Picking up books for your 0-3 year old

Every parent (especially the ones who are readers) would want to instill the love of reading in their little ones. I used to read to Zoe even before she was born, now that I see her treasure her books I know I did not go wrong. 

If you have a young baby/toddler at home, it is a great age to introduce books to them. Spend time over books with your child, and both you and your baby will love it. Choosing the right kind of books when your baby is small is critical. Below are some suggestions which will help you choose better.

Books for Babies between 0-18 months:

When you choose books for babies, you need to keep couple of things in mind:

Images Images and Images: Bold bright images should embrace the book. Pick up books by Eric Carle and you will know what I'm talking about.

Rhyming Text: Babies love listening to your voice, these are the most valuable language lesson they will utilize. The soothing and predictable rhythm pattern pleases young babies.

Board Books: These are the best bet, your baby tends to take everything in his/her mouth (every baby does that), board books are sturdy and do not wear tear easily. These books are also short and simple, with more emphasis on illustrations and less on text.

Activity books: Play hide and seek with a flap book, see your child giggle with touch and feel books, or see them get mesmerized with a sound book.

Recommendations: You cannot go wrong with Carle's classics (The Very Hungry Caterpillar tops the list). Besides Eric Carle, Momsters recommend:

• Baby Bathtime! By Dawn Sirett
• Fuzzy Bee and Friends by Roger Priddy
• Higher! Higher! By Leslie Patricelli (try Huggy Kissy, Potty, Fa La La, Big Little, No No Yes Yes, Yummy Yucky etc. by the same writer)
• Ten Tiny Babies By Karen Katz
• Good Night Moon by By Margaret Wise Brown
• I Heard a Little Baa By Elizabeth MacLeod
• Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes By Mem Fox
• What's Up, Duck?: A Book of Opposites By Tad Hills
• Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt
• Belly Button Book by Sandy Boynton
• Hip Hop by Catherine Hnatov
• Baby Says by John Steptoe
• Animal Kisses by Barney Saltzberg

Books for children between 1.5-3 Years:

This age is very critical for language development; hence books need to be chosen keeping that in mind. Books become more educational in nature.

Picture Books: Pictures do not lose their charm as you baby grows into a toddler, in fact now your child will start relating the texts with the pictures in the book. Choose books that are creatively illustrated with greater detail, and show actions.

Bedtime Books: Bedtime is a struggle in this age, because your child is constantly on the move. A nice bedtime story will help calm them down and make bedtime easier.

Short Stories: Soon your little one will start making stories of their own; hence this is the best time to introduce short stories to your little one. This will help them in language development as well.

Theme based books: Toddlers start developing interests; cars, animals, or a particular character (like Gruffalo or Teletubbies in Zoe's case), choose books cantered around these themes and your toddler is sure to love them.

If you are looking for books that teach your toddler/pre-schooler new things, you might pick Counting Books, ABCs/Phonics, colors & Shapes books.

Some authors that do a fab job with books meant for kids this age are Eric Carle, Dr. Seuss (Beginning Beginners Series) and Julia Donaldson (of Gruffalo fame). Besides these Momsters strongly recommend:

• Go, Dog, Go by P.D. Eastman
• Maisy’s Big Flap Book by Lucy Cousins
• Clip-Clop by Nicola Smee
• Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell
• You Are my Perfect Baby by Joyce Carole Thomas
• Curious George Series
• Pepper the Dog series
• The Wheels on the Bus by Paul O. Zelinsky
• Duck’s Key: Where can it be? By Jez Alborough
• Where does it go? By Margaret Miler
• The Sleepy Little Alphabet by Judy Sierra
• We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Helen Oxenbury and Michael Rosen
• Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney
• One Afternoon by Yumi Heo
• Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann
• Do You Know What I’ll Do? By Charlotte Zolotow
• Red, Blue, Yellow Shoe by Tana Hoban
• Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet and Allan Ahlberg
• Where Is the Green Sheep? By Mem Fox and Judy Horacek
• Spot's First Walk by Eric Hill
• There's a dragon at my school - Jenny Tyler
• If You Give a Moose a Muffin- Laura Numeroff
• Love you forever-Robert Munsch
• We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury
• The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
• Hairy Maclary by Lynley Dodd
• Toes, Ears, & Nose! A Lift-the-Flap Book by Marion Dane Bauer, Illustrated by Karen Katz
• Maisy's Big Flap Book by Lucy Cousins
• Sharing Time by Elizabeth Verdick, Illustrated by Marieka Heinlen

For more suggestions on books and reading tips check out Momsters' Raising Readers