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Original poster

Stories for babies

30 replies

halogen · 17/11/2007 20:41

My daughter is 14 months old and really likes stories. She is very bored with factual 'this is a dog' type books. The hard part is finding stories that are easy enough for her to understand. She likes Big Red Bath, The Elephant & the Bad Baby, Peepo, Each Peach Pear Plum and Meg & Mog books but I haven't found much else that is easy enough for her to cope with. Most stories seem to have too many words on a page. Any recommendations?

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Original poster
halogen · 24/11/2007 22:10

Oh yes, she loves Hairy MacLary and also the Very Busy Spider. Must look for My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes, that sounds great.

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CalifraundingFathers · 20/11/2007 23:23

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Bodkin · 20/11/2007 22:32

There's a series of these that are lovely for little babies - nice pics and simple rhyming text. Sorry, there's no pictures of them on the Amazon site, but the link is this

MorocconOil · 19/11/2007 20:31

Mine all started liking Shirley Hughes from about that age. She does simple poems about colours, weather etc and they loved studying the pictures. They were enjoying her stories pretty soon after 18 months(and so were we).

Original poster
halogen · 19/11/2007 20:25

Thanks so much for all the great recommendations. I agree that I don't think it's vital that she understands absolutely everything as long as she's got some idea of the basic situation - eg she liked the Big Red Bath book as soon as she got the hang of the idea that it was children having a bath and prob still doesn't understand all of it. I've been reading to her since she was born so she likes the process and the cuddles even when she doesn't get the whole story.

I will be off to Amazon shortly to have a bit of a look at all of the recommendations. You've mentioned several things that she already loves (eg V Hungry Caterpillar and That's Not My...) so you must be on the right track!

Many many thanks, and will look forward to more suggestions.

OP posts:
RosaLuxMundi · 17/11/2007 23:59

Goodnight Moon, the Runaway Bunny and various Sandra Boynton books (all American but readily available here) were very popular with all my DDs at that age.

Twinklemegan · 17/11/2007 23:29

There's one we really like called The Magic Sky, about polar bears and the northern lights. My 15 month old DS really likes it (and it sparkles!)

Christie · 17/11/2007 23:26

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gigglewitch · 17/11/2007 22:24

my DD has loved the very hungry caterpillar since that age
also ...
monkey puzzle
dear zoo (lots of us like that one, from reading the thread)
a set of books entitled "busy..." - railway, park, oooohh my memory is going i cant remember the other two
boat sails away train's day out - lovely rhyming stories
fergus goes quackers.

what a list....

happy reading

elkiedee · 17/11/2007 22:11

Another source of books - or ideas - is www.redhouse.co.uk, part of the same company as www.thebookpeople.co.uk - cheap books but no bookclub minimum commitment or Editor's Choice that they send you when you haven't asked for it.

elkiedee · 17/11/2007 22:08

Is it vital that she understands all of everything you read her or that she can enjoy some things in the story? We've been reading and telling stories to our ds since he was a few days old in hospital, and at bedtime each night from about 2 months.

Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler have done quite a few good books as well as The Gruffalo.

I also recommend the library. I've bought a lot of books for ds but find that getting books out for him stops me getting bored, and it sounds like your dd is ready to start picking out ones she likes. Also, you might find library staff who really enjoy having someone to make recommendations to.

Spink · 17/11/2007 21:56

Squash and a Squeeze - by the same people who did the Gruffalo

Katiekin · 17/11/2007 21:42

hairy mcclary
the gruffalo

Christie · 17/11/2007 21:37

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pregnabrain · 17/11/2007 21:04

A few my dd loved at that age:

Roaring Lion
Dear Zoo
Where's That Cat? and Where's That Duck?
Little Kipper books
Where's Spot? and other Spot stories
Wibbly Pig stories
All nursery rhyme books

Hope this helps

fryalot · 17/11/2007 20:58

have you been to your local library? Our library does a scheme which gives them free books from quite an early age, and a library ticket for them to take out more books.

notnowbernard · 17/11/2007 20:57

Spot (the dog) stories

Any lift-the-flap book

colditz · 17/11/2007 20:57

The very hungry caterpillar
the baby who wouldn't go to bed - both my 19 month old and my 4.6 year old love it1!

forkhandles · 17/11/2007 20:56

oooh, and the Little Kipper books are lovely

babyboo1and2 · 17/11/2007 20:55

we,re going on a bear hunt

forkhandles · 17/11/2007 20:55

yes, forgot about Dear Zoo, it's excellent. there is also a counting one by the same author which is good too.

forkhandles · 17/11/2007 20:54

sorry x post !!

notnowbernard · 17/11/2007 20:54

'Dear Zoo' is very good...

fryalot · 17/11/2007 20:54

The very hungry caterpillar?

forkhandles · 17/11/2007 20:53

The Maisy Mouse books are sweet simple stories

What about the touchy feely Usborne 'That's not my dog/fairy/car etc' series.