share your favorite bedtime books

bedtime reading comes up a lot, and i was thinking we could share some of our favorite titles. you may have a favorite from an older child or your own youth, or maybe you've just discovered a book during year one.

storytime really didn't stick for us until the second half of the first year. the boys were probably 10 months old before i felt like they were actually listening. what seemed to get their attention were short, rhythmic, rhyming stories like the ones by sandra boynton.

favorite FY sandra boynton titles:
hey wake up!
it's pajama time
the belly button book

my personal favorite, although in year one i usually only made it partway through, is duck in the truck. it has a great cadence, the pictures are vibrant and it has become the boys' most requested book. i started with this one around 10 or 11 months and not a week has gone by since when i haven't read it.

what are some of your favorite FY books?

 

Moo, Baa, Laa, Laa by Sandra Boynton
Goodnight Moon-my two were fascinated with it for a long time
Crayola Shapes & Numbers books
ABC books
Baby Faces
Where is Baby's Pumpkin?

 

Goodnight Moon is one of my all time favorites. Also, Guess How Much I Love You, I love that one. :wub:

 

My kids love "A Night Night Prayer" and we also like to read a one-page devotional every night from their "baby Bible." It's called the "Tiny Bear's Bible". They also like "Good Night Moon."

 

I Love You Good Night by Jon Buller. It is so sweet - the first line is "I love you like I love blueberry pancakes." goes on to say a few comparisons, one favorite is "I love you like pigs love splashing in puddles."

We also LOVE Pajama Time by Sandra Boynton and have read that to them from the beginning. My husband and I have it memorized at this point and say it in this rhythm. Sometimes they dance a little with their heads.

 

my boys dance to pajama time, too! some nights they really boogie down. owen, in particular, finds it irresistable. he'll jump to his feet and waggle his butt around and do this hilarious bill cosby type thing with his upper body. we haven't yet been able to capture it on video, though.

 

There's a super cute one called "And the Bear Snores On". It has a nice rhythm to it and it's a super cute story. We have it in board book for Older DS and he has since graduated from bedtime stories to wanting bedtime songs so he passed the torch!

 

HA HA - we need to try to get video - Jude does the "Bill Cosby"! MIL was in town and read pajama time really slow and with great expression and we were laughing so hard we were crying because the girls were looking at her with these confused expressions like she was not reading it how she was supposed to.

Sandra Boynton makes another book called Fuzzy Fuzzy Fuzzy: a touch, skritch, & tickle book - huge pictures of animals that you can pet - I highly recommend that one also to start with very young babies. That one will go down in our hope chest for them to fight over later in life.

 

We did Time for Bed (http://www.amazon.com/Time-Bed-Big-Book-Mem/dp/0152010149/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275161422&sr=8-1) and Goodnight Moon every night for at least two years with my son. Both have beautiful rhythm and are a pleasure to read aloud.

 

We loved the Sandra Boyton books but another favorite was and is Is Your Mama a Llama. It has great rhythm and rhymes.

 

We loved a lot of the Sandra Boynton books, but I would say my favorite of hers has always been "Snuggle Puppy". Good night Moon was also a great one. My kids have had so many books over the years that they usually picked a couple different ones each night, but those ones were frequently read. Well, I guess the first year we picked them out for the most part. They also loved a lot of the touch and feel books.

 

Brown Bear Brown Bear what do you see ??
Books by Mem Fox are great --- Where is the Green sheep ? or Ten little fingers (is adorable)
Those touch books are great
small books that fit into their hands
Hungry little caterpiller

 

We read Goodnight Moon and Little Quack's Bedtime every night. Then I try to pick out another extra book (a different one) each night. Nathan LOVES this little book called "The Prettiest Christmas Tree" even if it isn't Christmas!! He will carry it around with him and if we would only read that book to him (many ---- many ------ many) times a day!

 

My girls looooooooooooooooooooooove Karen Katz books. They have little flaps throught the story to open and read. She has writeen a ton of them!!

My link
My link

 

My girls loved her books in the first year and STILL love them at age 3. We actually bought a collection of them and a collection of Sandra Boyton books for a friend who is expecting twin girls. My girlies picked them out all by themselves for the babies "Because they will LOVE them Mommy!"

Other FY favs are SB's Moo Baa La La La, The Going to Bed Book, and Whats wrong Little Pookie. My girls also loved and still love Curious George. We started reading them at night in the later part of the FY though (9+ months). Good night moon and Runaway Bunny were two other favorites. I can't think of anything else right now...

 

Just got Is Your Mama a Llama a couple weeks ago - awesome! We have had another one for 1 month and it is awesome. Called Where's Spot by Eric Hill - just celebrated 25th anniversary. It is one where you are looking for the dog and lift up a flap on each page to see if he is hiding under the bed, in the closet, etc. They LOVE it!