Toddlers | Best Books
Where’s My Teddy?
By Jez Alborough
Big, Red Barn
By Margaret Wise Brown
Humorous rhymes and an unusual conclusion combine in
In the barnyard there are roosters and cows, horses
a boy’s search for his stuffed toy in the forest in Where’s
and goats, and a pink piglet who is learning to squeal.
My Teddy?
Margaret Wise Brown’s lulling story about a day in the
life of a barnyard is now available as a sturdy board
Who Sank the Boat?
By Pamela Allen
Beside the sea, there once lived a cow, a donkey, a
sheep, a pig, and a tiny little mouse. One warm, sunny
morning--for no particular reason--they decided to go
for a row in the bay. Do you know who sank the boat?
book. Felicia Bond’s atmospheric illustrations add to the
tranquil simplicity of this story.
1, 2, 3 To the Zoo
By Eric Carle
All of the animals in the train are going to the zoo—one
elephant, two hippos, three giraffes, all the way up to
Toddler Two-Step
By Kathi Appelt
PreSchool-Rhyme and rhythm inspire 10 engaging toddlers as they dance from 1 to 10 and back again. Beginning with two children, the text counts in pairs, introducing two new children and more energy with each couple.
Just Like Daddy
By Frank Asch
A very young bear describes all the activities he does
during the day that are just like his daddy’s.
Cat and Mouse
By Tomek Bogacki
Bogacki’s playful, painterly style sets the tone for this
short and sweet tale about the inherent goodness and
innocence of children.
ten birds! Eric Carle’s classic counting book has never
been so much fun. Kids will love to color their favorite
animals and complete the activities on every page. They
can unfold the back cover to see the animals play at the
zoo and to practice their counting.
Do You See Mouse?
By Marion Crume
When the animals play hide-and-seek, Turtle finds all of
them easily except for Mouse.
Who Hops?
By Katie Davis
The silly premise of this entertaining book follows a list of
three animals that hop, fly, swim or crawl with one that
obviously does not; lighthearted explanations explain
why certain animals are misfits in a given grouping.
Toddlers | Best Books
Jamberry
By Bruce Degen
Time for Bed
By Mem Fox
A boy and a rhyme-spouting bear romp through a berry
Filling each spread, the illustrator’s commanding yet
world, looking for berries as they go. This rollicking
gentle, large-scale watercolors are the key to the appeal
Baby Bird
By Joyce Dunbar
When a little blue bird takes a clumsy first step out of
his nest, he lands abruptly on the forest floor. Before the
startled fledgling can recover, a curious squirrel comes
along, scaring them both into retreat. Off stumbles
the bird, meeting a string of creatures along the way.
of this bedtime lullaby. Fox offers sweet but slim verse
that bids good night to a selection of animals being
cuddled and coddled by their mothers, all endearingly
rendered at eye-level.
My Friends
By Taro Gomi
Repetition and a familiar rhythm make this a satisfying
In this ode to everyday activities and things, a free-spir-
read-aloud for very young children.
ited girl hops, jumps and kicks her way across the countryside, paying homage to her friends along the way.
The Letters Are Lost!
By Lisa Campbell Ernst
The premise is that the wooden blocks, with one letter to
Spot Goes to the Farm
By Eric Hill
a block, were once together in their box. But now they’ve
Millions of readers have gone on a hunt with or for
all gone astray. Where are they? Well, the A is in an
Spot in his characteristic lift-the-flap format. This book is
airplane, the B has tumbled into the bath, and the L has
almost as fresh as that first cry of “Where’s Spot?” Here,
landed in a pile of leaves. Each block is prominently
he’s looking for newborn animals on the farm with his
featured in the framed paintings that show simple shapes
father.
and situations, which are, for the most part, easily identifiable to young ones.
Lunch
By Denise Fleming
Rosie’s Walk
By Pat Hutchins
Rosie the hen leaves the chicken coop and sets out for
a little walk. Right behind her is the fox, slyly trying to
Fleming’s feisty mouse peeks out of a hole in the wall
catch up with her. Rosie’s walk is quiet, uneventful and
and spies a table laden with goodies-a smorgasbord of
eventually leads her back to the coop, blissfully unaware
fruits and vegetables in bold colors. With each turn of
of the fox’s travails as he tries -- unsuccessfully -- to navi-
the page, the hungry mouse samples one colorful food
gate the obstacle course that Rosie has led him through.
after another: crisp white turnip, tasty orange carrot,
sweet yellow corn, tender green peas. Children will love
to guess what food comes next...
Toddlers | Best Books
Kipper
By Mark Inkpen
Kipper the puppy cleans out his old basket, throwing out
his smelly blanket, soggy bone, and ragged stuffed rabbit. When he can’t get comfortable, he then tries out the
resting places of animals he comes across. After several
unsuccessful attempts to emulate others, he decides that
his basket and old familiar things are best of all.
Gotcha!
By Gail Jorgenson
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do
You See?
By Bill Martin
The gentle rhyming and gorgeous, tissue-paper collage
illustrations in this classic picture book make it a dogeared favorite on many children’s bookshelves. On each
page, we meet a new animal who nudges us onward to
discover which creature will show up next: “Blue Horse,
Blue Horse, What do you see? I see a green frog looking
at me.” This pattern is repeated over and over, until the
In this cumulative adventure, a big, black fly invades
pre-reader can chime in with the reader, easily predict-
Bertha Bear’s outdoor birthday bash and dive-bombs her
ing the next rhyme.
seven-layer cake. She tries to swat him, and he leads her
on a merry chase over the countryside. En route and by
mistake, she swats an indignant camel, crocodile, stork,
and tortoise, and each joins the pursuit. Circling back
to the party site, Bertha placates the angry animals with
pieces of cake, and the fly once again zooms saucily by.
Jump, Frog, Jump!
By Robert Kalan
A frog tries to catch a fly, but finds himself on the other
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
By Bill Martin
In this bright and lively rhyme, the letters of the alphabet
race each other to the top of the coconut tree. When X, Y
and Z finally scramble up the trunk, however, the weight
is too much, and down they all tumble in a colorful chaotic heap: “Chicka Chicka . . . BOOM! BOOM!” All the
family members race to help, as one by one the letters
recover in amusingly battered fashion.
end of the food chain in this simple cumulative tale. As
each new danger appears, the frog is left with one option: jump, frog, jump! The frog’s final escape, however,
requires the help of a boy. Young children will enjoy the
suspense as the frog struggles to survive, and will be
encouraged to join in with the repetitive text.
Come Out and Play Little Mouse
By Robert Kraus
Big brother mouse evades the cat’s invitations to “come
out and play.” Monday through Friday, he helps shop,
paint, wash, and so on. On Saturday, little mouse ingenuously accepts, and is rescued by big brother in dog
disguise.
Guess How Much I Love You?
By Sam McBratney
Fresh as a fiddlehead fern in spring, this beguiling
bedtime tale features a pip of a young rabbit and his
indulgent parent. Searching for words to tell his dad how
much he loves him (and to put off bedtime just an eentsy
bit longer), Little Nutbrown Hare comes up with one example after another (“I love you as high as I can hop!”),
only to have Big Nutbrown Hare continually up the ante.
Toddlers | Best Books
I Love Animals
By Flora McDonnell
Watch Where You Go
By Sally Noll
A charming picture book filled with a small child’s joyous
Disregarding dragonfly’s timely warnings, mouse goes
love for all the animals on her farm. Large, bold illustra-
wherever he pleases, oblivious to the fact that what to
tions and a clear text fairly explode with exuberance.
him appears to be golden grass is actually lion’s mane, a
Descriptions of ducks “...waddling to the water,” hens
tree is really an elephant’s trunk, and a vine is a snake’s
“...hopping up and down,” a goat “...racing across the
body. . . .
field,” a cow “...swishing her tail,” a pony “...rolling
over and over,” and a turkey “...strutting around the
yard” convey a sense of bustling activity.
Growing Colors
By Bruce McMillan
McMillan has created a feast of a colors book using
fruits and vegetables of every hue. Each double-page
spread has a small photograph of the whole plant and
a large close-up of the fruit or vegetable. The colors are
announced in bold type tinted in the appropriate shade.
In the selection of vegetables, McMillan moves beyond
ordinary supermarket produce, showing purple beans
and brown peppers.
Whose Hat?
By Margaret Miller
Nine different hats are worn by adults in situations with
which the hats are identified, and by children who like
to pretend. Hats for a chef, fire fighter, nurse and police
officer reside next to not-so-career-oriented hats for a
witch, a magician and a pirate.
Tom and Pippo Go For A Walk
By Helen Oxenbury
Tom and his toy monkey, Pippo, go out for a walk and
fall into a mud puddle.
Red Bear’s Fun with Shapes
By Bodel Rikys
While watching Red Bear during his fun-filled day,
children learn to identify eleven basic shapes as he plays
a horn, flies a kite, eats his lunch, and more.
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt
By Michael Rosen
A father and his four children--a toddler, a preschool
boy and two older girls--go on the traditional bear hunt
based on the old camp chant: “We’re going to catch a
big one. / What a beautiful day! / We’re not scared. /
Oh-oh! Grass! / Long, wavy grass. / We can’t go over
it. / We can’t go under it. / Oh, no! / We’ve got to go
through it!” The family skids down a grassy slope, swishes across a river, sludges through mud and, of course,
finally sees the bear, who chases them all back to their
home. It’s a fantastic journey--was it real or imagined?-with the family’s actions (and interaction) adding to the
trip a goodnatured, jolly mood.
Toddlers | Best Books
Whose Nose?
By Jeannette Rowe
The Itsy Bitsy Spider
By Iza Trapani
``Whose nose?’’ is the question appearing on the
A board book version of a favorite nursery rhyme with
lefthand page, while on the right a nose is on display,
added adventures.
with its owner hidden by a flap. Some of the noses, rendered in super-saturated colors, are a snap to identify,
e.g., the pig’s snout is an early give-away, which will
encourage children. The rhino’s nose, later on, isn’t so
easy. The mouse’s nose and dog’s nose share features, so
readers will want to really look at the animals. A handsome, participatory, and potentially thought-provoking
early natural history. Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved
Come Along Daisy!
By Jane Simmons
Do Monkeys Tweet?
By Melanie Walsh
This companion to the author’s Do Pigs Have Stripes?
(Houghton, 1996) presents a series of questions and
answers. Children will catch on quickly to the silliness of
the inquiries (“Do horses bark?”) and will easily guess
the responses (“No, dogs do”) when the page is turned.
The comfortingly predictable format will encourage
participation. Familiar animals are depicted in the childlike illustrations. Simple, large, and rendered in bold
colors, they are a perfect complement to the playful text.
Daisy is one darling duckling. But she does have a
A fun selection for sharing one-on-one or for a shout-it-
problem staying close to Mama Duck during their watery
out storytime.?Maria B. Salvadore, District of Columbia
wanderings. “Come along, Daisy!” is the refrain of this
Public Library Copyright 1997 Reed Business Informa-
simple, engaging picture book, as Mom tries to keep her
tion, Inc.
distracted daughter under her wing. Jane Simmons’s
bold, bright illustrations are not only adorable, they are
artfully composed.
Spots, Feathers, and Curly Tails
By Nancy Tafuri
“Hi, Pizza Man!”
By Virginia Walter
It’s easy to work up an appetite reading this book, which
offers an agreeable way to pass the time before dinner.
When Vivian tosses her toys aside to announce, “I’m
Tafuri’s familiar style of animal drawing is set off to good
hungry!” her mother reminds her that the pizza man
advantage here by generous amounts of white back-
is a-coming, and distracts her by asking how she will
ground, which give the book a refreshingly crisp look. In
greet him. The title holds an obvious answer, but Vivian’s
an easy question-and-answer format, children are asked
mother imagines other possibilities-”What if it’s a pizza
to identify various animals from various portions of their
kitty? Then what will you say?” This prompts Vivian to
anatomy, such as, ``What has a bill?’’ Each answer is
welcome a parade of imagined pizza-deliverers with
provided on a large two-page spread.
“Meow meow, pizza kitty!”; “Woof woof, pizza dog!”
and so on until the doorbell rings.
Toddlers | Best Books
Little White Duck
By Walt Whippo
Children have sung this silly song written by Walt
Whippo and Bernard Zaritzky for half a century.
Performers from Burl Ives to Danny Kaye to Raffi have
recorded it over the years. And now, for the first time,
the classic sing-along song about the duck that “quack,
quack, quacks,” the frog that “glug, glug, glugs,” and
the bug that “bzz, buzz, bzz’s” has made its way into
picture-book format.
I Went Walking
By Sue Williams
This Australian import presents a repetitive rhyme that
will be appreciated most by the very young. A boy takes
a walk and encounters a variety of animals: “I went
walking / What did I see? / I saw a black cat / Looking
at me.” The cat follows him, as do all of the other animals he meets: a brown horse, a red cow, a green duck,
a pink pig and a yellow dog. Finally the child is leading
a veritable parade of animals. Copyright 1990 Reed
Business Information, Inc.
The Napping House
Quick As A Cricket
Piggies
Silly Sally
By Audrey Wood
These books, all by Audrey Wood and illustrated by Don
Wood, offer the toddler set repetitive words, conceptual
learning, and beautiful illustrations, which will captivate
toddlers and preschoolers alike.