The Children’s Shelf – 18 Months Old

Something incredible has been happening in toddler book-land in my house. Reading (or “reading” perhaps) has just exploded! I never dreamed that watching a little one fall in love with books would be so wonderful. My little guy sometimes enjoys being read to, but also loves hiding behind the couch (always behind the couch! 🙂 ) to flip through his favorite board books and identify the objects that he recognizes. It’s been very fun.

And now that he has started to interact more with his books, here are some of this month’s favorites:

Red, Stop! Green, Go! has been a delightful discovery. The book takes some of the drawings and language from the classic Go, Dog Go! and builds on it, adding interactive wheels to turn and flaps to pull. Busy little bodies will love it!

I’ve been reading Bible stories from my old childhood storybooks since I brought my son home. However, we’re now at a point where I want to get him a story Bible. I have some ideas on good story Bibles for slightly older children, but books for the toddler years are difficult. Many feature choppy writing or stories taken so far out of context that I’m left scratching my head. The Beginner’s Bible for Toddlers is one of the best of the lot, though, and while I’ll be changing children’s Bibles as my son grows, this is one that we read together now.

If you have children in your life and you haven’t yet discovered Usborne books, you’re missing out! They have wonderful nonfiction books that I can’t wait to use for homeschool, as well as fabulous storybooks. And for the little ones, they have beautiful picture books and board books. When my little guy was truly tiny, he loved the Baby’s Very First books with their pictures of baby animals. Baby’s Very First Little Book of Little Kittens was a favorite.

Now he’s moved on to loving the touchy-feely That’s Not My… books that he can explore with his hands. Usborne offers a wide variety, including some house favorites like That’s Not My Elephant, That’s Not My Duck, That’s Not my Frog and That’s Not my Monster.

The My First I Can Read books are designed for reading aloud before a child moves on to sounding out and reading words. The stories are fairly basic, but my son enjoys them and they’re about right for toddler attention spans. Like many little ones, animals are a source of fascination so Biscuit Wants to Play, which tells the tale of a puppy who wants to play with his new kitten friends, has been quite a hit.

What do you want to read with little ones?