Good Books for a 9 month old

[liztd]

Hi there

My little boy loves us reading rhymes to him at bedtime so I wondered whether anyone could recommend some new books for us?

We've been reading lots of Hairy Maclary by Lynley Dodd (he particularly likes the ones with noises) and books by Julia Donaldson (Gruffalo / Gruffalo's Child / Snail & the Whale / Stickman).

We also have some Dr Seuss but have read these loads already so are having a break from them.

Any more rhyming books / authors that anyone can recommend would be greatly appreciated for our sanity...

Thanks

i htink the ones oyu are reading are pointless for an under 2 tbh
id do picture books
thats not my....
pictures ( photos) of babies

Lift the flap ones

Ones he can chew.

they ont GET the gruffalo at 9m old! it can be a temptation to rush ahead for oyur first.

My ds3 who is almost 7 still likes a picture book ocasionally at bed time like the donaldson ones and he is off teh scale reading wise.

Actually, thinking about it Brad, I don't agree. I think it's more than likely that the OP's baby is G&T. It is unusual to respond so positively to rhymes at that age. She should have him tested. It's never too young to develop potential.

I'd stick with songs and nursery rhymes rather than stories.

If you really want a 'book' then perhaps something like Each Peach Pear Plum?

thast bollocks
all babies repsond to rhymes at that age

To a certain extent. But that baby sounds unduly aware and responsive.

so what if he is?
He aint going to be reading anthologys of poetry is he?!

Hully's on the wind up.

oh thank GOD
i thoguth she had come over all mentalist

No I'm not. I have a 10 month old nephew who has just been assessed for similar reasons and is now part of a research project at Queen Mary's.

Seriously? What are they doing there? Intensive Shakespeare brain transmissions?

Rhymes are lovely for babies, a bit of rhythm makes reading loads more fun for them. I can't see why they are inappropriate or pointless for a child under two at all.

Not rhyming (but lots of sounds to make and very clear bright pictures) are the Meg and Mog books. My one year old loved them and yours is not far off that age. And the spells rhyme. My DD could chant the spells in the books we knew not long after we got them and really enjoyed it. I don't suppose she had any idea what the stories were really about but she had a ball and that's all that really matters.

I would also recommend Little Fish (it's on Amazon), not rhyming but loads of repetition and great for starting to teach colours. And I am pretty sure my DD knew exactly what was going on in that one by your son's age as she used to grin like a look when the little fish found his mother.

Another great one for tinies is Inside Outside Upside down - it rhymes and there are very few words in it so really clear for babies.

Will have a look at DD's bookshelves and see if I can think of anything else (when she is not asleep).

Like a LOON not a look. Durr.

I can't talk about it specifically, but they are studying brain waves in response to different inputs. It's cutting edge stuff.

My son is about the same age and at the moment he loves the books with the flaps that he can lift up. They are Dear Zoo and the book in the Amazing series - 'Where's bunny?'

Also, you know, it is FIFTY times more preferable as an adult to read The Gruffalo every night rather than That's Not My Fuckwit whatever it is. If the baby is happy, who cares if they understand what's going on?

DS has loved the Gruffalo etc since about that age - I am sure he doesn't in any way get it even now at almost 18 months, but loves the rhymes and the pictures. Hooray for Fish (Lucy Cousins) which also rhymes is his absolute favourite book. The only other rhyming books I can think of that we have though (which he also loves) are Mister Magnolia (Quentin Blake) and Peepo. Dear Zoo and ABC Zoo have also been big hits, along with the Very Hungry Caterpillar, and a few other Eric Carle's (e.g. the Very Lonely Firefly), and Guess How Much i Love You.

Read something you enjoy!

A lovely, repetitive, rhymey book is Orange, Apple, Pear, Bear Here, Ds seemed to enjoy it when he was younger. He is 16 months old now and loves it.

Thanks for the comments, certainly made interesting reading after breakfast!

I didn't mean to start a discussion on whether he understands them or not or being a pushy parent / nurturing a genius.

We have some more basic baby books with pictures or touchy bits and very little / basic text but he has never seemed too into them. We do have a look at them nowadays though and he seems to like exploring them and chewing them.
We just found he liked the sounds of the rhymes though, even though he obviously couldn't understand their meaning and they seemed to help lull him to sleep nicely so it was much easier to get him into bed (we reduced the bedtime rocking from well over an hour to 10 mins when we started reading rhymes, we don't need to rock now).

I'll check out some of those tips and see what I can get from the library.

Thanks again

Liz

Oskar & Ellen do some lovely soft books.

Agree with OP. My PFB loves rhymes too and has from very young. Now at 17 months I know she understands the flow of stories we read as she starts making the sounds for what's going to happen on the next page.

She asks for the Gruffalo and loves it, but sometimes I think that has too many words per page so I try to go slighlty younger. Perfect is The Very Busy Spider - good for bed time too as the last page is night time and the spider has gone to sleep. Her favourite book of all is Clip Clop by Nicola Smee, but that is far too exciting for bed time!

Oh, and Each Peach Pear Plum is a favourite too.

The Poppy Cat series of books available on Amazon all rhyme and are touchy feely. My two are 14 months and love them, particularly Poppy Cat Beep Beep.