ScienceWoman is an assistant professor in -ology. She blogs about the intersection of science and real life - primarily based on her first-hand experiences. Her older posts can be found 
Alice Pawley is an assistant professor of 
Minnow is really fun these days. She loves to "help" me unload the dishwasher, fold the laundry, carry things, and close doors. She is also starting to really enjoy reading books. She's not just cuddling with me while I read, and she's not just trying to eat them anymore. She's starting to point at pictures and want to turn pages, and occasionally even laugh at the funny animal sounds I make while reading them.*
So I thought I'd share some of Minnow's current favorite books.
An early and continued favorite of ours is Moo, Baa, La La La by Sandra Boynton. I've actually had the words to this one memorized for six months or so, but it's a reliable giggle instigator for both of us because of the funny words and pictures. Actually, a lot of Sandra Boynton books are pretty popular and we are hoping to add to our collection.
A sweet bedtime book featuring mama and baby animals is Time for Bed by Mem Fox and illustrated by Jane Dyer. (I've also got large chunks of this book memorized as well.) This is a good book for talking about names for baby versus adult animals, and the gentle rhymes have a very lulling cadence to them. Plus, it's got no plot so we can open it up where we want and it doesn't matter if we don't finish it.
Another book that we've recently begun to enjoy is Tails by Mathew van Fleet. This board book needs to fairly carefully supervised, because it's got swishing tails to move, furry and spiny tails to touch, and even a stinky tail. Right now we just point and touch, but when Minnow's older it's also got a counting game to play.
"Brown Bear, Brown Bear what do you see?" illustrated by Eric Carle delights Minnow, mostly because I try to make different sounds and voices for each of the animals. After we've read it through, she'll flip the book open to a random page and I'll make the noises. She seems to prefer the sheep, dog, and frog. Carle's "Polar Bear, Polar Bear" book has not reached the same level of either MInnow or Mommy enthusiasm, probably because I can't make some of the animal noises in the book (elephants, flamingos, etc.).
*Mostly she laughs when I make dog sounds or when we look at pictures of dogs. My hypothesis is that she actually knows what a dog looks and sounds like, whereas things like sheep and elephants are still abstract concepts only seen in books. We're going to have to bring her to a zoo this spring.
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Do you have Sandra Boynton's Dinosaur's Binkit? My son laughed and laughed and laughed at it when he was Minnow's age. (And the binkit is very soft - he liked books with things to touch for a while.)
Posted by: Kim | February 18, 2008 8:45 AM
My son loves the book "On the night you were born". I started reading it to him when he was only a few months old and he just loves to hear the words to this day. Its the book he asks me to read every night before bed. Now that he is getting bigger he points out the moon and the ladybugs in it. Its not a board book, so you have to be careful with it. I love it because it really does remind me of how special that night was.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780312346065&itm=1
Posted by: Filo05 | February 18, 2008 8:45 AM
We love the Sandra Boyton books as well. Did you know she does kids music as well? Lots of fun for everyone!
Oh, and I can't tell you how many kids books I can do from memory these days.
Posted by: Natalie | February 18, 2008 9:41 AM
Thanks for this! Maire is only 3 months old, but we've been reading to her every night since she was a few weeks old. We've got our favorites, too; mine is The Hound from the Pound by Jessica Swaim. We have a basset hound and it's fun to say "Arooooo!" Sometimes the dog joins in. We have Boynton's Pajama Time, which is pretty fun. I also have Dr. Seuss and Beatrix Potter board books, and our new favorite is the Skippyjon Jones series by Judy Schachner. Our little girl has quite a library and I usually buy her a new book every couple of weeks. Of course at this point it's more for me than for her.
Hm. You've inspired me to make a post about this on my blog! :)
Posted by: LM | February 18, 2008 9:47 AM
I adore Sandra Boynton's books! I give them to all my friends' children (and that way I have something fun to read when I babysit). Barnyard Dance is my favorite, but Moo Baa La La La is a very close second.
Posted by: phd me | February 18, 2008 11:26 AM
Apart from Are You My Mother? (which is really in a category all its own in my family), I'm quite fond of Snuggle Puppy from Boynton. I used to sing it to Little One and look forward to doing so with Smallest One.
Posted by: Katie | February 18, 2008 11:35 AM
My little one loved Moo, Baa, La-La-La too, but it messed him up on what sound a pig makes for almost a year. He could tell you what every other animal in world says, but if you ask him what the pig says, he'd get a bit disturbed and wouldn't answer.
Posted by: Physicalist | February 18, 2008 2:48 PM
Thanks for all your great suggestions...I'll have to check them out.
Physicalist: That's too funny. I've worried wondered about that with Minnow as well.
Posted by: ScienceWoman | February 18, 2008 3:43 PM
My nephews love the Sandra Boynton books.
Last weekend my 3yo nephew went to his dad's bookcase and grabbed "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" by Dr. Seuss. I gave it my best reading. He was entranced.
^_^
Posted by: Aerik | February 18, 2008 6:52 PM
May I suggest Diary of a Wombat. It's one of my favourites (you can look inside on Amazon) and it's so adorable.
My lovely math geek got it for me as a xmas present. It makes me happy.
Posted by: Burrow | February 19, 2008 8:35 PM
But when you're searching, make sure to click on surprise me!
Posted by: burrow | February 19, 2008 8:36 PM
Snuggle Puppy by Boynton is a favorite of mine and Moo Baa La La La was a big hit with my kids when they were younger. I also liked the Richard Scarry books at that age. Lots of things to point at. My daughter at age 1 would stare at the pages very intently. She looked like she was studying for a quiz later.
Did anyone else hear the NPR report on family dinners? It was talking about all the various benefits on family dinners. It mentioned a study on early readers. The authors of the study thought that lots of time spent by parents reading would result in children learning to read earlier. Turns out that family dinners were more significant. It was a fascinating report.
Posted by: female engineering professor | February 20, 2008 10:01 AM
I love the Sandra Boynton books, too. And we have the music CDs of hers, Philadelphia Chickens and Blue Moo. Wonderful songs and pictures to go with.
We also have the Tails book, and that's one of the few that Bean will actually sit all the way through.
I actually kind of worry about reading with the Bean because she never wants to sit still long enough to look at books, even though we've been trying to read with her since she was small. I'm hoping that she'll soon take more of an interest in books, because I really want to read with her!
Posted by: ScienceMama | February 20, 2008 12:19 PM
My daughter, 20 months, likes Olivia books by Ian Falconer. They've got really good illustrations.
My personal favorites are the books by Peter H. Reynolds - Ish and The Dot. They're wonderful. He's got a new one called So Few of Me that's good as well.
Posted by: JYB | February 22, 2008 12:31 AM