I’ve always loved reading so I’ve been really keen to read with my son since he was a baby. He has definitely gone through phases as his attention span and interests have developed (for a while, the only books that could hold his interest were the ‘That’s not my …’ series of which we have many, many titles). Here are some books we are currently enjoying reading together.
I’ve included Amazon and my partner bookshop, TenofThose, links for each book title. If you make a purchase using these links, I receive a small commission (at no additional cost to you).
On the Farm by Campbell Books and Axel Scheffler
On the Farm is the current favourite. My son loves pushing and pulling the different interactive elements. He particularly loves pointing at animals (several on each page) or for me to ask ‘Where is the cat, where is the cow … ? etc). He also spends time looking at it himself. I think the fact there are lots of farm animals on each page interests him, and that he has to work out the interactive elements (for example, using a finger to make sheep move slightly, rather than just lifting a flap). He wasn’t that interested in this book until he was about 16 months plus. The text is about two lines per page (rhyming which makes it fun for me to read) but I tend to read just the one line per page to keep his attention going.
Other titles he really enjoys, illustrated by Axel Scheffler, include:
Busy London by Marion Billet
Busy London was a gift from a friend and it has been well read over the last year and a half, but he continues to enjoy it and I think likes it more now that he is capable of pulling tabs and interacting with the little push and pull parts of the book. I like reading it to him because I lived in London for most of my adult life, so I feel like I’m educating him (in a small way) about a part of my own story. It’s a short book and has lots of colour and lots of images to point at (e.g. birds, people picnicking, an Ed Sheeran busker lookalike).
He also really enjoys Busy Trains (cars and trains are a particular interest at the moment) and Busy Scotland. Again, very colourful, busy books with short text to keep him paying attention but lots to look at and things to interact with. There are lots of ‘Busy’ books in the series, from football to planes and bikes and all sorts of other things.
Find Spot at Nursery by Eric Hill
Find Spot at Nursery was a gift for my son’s first birthday and was very appropriate as he was starting nursery for the first time around that age. I think it was helpful to have a positive message about nursery to read to him before he started! He really enjoys lifting the flaps on each page and all the Spot the Dog books are colourful and have various animals to look at (although I have never understood why some animals get to wear clothes and others don’t!). He has also enjoyed Spot Goes to the Park.
Jungle Sounds by Sam Taplin
Jungle Sounds is a favourite because (as it says in the title), there are little buttons you can press to make animals sounds on each page. Each page has lots of colour, lots of animals and has indentations and cut outs which he enjoys touching because it creates a different texture on the page. It took him a while to learn how to get the sound buttons to work (a finger is pressed against a grey circle) but he loves to make the sounds now.
Other titles in the series which we enjoy include:
Found by Sally Lloyd-Jones
Found is one of our Christian bed time stories based on Psalm 23 in the Bible. The story is about a shepherd who takes great care of his sheep (an illustration for how God cares for his people) and my son loves pointing at the sheep in the book and saying ‘baa’! We have really enjoyed reading the Sally Lloyd-Jones book series at bed time and tend to rotate the books. They have short text and often are illustrated with little animals which my son loves to find (e.g. a dog on every page of the book Loved; rabbits in many of the books) and they have a simple message about God in each book.
Other titles from the series we read are:
These are our current favourites but I’m always on the look out for new books so feel free to let me know any suggestions!
