Top 5 recommendations for books for babies

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Hi all, if you were to invest in (i.e. buy rather than borrow)five baby books, what would be your top recommnedations? Thanks!

Eric Carle's "Polar Bear, Polar Bear, what do you see?"
and his "The Very Quiet Cricket" and
"Papa, Please get the moon for me"

agree with Peepo and Hungry Caterpiller and Rosie's Walk.

Anything touchy feely you want to buy new, as otherwise the textured bits can be a bit raggedy. But otherwise I still get all of DS' books from charity shops - it's fun as you never know what you will find :) And for 20p or so on a book, I don't get precious about it if he accidentally rips them or spills things on them or wants to turn the pages himself and ends up creasing them :)

1 year old DD and I recommend:

Polar Bears - an Usborne book with touchy feely bits, very simple text and very sweet pictures.

That's Not My Dinosaur

The Elephant and the Bad Baby because she rides rumpeta rumpeta rumpeta on my knees and loves that.

Pumpkin Soup because I never tire of the gorgeous illustrations no matter how many times we read it.

And her very favorite that I would (and do) recommend to anyone who asks:

My Family a soft photo album with eight or nine pages that fit 4"X6" pictures. We filled it with pictures of her, each of us, her grandparents and cousins - mostly close-ups of faces - and she really loves it. When she was tiny she just stared a the faces, and now she's started to proudly name who's who. It's brilliant because some of them live far away or have passed on and we love that she's getting to "know" them all.

Meg & Mog
Dear Zoo
Elephant and Bad Baby
One Mole digging a hole
A squash and a squeeze

We also got a nice one for free from Bookstart which is called the Big Night Night Book.

My DTs are 2 and like a mix of longer stories / more visual / more interactive. Hope the above list fits that criteria, but would look at the books first and try not to buy all the same time e.g. all lift the flap books.

Where's Spot

Tony mitten's bumpus jumpus dinosaur rumpus.

What a fab book that is. More toddler really, but it is impossible to read it without getting caught up in the wonderful rhythms.

Also, stretching back into the mists of time, spot the dog was v popular.

For little babies (board book versions def recommended)
That's not my.... (unlike others above I would say one or maybe 2 max)
Baby boo
Dear zoo
Cloth book, pref crinkly
Very hungry caterpillar

When a bit bigger
Any julia donaldson, but try a few out, diff children seem to be captiavted by diff ones
Tiger who came to tea
Hairy maclary (both of mine loved the rhymes)
Little red train
And our current favourite, pumpkin soup

Orange Pear Apple Bear. Lovely, and interesting enough for you to sound perky at each reading!

Hippos go Berserk. Fun rhyming text, and great details for later on.

What is Black and White? Nice repetitive text, fun final page and clever pages which make it super easy for the baby to turn them.

Tickle Tickle. Only four pages - easy to learn to anticipate the tickle at the end.

Where is Maisy's Panda? Flaps seem to be an ideal size. Bit odd to look for the panda in the toilet, though!

That's not my.......
Dear Zoo
Wheres Spot
Brown Bear, Brown Bear what do you see?

My son also LOVES Baby on the Farm and F is for Farm..of which there is also B is for Bear

...Gruffalo will not hold his interest yet nor the caterpillar nor guess how much I love you...from my experience books with "feely" bits or 'flaps" are better for younger babies...but I'm sure all babies are different!

'You' by Emma Dodd is lovely.

The Boo and Baa books by Olof and Lena Landstrom are short and chewable, quite amusing.

We had a book called What Do Babies Do? Here it had photos of babies doing real things like smiling, crying, going on tiptoes actually I had to buy three copies, one after the other, as they all loved that book. Babies and little toddlers love looking at photos of other babies.

If you can lay your hands on any board books by Judy or Phoebe Dunn, buy them (buy more than one at a time because they will get worn out eventually, from use) this one especially each page of this one just has a photo of a farm animal. All the DCs loved this little book. I turned the chunky little pages and said something along the lines of 'the cat says MIOW' at the appropriate page. DD3 surprised me by turning the pages one day and making the sound of each animal in turn.

Assortment of animal books by Judy Dunn. I can't say enough about the attractiveness of these photo board books for the very young.

And Eric Carle books too.

And Sandra Boynton is lovely for babies and toddlers. We loved But Not The Hippopotamus, and The Going To Bed Book.

Agree with most suggestions here. But also you NEED "Goodnight Moon" by Margaret Wise Brown - the perfect end to any bedtime ritual.

You must get Charlie Chick. Have yet to find a toddler that does not love it.

I agree with mylifewithstrangers, some great titles are:Dear Zoo
The Baby's Catalogue (Ahlbergs)
Each Peach Pear Plum (ditto)
Peepo (ditto)
Owl babies
Hairy Maclairy/Slinky Malinky series

Others authors I would recommend are:
Leslie Patricelli series (Yummy Yucky, Huggy Kissy)
Sandra Boynton (my kids' favourite books 1-3 years old)
Rod Campbell (eg Dear Zoo)
Check out this website for more recommendations:
www.bookkids.com.au