30 Books to read before you're 2!

The books on this list have been selected by the Better Beginnings team of children's literature specialists and are favourites of many babies, toddlers and their families.

Updated January 19, 2024
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I went walking
Machin, Sue
Paper Book
A child discovers a parade of animals in this picture book filled with playful humor and rhyme. This simple, funny read-aloud follows a boy's exciting stroll through the countryside. The boy sees a black cat, then a brown horse, then a red cow, and so on, and before he knows it, he's being...
We're Going on a Bear Hunt
Oxenbury, Helen
Paper Book
Beloved for more than 30 years, this award-winning classic from Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury celebrates the joys of an afternoon outdoors with family. We're going on a bear hunt. We're going to catch a big one. Will you come too? Join a father and his four...
Press here
Tullet, Herv©?
Paper Book
The longest-running picture book on the New York Times bestseller list! "Tullet's brilliant creation proves that books need not lose out to electronic wizardry; his colorful dots perform every bit as engagingly as any on the screen of an iPad.... The joy is...
Hello hello
Wenzel, Brendan
Paper Book
In this brilliant follow up to the Caldecott Honour-winning They All Saw a Cat, bestselling author Brendan Wenzel presents a chain of animals of dazzling variety. Each one is different from the last, yet each is also linked by at least one common trait: some obvious, some more subtle. As...
Dear zoo
Campbell, Rod
Paper Book
Rod Campbell's classic lift-the-flap book Dear Zoo has been a firm favorite with toddlers and parents alike ever since it was first published in 1982. Young readers love lifting the flaps to discover the animals the zoo has sent--a monkey, a lion, and even an elephant! But...
The very hungry caterpillar
Carle, Eric
Paper Book
THE all-time classic picture book, from generation to generation, sold somewhere in the world every 30 seconds! Have you shared it with a child or grandchild in your life? Carle's classic tale of a voracious caterpillar who eats his way through the days of the week and...
Where's Spot?
Hill, Eric
Paper Book
For 25 years, children have been looking for Spot. Is he in the piano? Is he under the stairs? This special anniversary edition of Where's Spot'will introduce Spot to a new generation of readers. All dressed up with a shiny silver cover, this perennial favorite is likely to become a collector's item...
Hands can
Hudson, Cheryl Willis.
Paper Book
Hands can do all kinds of things! A rhyming text with eye-catching color photos offers just the encouragement young children need to explore their world -- hands on. Hands can hold things. Hands can mold things.  Hands can catch and hands can throw. ...

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