It’s never too early to read with your baby!
In fact, early childhood development experts recommend reading to children from birth — at least 20 minutes a day, three days a week (read20.org).
Here are some of our favorite books for babies. Find reading lists for all age groups (including age 0 to 12 months) at readingfoundation.org.
Vegetables and Fruit
Get your baby started early on the goodness of whole foods with these board books by author-illustrator Sara Anderson.
Cut-paper-style images of vegetables and fruits are revealed one at a time in a rhythmic sequences: “Celery, rhubarb / cucumber, bean / potato, tomato, yellow and green,” in Vegetables and, in Fruit, “Huckleberry, strawberry / watermelon, plum / apricot, mango: Let’s have some!”
$9.99 each / amazon.com
Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See?
You can’t go wrong with the vibrant illustrations Eric Carle.
New this year — in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and the 10th anniversary of Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See? — is a new mini-tab version of the latter title.
Tabbed pages guide you through the animal characters — and make page turning easy for little hands, too.
$6.99 / amazon.com
Usborne Touchy-Feely Books
This durable, board-book series by Usborne — featuring irresistible texture patches (soft, rough, fluffy, shiny, shaggy, bumpy) — is unbeatable for engaging older infants.
Babies love the bold illustrations, tactile pages and, bonus, a little white mouse on every page.
Numerous new touch-feely gift sets are out now, too, including That’s Not My Zoo, That’s Not My Pets and others.
$9.99 per book / amazon.com
