Your top five books for under 3s?

Lots that have already been mentioned (Snail and the Whale, Lost and Found, Hairy McLary) plus:

Olivia (and all the Olivia books)

Don't think anyone's mentioned Shirley Hughes? A bit retro, but ds1 adores 'Alfie's Feet' and there's so much to talk about in the illustrations.

Richard Scarry if you don't need just stories

Melrose and Croc (the stories are a bit lame, but ds1 seems to like them - same writer as Blue Kangaroo)

Sleepy Places

I Love You Little Monkey (I think that's what it's called - it's about big monkey and little monkey)

Katie Morag books

Lydia Monks - Aargh Spider, No More Eeyore, Oooh Gorilla

Peace at last is my ds fav book. He' 2.2 and knows all the words.

Probably been said already but here goes:

The Bear Under the stairs
The Paperbag Princess
Peepo
Winnie the Witch
Lifetimes

Fairy Pants, Hairy Pants, Run away from scary pants, how many more pants can you see????

Pants (mentioned above) is all time favourite.

(all together now...small pants, big pants, giant frilly pig pants, new pants, blue pants 1-2-3; rich pants, poor pants, swinging-on-the-door pants, how many more pants can you see?)

Yes and Dr Zeus, although we rarely get through a full story due to their length!DD has loved these from being months old but still doesn't have the attention span for the whole thing without trying to skip pages

Calm Down Boris
Hairy Maclairy series
Thats not my dolly, fairy, snowman etc.
Anything that rhymes well while you read it seems to go down well.

Charlie and Lola books are good, at the top of the age range maybe, but ds has loved them for ages and he is 3.4 .Especially I Will Not Ever Never Eat A Tomato. Good for food recognition, coaxing difficult eaters etc.

Bedtime Bear
K is for Kissing a Kool Kangaroo good for vocab and pre-reading
any of the Dora adventure books as they encourage participation
Lost and Found/The Way Back Home/Catch a Star

I like it when
Goodnight Moon
Dr Seuss - The cat in the Hat or One Fish Two Fish or Green Eggs and Ham
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Brown Bear, Brown Bear

Day Monkey/Night Monkey.
Maisy Books - All of Them

You Choose is a must, as is the Gruffalo.
Are You My Mother?

Goodnight Moon
The Tiger That Came To Tea
Peepo
Each Peach Pear Plum
Big Red Bath
Guess How Much I Love You
Where the Wild Things Are
Gruffalo & Gruffalo's Child
Dear Zoo
Mr Brown Can Moo - Dr Seuss
Bear Hunt
Hungry Caterpillar
Hug
Hairy McClarey & Zachary Quack

I also love Bamboo and Tiny, as kids can make up their own stories to the pictures...

I have to add that I think the Meg and Mog books are a bit dated now. We got one out of the library recently that had dad watching The Fight on the TV (try explaining what that is to a 2.5 year old DD) and Mog disturbing burglars who had broken into Meg's house in the middle of the night! I did some judicious editing as I read, as you can imagine...

All the ones that have been said and

How to catch a star

Harry and his dinosaurs

Snore

any book about tractors, diggers, machines etc

If you're happy and you know it
We're going on a bearhunt
The gruffalo & gruffalo child

Firm favorites in our house

Great thread btw!

Hi Smithagain

Contact Usborne Books and ask if they have an organiser in your area - they can get you free books and discounts. If it was plausible to do a sponsored read (or read-to where the kids are read to) you could basically get all the book free with the sponsorship money + the free books you get (up to 60%) - or you can order from them at a discount / free books that way. It'll save you a fortune, get you loads of lovely Usborne books and the money saved you can buy equipment/other non-usborne books etc.

The main number is:01865 883731 - I'd help you as I'm an organiser but unless youre in North Yorkshire youre best off ringing that number and asking for a local organiser to ring you with the Possibility of an event/sale.

Hope this helps

Hairy Maclary (any of them, although the cat show one isn't quite up to standard IMO)

Each Peach Pear Plum

Tiger Who Came to Tea

Dig, Dig, Digging

Hippos Go Berserk

Thse are ds's current favourites. The Gruffalo, anything with Kipper and Wibbly Pig, and the Hungry Caterpillar, also rank highly.

BigBadMouse - I have a Gruffalo's Child book. If you're interested please email me at [email protected]
Thanks

For something completely different but I know your children would love it have a look at www.love2read.co.uk I'm a primary school teacher and originally made these books to get my own children interested in reading.The site allows you to create bespoke books by uploading personal photographs that reflect a child's world. Those images are then related to simple key reading words[known as high frequency words and taught in Reception class]. Once the book is created it is professionally produced and sent in the post.I suggest for your nursery you take photos of the different areas or people the children see daily and then create a book "I see" or "This is".Under the photos then complete the sentence, for example "I see the books", "I see the home corner" or "This is Emma", "This is Smithagain". It is really easy I promise you!
As a mum of three and a teacher I know your children will love these books. Click here to see a virtual demo book: www.love2read.co.uk/component/option,com_virtuemart/Itemid,38/vmcchk,1/

Dear Zoo
Pants
Ketchup on your Cornflakes
Percy Park Keepers - One Snowy Night
Kippers Monster

PD..that is a familiar scenario lol ...

am hankering after these reading days, actually...
ds insists atm on underground travel leaflets and bicycle brochures
...tad tedious, but we are all up-to-date on the various public transport changes about to happen......

The Tiger Who Came to Tea
Dear Zoo
We're Going on A Bear Hunt
The Gruffalo
The Duck in a Truck

The hungry caterpillar

Dear zoo

bear hunt

peepo

each peach pear plum

Agree PD - This morning dd woke up a bit earlier than norm, came in with us for a bit and then got bored. She wanted to get dressed so I told her to go and do it herself (she's just 3 so didn't think it would be too successful) and we left her a while and when we went to find her we found her sat (not remotely dressed) in a pile of books which she'd been 'reading'. I sooo hope that love of books lasts (she loves tv too before I start sounding too smug and wholesome !)