Roll Over – A counting song book. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Giving Tree and The Velveteen Rabit should be on the list too!

  41. I love reading my kids The Crown on Your Head by Nancy Tillman. It’s beautiful. My 19 mo old loves anything Dr Seuss 🙂

  42. OK, let’s try again
    (I am going to think your website doesn’t like me ^^)
    I have in French “Guess how much I love you” in the pop up edition. It’s a absolutely precious!
    and “The very hungry caterpillar” is the first book I bought myself because I grew up with it!

    • Yeahhhhhh!!!!!! victory!!!!!!!! it’s working!!!!
      (i don’t know if you remember but I email you on facebook a couple months back because I couldn’t find the way to make my comment appear)

  43. Great suggestions! We have a few of these books already. In fact, I caught my 15m “reading” out loud to himself Where’s Spot. It was so dang cute!

    Reading is HUGE in our family. My husband and I are totally book worms and will often spend more time reading than watching TV. So it comes naturally to us to read to our little boy. I read a bit when I was pregnant and then I started bedtime reading to him about 3 months and have continued it every night since then. And on most days we read or look at some sort of book. I even keep a book in his crib.

    Some of our favorites are How Does a Dinosaur Say Goodnight (and any other in the series), Baby Loves to Rock (cute book with fun animal illustrations), and while I didn’t want to like it, my little guy LOVES the Llama Llama books.

    • My baby is 3 months old . which book can I make him see and read to him


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