Books for Babies
Hello, readers! Welcome back to our blog. Today’s post is near and dear to my heart. A lot of our friends are expecting children right now and most of them are partaking in an awesome new trend. Instead of receiving cards with their baby shower gifts, they are requesting a book from gift givers. As I pour over their registries, I can’t help but reflect on the time when we were preparing to welcome our own little bundle of joy. My husband and I both share a passion for reading and were so excited to build a book wall in our nursery. With the generosity of our friends and family, we were able to fill it with tons of stories that would carry our little one to far away lands and take her on countless adventures. Today’s blog post is about some of the best books we’ve read to our daughter and a few we can’t wait to read. Alright, I’ve kept you waiting long enough, let’s get into it.
Our favorite book by far is “I Like Myself!” by Karen Beaumont. We all know that all young people, but young girls, in particular, are constantly bombarded by pressure to meet unrealistic standards of beauty. This board book teaches our little ones to love themselves regardless of their exterior appearance. It presents them with all kind of funny exterior conditions and reinforces the importance of loving themselves. This book also stresses that no one can make you like yourself any less. Honestly, this book has a message that most adults can relate to.
We also enjoy girl power books like “Rosie Revere Engineer,” “Mae Among the Stars,” and “My First Book of Girl Power.” Rosie Revere encourages young girls to be inventive, even when others may doubt you. Mae’s book summarizes the story of Mae Jemison, the first African American woman in space. Young Mae persevered in the face of great adversity and accomplished her dreams. The last book shows young girls that they too can be superheroes. It highlights how each character has special traits that empower her to do good in the world.
The last set of books that I really enjoy are “Thank You God for Mommy,” “Thank You God for Daddy,” “Thank You God for Grandma,” and “Thank You God for Grandpa.” These books are sweet stories about the types of things each special person does for the child. I am still trying to convince our parents to let me record them reading their respective book so I can play it for our future child(ren) in the event a grandparent should pass before they arrive. Another family-centric book that I cannot get enough of is “Full, Full, Full of Love” by Trish Cooke. It just really emphasizes the family experience that so many of us have gotten away from as jobs have taken us to faraway places. I wish that we could spend more time with our parents, and this book reminds me of my childhood.
It was also very important to me that we expose our daughter to foreign languages early on. For that reason, we registered for several bilingual (English and Spanish) board books. Some of our favorites are:
- A is for Airplane/A es para avion
- Animals: Animales (Bright Baby) (English and Spanish Edition)
- Bilingual Bright Baby: Colors (Spanish Edition)
- First 100 Words Bilingual: Primeras 100 palabras - Spanish-English
Well, there you have it. Those are some of our favorite books that we’ve read to our princess.
Now let’s take a look at some of the books that we’re planning to get soon.
- If You Give a Mouse a Cookie Book
- The Story of Babar: The Little Elephant
- Little Robot
- My Hair is a Garden
- All the Colors We Are/Todos los colores de nuestra piel: The Story of How We Get Our Skin Color/La historia de por qué tenemos diferentes colores de piel
- The Underwear Book
- It’s Okay To Be Different
I have so many other books that I’d love to read to her, that I’ve started a wishlist. We don’t have nearly as much space as I’d like to house such a robust library What are some of your favorite books?