Top 10 Books for a Boy's First Year

I don't know if all babies are this way...but our little guys LOVES books. From very early, just a couple weeks old, we started reading books to him. We would lay on the floor next to him and read with the book overhead so he could see the pictures. When we started a bedtime routine, my husband included reading a story to him and still does it for every nap time and bedtime to this day. 

   Now as an 11month old, Easton seeks out books on his own. He has a basket full of books on the floor in his room and another in the living room. A couple times each day you can find him by the basket, usually knocked over, pulling all the books out and then flipping through the pages of them. He will spend several minutes lost in his own little world just looking through the books. In the last month or so he has mastered flaps and is obsessed with playing peek-a-boo with his books. He knows where all the flaps are in books and will open and close them as we read each page. 

He loves books so much that he seeks out even adult books to explore. Once he realizes there are no pictures he loses interest pretty quickly but there have been some bent pages in the process. Something he as recently decided is a fun activity is to pull ALL of the books off the bottom shelf of our bookcase. It's hard to say "no" because we don't want him to think we are saying "no" to books. Definitely don't want to hinder that love.

 

When we are in the car, we always give him a book and he will be entertained the whole drive looking at the pictures, pointing, and "reading" or babbling about what he sees. He loves to sit on our laps and read books and is very interactive - pointing and turning pages and making sounds.

Easton probably has about 75 books and we have read them all multiple times. Some he likes more than others and some we like more than others. Below are our combined Top 10 favorite books from this first year. I'll share what I love about each one but the #1 thing these all have in common is that neither of us have gotten tired of any of these regardless of how many times we have read them. I know in another year or two he will become strongly attached to some book that may or may not be one that my husband and I particularly like. I hope we can continue to find awesome books like these that we all love and enjoy.

Books are something I will always buy for my kids. I love the learning, imagination and simple enjoyment that can come from them. Someday he may lose interest in books and reading but for now while I have a very eager and interested little bookworm, I am going to do everything I can to encourage and support that love. So here are some of our favorite books in no particular order. I hope you can find enjoyment in reading these with your little ones too.

Little Blue Truck

Oh this book is so adorable! I just put ALL the others from this series on his birthday wish list. When I find an author I like, I often will go after acquiring all their books and Alice Schertle has won me over with this one. Reasons I love this book: The writing is so clever and has a very good rhythm and rhyme so it's fun to read. It teaches animal sounds. The illustrations are cute - I am not in to SUPER cartoon-y looking animations. One of the biggest reasons I love this book though is because it teaches a good life-lesson. So often, kid's books are just words and fluff and low on meaningful content. Not so with this one! I can see how it will be a favorite for several years as he transitions from identifying animals and their sounds to learning about the lesson of kindness and helping others. In my opinion, this is a must-have for any kids' library.

We're Going on a Bear Hunt
This one is fun and reminds me of a camp style "song" in that it's a repetitive chant and even can be call and answer with your kid once they are older. I love to do little hand motions with Easton and make all the funny noises. It's a very fun one to get dramatic and really act everything out.

I'd Know You Anywhere, My Love

This one might be more for me than Easton, but he does love it too. I can tell because he sits through each page and points at the animals. This is another one that is so enjoyable to read aloud because of the song-like rhyme and cadence. I think that makes it fun for kids to listen to as well. The mom appears on each page and is wearing something red each time. Once when we read it, Easton was pointing at the red he saw on several pages. I hadn't even noticed it as a trend until he pointed it out! Basically if the book is cleverly written, sweet and has animals then we are both sold!



Open the Barn Door
Easton loves looking at this one by himself. He very quickly identified where all the flaps were and how to open them. When I read it to him, he even waits for the right time to open the flap and then shuts it before moving to the next page. It's a fun hide-and-seek and teaches animal sounds. Very simple but very entertaining and he often seeks this book out to "read" to himself.




Dear Zoo
Another flap book! This was the first flap book we showed him and so he didn't get it at first but now, like with the one above, he loves playing peek-a-boo with the animals. This book is short and sweet but teaches a little characteristic of each animal. Another great one for him to enjoy on his own.

Digger, Dozer, Dumper
This is the most recent book I have given him. I give him a new book on his monthly "birthdays" and so he got this when he was 11 months old. SUCH a creative book! Oh I can tell it will be a favorite for years to come. The author describes what each truck does very thoroughly in terms little kids can understand and a fun rhyme that is enjoyable to read aloud. There is a little dog that appears on each page and Easton loves to point at him and "woof". Highly recommend this one.






First 100 Words
First 100 Animals
Numbers Colors Shapes
These books are so fun! We use these as our car ride books for him. He stays quite content looking at the many pictures. When my husband reads them at home, if we also own that thing he will go and point to it side by side with the book. Lots of great vocabulary and fun pictures. My only complaint, the First 100 Animals repeats several of the animals across different pages. Example: the Owl is on the Birds and Forest pages.




Dinosaur Dance
This is such a cute silly book! I like to have fun with my voice and actions when reading this one. It teaches colors, dinosaur names, actions and onomatopoeia (sound words). This is a quick read so is great for before a nap as part of our routine.




My First Colors
I saw a friend's video on Facebook of her daughter (9 months older than my son) looking through this book and pointing at things she was asked to locate. I was so impressed by how many items she could identify and it seemed like a great I-Spy type book for learning lots of words. I immediately got on Amazon that same day and purchased it. Easton was very fascinated by this book initially and has since lost a bit of interest in it. I think perhaps since there are SO many random things on each page he doesn't focus like he would a scene in a story book. He has pointed to the basketball and bananas a couple times when I've asked. We will definitely continue to revisit this as he gets a little older. It does have some pretty odd items that would not be in a kid's vocabulary for a long time, such as egg timer haha, but I do love the organization by colors and there's questions to prompt searching and word association.

I'm Going to Give You a Bear Hug

Grandma bought this book for him and it stays at her house. It is SO cute! The little boy looks just like my son with his crazy hair. Again, fun rhyme and cleverly written. I love the little bear that goes with the boy on every page.

I hope this has inspired you and provided some good recommendations of books to buy for your child or as a gift for someone else's kid. And if you have other suggestions of excellent kids' books, I would love to know! Please share in the comments. Happy Reading!