We are obsessed with children’s books over here! Obsessed is actually probably an understatement on this one. Last year I had so many people loving our Children’s Book List that we had to do another one this year! We go to the library and get a new assortment of children’s books every week and have found some amazing finds this year! There are a few books on this list that are repeats from last years list because they are still some of our all time favorites, but I think you’re going to really love our new finds! Also while we’re on the topic of reading, check out How Do I Get My Child Interested in Books? blog post for some helpful tips!

Color Books

• Colors With Dash will always be one of our absolute favorites! All three of my girls have loved these reading with dash books and they are so developmental! USE CODE: purposefultoys for 40% off your purchase now until Christmas!
• Little Hide and Seek Colors Is one that you can simplify for infants or scaffold learning for toddlers up through preschoolers. It’s the perfect beginning look and find book!
• Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes I can’t have a favorite children’s book list without adding this Pete the Cat book. I don’t think I have ever met a child who doesn’t like this book! The singing and colors bring this book to life and it never fails.
• Bear Sees Colors This one is another one of our all time favorite color books. The illustrations are beautiful and the author gives playful clues as to what color is coming next!
• Red: A Color’s Story This book isn’t your typical color book. You could use this one to teach so many concepts about “differences”. This “red” crayon is actually a blue crayon with a red wrapper. Red gets a little lost figuring out where she fits into the world of colors, but soon figures out her place.
• The Day The Crayons Quit Is a playful book about the crayons going on strike! You get to know all of the colors and their different personalities. This one is super fun, but targeted at an older audience for a color book. This one is more for preschoolers!
• Splatter This book is all about color missing! The illustrations are creative and fun and bring to light the magic that can happen when colors mix!
• Mixed Okay, this one is THE CUTEST book about mixed race babies (I’m slightly partial). The idea is so creative I wish I had come up with it myself! It takes a playful way of mixing colors and the beauty that comes from that to address how at one time race was separate, then magic happened and colors started mixing creating new beautiful colors.
• Mix It Up is another fun book about mixing colors! This one is especially fun to read and then extend learning by doing a painting color mixing activity afterwards.
• Green This book is a little different than most books in this category because it literally is only about the color green. The pictures in this book are absolutely gorgeous and the author/illustrator takes on a creative way to show beautiful shades of green using cutouts.
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? is a classic and deserves a spot on this book list as well as last. Every home needs this playful color book that is simple enough your child will feel like they can read all on their own!
• Lemons Are Not Red is a book that is also extremely creative using cut outs throughout each page of the book. My girls love correcting me as the reader with what color the illustrations should be!
• Dog’s Colorful Day This book is a color and number book in one! As dog goes through his day he gets new spots all over him! This one is so much fun and the extension activities are endless!

Number Books

• Numbers With Dash goes right along with the Colors With Dash book and is another one that will always be one of our favorites! My girls love looking for dash on every page! He’s a character they have grown to love! Get these two books together as a set for a discount! USE CODE: purposefultoys for 40% off of your purchase now until Christmas!
• Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons if you buy just two Pete the Cat books you have to buy their first two. This one is so fun and the kids get a case of the giggles at the end of it!
• Pete the Cat and the Missing Cupcakes this one is so stinking cute, and a little more advanced as far as the counting goes than the previous Pete the Cat book. The cupcakes go missing one by one so your little one can count the cupcakes right along with them while they solve the mystery of who took them! My girls love this one, and often times think we need to make cupcakes after haha.
• The Cookie Fiasco this book is one that gets my girls laughing. Mo Willems is literally a genius and anything he touches is gold. The counting in this particular book is a little more advanced as it goes through division first. However, the characters bring this book to life and my girls love it! It’s one we can dive into deeper math concepts with for my older daughter and simply read it for the characters and silly story with my young girls.
• Peg + Cat: The Pizza Problem is one that is more educational, but for preschoolers-1st graders beginning to understand the concept of halfs, wholes and addition, this one is super fun! I would pair this one with Melissa and Doug’s Felt Pizza Set so you child can create pizza’s right along with the book to understand the math concepts!
• Spend It is a darling book about a little bunny who earns carrots as money in “bunnyland” he is so excited with his carrots that he can’t wait to buy something! This book addresses the basics of earning and spending money and is a great intro to the concept of money! Also check out Earn It and Save It by the same author!
• Big Bear, Small Mouse is all about comparing and contrasting sizes with mouse and bear! The illustrations are adorable and we are big bear and mouse fans over here!
• Little Big is an adorable size comparison book! It also demonstrates how things that are little or big are pretty relative when looking at the world around you.

Mo Willems Books

Mo Willems is a creative genius and we love so many of his books it deserved its own section.

• Elephant and Piggie: I Am Going Elephant and Piggie books are so dang good! We are OBSESSED! Instead of linking all of the books, I linked this one because it’s one that gets my girls rolling on the ground. They think Gerald is hilarious and like to act him out whenever I say I have to “go” somewhere, but honestly you can’t go wrong with any of these books! If you’re a big Elephant and Piggie fan like we are this set comes with a hard cover version of all of the elephant and piggie books and two metal Elephant and Piggie bookends! If you’re looking for a cheaper version to get more stories, this collection is one book with five Elephant and Piggie books inside!
• That Is NOT a Good Idea! Is a hilarious book with a twist at the end that will be sure to make you giggle! This is one your children will be able to tell right along with you!
• The Duckling Gets a Cookie!? We love all of the pigeon books, but instead of linking all of them for you, I linked the one that my girls really love! They think that duckling is pretty smart.
• A Creature’s Busy Day Eating I don’t know how I just discovered this one! This isn’t your average alphabet book. Of course Mo Willems puts his creative spin on an alphabet book! We love this one!
• Leonardo, the Terrible Monster and Sam, the Most Scaredy-cat Kid in the Whole World are two books that go together. Leonardo is not a very scary monster so he does some research to find the kid who gets scared the easiest, but can he actually scare Sam? You’ll have to read to find out!
• Knuffle Bunny will always hold a special place in my heart. This story demonstrates that there usually is a reason for temper tantrums. This one may be a lesson more for parents than for kids, but the concept it teaches is gold.
• Nanette’s Baguette is so creatively written you won’t believe it. The mixed media art in the illustrations are incredible, and this little story is so fun. It also teaches how people matter more than things. My four year old loved it so much she memorized this entire book and retells it with personality and flare, so we will always love this one!
• Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs takes on a hilarious spin to the classic, “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”. This one is hilarious for children and adults!
• Hooray for Amanda and Her Alligator! has a couple of short stories of Amanda and her stuffed alligator. Their friendship is adorable and my girls love the stories in this one!
• Time to Pee! A potty training book for your toddler by Mo Willems! Did anyone else know about this one? I just found it and was so excited to discover more books by Mo Willems!

Other Favorites

• I’m Trying to Love Spiders is hilarious! If you really love spiders it might not be for you haha, but this one had me laughing so hard! The reader is trying so hard to find all of the good qualities that spiders have, but can’t stop squishing them! I’m trying too kid! Haha.
• This Is Not My Hat is one that has few words, but tells a big story. The lesson here is stealing is not okay, even if you think you can get away with it. What do you think happened to the fish at the end? We all have our own ideas!
• The Good Egg Is one of my new favorite books! I definitely can relate to this little egg haha! I too try to be a good egg until it breaks me and I need a little self care time too! We love this little egg!
• The Bad Seed Is written by the same author and illustrator as The Good Egg, but this one is about a seed who has a bad reputation, but he’s not all bad! He tries to be good too! It’s good to be open minded and remember that people (or seeds) can change!
• The Rabbit Listened literally had me in tears at the end of it! This little story about going through stages of grief is so impactful! I seriously couldn’t believe how much it moved me! I even created an extension activity around this one and wrote a blog post for Safari Ltd on it because it impacted me so much! Check out the blogpost here!
• My Lucky Day is about a clever little pig who tricks a fox. This one is hilarious and so good you will love it!
• Llama Llama Home with Mama We love a lot of the Llama Llama books, but this one was so sweet. When baby Llama gets sick mama takes care of him, but when Mama gets sick baby Llama takes a turn taking care of her!
• Fly! is an adorable bug book that takes you on a little journey of a small fly trying to figure out his place in the world. After trying to be like everyone else, he discovers that he is best at being him!
• The Book With No Pictures of course had to be on my list! This book is hilarious and my kids think mom and dad get pretty silly while reading it! Warning though, if the word “butt” offends you this one isn’t for you!
• Rex vs. Edna the Very First Chicken this is another one that gets my girls rolling. They think its so funny that a little chicken can defeat a giant T-Rex! If your little one loves dinosaurs this one is a must!
• Catch My Breath is so dang clever I wish I had thought of it! The author showcases all the different ways “breath” is used in common phrases as a little boy tries to catch is breath that gets away from him. The words and pictures are phenomenal!
• The little Girl (or boy) Who Lost Her Name is a personalized book for your little one! My girls love reading their book over and over again. This one specifically takes you on a journey of a little girl (or boy) in search of their name. With each friend they meet, they get a letter to their name! My oldest two have their own, and this year we are getting one for my youngest!
• A Perfectly Messed Up Story is funny story that gets a little “messed up”, but we learn to roll with the mess ups, and maybe everything doesn’t have to be perfect to be wonderful!
• I Just Ate My Friend was quite shocking! Haha, but we were laughing so hard at the end of this one! These little monsters are definitely stinkers.
• Goodnight Already! is a cute book about a bear who is just trying to sleep, but his duck neighbor won’t let him!
• The Ladybug Race is a cute book without words that shows ladybugs lining up for a race, but when the winner of the race turns back around rather than winning the race it will warm your heart!
• Rhyme Crime is a clever rhyming book that will not only teach your child about rhyming words, but its pretty darn cute and funny too!
• Norman the Slug with a Silly Shell is a cute book about a slug who wants to be a snail. He tries on all sorts of different shells but to no avail! This one would be so fun to create an extension art activity to go with it!
• The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse is an Eric Carle book that I love! Even though he’s an artist who paints animals in different colors, he’s still a good artist and so are you! It’s okay to have different art!
• Prince Ribbit is not your typical princess and the frog book. In fact, this princess just wants a friend, not a prince!
• The Lion Inside This book won my heart over the very first time I read it! The mouse gets ignored and forgotten by everyone else, but he decides it’s time to be brave and think like a winner. He gets courage and faces the fiercest animal who might make him dinner. What happens next is a little surprising! This story teaches us that we all have a mouse and a lion inside.
• From Head to Toe will forever be one of my favorites! This darling book encourages movement and action. My favorite is watching my cute 18 month olds start to do the actions of this book. If you have been following me on instagram you have probably seen all three of my girls acting out this one! It’s one everyone needs on their bookshelf!
• The Goodbye Book is a cute story about a fish that dies, and how its fish friend seems to be handling it. This little book talks about loss and how we process it sometimes. Such a perfect book to help young children understand loss!
• Wild About Us! This book is so adorable you need it! It’s about how our differences make us special and unique! Such an important reminder for kids and adults!
• Please Mr Panda Even though this panda is a bit of a stinker, this simple book is one my girls love and it teaches the importance of saying, “Please”!
• Who Am I? Pets is a DK publishing board book that we love! We have a few different versions of this one and love them all! They give you clues to what animal is coming next with a hole to give you little sneak peek! Your little ones will definitely love these books!
• Flora and the Flamingo has incredible illustrations! This one is so beautiful you won’t want to take it off your shelf!
• Where Are You? Is an adorable book about two worms chasing each other. The worm in the lead twists his shape to hide while the other worm is looking for him. This one is so fun and your children will love trying to find the worms on each page!
• The Hungry Caterpillar I couldn’t have a booklist without adding this one! It will forever be one of our favorite books! Add the butterfly life cycle toys from Safari Ltd and you have the perfect gift!
• Little People Big Dreams I just bought five of these books for my five year old daughter! These books are written perfectly for young readers who are just beginning to learn about historic figures! I found a set of 5 at costco for $19.00, but in case you can’t find them there, I thought I would link it here!
• Lift the Flap Questions and Answers: Animals These Lift the Flap Questions and Answers books by Usborn books are incredible! We have the dinosaur one and that’s the reason why my four year old is always impressing people with her dinosaur knowledge! If you love them as much as we do and want a set this deal for 5 books is amazing!

I have so many more books I could add! I added less board books than I did on last years list, but you can refer back to last years list as a reference as well! This list is compiled of books that we have loved for years and some that we have found just this year! We get a new collection of books weekly from the library and are always finding new things! Make sure to follow my new product page @purposefultoys on instagram where I will always periodically be sharing new book finds! Happy Holidays!