Our list of Top 10 Toddler Books - Mom Approved!

Mom’s we all know toddler LOVE repetition and this means that they love to read their favorite books, over and over and over. While some when we see we let sound an internal groan, there are some that we actually enjoy. This is our list for Top 10 Toddler Books (approved by mom!)

My mom is a librarian at a middle school so to say she she has a passion for reading is an understatement. She reads several books a week and has passed on this love to me and now my boys. With her help (of course!) we have amassed a collection of hundreds of books. If you have a toddler you know that they love to read the same books over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and well you get the point.

How we came up with our Top 10 Toddler Books

For this activity I asked them to go through all of our books and pick out their favorites (also a good excuse to organize them!) Below is the list of books they picked out and are all mom approved ( I actually enjoy reading them too.)

Where possible I highly recommend getting board books, they are little bulkier but they last a lot longer than paper books.

Book Number 1:The Gruffalo

by: Julia Donadlson and Axel Scheffler

Buy The Gruffalo

My boys love this book, it is an about mouse taking a stroll through the deep dark woods and runs into a hungry fox, owl and snake. The little mouse is very clever though and tells them each a story about a gruffalo that has terrible claws and terrible tusk in his terrible jaws, the fox, owl and snake are all scared of the gruffalo and run away. The mouse has nothing to worry about though as there is no such thing as a gruffalo… right?

Book Number 2: Where the Wild Things Are

by: Maurice Sendak

Buy Where the Wild Things Are

Where the Wild Things Are was one of my favorite books as a child and love that this made my boys top twenty list as well. For those that may not be familiar with the story it is about a little boy who gets into mischief and his mother calls him wild thing and sends him to bed without his supper. His room magically transform into the world all around him and he sails off to have an adventure where the wild things are.

Book Number 3: The Three Billy Goats Gruff

by: Paul Galdone

Buy the The Three Billy Goats Gruff

We first checked this book out from the library, but after the boys checked it back out every time we went back we finally bought it for them. Any time we walk over a bridge my two year recites the trolls line “who’s that tramping on my bridge”. If you are not familiar with this classic it is about three billy goats that have to cross a bridge to get to another pasture. However, there is a mean ugly troll that lives under the bridge that they have to each get past first. There are several versions of the book but our favorite is by Paul Galdone.

Book Number 4: The Pout-Pout Fish

by: Deborah Diesen

Buy The Pout-Pout Fish

The playful rhymes in this book makes it a lot of fun to read. You follow the story of a pout-pout fish with a pout-pout face who likes to spread his dreary wearies all over the place. His friends all try to cheer him up and turn his frown upside down. Will they succeed?

Book Number 5: There's a Monster in Your Book

by: Tom Fletcher

Buy There’s a Monster in Your Book

This is a super fun and interactive book, but fair warning DO NOT read at bedtime as it can get the kids (at least mine) riled up. I also strongly recommend getting the board book so it can hold up to the interactions. The book is all about a monster that is stuck in the book that you are trying to get out. You need to blow on the book, spin it around, yell and it goes on until you finally scare the monster out of the book and he is loose in your room.

Book Number 6: I Love You to the Moon and Back

by: Amelia Hepworth

Buy I Love You to the Moon and Back

My oldest went through a phase where this was his good night story for almost a year. The story talks about how the bear and his cub show their love for each other. My son’s favorite part is when they are touching noses which has now become a tradition in our house as another way to show our love.

Book Number 7: The Bunnies Are Not in Their Beds

Buy The Bunnies Are Not in Their Beds

This book is about a mommy and daddy rabbit trying to put their bunnies to bed, but every time they make it back downstairs the bunnies start playing again. Finally exhausted the mommy and daddy end up falling asleep before their bunnies do. This book cracks me up, probably because our two oldest love inevitably sneak into each other’s rooms to play together after we put them to bed and we have to re-tuck them multiple times. However, when they fall asleep snuggling it is priceless.

Book Number 8: I Prayed For You

By Jean Fisher

Buy I Prayed for You

I love this book and the message in it, and when my two year is needing snuggles this is favorite book. He will pick it out and crawl up onto my lap. The comes from momma bears view point and sharing with her little cub about how the prayed for him before he was born, she gives thanks to God for the everyday blessings like by myself dressing.

Book Number 9: If Animals Kissed Good Night

by: Ann Whitford Paul

Buy If Animals Kissed Good Night

The first time I read this book I was not fan, it just didn’t seem to read smoothly, but now it is one of my favorites (thankfully as the kids love it). It is a sweet book talking about how all different animals kiss goodnight. Giraffe and his calf would stretch their necks high, wolf and his pup would kiss and then howl.

Book Number 10: Frankencrayon

by: Michael Hall

Buy Frankencrayon

If you like to read stories and use different voices this book is great. It is about a group of crayons putting on a tale of Frankencrayon when disaster strikes and the picture book must be cancelled!

We hope you enjoy our Top 10 Toddler Books! We would love to hear what some of your favorite books are!

If you are looking for more fun things to do with toddlers check out our Kid Adventures.

2 thoughts on “Top 10 Toddler Books”

Kimberly Spicer says:
July 24, 2020 at 12:20 pm
#5 one of my favorites. My girls are older now- and I had never read this book. Until I had the opportunity to read to my precious nephews!!! Its a great book – brings out their personality- you will be sure to have so much fun with your children while taking this adventure with them….”There’s a monster in your Book” and of course #8 “I prayed for you” read many times in our home – a heartfelt story!!!
Great post 🙂
1. Heather says:
  July 24, 2020 at 9:23 pm
  I am so happy to hear you enjoyed the post! There is a Monster in my book that is great for toddlers because it is so interactive and really plays to their imaginations!