I thought it would be fun to talk about Sloane's current favorite books. First up, the Happy Baby series. She first had Happy Baby Words (you can buy on amazon for $5.35) which is a book that has pictures of everyday items and the words written underneath. The images are grouped together in different ways like colors, food, body parts etc. This was a great tool when she was first learning to talk and she still loves pointing at the images when I say the word, but now she will repeat the word also. We also got her Happy Baby Colors for Easter. We haven't gotten quite as into this book because she has moved onto others but I think it is another great book to have for toddlers.
Next up is The Little Book of Farmyard Tales by Stephen Cartwright and Heather Amery. This is probably Sloane's all time favorite book for several reasons. First of all the have "real" pages rather than the pages of a board book. Although they are real pages they are still pretty strong (we have had to tape a page back in once) and she seems to be able to turn the pages very well on her own. She also loves the images in the book. It has so many little things to look at on the pages, plus they are interactive. She loves tracing the path of "The Naughty Sheep" through the garden. There is also a small duck on nearly every pages that is fun to search for. Finally the book has a couple different ways of reading it. You can read just the words on the top of the pages, which is a short and sweet story. This is actually there for children first learning to read, but it's perfect for Sloane's short attention span. You can also read the word just on the bottom of the page and it gives the story more details and some interactive instructions, like counting the pigs and pointing out where the fire hose is getting the water. This story we don't read too often to Sloane just yet cause she's always too excited to turn the page. finally you can have a parent/child read along by having the child read the pages on the top of the page and you parent follow by reading the words on the bottom. Overall this is a great book that I think will be around for a long time while Sloane learns to read (we might have to buy a second copy however)
Finally her latest favorite book is Play Shapes Formas de Jugar (on Barnes and Noble's website for $7.88). This is a basic puzzle book teaching the child about shapes. It has foam pages with drawn images with a shape missing. It then has cardboard shapes that match each page. Sloane loves putting all the shapes in (although the triangle can get a little tricky for her) and once we are done we will do it all over again! The book also gives the French word for the shape and at the beginning of the book it gives you three suggested ways of reading (we don't really read the book, we just put in the shapes).
Reading is one of Sloane's favorite activities so there are many more books we read through daily, but these one's I though were worth mentioning because not only are they some of Sloane's favorite books but they are also a fun way for her to learn.
I'd love to hear some of your guy's favorite book selections and why. All three of these books were gifts, and books I wouldn't have known about otherwise.
