If there's one thing I want to push for Ava to love and enjoy, hands down, it's gonna be reading. But since we allow her to enjoy things at her own phase, I cannot really force her. So what I did was to set her up by collecting books! And it worked! Lol.
I started buying books by popularity. Checked online which books were highly recommended and bought some of them. Before I got fixated on completing Google's most popular books, I realized that I don't have a guarantee if Ava will love them. It's important that you understand your child's interests and see how he/she responds to things, in this case of choosing books, observe how they respond to the visuals and the contents. By doing this, we ended up with a small library of books that we all enjoy reading. Our setting allows Ava to reach the first and second (using a chair) that's why we see to it that we rotate our books.
We love reading together. Ava loves it when we read with her, instead of just reading for her. Notice the difference. As parents, we need to be expressive, intentional and entertaining all at the same time. The rewards come in giggles, hugs and kisses.
After much reading and searching, we're finally able to fill our very own library that we love, like really, really love. See below which ones are our favorites, authors and books!
Let's start first with the more popular ones.
• Click, Clack, Moo
Cows found an old typewriter and used it to communicate with Farmer Brown. Giving him demands and ultimatum in exchange of eggs and milks. The illustrations and the story itself didn't interest Ava that much. But she loved it everytime we say "Click, Clack, Moo!"
• Goodnight Moon
A little bunny tucked in bed saying goodnight to all the familiar things in the great green room. We got the original Goodnight Moon and the Goodnight Moon, Counting Book. This was the first book that Ava kept asking for us to read. She loved saying goodnight to everybody and would sometimes add other things from our own room. The colors and illustrations are also interesting.
• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
The letters in the alphabet goes up the coconut tree until the tree bends so much and the letters fell out. The book is just visually interesting for Ava and she loves it everytime we say "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom!"
Moving on to our current favourite books. :)
• Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
A basic book with really cute illustrations of babies showing the different parts of the body. This is a great book to read and sing! :) One of the first books that became really useful for us because we got it the time Ava was starting to identify the parts of her body.
• Is This My Nose?
Similar to the book above, this is also a very basic book about the different parts of the face. Each page asks a certain part of your face and Ava loves pointing these parts on her face. We sometimes have Papitot (a stuffed toy) and she points out the different parts of his face too. Both books are highly recommended even for younger babies.
Let's start first with the more popular ones.
• Click, Clack, Moo
Cows found an old typewriter and used it to communicate with Farmer Brown. Giving him demands and ultimatum in exchange of eggs and milks. The illustrations and the story itself didn't interest Ava that much. But she loved it everytime we say "Click, Clack, Moo!"
• Goodnight Moon
A little bunny tucked in bed saying goodnight to all the familiar things in the great green room. We got the original Goodnight Moon and the Goodnight Moon, Counting Book. This was the first book that Ava kept asking for us to read. She loved saying goodnight to everybody and would sometimes add other things from our own room. The colors and illustrations are also interesting.
• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
The letters in the alphabet goes up the coconut tree until the tree bends so much and the letters fell out. The book is just visually interesting for Ava and she loves it everytime we say "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom!"
Moving on to our current favourite books. :)
• Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
A basic book with really cute illustrations of babies showing the different parts of the body. This is a great book to read and sing! :) One of the first books that became really useful for us because we got it the time Ava was starting to identify the parts of her body.
• Is This My Nose?
Similar to the book above, this is also a very basic book about the different parts of the face. Each page asks a certain part of your face and Ava loves pointing these parts on her face. We sometimes have Papitot (a stuffed toy) and she points out the different parts of his face too. Both books are highly recommended even for younger babies.
• Olivia's Opposites
This book is so simple Ava can read it alone. Well, she memorized it, lol. Each page indicates a set of opposites like "Up, Down", "Quiet, Loud" and more. The illustrations describe the opposites clearly and the choice of red as the only color used to render a monochromatic illustration is very clever. Makes it very interesting for toddlers, even adults.
• Say Hello to the Baby Animals
Creativity goes a long way, as well as having the right materials. This book is definitely one of them. Inside, Baby Lion visits and meets other baby animals like a monkey, a zebra, a giraffe and more. Each baby animal greets baby lion with their own sound. So we need to be creative while reading. The body of the baby animals are textured, like a felt material making it a little more interesting while reading.
With this book, Ava understood the concept of helping and asking for help. She loved it when we ask for her to do something to help us.
• And finally, on to our favorite books from our favorite author: Karen Katz
Our books by Karen Katz: I Can Share, Excuse Me, Counting Kisses, Where are Baby's Easter Eggs?, A Potty For Me
Ava's favourite books are the ones she can relate the most. That's why Karen Katz' books are our most-loved books because the contents are very relatable especially for toddlers. The illustrations are really fun and catchy as well. Ava's favourite is A Potty For Me, we got it when we were starting with our potty training and I think it helped a lot because in less than a month's time, we were fully potty trained already. These books we definitely recommend.
Creativity goes a long way, as well as having the right materials. This book is definitely one of them. Inside, Baby Lion visits and meets other baby animals like a monkey, a zebra, a giraffe and more. Each baby animal greets baby lion with their own sound. So we need to be creative while reading. The body of the baby animals are textured, like a felt material making it a little more interesting while reading.
• Guesss How Much I Love You
We have the Autumn and the Colors series. One word to describe this book - dainty. :) It's very calming, the contents, colors and illustrations. Perfect for down times or nap times.
• Little Critter Shapes
Ava loves the Shapes book. I think this is better than the straight-forward types that just indicates the shape in it's basic form. Each page contains a particular shape in different forms and sizes which teaches kids to analyze more.
• Little Critter I Am Helping
• And finally, on to our favorite books from our favorite author: Karen Katz
Our books by Karen Katz: I Can Share, Excuse Me, Counting Kisses, Where are Baby's Easter Eggs?, A Potty For Me
Ava's favourite books are the ones she can relate the most. That's why Karen Katz' books are our most-loved books because the contents are very relatable especially for toddlers. The illustrations are really fun and catchy as well. Ava's favourite is A Potty For Me, we got it when we were starting with our potty training and I think it helped a lot because in less than a month's time, we were fully potty trained already. These books we definitely recommend.
Now some tips on searching and buying books.
All of our books were from Fully Booked, Powerbooks, National Bookstore and Booksale. Highlight on Booksale (or other similar bookstores) because it is a great source of books that are usually cheaper. You just have to be patient to browse through the stacks and piles to find books in great reading condition. For younger babies/kids, I highly recommend getting the board book types for the obvious reasons of being more sturdy for a young tot's handling. But what I learned from Ava, if babies are exposed to book reading at an early age, they will learn how to handle their book really well. With the paper books that we have, we've only had a couple of ripped book accidents so far.
Another lengthy post but I still hope you enjoyed reading as much as I loved writing (typing) this post. If you have books that you can share with us, please let us know! We'd love to add more to our library.
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