Booklist: Books for Toddlers

Martin, Bill and Eric Carle (Illustrator). Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?

A classic, especially for storytime at the library. Great rhythm, repetition and parallel structure makes it easy for kids to guess what’s coming and chant along (and they do!). Great for learning colour and animal words. Works well for a multi-lingual group. Big, bold and charismatic single-colour collage illustrations by Eric Carle support concept learning and scaffold kids' read-along participation. Supports all the principles of emergent literacy, and is ideal for toddler groups.

Carle, Eric. From Head to Toe. HarperCollins Publishers, 1997.

“I’m a penguin and I can turn my head. Can you do it?” asks penguin. “I can do it,” answers the child. And so the story begins. This book provides great opportunities for kids to join in on each of the movements, while learning about animals and parts of the body. With classic Eric Carle cut-out and collage illustrations, the book is bright, appealing and full of energy. A Laura Ingalls Wilder Award Winner for 2003.

Christelow, Eileen. Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1989.

Five little monkeys take a bath, brush their teeth, say goodnight to their mama and then… launch into the old favourite rhyme. Many kids will be familiar with the words in the song, but repetition will help scaffold learning for others. By the end it’s hard not to want to shout along: “no more monkeys jumping on the bed!”

Cronin, Doreen and Scott Menchin [illustrator]. Wiggle. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2005.

This fun lively book has a very strong rhythm and use of sound, which makes it a pleasure to read out loud. It could be a great wiggle-along activity, especially if the reader makes up actions to go with each line. Or it would work well paired with a wiggle song like “wiggle and wiggle and stop.” The illustrations are fun, clear, humorous and bright. Each page incorporates a small photographed object with the strong line and colour drawings.

Tafuri, Nancy. Silly Little Goose. New York: Scholastic Press, 2001.

Little goose sets out to find a place to nest. But each time she thinks she’s found the perfect spot, a host of cats or sheep or chickens pop out to tell her it’s already taken: “Silly Little Goose!” The repetition allows kids to join in with the story as it progresses.

Hillenbrand, Will. Down by the Station. New York: Gulliver Books, 1999.

Trains, animals noises and a sing-along song: This book has all the perennial favourites. “Down by the station early in the morning. See the little puffer-bellies all in a row…” So begins this old standard, but as the train travels on its way to the petting zoo it picks up some unusual passengers and adds a host of new animals sounds to the cumulative refrain: “Puff puff, Toot toot, Thrump thrump, Peep peep, Grump grump, Mew, mew, Off we go!” The illustrations are fun and bright, providing many rich visual subplots to the story.

Westcott, Nadine Bernard [adaptor and illustrator]. The Lady with the Alligator Purse. New York, Little Brown and Company, 1988.

This fun nonsense song, starring the irreverent lady with the alligator purse, is part of a series called “Sing Along Stories” which includes others such as The Eensy-Weensy Spider, Miss Mary Mack and I know an old lady who swallowed a fly. Musical notation is included.

Maurice Sendak. In the Night Kitchen. Harper Collins, 1970.

What can I say about Mickey and the night kitchen? The boy who slips out of bed, falls down through the night out of his clothes and into the night kitchen where the bakers mistake him for milk and mix him into the batter. The little comic frames, the large dream-scape kitchen with a skyline made of baking ingredients and egg-beaters. Still fresh and stunning after so many years. The consistent tone of wonder and inevitability, without even a hint of surprise or alarm. The of-course-ness of this fantastical trip, and the comfort of return. A Caldecott Honor Book. One of my favourites as a kid.


Carle, Eric. The Very Hungry Caterpillar. New York: Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers, 1987. [Originally published in 1969].

This classic by Eric Carle incorporates learning about the life cycle of a caterpillar, foods, and days of the week, all without ever losing the primacy of the story in either text or illustration. One of the earliest examples of paper engineering, it incorporates partial and overlapping pages as well as holes cut in the paper. It is, of course, a beautiful book with a nice amount of repetition, which will help support rehearsal of concepts and vocabulary, and allow children to join in when they become more familiar with the story . It has more non-repeating and unpatterned content than some of Carle’s other books, so it might be better for a slightly older audience than a book like Brown Bear, Brown Bear.

Crebbin, June and Katharine McEwen. Cows in the Kitchen. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 1998.

Loads of repetition, animal noises, humour and a fun join-in refrain make this an excellent storytime choice for toddlers. The strength of the story is expanded by illustrations that are bold, colourful, energetic and full of humour. The story culminates in a quiet-quiet-quiet-LOUD climax that will be sure to please even, and especially, if it is familiar. The text can be sung to the tune of Skip To My Lou.

Williams, Vera B. “More More More,” Said the Baby. New York: Greenwillow Books, 1990.

Subtitled “Three Love Stories,” this book tells the separate stories of three babies – little guy, little pumpkin and little bird – and the grown-ups who love them. The grown-ups catch them up, swing them around, kiss them, put them to bed – whatever it is that makes the babies say “more, more, more.” The painted illustrations are bright, emotive, alive and full of motion. They set this story of love and affection in three different family structures (a dad, a gradmother, and a mother) and different cultural settings, without changing the focus from story to issue. The voices are simple and repetitive, but also infused with personality of a very particular and individual love. The last story features a falling asleep baby, which makes it a great candidate for a bedtime favourite. The parallel structure in the three sections, each of which culminates in the request for “More, more, more,” helps to scaffold learning and encourage participation. I loved it. A Caldecott Honour Book.

Welcome to wide-mouthed blog

which may actually be a bit of a misleading title. It's meant not to refer to the strength of my opinions but to one of my favourite kids' songs and stories. Before Wide-Mouthed Frog was a fantastic pop-up book by Keith Faulkner and Jonathan Lambert, it was a song my mother used to sing.