Book recs for 1 year old

[Tabby321]

Hi All ! My little one turns one soon and we don’t have a good book shop nearby to browse through books so looking for recommendations for something to get him for his first birthday . Baby enjoys books with textures and books where I can read in different voices (think Gruffulo/Owl Babies). With flap books, he is more keen on pulling the flaps/feeling the felt but maybe he will take to them as time goes on…

Would love to know what you would recommend…

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Peekaboo-House-Camilla-Reid/dp/1788005775/ref=asc_df_1788005775/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=696285193871&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1641232537585465198&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006668&hvtargid=pla-2281435176618&psc=1&mcid=d11c8effbf413bb5a26e5f032998c5fe&th=1&psc=1&hvocijid=1641232537585465198-1788005775-&hvexpln=74&gad_source=1

The peekaboo ones were very popular with my daughter- peekaboo house was her favourite (there was a spinner to turn the washing machine etc)

She also really liked the board book of there was an old lady who swallowed a spider as we used to sing it to her with the book.

Books with repetition are brilliant for their communication development (slt here!)
Most loved ones in our house:
Brown bear brown bear
The bus is for us
Ten little fingers and ten little toes
As they get older leave a pause before the repeated word and let them fill in the gap, with any sound at all it doesn'thave to be right, it's a great technique for developing communication skills :)
We also love the very hungry caterpillar here

Ps books make the best birthday presents!

Honestly, dont bother buying him any at that age, he is too little to have a favourite yet. He won't care at that age. Just spend lots of time getting books out of the library, you can get about 20 books a week or something daft.

If you do want to buy then Books4People do very cost effective booksets, Elmer, Quentin Blake and The Caryl Hart Albie books were all a big hit and obviously Julia Donaldson but that was a little older than one. At one you want cloth books and sturdy board books like the Not my ..... Series so baby can handle the book without being told off.

That's not my...
all the Julia Donaldson ones
Dear zoo
You are never alone

Dear Zoo
Guess How Much I Love You
Goodnight moon
Peepo
The Baby Catalogue

I’ve just looked up The Baby’s Catalogue on Amazon, and they have a “customers also bought…” list, which is worth a look. Buy everything as a board book, rather than a paperback.

My youngest grandchild (14 mths) loves “that’s not my …” books.
Current favourite is That’s not my Parrot.
www.goodreads.com/book/show/57653060-that-s-not-my-parrot

I agree the That's not my.. books and also the Never touch a.. books. My DD is 3 and still treasures hers, she can recite them now so reads them to her dolls.

The best book for a 1 year old without a doubt is "Where's Spot?". Very simple language and theme to follow, repetition, bright and simple illustrations of things they will recognise and a flap on every page. You can do all the animals with different voices too. It's perfect. Otherwise I would add:

Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See (Comes a very close 2nd to Spot and introduces naming colours)
Dear Zoo
Oh Dear
Pip and Posy... these come into their own around 18 months
Acorn Wood books
Hungry Caterpillar
Peepo
Each Peach Pear Plum
Goodnight Moon
Dig Dig Digging
The Tiger Who Came to Tea (to grow in to)
Topsy and Tim (also to grow into)

I don't think you will get a lot of value out of the "That's not my..." series. They might be enjoyed but don't go buying a tonne of them as they will quickly become a bit samey and babyish. They are good for about 6-18 months. Around 18 months both of mine could follow simple stories so touchy feely books seemed a bit young already.

I would also try to find some books with photos and the names of things. We have a little book full of photos of animal and their names, these are great for teaching small kids. Also you can get tiny board books with a photo and the name of something. They have different themes like the park, the home, bathtime, transport. We were given these as a gift of about 8 or 10 books in a box. They are excellent for expanding vocabulary and teaching little ones the names of things. Both my kids have loved these and benefitted from them greatly. Getting clear photos instead of illustrations is particularly important imo.

Baby's catalogue is lovely!

Mine loved "Tuck me in" where they got to tuck in different baby animals. As thry got older, I used to deliberately say the wrong animal name and they loved correcting me.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1406332038/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=

I enjoyed the rhythm of The Fox in the Dark
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1407109626?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

I'm also a big Sandra Boynton fan. My favourite is Hippos go berserk, for the rhythm and the maths.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hippos-Go-Berserk-Sandra-Boynton/dp/0689834993

Part of me thinks that children's books need to suit the parent, so we had a few that got lost down the back of the bookcase. One two that really struck a chord with me as a parent were "Meet the Parents" and "The Baby Who Wouldn't Go to Bed"

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Meet-Parents-Peter-Bently/dp/1398534897/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=GK7JRPZI2C7R&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.fSxLYQBVv5lXXhyQVkTSSxinT1hXiRw4n89DdgOFQCUnx_5cGUXUGBT3Yl8RsfbVBMiqeEck7C7pSjjNdgCVKWVLZwCzfvRzsEjc5iZ9sCr5FEeti1WG14T-AQ4GKSPH0nLfqhHEPkpza8poe1vaf2FUovhtZmGm0X_tWfXOgdYPDjpinyTQFDJaBMZbg1QJG5ds0yKEZn6i_ihg4Noidg.7EXB2U620HrthrZW3OYZl_ZvzH1wyZyP1pLAJVdDK8Q&dib_tag=se&keywords=meet+the+parents+book&nsdOptOutParam=true&qid=1729898237&sprefix=meet+the+parents+%2Caps%2C96&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Baby-Who-Wouldnt-Go-Bed/dp/0552528382/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=2SMEJ0IMYL95R&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.QBQrUaToX1qQTIasqJ5gFsLEsomZN-g-q80rthpEUv5AGfhrp_CIfWQhscM6fFXutnWxAsFFUu6E7ZUk_PH10Wgqheew2yxtRCPv2N2ZeHb4pwdYf58b05UgyR-FWCmN.WuhedqOujdden6Xoa4VAx5WDdO5uSKXpaW2stag5BSU&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+baby+who+wouldn%27t+go+to+bed&nsdOptOutParam=true&qid=1729898279&sprefix=the+bab%2Caps%2C116&sr=8-1

Dear Zoo
Where’s Spot
Tales of Acorn Woods series is a firm favourite in our house
We read the 10 minutes to bed books from about 6 months old. They’re aimed a bit older I think but DD always loved them and still does
Whose hiding in the farm/jungle
pop up peekaboo series

I also really recommend the library! I only started taking DD at 2 but regret not going from younger - loads of choice, can get lots of books out at a time, there’s much more variety than in my local book shops and I’ve found dd enjoying books I’d have never have thought to buy for her

DGD loves rhymes - her favourite first birthday present was the board book of Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy (Lynley Dodd). She also loves Mr Magnolia (Quentin Blake) There’s an owl in my towel (Julia Donaldson) and Camilla Reid’s version of Old Macdonald had a farm, which has animals that slide along a path.

Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler's Acorn Wood series are perfect for this age. Axel's Pip and Posy books are very simple too and always have a good moral.

If you're looking for classics, The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a must for all young bookshelves and very age appropriate, as is We're Going on a Bear Hunt.

Lucy Cousins books have bright, inviting illustrations. Hooray for Fish is especially nice for one year olds. Very simple with lots of descriptive vocabulary introduced.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear what do you see? is very repetitive and good for colour and animal recognition.

There's also a nice series of books set to tunes of familiar nursery rhymes. Car Car, Truck, Jeep is one, Go Go Pirate Boat, The Whales on the Bus etc. They're colourful and very toddler friendly.

On the same theme, a good quality nursery rhyme treasury would be a great investment at this age.

Everything on this list I would say!

https://www.searchgoodbooks.com/ages/1