The Childrens’ Shelf – 13 Months Old

Since I review books as I read them, you all already know what I’ve been reading. Reading to my son has rekindled my love of children’s books, and he’s at an age now where he has definitely started to express preferences.  Sometimes he brings me a book to read or he taps on a book when I’m done and  insists I read it again.  So, what does my active 13 month old boy love to read?

I started reading Goodnight Moon soon after my little man was born, and now we’ve reached a point where he finds the rhythm of the words comforting, and he brightens visibly whenever he sees the book. As adults, we sometimes speak of much-loved books as treasured friends, and I think this one is definitely a treasured friend for my boy.

I got this Beginner’s Bible for Toddlers as a baby shower gift, and my son is just now reaching a point where he has started to enjoy it. The bite-size versions of BIble stories are just right for his infant/toddler attention span, and as I think this is a good introduction for him. One caveat, though – this book does skip straight to the resurrection and leaves out the story of Christ’s death for our sins. While I understand that the very smallest children would have trouble wrapping their minds around it, I do struggle with this book having left out a critical piece of the Gospel story.

The Easter Story make a good supplement to the toddler’s storybook Bible I mention above, and it does contain the full Easter story, simplified so that very young children can understand. Do I expect my 1 year old to understand all the details I’m reading to him? No, but he does enjoy looking at the illustrations in this book and as with most reading at this age, it prepares him for later learning and growth.

I will say right away that Color Zoo is one of those books that didn’t click with me when I first introduced it to my son. However, he loves it and it’s definitely one of his favorites this month! The book has little by way of words and the main attraction lies in moving the pages to show off the different shapes and how the shapes can be layered to create different animals.  My son finds the varying shapes fascinating, and I’m glad that he enjoys it.

Green Eggs and Ham takes merely a handful of words and strings them together to tell a delightfully silly story. My son giggles with delight as I read it, and now that he’s babbling quite a bit, he trys to chime in on occasion. Great fun.