Like to read to your child? Wonder what books folks in the education community are recommending for parents?

We asked the U.S. Department of Education to recommend some books parents might read to their babies and toddlers. Here's their advice.


We know: Best Books for Babies and Toddlers

Books for Baby

  • Brown, Margaret Wise. Goodnight Moon. Harper Collins, 1997. A little rabbit says goodnight to all the things in his room and, finally, to the Moon.
  • Johnson, Angela. Mama Bird, Baby Birds. Orchard, 1994. Joshua and his sister, two young African-American children, watch a mother bird feeding its babies.
  • Wells, Rosemary. Max's Bedtime. Dial, 1998. Even though Max's sister offers him her stuffed animals, he cannot sleep without his red rubber elephant.

Books for Toddlers and Preschoolers

  • Carle, Eric. The Very Busy Spider. Philomel, 1984. Farm animals try to keep a spider from spinning her web, but she doesn't give up and she makes a beautiful and useful creation. Pictures may be felt as well as seen, making this a great book for visually impaired children.
  • Hill, Eric. Where's Spot? Putnam, 1980. In an interactive lift-the-flap book, children help Spot's mother, Sally, search the house to find him. This book has been translated into a number of languages, including a sign language version.
  • Lacome, Julie. Seashore. Candlewick, 1995. Small fingers can poke through the holes in the pages of this board book about the beach, and seem to change into fins, wings, or crawling legs.

Rhyme Time Books for Preschoolers

  • Christelow, Eileen. Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. Clarion, 1989. This counting rhyme shows five little monkeys getting ready for bed and getting sidetracked by some serious bed-jumping.
  • Dyer, Jane. Animal Crackers: A Delectable Collection of Pictures, Poems and Lullabies for the Very Young. Little, Brown, 1996. This picture book contains a collection of Mother Goose classics, modern poems, lullabies, and simple stories, many of which celebrate special times in a child's first years.
  • Martin, Bill, Jr., and Archambault, John. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. Simon & Schuster, 1989. The rhythmical story of letters of the alphabet climbing and falling from a coconut tree.


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