Books for Babies (a.k.a My Personal Favourites) - Part 2

This is a continuation of a series of blog posts. You may find Part 1: Introducing Books to Babies here.

Here is a list of books I'd definitely recommend for your little one! I've read them over and over again to the point that I've memorized them. Sometimes I even just read them aloud from memory while my baby flipped through the pages. Haha. 

I started reading the following books when my son was about 8-9 months old. I was reading books to him since he was a newborn but I would consider the books I read to be the 'wrong books'. Hahah. You can start reading these books to your baby at even at a newborn age, for the bond and for them to be familiar with the comfort of your voice. Alternatively, you can purchase high-contrast cards and books to help strengthen the baby's vision first and start reading these books at 1-2 months old, once their vision has developed. It's up to you!

1. Brown Bear, Brown Bear 🐻

Nice rhyme and story flow, includes animals.

2. Dear Zoo 🦁

A lift-the-flap book. Repetitive and includes animals. 

3. Where’s Spot? 🐶

A lift-the-flap book. Repetitive and includes animals.

4. That’s Not My Kitten 🐈

The book is repetitive and tactile. Includes different textures for a sensorial experience.

5. Baby Faces by DK 👶

Contains real pictures of babies with different emotions.

6. Making Faces: A First Book of Emotions 👶

Contains real pictures of babies with different emotions. Has a mirror at the end so your little one will be able to see themselves!

7. Let’s go to Makkah

High contrast book. The range of books produced by this series is suitable to be read from birth because of the high contrasting pictures.

8. The Very Hungry Caterpillar 🐛

Nice story flow, repetitive, includes fruits.

9. The Very Busy Spider 🕷

Nice story flow, repetitive, includes animal sounds.

Books I personally did not have and have not read but will probably purchase if / when I have more children (in shaa Allah): 

• Moo, Baa, La La La
• Peek-a Who?
• Global Babies
• Smile!

Lots of love and happy reading!

-Aisyah.

Introducing Books to Babies (Part 1)

As a mum, I knew I wanted to instill the love of reading to my children but the truth was, all the books I bought for my son when he was born were the wrong books. 😅

Despite being well-intentioned, I can safely say I was clueless and did not have any knowledge whatsoever regarding childrens’ development and what books were age-appropriate. I didn’t even know board books existed, so I started off with paperback children's books hahahhah (#DontJudgeMe) 😂

Alhamdulillah after a few months of trial and error, I would say that I  have a pretty solid book collection now which my son and I both love. I wanted to document all of this for future reference (if / when I have more children in shaa Allah!) and to help well-intentioned parents who are also as clueless as I was ❤️

The time spent reading with my son helped us bond and it has definitely instilled a love of reading in him, Alhamdulillah. It has also really helped with his language acquisition & development and helped (and continues to help) in building his vocabulary. All praise is due to Allah, Alhamdulillah. 

A general recommendation when searching for books for babies:

• Books that contain real pictures are the best. 
• If you’re purchasing a book that contains illustrations, ensure that the illustrations are simple. It is best to have books that focus on very few things when reading to a baby. 
• Purchase books with very short sentences. It is also good to  have books that rhymes and has repetitive sentences. 
• I was very surprised to find out how awesome baby books are in 2022! There are books that include different materials for a sensorial experience, there are lift-the-flap books, push-and-pull books, etc. Anything that is tactile and interactive is always good.
• Buuuut, I’d personally recommend to stay away from 3D / pop-up books, though. They don’t survive the curiosities and ruthlessness of babies!
• Lastly, it’s not about the quantity of books that you have, it’s about the quality of the books and quality time spent with your child. It is actually really good to read the same books over and over again to babies! 

This is a continuation of a series of blog posts. You may find Part 2: Books for Babies (a.k.a My Personal Favourites) here.

Lots of love and happy reading!

-Aisyah.