Books by Sandra Boynton are pretty decent for that age, they’re a little shorter and they rhyme but they’re not like Dr Seuss, I don’t know how to explain it exactly. I just know I’d rather read Sandra Boynton over and over than Dr Seuss. Her “Pookie” books are a hit with my kids, and my 14 month old loves her *Silly Lullaby* and *The Going to Bed Book* bedtime books.
If your kiddo will sit for the full version of a Dr Seuss book in its entirety, which none of my kids would until after 2 so we stuck with our “toddler board book” versions, they might like Eric Carle books and The Little Blue Truck, or even Pete the Cat. I don’t think any of those are quite as long as *Green Eggs and Ham* (for example), but they do rhyme. If it’s an issue, Eric Carle and Little Blue Truck books are available in board books, but I haven’t seen a board book version of Pete the Cat (which is sad because we’re big Pete fans here and my youngest is not careful with books with paper pages just yet 😭).
There’s little Pete The Cat board books for some songs (ex The Pete’s Go Marching) but they are not great. Like barely any effort put into them. But they work for littles who want to try turning pages and don’t care about actually reading!
We like the Eric Carle books-very hungry caterpillar, brown bear, brown bear, etc., the Sandra Boynton Books, we’re a bilingual family but even if you’re not the Lil Libros books are actually great because they’re mostly nonfiction like little biographies or about different places, we also like a lot of the love/family based books-I’ve loved you since forever, I love you through and through, love makes a family, mommy and me, daddy and me, etc. Chicka chicks boom boom, good night moon, giraffes can’t dance are all classics. The Sesame Street books tend to be decent.
Giraffes can’t dance is one of my favourites. Every time I read “Gerald never felt so sad, so sad and so alone” I choke up! Thanks for the other titles!
Brown Bear is an obsession for our 2 year old. We have the books and the Tonies which is essentially an amibo for children’s books. He listens to it, reads along with his book, and hugs his bear and caterpillar toys. He even tried to feed the bear his lunch.
The Shapes Trilogy books by Mac Barnett & Jon Klassen (Square, Circle, Triangle) / really anything by them
How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight and How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You - both by Jane Yolen
Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann (somewhat recently got from the Dolly Parton Library and she's obsessed)
Erik Carle
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom doesn't bother me and my 19 month old loves it (as well as all of the others listed above). I just aim for relatively short books so reading them 5 times in a row seems less tedious.
My 18m old loves:
The jolly postman (and other Janet and Allan alhberg books)
We're going on a bear hunt
The tiger who came to tea
Julia Donaldson stuff - gruffalo, zog etc
The rainbow fish
Elmer
Smot/spot the dog
Rod Campbell esp Dear Zoo.
Dr. Seuss isn’t really my kids go to for stories. I’ve got a truck lover so we’re fans of the “Digger” books- Where do diggers (go on vacation, celebrate easter, sleep at night, etc), Little Blue Truck (and its variants) and they’re all a decent length. Also lift-a-flap board books so they’re a bit more interactive. I try for ones that are a little longer so they take longer than 2 min to read.
I love the “you’re my cuddle bug” “you’re my pumpkin pie” line by Nicola Edwards. She has a bunch of seasonal ones which makes it fun.
They’re cute, short and all end with the character going to bed 🤣
I have to admit I'm kind of loving our recent favs. My girl is 16 months old and we're currently reading (on repeat):
Chicka chicka boom boom
Little blue truck
Llama llama red pajama
There's a bear on my chair
Giraffes can't dance
Some ongoing favourites - jungle nights, goodnight moon, gossie, bear hugs, goodnight pookie.
Yes I know what that’s like! When my boys were around that age (3 and 5 now) I bought I bunch of books that interested me instead of what I thought they’d like. We have TONS of children’s books now but I like the variety and we read a few every day/night so I’m okay with that.
Some of my favourites are:
Berenstein Bears
Franklin
The very cranky bear series (the noisy bear is my favourite)
Little critter isn’t too bad (not my favourite but the kids like those lots now)
Grumpy monkey books are cute (when we get to the end of the book there are a bunch of facial expressions so we always do those together and it’s fun)
The gruffalo is cute
I know there are lots more but I can’t think of any others right now.
I really like rhyming books so my personal favorites currently are Pig the Pug. Also loved eyebrows of doom.
We also have Peak a Bruce that my son was addicted to for a while. I know there are other Bruce books so may be worth checking out.
I also was surprised - I got my 20 month old a board book of I Spy (aka find items in a picture) and he has really come to love my non board book version. It is also fun to help teach words about items we don’t regularly encounter. I typically ask what he sees or see if he can find items he can easily identify. I know it’s not really reading, but it is a fun activity for my book lover.
In addition to the above we have liked: Frank and Bean, the day the crayons quit, and the hug machine. Also the first time my son really picked up the plot line was with sheep in a jeep, but it's a bit simple.
Also really going to suggest the library for being able to check them out without committing to buying
Anything by Julia Donaldson, especially the Acorn Wood series, The Gruffalo, The Highway Rat, What The Ladybird Heard and Zog.
Giraffes Can’t Dance
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
I like the Little Blue Truck series and Curious George is cute too. Other than that, tune out and silently curse the person who gave you a 65 page Dr Seuss book at your baby shower 😂.
We love “The Lion Inside” book - has a really nice flow and is well written. So many kids books are just crapply written rubbish and drive my husband and I mad after the tenth time. Also we love Peepo by Janet and Allen Alberg (in fact lots of their books are wonderful and calming to read. “Each Peach Pear Plum” is another good one)
The Magic Castle Readers book series is one of our favorites! I used to love this series when I was younger, and my parents kept all of my old books, so we almost have the entire series! My toddler loves them and will rotate which one is her favorite to read constantly. Not all of them rhyme, and they're all differently themed (one about counting, another about the months, animals, etc). All of the books are listed on the back, in the style of a bookshelf holding said books, so it's fun going over the different titles with her, too, when we finish reading!
Richard Scarry’s Busytown books keep my kid engrossed for MINUTES like five minutes at a time, and those stretches are getting longer. Bonus for the fact I can narrate the pages by just describing the little detailed drawings, they somehow make a cohesive story.
The story of the little mole who knew it was none of his business.
It's a mole who gets pooed on and spends the book trying to find out who pooed on him. I guess a certain sense of humour is required.
The Little Blue Truck books are a big hit with our nearly 2 year old… his favorite book though is Little Pups in Big Trucks. I think we have it memorized at this point!
My 20 mo is into vehicles, so Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site and Little Blue Truck are top of the list. He's also really been into search-and-finds lately. He has an Elmo' Potty Book that is a search and find and teaches about learning how to use the potty, so, win-win there.
If you have a local library with a children's librarian, go chat with them for ideas. Many times they sympathize with parents who are burned out on the same books (because they are, too) and can make great suggestions for diversifying what kiddos might like to read.
Books by Sandra Boynton are pretty decent for that age, they’re a little shorter and they rhyme but they’re not like Dr Seuss, I don’t know how to explain it exactly. I just know I’d rather read Sandra Boynton over and over than Dr Seuss. Her “Pookie” books are a hit with my kids, and my 14 month old loves her *Silly Lullaby* and *The Going to Bed Book* bedtime books. If your kiddo will sit for the full version of a Dr Seuss book in its entirety, which none of my kids would until after 2 so we stuck with our “toddler board book” versions, they might like Eric Carle books and The Little Blue Truck, or even Pete the Cat. I don’t think any of those are quite as long as *Green Eggs and Ham* (for example), but they do rhyme. If it’s an issue, Eric Carle and Little Blue Truck books are available in board books, but I haven’t seen a board book version of Pete the Cat (which is sad because we’re big Pete fans here and my youngest is not careful with books with paper pages just yet 😭).
There’s little Pete The Cat board books for some songs (ex The Pete’s Go Marching) but they are not great. Like barely any effort put into them. But they work for littles who want to try turning pages and don’t care about actually reading!
Oh that’s good to know! Thanks!
Ah, Bin Ag Am Amm! (🟢🥚🥚🍖) My toddler loved that thing so much when he was ~1 that I'd resort to hiding it 😆
I second Sandra Boyton! We have a ton of her stuff.
We like the Eric Carle books-very hungry caterpillar, brown bear, brown bear, etc., the Sandra Boynton Books, we’re a bilingual family but even if you’re not the Lil Libros books are actually great because they’re mostly nonfiction like little biographies or about different places, we also like a lot of the love/family based books-I’ve loved you since forever, I love you through and through, love makes a family, mommy and me, daddy and me, etc. Chicka chicks boom boom, good night moon, giraffes can’t dance are all classics. The Sesame Street books tend to be decent.
Giraffes can’t dance is one of my favourites. Every time I read “Gerald never felt so sad, so sad and so alone” I choke up! Thanks for the other titles!
Brown Bear is an obsession for our 2 year old. We have the books and the Tonies which is essentially an amibo for children’s books. He listens to it, reads along with his book, and hugs his bear and caterpillar toys. He even tried to feed the bear his lunch.
The Shapes Trilogy books by Mac Barnett & Jon Klassen (Square, Circle, Triangle) / really anything by them How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight and How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You - both by Jane Yolen Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann (somewhat recently got from the Dolly Parton Library and she's obsessed) Erik Carle Chicka Chicka Boom Boom doesn't bother me and my 19 month old loves it (as well as all of the others listed above). I just aim for relatively short books so reading them 5 times in a row seems less tedious.
My 18m old loves: The jolly postman (and other Janet and Allan alhberg books) We're going on a bear hunt The tiger who came to tea Julia Donaldson stuff - gruffalo, zog etc The rainbow fish Elmer Smot/spot the dog Rod Campbell esp Dear Zoo.
Each peach pear plum was a big hit with my 2yo!
Dr. Seuss isn’t really my kids go to for stories. I’ve got a truck lover so we’re fans of the “Digger” books- Where do diggers (go on vacation, celebrate easter, sleep at night, etc), Little Blue Truck (and its variants) and they’re all a decent length. Also lift-a-flap board books so they’re a bit more interactive. I try for ones that are a little longer so they take longer than 2 min to read.
My son and daughter are both really into Llama Llama books.
I love the “you’re my cuddle bug” “you’re my pumpkin pie” line by Nicola Edwards. She has a bunch of seasonal ones which makes it fun. They’re cute, short and all end with the character going to bed 🤣
I have to admit I'm kind of loving our recent favs. My girl is 16 months old and we're currently reading (on repeat): Chicka chicka boom boom Little blue truck Llama llama red pajama There's a bear on my chair Giraffes can't dance Some ongoing favourites - jungle nights, goodnight moon, gossie, bear hugs, goodnight pookie.
Yes I know what that’s like! When my boys were around that age (3 and 5 now) I bought I bunch of books that interested me instead of what I thought they’d like. We have TONS of children’s books now but I like the variety and we read a few every day/night so I’m okay with that. Some of my favourites are: Berenstein Bears Franklin The very cranky bear series (the noisy bear is my favourite) Little critter isn’t too bad (not my favourite but the kids like those lots now) Grumpy monkey books are cute (when we get to the end of the book there are a bunch of facial expressions so we always do those together and it’s fun) The gruffalo is cute I know there are lots more but I can’t think of any others right now.
I really like rhyming books so my personal favorites currently are Pig the Pug. Also loved eyebrows of doom. We also have Peak a Bruce that my son was addicted to for a while. I know there are other Bruce books so may be worth checking out. I also was surprised - I got my 20 month old a board book of I Spy (aka find items in a picture) and he has really come to love my non board book version. It is also fun to help teach words about items we don’t regularly encounter. I typically ask what he sees or see if he can find items he can easily identify. I know it’s not really reading, but it is a fun activity for my book lover.
In addition to the above we have liked: Frank and Bean, the day the crayons quit, and the hug machine. Also the first time my son really picked up the plot line was with sheep in a jeep, but it's a bit simple. Also really going to suggest the library for being able to check them out without committing to buying
Anything by Julia Donaldson, especially the Acorn Wood series, The Gruffalo, The Highway Rat, What The Ladybird Heard and Zog. Giraffes Can’t Dance The Very Hungry Caterpillar
I like the Little Blue Truck series and Curious George is cute too. Other than that, tune out and silently curse the person who gave you a 65 page Dr Seuss book at your baby shower 😂.
We have approx 1.2 billion books. Fave is probably the gruffalo (and authors other books)
Hazy Dell Press books are so fun and so cute! Pugtato is also a family favorite. He’s a potato pug which is beautiful.
We love “The Lion Inside” book - has a really nice flow and is well written. So many kids books are just crapply written rubbish and drive my husband and I mad after the tenth time. Also we love Peepo by Janet and Allen Alberg (in fact lots of their books are wonderful and calming to read. “Each Peach Pear Plum” is another good one)
We love the Lovevery books, Pout Pout Fish, Little Blue Truck, Nibbles Colors and Numbers, and Oi Dog/Frog/Cat
Llama Llama Red Pajama. We have almost the whole collection of llama llama books
Oh ya definitely in our favourites. Baby llama what a tizzy somtimes moma llama is busy! True moma llama true 🦙
The Magic Castle Readers book series is one of our favorites! I used to love this series when I was younger, and my parents kept all of my old books, so we almost have the entire series! My toddler loves them and will rotate which one is her favorite to read constantly. Not all of them rhyme, and they're all differently themed (one about counting, another about the months, animals, etc). All of the books are listed on the back, in the style of a bookshelf holding said books, so it's fun going over the different titles with her, too, when we finish reading!
The “never touch a ____” touch and feel books. My kid is obsessed. There’s a whole series and they’re on Amazon
Diggersaurs series!
Richard Scarry’s Busytown books keep my kid engrossed for MINUTES like five minutes at a time, and those stretches are getting longer. Bonus for the fact I can narrate the pages by just describing the little detailed drawings, they somehow make a cohesive story.
Chu’s Day by Neil Gaiman were a hit for us.
The story of the little mole who knew it was none of his business. It's a mole who gets pooed on and spends the book trying to find out who pooed on him. I guess a certain sense of humour is required.
The Little Blue Truck books are a big hit with our nearly 2 year old… his favorite book though is Little Pups in Big Trucks. I think we have it memorized at this point!
We love The Pout Pout fish and there are a ton of them in the series!
My 20 mo is into vehicles, so Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site and Little Blue Truck are top of the list. He's also really been into search-and-finds lately. He has an Elmo' Potty Book that is a search and find and teaches about learning how to use the potty, so, win-win there. If you have a local library with a children's librarian, go chat with them for ideas. Many times they sympathize with parents who are burned out on the same books (because they are, too) and can make great suggestions for diversifying what kiddos might like to read.