Top 5 baby books at 14 months

As my daughter reached for the same book she always does, I realised that as she is growing up she is starting too have firm favourites in the book department. She used to go through phases of liking different books week by week, we could tell by her ability to pay attention to the whole book or not, and so we used to cycle through them all quite regularly. I was using a coffee table as a sort of book table, where she could stand and go through her books, now though, I have them standing upright in between the arms of an armchair, as if it were a bookshelf (something we need I think). So here are her top 5 board books:

1) Sweet Dreams Maisy (I am only including 1 of the 5 Maisy books that she loves)
2) My Little Ducklings Tab Book
3) Moomin's Little Book Of Numbers
4) Happy Dog Sad Dog
5) Clap Your Hands

A special mention also goes to:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar [Board Book]
and any That's Not My.... Osbourne books:
That's Not My Monkey

Here is an Amazon link to each book, and a little bit about why it features in her top 5:

1) Sweet Dreams Maisy: this was given to us by the HV at our 8 month check, in a Bookstart bag. I think that my daughter likes it so much because it includes her favourite words (star, sky, up) and in it Maisy sings "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" to her panda, which means the lucky reader also gets to sing. I was impressed that she seems to be able to follow the story, and it has a nice balance of words to pictures, not too simple, not too complex. If I leave a gap at certain words my daughter makes a sound approaching the sound of the word, which is very sweet indeed.


2) My Mum bought my daughter this book from Birdworld where we went for her 1st birthday. I personally get a bit fed up reading it, because she doesn't like to read the story (which includes some poor rhyming) and would rather turns the pages backwards and forwards pointing at fish. Still, each to their own, and she LOVES it.


3) We bought this on a recent trip to the Tate Modern. I wasn't sure whether my daughter would like Moomins, not knowing what/who they are, but she has taken to this book very well, and can name each of the items that the Moomins are counting. I like this book because the items being counted are spread over 2 pages, but mixed together not one per side, if that makes sense? It is the first time I have seen this in a counting book, and I think it makes it more interesting. For example, there are a couple of Moomins with 3 umbrellas between them, being rained on by 4 clouds.


4) A very simple book, showing opposites. It has bright backgrounds, and simple drawings. I like the little touches such as the flies buzzing around the dirty dog, and the sad ears on the sad dog. My daughter really likes counting all of the dogs on the back page showing each of the dogs from the previous pages "lots of dogs". We have to read this book several times a day, I think it has helped her understanding of hot and cold, and she can also now say "hair" with an understanding of what it is, thanks to hairy dog.


5) When I first looked in this book I though "what a swizz". It is basically the song "if you're happy and you know it clap your hands" with teddy bears doing the actions (including actions I haven't heard before such as "touch your nose", "touch the sky" & "turn around") but, my daughter loves it. She calls it "happy happy" and she can do most of the actions, although turning around took a while to master. she even sings "I am" when you get to the last verse. So this has changed my opinion of the book, I just wish it wasn't so long!