Books for a 20 month old toddler

[TFImBackIn]

There's a look of distinct boredom on my gd's face whenever she has to find Spot now! She's got all those books and knows We're Going on a Bear Hunt inside out. Can anyone tell me what their toddler enjoys reading? I think we all need a change! She's got plenty of books for older children but I'm struggling to find anything she can enjoy. Any recommendations? She's 2 in June.

It really depends on the child at this age, I think - I have two and the older one was definitely ready for 'proper' stories at this age and happy to read Tabby McTat, Hairy MacLary and similar (though NOT the Gruffalo, because scary). The younger one hadn't quite got the language skills and attention span, though the 'that's not my...' touchy-feely type stuff was already on its way out at this point. Julia Donaldson's Acorn Wood books as suggested above are a good middle ground, though, and also her toddler books illustrated by Nick Sharratt, like Toddle Waddle and Goat Goes to Playgroup. Books about numbers, shapes and colours also started to be popular around now.

have you got a local library with a toddler section. Good way to find new books of interest

Hippos Go Berserk
Hairy Maclary

Anything by Julia's Donaldson
Gruffalo
Zog
Scarecrows Wedding
Stickman
Room on the Broom

My 2 year old loves all of these
And 'The Dinosaur that pooped' books!

Great thread, thank you! I’m noting down all the recommendations 😊

my twins are 21 months and current faves are:

Tales from Acorn Wood books
Tiddler
tiger who came to tea
Hairy maclary (set of 10)
What the ladybird heard
stick man

Lucy Cousins - Busy day for birds, Jazzy in the jungle, splish splash ducky, hooray for fish, peck peck peck (a personal favourite), Maisy Mouse. Anything Julia Donaldson (the highway rat is our favourite). Gerald Giraffe.

Chocolate mousse for greedy goose

My just turned two year old loves:

• the little blue truck
• each peach pair plum
• peepo
• the very hungry caterpillar
• the very busy spider
• any usbourne sound books
• the acorn wood seried - foxes socks, hide and seek pig etc
• oi frog

He wont sit through any julia donaldson books yet but sometimes likes classics like the gingerbread man and three little pigs if read with dramatic effect

Oh he loves the miffy books too

also remember that you can read older books to her.

my little one loves any of the Julia Donaldson ones or Paddington etc.

@TFImBackIn , at that stage I think repetition, rhyme and stuff they can touch are big hits.

My son loves the Stanley the hamster one. (I think he’s a hamster or a guinea pig!). There’s loads of them, Stanley doing all different jobs.

My son is about to turn 2

I second the Julia Donaldson/Nick Sharratt books

• Toddle Waddle
• Goat Goes to Playgroup
• Chocolate Mousse for Greedy Goose
• Animal Music
• Hippo Has a Hat

Tony Ross' books

• I Want My Dinner
• I Want My Potty

The Storm Whale by Benji Davis - beautiful art, there are more books in series if she likes it

Winnie the Witch by Valerie Thomas & Korky Paul

There are maybe 3 good Hairy Mclary books and a very noticeable drop in quality with the rest, don't bother getting the series

Sometimes I go to YouTube and look for read-throughs of a book before buying to see if it's something my child might like / be ready for, if I can't find it at the library

I have a little bookworm so she sits through long books (but didn’t walk till 15/16months.)

short ones:
my mum and dad make me laugh
there are bears on the stairs
my teddy (said eddy)
10 little dinosaurs & 10 little monkeys
meg & mog
i want my hat back (series) (also enjoy a lot of klaus klaasen books)
Elephant wellyphant
17 kings and 42 elephants
the bear and the mouse series
the tiger who came to tea
There’s a wocket in my pocket
You can’t get an elephant on a bus

longer ones:
octopus shocktopus
Julia donaldson -(especially detective dog nell as we have a spaniel and snail and the whale)
the hairy maclairy extended universe (we have so many)
aldherg books (weirdly loves black cat)
the books with sound in them e.g. the planets though I don’t read the story

stuff we have from our own childhood (just so style stories)

Crafty Cameleon
Lazy lion

And much to my horror all the bluey books. Do not buy!

Yes!

And ours all enjoyed the Where’s Spot? books.

I do miss the old Ladybirds, stories in verse with a full colour illustration on every other page. At 2 my dd1 knew Downy Duckling almost off by heart.

Each Peach Pear Plum is another good one.
And at a fraction older, my Gdcs loved Poo In The Zoo - all in verse, that actually scans - they don’t always (which does grate on me!)
IMO anything in verse is great for small children,

@TFImBackIn Remember you can still read her older books ☺️ spend lots of time looking for things in the pictures. She doesn’t know if you’re reading all the words yet so you can always simplify things if you feel it’s necessary ☺️

At that age my DS was obsessed with the Julia Donaldson books. The favourites were Stick Man, Tabby McTat, The Gruffalo, A Squash and a Squeeze & The Smeds and the Smoos. All the repetition is great for building their language skills ☺️
He also loved - Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Tales From Acorn Book series, The Tiger That Came To Tea, Peace at Last & Goodnight Moon ☺️

My little boy liked the 'Ten Minutes To Bed' series at that age, especially 'Ten Minutes To Bed Little Dinosaur'. It's one of the books we've read so many times we can recite it by heart.

Agree with Hairy maclary and Julia Donaldson. Also the How to hide a lion from Grandma series by Helen Stephens is so sweet and funny. https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/products/how-to-hide-a-lion-book-helen-stephens-9781407121611

DS is 22 months and favourites are..

-Lu Fraser Books (A camel called Doug, Littlest Yak etc)
-Julia Donaldson Books (Gruffalo, Monkey Puzzle, Stickman, Snail & Whale & Zog are current favourites)
-The Hungry Caterpillar
-Tiger Came To Tea
-Betty Goes Bananas & Betty Goes Bananas in Pyjamas
-Peepo
-Ten Little Fingers & Ten Little Toes
-The ‘10 Little’ Books. Some are better than others. Dinosaurs and Pirates are favourites here.
-Peace at Last & Five Minutes Peace by Jill Murphy

As the reader I enjoy I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen because it’s darkly funny.

We've never worried about age appropriate and have been reading many of the above to him since he was born. He now knows his favourites and asks for them, ‘Snail’ or ‘Betty’ or ‘Puzzle’ or ‘Doug’.

Perfect for it. Anything with repetitive phrases, rhyming. 👌

My 2yo loves Stickman (got SO overexcited when we went on a walk and actually found a stick that looks like Stickman).

My 2yo also loves:

• Anything by Julia Donaldson
• The Albie series e.g. How to catch a dragon, Supermarket Zoo etc
• You Choose (Nick Sharratt)
• shark in the park (Nick Sharratt)
• Find My Favourite Things: Search and find! (DK book)
• No-bot the Robot
• There's a monster in my book
• Oi Frog, and the rest of those e.g. Oi Duckbilled platypus
• Oh dear, look what I got (Rosen)
• 10 things I can do to help my world
• The adventures of a plastic bottle
• Fox's Socks (and all of the Acorn wood series)
• Aliens in underpants save the world ( and similar titles)
• Never touch a T-Rex
• Peepo
• Each Peach Pear Plum
• The Tiger Who came to Tea
• Avocado Baby
• Books by Emily Gravett e.g. Monkey and Me
• Barefoot books like Walking Through the Jungle
• Dance with the dinosaurs
• Hairy McClary
• Rosie's Walk (and also Where's Rosie's Chick?)

Basically anything with pictures and a rhyme or repetitive phrase.

If you're still stuck for ideas - this is a great website
https://www.thereaderteacher.com/nursery

Peekaboo slider books published by Nosy Crow Peekaboo House, Peekaboo Moon and several others
Shirley Hughes Nursery stories - Two Shoes, New Shoes, Bathwater’s Hot, When we went to the Park among others
Usborne Poppy & Sam books - especially the ones with the finger puppets
The Elephant & the Bad Baby by Elfrida Vipont
Each Peach Pear Plum and Peepo! By the Ahlbergs
Hairy McClary from Donaldson’s Dairy
Rosie’s Walk & Goodnight Owl by Pat Hutchins
Mr Magnolia by Quentin Blake
Ahhh! said Stork by Gerald Rose

At that age mine wouldn’t sit through the gruffalo etc, they really wanted board books with flaps/things to touch/do.

Favourites were the Acorn Wood books (especially hide and seek pig and postman bear!), and the Busy Bear books.

Check out the Bookstrust website. It’s full of great suggestions for each age group.

https://www.booktrust.org.uk/book-recommendations/booklists/best-books-for-2-year-olds/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21747301597&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIqe_nq9L7kgMVWJpQBh3BbQbbEAAYASAAEgIFLvD_BwE

Another vote for Tales from Acorn Wood - our absolute favourites!

I’m a primary school teacher and had a personal collection for Reception age but I started reading them to my daughter when she was tiny just because I love them, and she enjoyed them too:

• When a Monster is Born
• Owl Babies
• Tanka Tanka Skunk
• Knuffle Bunny
• Five Minutes Peace
• Monsters Play Counting (obsessed with this one)
• This is the House that Jack Built
• Shark in the Park
• the whole Hairy Maclary series
• anything by Julia Donaldson - the Tales of Acorn Wood series is perfect for toddlers

All these books have wonderfully vivid illustrations, meaningful themes to toddlers and/or lots of rhythm and rhyme to enjoy.

She’s now 2.5 and we’ve started moving to more wordy stories like Paddington and Thomas the Tank Engine - she didn’t have attention span until recently.