the best board books for baby

I am so excited to bring my favorite and best board books for baby to you today. Our family adores each of the books on this list — and it is fun for me to reminisce about each of them and their sentimental meaning.

Love and affection and books. All a baby or a growing child needs. From day one, books can bring comfort and create a bond between parent and child. I wanted to compile a list of my and my children’s favorite books for the new mom who is thinking of creating a new library for her new precious one.

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Our absolute favorite baby board books

Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown is the first book I ever read to my son. He was hours old, laying on my bed. I read through the pages and sobbed each word. I never knew that a love could be as strong as a mama bunny for her son until I became a mama. This book has my heart.

Good Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown is a nighttime classic. There was a time when my son wanted me to read it 10 times in a row. I did. He knows every line about the little green room and the little bunny saying goodnight to all the objects that surround him.

Have You Seen my Duckling? by Nancy Tafuri is currently my daughter’s favorite book. She gets so excited to find the little duckling who is hiding playfully from his mama duck. The pictures are gorgeous and can be taught to talk about ponds and animals that live in the water.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is another classic. Learning about the caterpillar to butterfly life cycle has never been more silly or fun. This book (if you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t read it yet) :) has a tactile element, so little fingers can poke through all the foods that the little caterpillar eats.

Brown Bear Brown Bear by Eric Carle is a delightful book about animals and colors. Children are drawn to this book and its simplicity. Children love to look at the collage-created images and learn about different animals, and learn simple words along the way!

I Love You Sun, I Love You Moon by Karen Pandell and Tomie dePaola is one of our nature favorites. I love you rock. I love you tree. The words teach your child about loving and caring for our earth in the most simple language a baby can understand — love.

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury is a fun, repetitive family book about a family who are in search of a big brown bear. They travel through all different landscapes in a family adventure.

Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton is a delightful book about the barn animals having a hoe-down! You can’t go wrong with any other fun, rollicking board books by Boynton — our other favorites include But Not the Hippopatumus and Moo Ba La La La.

Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann has been another favorite of my son’s. He loves the zookeeper’s wife’s face when she discovers all of the zoo animals in her bedroom. A super fun and delightful almost-non-word book.

Mommy Loves by Anne Gutman brings me to tears when I read it. All of the little animals are so loved by their mamas. And don’t us mamas love our little cubs or piglets or chicks in the same way? We are mama lionesses who will protect our baby cubs to the utmost.

Jamberry by Bruce Degen: “Hatberry, Shoeberry, In my canoeberry, Under the bridge, And over the dam, Looking for berries, Berries for jam.” A little boy and his bear friend have fun dancing and eating berries. Super fun rhymes and dialogue in this favorite.

Gossie by Olivier Dunrea is the first book in a series about some sweet little chicks who learn important lessons about sharing and friendship. You can read more on Dunrea’s site.

A Good Day by Kevin Henkes has been described as “a perfect children’s book.” That it is. It is a story of loss and discovery using simple animals and a little girl. So sweet and lovely.

Boats by Byron Barton is a simple book to show all different kinds of boats and what they do. Barton also wrote books about Trucks, Trains, and Planes. My son adores these little transportation books!

Mr. Brown Can Moo Can You? by Dr. Seuss. No list would be complete without Dr. Seuss. A fun way to learn about sounds. Some of my children’s first sounds came from reading this and books like it!

Hug by Jez Alborough is a mostly wordless book about a sweet little monkey just looking for his mama to hug. Oh I love books like this. They inspire affection from our little ones — what could be better?!

A Child’s Good Night Book and A Child’s Good Morning Book by Margaret Wise Brown are beyond amazing poems. Ms. Brown was truly a master with words and I don’t think she has an equal in terms of her poetry for children. “Night is over, the moon goes down, the morning star is blazing bright, the bright and morning star.”

Drummer Hoff by Ed & Barbara Emberley is a Caldecott Medal winner and has been a favorite of my son’s since he was very young. The rhymes repeat themselves over and over until BOOM! the cannon fires.

You are my I Love You by Maryann Cusinamo Love is a book I adore and love. Our children are our hearts, as poetically described by a daddy bear and baby bear — and nothing will ever change that. I wrote an Author Spotlight on Cusimano, her background is incredibly interesting.

My daughter is always gravitating towards the simple Baby Touch & Feel board books. These are very fun to have in the home. There are many of them available — we have 4 or 5 of them.

A home can never have too many books

I hope my list of Best Board Books for Baby has been helpful to you! Now, head out to as many garage sales as you can find, and start collecting! I have stacks and stacks and book shelf upon bookshelf full of board and paper and hardcover books — many found secondhand — but some, like many of the above — are worth gold in the memories they create!! A home can never have too many books!!

Check out my baby must have list….

Baby’s First Year

This post is a part of a series by 40+ bloggers, the Ultimate Guide to Baby’s First Year!! Check out the Everything Baby Pinterest Board for lots of baby ideas. We will be exploring many topics from May 11 to May 20 about Baby’s First Year.