What books to read to my daughter?

Contains_Mild_Peril

The Very Hungry Caterpillar was a favourite of mine when I was ickle. Meg and Mog have been popular with my family too. I Want My Potty is a good one too, and Dr Xargle's Book of Earth Tiggers (and others in the series) by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross are great fun, though she won't be reading them herself till she's a bit older, but the Dr Xargle books appeal to quite a wide age range so she won't grow out them too quickly.
I bought most of my son's books from car boot sales and charity shops - we got some great bargains, and he's never been short of books even when we had very little money. You might find many kids' books a bit cheaper for p&p on eBay now that the new postage prices have been introduced, since small books can be posted at the Large Letter rate, which is usually cheaper. It won't help on Amazon though, since, as someone already mentioned, their p&p is a flat rate.

Gingham_Ribbon

Every library we go to (and we go to a few) has a wonderful children's section with staff who are pleased to point you in the right direction. They often have baby/toddler groups where they play, listen to a story and maybe do some cutting, sticking, glittering, colouring etc. Or they have musical instruments and have a sing along. And they come away with lots of books to keep them busy through the week.

The 'that's not my...car/lion/monster...' books are good. Anything by Eric Carle is a winner - favourite in our house is still the very busy spider. Very simple story books at that age like Hairy Maclairy (we like Hairy Maclairy scatter cat) Mr Magnolia, The Kiss that Missed, The Lion who Wanted to Love...

There is a nice board boook called 'The mole who knew it was none of his business' that is a hit. It's about a mole who goes in search of the animal who did a poo on his head and he finds out how all the other animals do it! (It had the waiting room at the hospital in stitches when i was reading it to my son the other day!)

The other thing I can't recommend highly enough is a decent, large collection of nursery rhymes. We use ours every day, not only at bedtime, but during the day when he likes to sing them and have us play musical instruments with them. A triangle, drum, bells, shakers, tamborine and a nursery rhyme book and you've got plenty to be going on with and will have a really good laugh at the same time.

We didn't know all the tunes so we just made them up!

Gingham_Ribbon

Sorry. Apparently I'm not done yet.

We got a great a to z jigsaw in Mothercare which is perfect for this age group. It's large, with quite chunky pieces and pictures underneath the letters. We also got posters from the Early Learning Centre with the alphabet and numbers on that we read in the mornings together. (You can make them into a border as they come in strips.)

jellyhead

'that's not my dragon' is a hit in this house. also, i bought 'dear zoo' yesterday and all the big kids grabbed it, they love it too, even ten year olds :rotfl:

we have lots of nursery rhymes too, but before i learned the proper ones my husband was making up ridiculous ones that couldn't really be sung on the bus or in mothercare :rotfl: 'don't eat babies it's against the law, don't eat them cooked don't eat them raw' is a favourite.

i found out about baby bounce and rhyme at the library, it's a free half hour singing session for babies and toddlers (term time only), children up to 3 go to ours. it's run at local libraries too, not just the one in the town centre. they have printed words if you don't know the songs and they have an instrument box they get out too, and a puppet for the rabbit songs. i've learned lots of songs with actions that i didn't know, they're his favourite.

ailuro2

We loved Hairy McLairy and friends...lots of opportunities for sound effects too, and it doesn't just rhyme, there's a good rhythm to it too!

Two lines to a page,nice pictures too.

They are by Lynley Dodd.

wannabe_moneysaver_2

Little Bear series of stories are good, such as "Can't you sleep little bear?", these would be a good next step from the books that you are currently reading.
"The Train Ride" is also a lovely book, it has a lovely rhythm to it and children really enjoy it.
Also, you are probably aware, but it is crucial that you discuss the book with your child, asking them what they can see, asking them to count things on the page or what letter they begin with, are all good starters.
You can then move on to asking them what they think happens next, why something has happened or why someone has said something; you could even make up alternative endings. This is obviously not what you will be doing at the moment but may give some ideas of things to work towards.

The main advice though is encourage your child to enjoy reading as it opens so many doors!

alikat_3

Sorry, if this has already been mentioned but I've found great books for my children in Charity shops & often at 10p or 20p.

rio

I'd recommend 'Rumble in the Jungle', 'Farmyard Hullabaloo' 'Commotion in the Ocean' and 'Dinosaurs Galore' They are readily avaliable in Waterstones, often on 3 for 2 deals. They are written by Giles Andrae who also trades as Purple Ronnie, but don't let that but you off. Lovely illustrations and four line poems. They are also avaliable with a CD read by Hugh Laurie, and so double up as in car entertainment.

Chell

The Child's Play Baby Signing books are fab but I am biased as I stock them on my site. There are 8 titles, all board books so very durable. The pictures are lovely for little ones.

Snaggles

One book I cannot recommend enough is 'Giraffes Can't Dance' by Giles Andreae (otherwise known as Purple Ronnie to us grown-ups) - it's a lovely story, told as a simple poem, with great big colourful pages, and it also has a rather sweet message about not being scared to be different (I actually welled up the first time I read this to my son lol!) It's fantastic.

The link is here if anyone wants it.

Love some of the other suggestions too - my son also liked 'The very hungry caterpillar'.

Edit - Cross posted with rio, sorry - I think the book I mentioned is from the same range