The Most Popular Baby Books of All Time

When a child reaches their first birthday, they’ve already learned all of the sounds necessary to speak their native language. If you spend some time reading to your baby, they will more quickly learn the variety of sounds necessary for speech and also begin to pick up on the rhythms and cadence of their language. Some of the best baby books are those with short, engaging phrases or rhymes, as well as colorful pictures for visual stimulation. Reading to children from an early age also supports their emotional development as they listen to a parent read with expression and a variety of emotions.

Parents have been reading to their babies and young children for centuries, and some of the best baby books of yesterday, are still being read today.

Best Baby Books of the 19th Century

Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, by Margaret Sidney, was a popular book to read to young children in the 19th century and beyond. Five Little Peppers features the adventures of the Pepper family who were poor and lived in a little brown house. The book became a series of books about the Pepper family and the value of hard work, friendships, and togetherness.

The Blue Fairy Book, by Andrew Lang, was published in 1889, and was a popular collection of illustrated fairy tales that were often read to babies and young children. Some of the fairty tales are familiar, but others may be new to modern readers.

Mother Goose’s Melody was a collection of nursery rhymes and songs which was first published in 1781 and remained popular bedtime reading material well into the 19th century, with the colorful characters and memorable rhyming verses that we still find in children’s books today.

Best Baby Books of the 1950s

Some of the best baby books of the 1950s are still being read to children today. One of these is the classic Harold and the Purple Crayon, by Crockett Johnson, a book in which little Harold is able to shape his own world by drawing anything he wants or needs with a magical purple crayon. He embarks on an adventure by creating the places he wishes to see simply by drawing them, but eventually wants to return home. It is a simply written book with an important theme and has been read to children for several generations.

Curious George by HA Rey and Margaret Rey, is a popular series of children’s books which feature a beloved mischievous monkey and his adventures and misadventures while living in the city with the Man with the Yellow Hat. Curious George remains popular today as both a series of books to be read to young children, and a cartoon series.

Thomas the Tank Engine also tooted his way into children’s hearts soon after its publication in 1946, and reached tremendous popularity during the fifties, remaining popular today. The original book was a collection of four stories about the adventures of Thomas and his train friends, Percy and Toby.

Best Baby Books of Today

Today’s best baby books are now board books, which are much more baby-friendly, and most will soon bear teeth marks to testify to their improved safety for hands-on exploration from babies.

One of the most popular baby board books of all time is Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. This book is simply written, but the tone is quiet and lyrical as goodnights are said to items inside the room by a baby rabbit tucked into its bed inside a warm bedroom. A tiny mouse can be found in every picture, adding more fun to the visual side of this classic baby book.

The Runaway Bunny, also by Margaret Wise Brown, is another classic board book in which a mother bunny tells her baby about all the ways she’d go to the ends of the earth to be with him if he ran away. Both of Margaret Wise Brown’s books were written in the late 1940’s, but have never been out of print, and are still staples in every nursery of today.

Chica Chica Boom Boom by Bill Martin Junior and John Archambault is beloved by babies and adults alike and features lowercase letters of the alphabet climbing a coconut tree, and asking “chica chica boom boom, will there be enough room?”

There are many reasons to read to a child right from infancy. Besides the huge language connections that it encourages in babies and toddlers, reading to your baby while they cuddle with you allows them to associate books with happiness and comfort, and that starts them on the road to finding joy in books for a lifetime.

Resources— WhatWeDoAllDay.com, Mother.ly, BookRiot.com, AbeBooks.com

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