Bathtime
(Dorling Kindersley, 1999)

Bath Books: Sea Animals
(Dorling Kindersley, 1998)

Imagine a bath with a seal. Or easy-to-turn pages that show just how other children get ready for their baths. Imagine waterproof books designed for splashing. The only trick will be learning which books are dunkable. These vinyl ones are perfect for the bathroom.
Vinyl book.

Big Dog and Little Dog Going for a Walk
by Dav Pilkey
(Harcourt, 1997)

Children not quite ready to sit still for long will enjoy the pictures of these “doggies,” and their very short tale—with a sudsy ending (because dogs get dirty, too). This is one in a series of sweet and simple friendship stories by the popular Dav Pilkey.
Board book.

Big Red Barn
by Margaret Wise Brown (HarperFestival, 1994)

Each farm animal in the big red barn is named and described in jolly, rhyming text: “There were horses and sheep and goats and geese – and a jaunty old scarecrow leaning on his hoe.” This one is sure to be a favorite of toddler in their car seats.
Board book.
Also available in Spanish.

Clap Your Hands
by Lorinda Bryan Cauley
(Putnam, 2001)

Exuberant children and animals rub their tummies, pat their heads, reach for the sky, and touch their noses as they participate in these rhyming verses. This book is meant for playing and singing, wiggling and spinning (and listening, too). Meanwhile, there are a lot of language concepts being offered to the “players.”
Board book.

Color Farm
by Lois Ehlert
(HarperFestival, 1997)

On each of Lois Ehlert’s die-cut pages, a farm animal is created from geometric shapes. Turn the page, and the shape itself is labeled on Ehlert’s brilliant-colored backgrounds. If sticking fingers through shapes and making surprising discoveries is your child’s thing, then also check for Color Zoo by the same author (HarperFestival, 1997).
Also available as a board book.

Fuzzy Fuzzy Fuzzy! A touch, skritch & tickle book
by Sandra Boynton
(Little Simon, 2003)

Rub the duck’s soft belly. Touch the cow’s fuzzy nose. Feel a turkey’s rough wattle. Boynton offers young children texture and touch along with her trademark zany animals. A favorite of young children.
Board book.

From Head to Toe
by Eric Carle
(HarperCollins, 1999)

“Raise your shoulders like a buffalo. Bend your neck like a giraffe.” Children will wiggle, stomp, thump, and bend as they mimic the antics of the animals in this interactive exercise book. Chanting “I can do it! I can do it!” with the turn of each page, children are en route to becoming readers, while learning to label body parts. Here’s the book for active readers. Hook them first with activity (and interaction), and they’ll steadily grow attention spans for stories with simple plots.
Also available as a board book.
Also available in Spanish.

Here Are My Hands
by Bill Martin Jr. & John Archambault
(Henry Holt, 1998)

"Here is my head /for thinking and knowing. /Here is my nose /for smelling and blowing.'' In rhyming text and with bold illustrations, children from many different backgrounds delight in the features they have in common—hands, feet, cheeks, and more.
Board book.

Hug
by Jez Alborough
(Candlewick Press, 2002)

Alborough relies on the word “hug” to tell the story of Bobo, a tiny chimp searching through the jungle for a hug. Every other jungle animal seems to be getting a hug, and at first Bobo blithely announces what he sees: “hug.” Later, the word is in tiny print, registering Bobo’s dismay, and then writ huge (showing his despair). But Mama Chimp appears, shouting “Bobo!” And Bobo cries, “Mommy!” In a chorus of many “hugs” from the jungle animals, a plot is built and resolved with only three different words. Don’t be surprised if children want to share a hug after reading this book together!
Board book.

I Went Walking
by Sue Williams
(Red Wagon Books, 1996)

Because children love the repetitive refrains of Brown Bear, Brown Bear (by Bill Martin, Jr., Holt, 1967), I Went Walking is sure to be a favorite as well. A young child meets a variety of animals on a walk through the barnyard. Children will try to guess each partially shown animal as the text asks, "What did you see?"
Also available as a board book.
Also available in Spanish.

Pat the Bunny (Touch and Feel Book)
by Dorothy Kunhardt
(Golden Books, Reissue 2001)

First published in 1940, the bunny’s soft fur could have been patted by baby’s grandparents. Little ones still find satisfaction in manipulating the book over and over again—patting the bunny, sniffing the flower, and lifting the peek-a-boo flap. This one is perfect for the car seat.
Board book.

Peek-A-Boo!
by Janet and Allan Ahlberg
(Viking, 1997)

It’s a child’s view of the world from breakfast to bedtime. Young readers are invited to peek at a family through holes in the page, playing the classic peek-a-boo game. The manipulation, repetition, and rhyme hold the youngest child’s attention, while the detailed illustrations are searchable and talkable for preschoolers.
Board book.

Pete’s a Pizza
by William Steig
(HarperFestivial, 2003)

Pete's father knows just how to cheer up his son on a rainy day: by making him into a pizza! He kneads and stretches Pete like dough, adds “flour,” “cheese,” and “oil,” then tosses his pizza boy in the air and puts him in the sofa oven to bake. The text is presented in simple directions, and pizza boy only runs away when the pizza man is ready to taste the product. Get ready to take turns being the pizza and the pizza-maker!
Board book.

Read To Your Bunny
by Rosemary Wells
(Scholastic, 1997)

Children’s author Rosemary Wells believes that “the most important thing in the first years of life is the growth of the mind and spirit.” To insure that growth, she prescribes finding twenty minutes each day for reading aloud to a child in your lap. In short rhyming text, this ten-page board book reminds grown-up readers to share books with their bunny across the day—the bed, in the kitchen, and even in the bathtub!
Also available in Spanish.

So Big!
by Dan Yaccarino
(HarperFestival, 2001)

“How big is baby . . .?” SOOOO BIG!” Children lift the flaps to find baby animals—a giraffe, owl, and even a snake—stretching to their fullest sizes. The best is saved for last: “How big are YOU?” Children know the answer: “SOOO BIG!”

Tails
by Matthew Van Fleet
(Red Wagon Books, 2003)

A book to play with—to lift flaps, to scratch and sniff, to touch and pull. Best of all, it’s filled with all kinds of animal tails attached to beguiling creatures: “Tails long/ Tails stumpy/ Pulling tails makes snoozers…grumpy!” There are tails to identify and to count.
Also by Matthew Van Fleet: Spotted Yellow Frogs, One Yellow Lion, and Fuzzy Yellow Duckling

Ten in the Bed
by David Ellwand
(Handprint Books, 2002)

You already know the song. This time, there are ten well-loved teddies in the bed all snuggled under a white blanket. Photographs show the bears, one by one, rolling over and falling out, as the little one says, "Roll over, roll over!" As the number of bears in the bed shrinks, the bed area grows smaller, and the remainder of the spread opens to receive the tumbled bears against pastel shades. By chant’s end, the bed is too lonely for one little bear, so the others jump back in—to get ready to read/sing again.
Board book.

Tomie’s Little Mother Goose
by Tomie dePaola
(Putnam, 1997)

Twenty-four of the most familiar verses from Mother Goose are illustrated with Tomie dePaola’s simple round figures and generous use of white space. Children will visit the pages again and again to find their favorites: Humpty Dumpty, Jack and Jill, Little Miss Muffett, and Baa, Baa, Black Sheep.
Board book.

Won’t You Be My Kissaroo?
by Joanne Ryder
illustrated by Melissa Sweet
(Harcourt Gulliver, 2004)

A mama sheep asks her lamb: “Won’t you be my kissaroo? I’ve lots of kisses just for you.” In soft water color paintings, animal parents deliver kisses to their young as only they can: “A puppy kiss is very wet.” The little lamb is a recurring feature of the action until, by story’s end, Lamb receives a birthday kiss (all the animal friends are there), and then a bedtime kiss to make her cozy through the night.