What books does your 2 year old like?

[Alibabaandthe40nappies]

It's DS' birthday next month and we want to get him some new books but are not sure what to go for.
He loves Dear Zoo, Tiger Who Came to Tea, Hungry Caterpillar, and we have got Peter Rabbit, Winnie the Pooh, Wind in the Willows etc which we read to him.

A lot of what I can find that is recommended for his age seems to be related to TV programs, it's all Peppa, or Night Garden, or Charlie and Lola and I don't really want to go down the road where he will only read books where he recognises the characters from the telly.

Any ideas much appreciated!

Anything by Jez Alborough - his books are amazing.

Big hits here are:

Toddle Waddle - Julia Donaldson
Any Nick Sharratt - red Rockets, rainbow jelly and one to ten and back again, Faster, faster, nice and Slow, Hippo has a Hat, Chocolate Mousse for Greedy Goose
10 little fingers - Mem Fox (beautiful pics)
Meg & Mog books - Book People
Some Hairy Mclairy
Ravenous Beast

My elder daughter liked Julia Donaldson - Squash & Squeeze, Monkey Puzzle but younger one not interested really. She loved, Goodnight Moon too.

We've been reading The Gruffalo, Splat the Cat and The Pirate Cruncher recently.

2 year old daughter. We read

Peepo
Several Eric Carle books - Caterpillar, 10 Little Rubber Ducks, & Very Busy Spider are the faves.
Each Peach Pear Plum
The Tiger Who Came To Tea
Alfie books
Mog books (agree excluding death one)
Meg & Mog books
Monkey & Me
I Want My Potty
Everywhere Babies
Ten Little Fingers
Goodnight Moon
Beatrix Potters esp Squirrel Nutkin, Timmy Tiptoes, Jemima Puddleduck.

apologies for any duplicates!

mr men/little miss
the old fashioned thomas books
owl babies
book of fairy tales - the three bears etc.

If he likes Tiger who came to Tea, he might well like the old Shirley Hughes books. Alfie (there is a whole series), Dogger is a huge favourite with my son and has been since he was 2 (he's 3 now). Gorgeous illustrations in those books too.
Julia Donaldson's Tiddler is brilliant to read as it is such a good rhythm.
Each Peach Pear Plum is a good one. I like the oldies!
I don't really like TV tie in books either, I like to keep old books alive! Although my son does love the new Thomas collection.
He also likes the Mog books such as Mog's Christmas.
The Gingerbread Man is good too. He is just getting into Mr Men, they're really good, especially the original ones as they are really well written and funny. Same with Paddington.

My DS loves An Island in the sun. Its very repetitive and he know reads it to us in the evening - EVERY night before bed!!
He also loves the Mog books, Tiger who came to tea, Who's in the loo, Room on the broom and One Ted Fell Out of Bed.
The best books for him are those which rhyme

My DS absolutely adores The Gruffalo, The Hungry Caterpillar, The Odd Egg, Hold on Tight Stripy Horse, Miki and Bright Stanley & the Cave Monster.

My 21 month old is OBSESSED with "Monkey and Me" by Emily Gravett. Beautifully drawn and wonderfully rhythmic. We have to collect together all his toys to read it toom, then pull out the right ones at the right time. I love it too though, and we must read it about 10 times a day. Hate TV tie ins, but also hate Charlie and Lola.

All the 'Duck in a truck' books by Jed Alborough[sp?]
The Gobble Gobble Moo Tractor by same author
Marvin Wanted More
Please Don't Chat to the Bus Driver
The Smartest Giant in Town by Julia Donaldson
A Squash and a squeeze ditto
Room on the Broom ditto
Hairy Maclary

I bought dgs a bookcase with canvas slings for his first Christmas[he was 15months]and filled it with books to last all year.
The above were the 'around 2' favourites but I could recommend many more as well.

Ali, i wouldn't get that Thomas set from the book people for your 2 year old, i think IIRC these stories are the original ones and are very long and wordy seriously, you'd be bored to tears in no time

But my 2 year old loved Harry and the Dinosaurs

ooops sorry, just realised someone has aready mentioned that.

At 2 my DS really loved a set about transport - Dazzling Diggers, Cool Cars, Brilliant Boats, etc...

And Julia Donaldson/Axel Scheffer ones - really lovely pops are The Bedtime Bear and The Tickle Monster. The others (Gruffalo, Tiddler, Squash and a Squeeze are really brill too, but quite long for a just 2, but fine for mid/late 2...but pop ups are great for just 2's and beyond).

Nick Sharrat - Octopus Socktopus, Elephant Wellyphant.

my 2.8 years dd loves
Hungry Caterpillar
A very busy spider
Spot
Maisy Mouse
The Baby Catalogue
Little Miss/Mr Men
Wendy the Wide Mouthed Frog
Wibbly Pig
Were going on a bear hunt
Peppa Pig
Winnie Pooh

DS has just turned 2 and whilst Hungry Caterpillar remains a firm favourite other current hits include No More Ee-ore by Lydia Monks (lovely illustrations) and What the Ladybird Heard by Julia Donaldson (with Lydia's pics).

He also likes the transport series mentioned earlier, Dazzling Diggers, Amazing Aeroplanes etc (although I'm quite bored of those now)

We have relied on charity shop buys until now, but suspect that now we are into real stories I might need to be a bit more discerning for the sake of my sanity if nothing else.
Am avoiding Thomas like the plague, it's sooo dull.

I second Oliver Jeffers! We have all of his now. Dr.Zeus books are fab. Personally, I trawl charity shops and buy loads of different styles of books. My DS has a huge library and loves the variation....means I don't get bored too.

this

Giraffes Can't Dance is fab! beautiful pictures, clever rhymes and a lovely meaning. DS is only 4 months but he lights up when I show it to him.

We also love anything by Janet & Alan Ahlberg: Each Peach Pear Plum, Peepo etc

My 2.5 year old dd LOVES books. Some of her faves are;

Any by Julia Donaldson esp Gruffalo, Gruffalo's Child, Monkey Puzzle, Tiddler and Room on the Broom
Hairy Maclary
Maisy
Giraffes Can't Dance
Elmer

Firm favourites here are:

The Hungry Caterpillar/The Very Busy Spider
Goodnight Moon
The Gruffallo
Sharing a Shell
Dr Suess
Spot the dog
Now Now Bernard
Peepo
Poppy Cat
Elmer

My ds (23 months) loves his set of Maisy Books from The Book People. We can't get enough of 'Maisy goes camping' - morning, noon, and night - sigh.

DD has just turned 2. Her favourites (trying not just to put my favourites!):

Anything involving Hairy McClary or Slinky Malinki
Meg and Mog
Kipper
Anything by Julia Donaldson/Axel Sheffler but especially Gruffalo, Gruffalo's Child, Monkey Puzzle and Tiddler - she has the attention span for them
Book full of nursery rhymes
One Mole Digging a Hole (another Julia Donaldson but with Nick Sharratt)
Anything with Elmer
Anything with "lift the flaps"
Thomas the Tank Engine -although that's probably because DH does funny voices for it!

Oooh, I want to go book shopping now!

Harry and the Dinosaurs series
Gruffalo and the rest of the J.Donaldson and A.Scheffler books;
Paddington books
Thomas the Tank Engine books (new and old)
Usborne Picture Atlas etc.
Just to name the few that came to mind.

DS is obsessed with factual books.

His favourite at the moment is called 'terrific tractors' it has big pictures and a simple fact on each page eg. 'this is a giant tractor. It has three wheels and cannot go very fast'.

Also from the same series we have 'amazing aeroplanes', 'terrific trains' and a couple others I forget.