Suggested Reading for Toddlers

Suggested Reading for Toddlers (18 months - 3 years)

Updated October 14, 2023
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I Like Trains
Hirst, Daisy
Daisy Hirst's charming ode to a toddler's love of trains, featuring her sweet signature artwork Whether sending toy animals on a journey around a model track or driving a cardboard-box locomotive, this little puppy really likes trains. All aboard! But best of all is riding a real...
One fox : a counting book thriller
Read, Kate
Counting from one to ten has never been so thrilling in this Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Honor Book and recipient of the Mathical Book Prize from Kate Read! One hungry fox with two sly eyes is on the prowl . . . three plump hens had better watch out! Rich...
The button book
Nicholls, Sally
This silly and sweet picture book introduces young children to colors through humor and clever interactive elements. For fans of Hervé Tullet's Press Here. Here's a button. I wonder what happens when you press it? Follow a group of animal friends as...
A polar bear in the snow
Barnett, Mac
A majestic polar bear heads out on a mysterious walk in a dazzling, playful collaboration from an exciting pair of picture-book creators. Follow a magnificent polar bear through a fantastic world of snow and shockingly blue sea. Over the ice, through the water, past Arctic...
The greedy goat
Horá?ek, Petr
A very greedy goat wreaks havoc in the barnyard in an entertaining cautionary tale from Petr Horácek. Goat is tired of always eating herbs and grass. She wants to try something new! So one day she embarks on a tasting spree, trying the dog's food, the pig's potato peels, and more...
I am bat
Hood, Morag
I am bat. I love cherries. They are juicy and red and delicious and... My cherries! Some of them are missing. Who took my cherries? Was it YOU? Join the grumpily adorable Bat as he searches for his missing cherries in this vibrant and hilarious picture book.
Carrot & pea
Hood, Morag
Colin is tall. He's orange. He's a carrot! He's nothing like Lee, a round green pea. He can't do any of the things Lee and his pea pals can do. How can Colin and Lee ever be friends? A charming celebration of embracing differences and standing out in a crowd.   
Everybody in the Red Brick Building
Wynter, Anne
A fresh, urban take on bedtime stories in the spirit of The House That Jack Built and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, from debut author Anne Wynter and Caldecott Honoree Oge Mora. Everybody in the red brick building was asleep. Until . . . WaaaAAH! Rraak! Wake up! Pitter...
I want my hat back
Klassen, J.
A New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book of 2011! A picture-book delight by a rising talent tells a cumulative tale with a mischievous twist. The bear's hat is gone, and he wants it back. Patiently and politely, he asks the animals he comes...
Yo Quiero Mi Sombrero
Klassen, Jon
A New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book of 2011! A picture-book delight by a rising talent tells a cumulative tale with a mischievous twist. The bear's hat is gone, and he wants it back. Patiently and politely, he asks the animals he comes...
Goodnight everyone
Haughton, Chris
From the creator of Shh! We Have a Plan comes a mesmerizing bedtime tale of a forest settling into slumber and one little bear trying to stay awake. The sun is setting, and everyone in the forest is getting sleepy. The mice, rabbits, and deer all give great big yawns as...
Polar bear night
Thompson, Lauren.
A polar bear cub . . . A nighttime journey . . . A bedtime story of love and wonder.One keen, clear night, a polar bear cub wakes inside her warm den. Something in the moonlit stillness quietly beckons. What is it?The little cub sets out for the snow and sky and sea and ice, and the moon...
Crunch, the shy dinosaur
Dunlap, Cirocco
From Cirocco Dunlap (This Book Will Not Be Fun) and Theodor Seuss Geisel Award winner Greg Pizzoli (The Watermelon Seed) comes a charming, giggly read-aloud that illustrates the particular art of making a friend! Crunch is a lovely and quiet brontosaurus who has...
Get out of my bath!
Teckentrup, Britta
Ellie the elephant loves to have fun in the bath, but she's not the only one. Her fun is interrupted when a crocodile decides to join her, followed by a flamingo, then a mouse and even a tiger! Poor Ellie's bath is ruined. What can she do? She sucks all the water into her trunk, of course! Then she...
This is a book of shapes
Kraegel, Kenneth
The creator of King Arthur's Very Great Grandson and Green Pants switches gears with a slyly silly introduction to shapes--just watch out for the emus! First comes the circle. Then the square and the triangle. Then the . . . emu pushing a pancake wagon down a...
A parade of elephants
Henkes, Kevin
New York Times-bestselling and Caldecott Medalist Kevin Henkes follows five joyful elephants as they march from dawn to dusk. Where are they going? Read and find out! This engaging picture book is just right for the youngest reader and is a perfect choice for story time and bedtime sharing...
Wiggle
Cronin, Doreen.
Do you wake up with a wiggle? Do you wiggle out of bed? For energetic toddlers (are there any who aren't?), here's a book that invites them to wiggle along with the story. Told in rollicky, wiggly rhyme that begs to be read...

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