I'd like the definitive list of books for my 2yo please!!!!!!

[lunavix]

Ds has quite a large number of books, we both love me reading him stories and him telling me about the pictures. I really want to expand the collection so what do you think is truly a must have? Am happy to have a few suggestions for older 'stories' too that he can grow into (although not oxford reading tree style lol)

His favourite story (plus dvd, toy, etc etc...) is Chicken little but he hates all other grolier books lol. He loves Thomas The tank engine but haven't got him any of those books yet. He has a few Dora books he loves, plus he loves ones like 'guess how much I love you' and funnily enough the board book baby bible he was given at his christening. He's good with paper books, although flaps are a bit of temptation!

the thats not my.... range are good!
dd adores the charlie and lola books
gruffalo, bear hunt, hungry caterpillar, tiger who came to tea, hairy mclairy

avoid thomas as long as you can all the books are spectacularly horribly boring except for the one where henry gets walled up alive

don't get winnie the pooh unless you want guns to make an appearance in your son's play at this stage

Elmer is vile - in fact i hate all david mckie books esp Bernard which makes me want to cut my throat

sorry for negative vibes

positives: This is the Bear books - nice and short
The Baby who wouldn't go to bed, Helen Cooper
The Elephant and the Bad Baby, just reissued
Harry the Dirty Dog and 2 sequels, just reissued

I would second Dear Zoo and Gruffalo. DD also loves Room on a broom and One ted fell out of bed.

The BooHoo Baby

Anything by Mick Inkpen (Kipper, Wibbly Pig, Great Pet Sale and many more) and Nick Butterworth (Percy the Park Keeper, Q Pootle 5, Albert le Blanc etc). They might be a bit old yet, but he'll grow into them. I think it was my nephew's 3rd birthday party which was a Q Pootle 5 one, but it might have been Percy instead - can't remember which way round now!

Wibbly Pig books are good - do a search on amazon

I like all the Doring Kingsley books - Firefighter for the day etc... Fabby flaps, great pictures.

Little red train books are great, again great pictures, good words and loads to look at and talk about.

ds1 favs are gruffalo , monkey puzzle the smartest giant ect ect. i also got him some books design to teach him to read ( i know too early aged 1 !!!) but loves sam sheep can't sleep got it from little red house 7.99 for 5 or 6 books.. but he loves animals and there is a duck to find on every page. Allso really likes mr ben book? not my cup of tea though! hth

Fix it Duck and all the other ones in the series, like Captain Duck etc

forgot to say we have a busload of the 'that's not my.....' tbh though while he likes feeling them they aren't 'story' enough for him now.

Don't get too many Thomas books...I am contemplating getting rid of some already!

Ditto anything with a fire engine or diggers on the front!

DS loves Wibbly Pig, esp. "It's Bedtime.."

Richard Scarry?

Hairy Mcleary

BTW QPH, a great friend of mine wrote the ~BooHoo Baby....

Big Red Bath

Dig Dig Digging

I second richard scarry, thre are so many things to look at! (ds is 4 and still loves them). maisy is still dd (aged 2) favourite

Rob Campbell - Dear Zoo, Oh Dear, Buster's Busy Day

The Going to Bed Book.

K is for Kissing a Cool Kangeroo

current favourites for 2.2 yr old dd3

Toddler book of things to do (one of those Dorling Kindersley things with real photos of children doing things like playing or washing).

Wibbly pig books
I want my potty/dummy/dinner etc series
Anything with flaps.

Masie books (with flaps)
Noddy
I want a sister
Peter rabbit
oh and the Argos cataloge

A second vote for Dig, dig, digging

My ds2, now nearly three still loves "The Smartest Giant in Town" Julia Donaldson and "The Magic Donkey Ride" Giles Andreae, which we started reading at about 2.5. Great when you need a break from lift the flap books.

my dds current favourites:

Duck in truck etc (Alberough)
Comotion in th ocean, Rumble in the Jungle, Farmyard hullabaloo (short poems, fab, bright pics)(Andre)
Hairy McClary etc (Dodd)
One ted fell out of bed (donaldson)
Kids (absolute fave) (Arnholt)

Some Australian books we love, you could get them from amazon:

When Frank was Four, Clive eats Alligators, Magic Beach, The Journey home, or anything else be Alison Lester

The terrible underpants (Kaz Cooke)

Happy reading...books for this age are brilliant arn't they?

Harry & his bucket full of dinosaurs - some of them are for younger ones ie. flaps & colours DS loves them ok, he is 3 1/2, but I'm sure they'd be great for young children too.

We currently enjoy:

Mr Gumpy's Day Out (John Burningham)
Chimp and Zee (anholts)
One to Ten and Back Again (Sharratt/Heap)
Cowboy Baby (Sue Heap) ... as well as lots previously mentioned. I love Mr Gumpy, perfect mixture of story and simplicity with fascinating illustrations. DD also likes listening to rhymes which needn't be lavishly illustrated... a Mother Goose type collection and a children's poetry volume see a lot of daylight too.

Mine is similar to Piffle... plus:

Humphrey's corner ones.
Little buuny bath/bedtime

Ds (2.6) is currently loving

Man on the Moon - Simon Bartram (spot the space aliens in each picture)
One Bear at Bedtime - Mick Inkpen
10 Little Rubber Ducks (with a duck squeaker at the end)
Dig Dig Digging (already had many a mention)
Cars Trucks and Things That Go - Richard Scarry
You Choose - Pippa Goodhart (fantastic for getting him talking, describing and making choices)