The 10 Best Books for Babies That Every Parent Should Have

The importance of reading to babies is proven. From the time children begin to use natural sounds, to cooing, up until they utter a few syllables. Reading books to babies is key to brain development!

While the first 12 months of a baby’s life are the most exciting, they can also be the most challenging! Especially for first-time parents, who may not be experienced but want nothing but the best for their precious little ones.

Parents sometimes wonder what books to read to an infant who seems like they can’t yet understand. At CareLuLu, where we help parents find the best daycare and preschool for their child, we often get this question:

What are the best baby books for infants 0 to 12-month-old?

So, we searched for the best books for babies with a variety of contents that every new parent should have. We listed “baby’s first words” books and ABC books (the basics). We also included board books (sturdy, thick pages) and picture books (beautiful illustrations and colors).

In no particular order, we listed bestsellers with great reviews from real moms and dads, just like you. The list was prepared based on the quality of the content, but also the materials which are important for infants.

These baby books are cute, fun, engaging, with easy to turn pages. Each book includes a picture of the cover and a link to buy it on Amazon. Also, you’ll find a short summary of what parents and caregivers said about each one of these children’s books.

Without further ado, here’s the list of the best books for babies!

1. Baby Touch and Feel Animals (DK)

“Baby Touch and Feel Animals” is a touch and feel board book loved by babies! It lets them see different colors and feel different textures of animals (such as kittens, puppies, penguins, and many others).

2. Global Babies (The Global Fund for Children)

“Global Babies” introduces cultural diversity to young learners. It features simple texts and beautiful images of babies around the world (in their native traditional clothes). Infants love looking at other babies!

3. Baby University ABC’s four-book Set (Chris Ferrie)

“Baby University ABC’s four-book Set”consists of four board books including ABC’s of Space, Mathematics, Physics, and Science. Babies will grow loving these books, introducing in a simple way interesting concepts for curious minds.

4. Look, Look! (Peter Linenthal)

“Look, Look!” contrasts colors to help baby’s vision development. Infants and parents alike find the contracts appealing and eye-catching!

5. Growing Vegetable Soup (Lois Ehlet)

“Growing Vegetable Soup” is a beautiful and colorful storybook on gardening, plants, and vegetables. In addition to learning new words, babies will learn to appreciate delicious and nutritious food with this book!

6. Animals: Animales, English and Spanish Edition (Roger Priddy)

“Animals animales” is a perfect bilingual baby book, in English and Spanish. Thanks to bright and beautiful pictures of animals, your baby will learn to recognize animals and their names (in English and Spanish.)

7. Where is Baby’s Belly Button? (Karen Katz)

“Where is Baby’s Belly Button?” is a cute and classic flap book. Parents find it beautiful, engaging, and fun to read with their babies! Indeed, it’s an excellent interactive book with colorful and big pictures to teach body parts.

8.  The Pout-Pout Fish (Deborah Diesen)

“The Pout-Pout Fish” is one of the most gifted books! Parents enjoy reading it to their babies due to the beautiful story, rhymes, and illustrations.

9. Moo, Baa, La La La! (Sandra Boynton)

“Moo, Baa, La La La!” is super fun to read to infants! It’s all about different animal sounds, so moms and dads find it cute, short, and just adorable 🙂

10. Counting With – Contando Con Frida, English and Spanish Edition (Patty Rodriguez and Ariana Stein, illustrated by Citlali Reyes)

“Counting With – Contado Con Frida” is an inexpensive bilingual book in English and Spanish. With beautiful illustrations, fun to read simple words, Frida Kahlo introduces numbers and colors to your little one!

So, that’s it for our top 10 best books for babies, that every parent should have! However, no matter which books YOU love, the most important thing is that you spend time reading to your child. As parents, especially first-time moms and dads, we want a large collection of books and toys. However, the truth is that you don’t need to build a very big baby book collection.

Instead, focus on the variety and quality of your baby’s library.

Infants and toddlers love repetition! So if you have a few books they love, they won’t mind you reading them over and over again! Most importantly, what matters is the positive social interaction and the bonding that comes with the reading experience. It’s never too early to foster a love for reading and learning!

And, yes, start reading with your kids when they’re infants!

In fact, we think that reading with babies is so important that CareLuLu partnered with the Washington DC Public Library a few years ago in support of the Sing, Talk, and Read campaign (STAR).

So, moms, dads, grand-parents and caregivers, what are YOUR favorite baby books? Please tell us in the comments 🙂

* This page contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through those links, we may earn a small commission without any extra cost to you. This helps support us, so we can write more articles like this one! This doesn’t impact what we include in our posts; we only list products we like. Thank you!

---

CareLuLu is the easiest way for parents to find great child care and preschool programs. On CareLuLu, parents can find detailed information on 200,000 licensed daycares (hours, cost, photos, verified reviews) and contact providers instantly. Best of all, it’s free! Founded in 2013, CareLuLu’s mission is to improve access to safe, affordable, high-quality child care and early education.

Created by parents for parents. Find child care: www.CareLuLu.com

Child care providers, list your program for free to get enrollments!