My Toddler’s Bookshelf

I love books. I love how they feel and smell. I love how a cover can evoke memories that are soothing to the soul. I have always loved reading and I guess it is because my parents (especially my dad) made a real effort to read to us. In books, I found adventures and lessons and conversation topics. As I grew older I was the child who could sit in her room and read for hours. I read the way most people watch movies... interactively. I would laugh out loud, tremble with fear, or cry as if the words in the books were affecting me personally and I guess they were.

Now I'm a parent and I'm hoping to pass on to my daughter my love of reading. I know she has inherited her father's musical sensibilities displaying a pretty sophisticated taste in music but I am really hoping she has also inherited my love of words and books in general. So how can I help her on this path? I have been searching for books that are beautifully illustrated and engaging. I want her to remember the images now and stories later so I want to fill her shelf with a handful of classics that we can go to over and over again but I also want to be mindful of culture, language and lessons so my search is far from over.

   

For now she has the basics probably found on most shelves of parents with toddlers:

r     Goodnight Moon  

r     The Very Hungry Caterpillar

r     Corduroy

r     Runaway Bunny

r     Guess How Much I Love You

r     Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?

r     Lots of Sesame Street Picture books

r     Several colors and ABC's books

She also has some not so basics that are in Spanish and English as well as a few poetry books. I'd like to add other books that are age appropriate but more divers with lots of "lessons" that we can apply to her life so here is a brief (I could list hundreds but that's why we have libraries) list of other books I'd like to add to her shelf. They are in no particular order and in very loose categories.

     

What I'd like to add to her bookshelf:

Classics (in English or Spanish)

• 
  
  THE CARROT SEED by Krauss, Ruth; illustrated by Crockett Johnson
• 
  
  ¿Eres tú mi mamá? (Are You My Mother?) by P. D. Eastman
• 
  
  La Mariquita Malhumorada (The Grouchy Ladybug) by Eric Carle, Eric Carle (Illustrator), Simon S. L'Hoaste (Translator)
• 
  
  CHICKA CHICKA BOOM BOOM by Martin, Bill, Jr. and John Archambault; illustrated by Lois Ehlert
• 
  
  La mujer que brillaba aún más que el sol/ The Woman Who Outshone the Sun  by Alejandro Cruz Martinez, ilustrated by Fernando Olivera 
• 
  
  Los hermanos enfadados by Pedro Pablo Sacristan
• 
  
  IF YOU GIVE A MOUSE A COOKIE by Numeroff, Laura J.
• 
  
  OLIVIA by Falconer, Ian
• 
  
  THE RANDOM HOUSE BOOK OF MOTHER GOOSE: A TREASURY OF 386 TIMELESS NURSERY RHYMES by Lobel, Arnold
• 
  
  THE STORY OF FERDINAND by Leaf, Munro
• 
  
  THERE WAS AN OLD LADY WHO SWALLOWED A FLY by Taback, Simms

     

Getting ready for Travel

     

• YOKO by Wells, Rosemary
• 
  
  Cuadros de Familia / Family Pictures by por Carmen Lomas Garza
• 
  
  Las abuelas de Liliana / Liliana's Grandmothers by Leyla Torres
• 
  
  Going Home by Eve Bunting, illustrated by David Díaz
• 
  
  Sopa de piedras / Stone Soup (En inglés o en español.) by Marcia Brown, translated by Teresa Mlawer
• 
  
  P is for Passport: A World Alphabet Edition 1. by Devin Scillian 
• 
  
  Where is Coco Going? by Sloane Tanen
• 
  
  Charlotte in Paris by Joan MacPhail Knight (Author), Melissa Sweet (Illustrator)
• 
  
  One White Wishing Stone: A Beach Day Counting Book by Doris Gayzagian
• 
  
  The Three Questions by Jon J. Muth
• 
  
  The Big Trip by Valeri Gorbachev

Which ones did I miss? What other great books do you recommend? My child is about to be 2 yrs old but I'd love to get other recommendations that might be appropriate for kids up to 5 yrs old. We're not ready for chapter books but I'm a book lover so I want to hear your suggestions. By the way if you have suggestions on getting them to sit still and actually listen to the story or view the book let me know because as of recently I find myself chasing her with a book more than reading. Toddlers are so full of energy.