Mommy Style Monday: Favorite Children's Books

Hello and happy Monday!  I have to tell you that while the fact that it's Monday doesn't necessarily excite me, the fact that last week is finally over does!  I had a super crazy busy week and about half way through it, my body forced me to slow down a bit by giving me a nice little cough.  Super annoying, but it's felt nice to rest up a bit and get geared up for another week.

Today, I've teamed up with 7 other mommy bloggers and we're all sharing our favorite children's books with you!  One of my earliest memories about books was when I was about 5 years old and I was towing my little red wagon home from the library with my mom stacked high with books.  We went back every week because I literally devoured every book multiple times and got bored with them and wanted new ones.  I know for a fact that my love of reading came from my mom.  She read me books all the time and always had them available for me.  I memorized them before I knew how to read and when I finally learned to read, I kept on reading.  I was always getting in trouble for staying up too late reading on school nights.  So many of my memories with my family revolve around books and reading.

When I was pregnant with my first child, I knew that I wanted books to be a big part of her life as well.  I started collecting them before she was born and have continued to buy new ones.  What started as a little basket near her bed has turned into a bookcase crammed full of books.  I had to add more boy themed books when little brother was born but most of the books we have appeal to both of them.  We now go to the library every couple of weeks to get a new stack of books to read and it's through this activity that I've found some of my favorites.

Each night before we go to bed we read a book as well as before nap time, but it's not uncommon for me to find my kids "reading" in their room together or hauling a stack of books out into the front room for me to read to them throughout the day.  I love that my kids love books.  My kids are (almost) 5 and (almost) 3 so their comprehension is pretty good.  I share a combination of books that teach something and ones that are silly.  Below I'm sharing some of my current favorites.

This post contains affiliate links which if you click on and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Plant a Kiss by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
I grabbed this book from the library's board book section about six months back because the title caught my attention.  It's about Little Miss who plants a kiss and watches it grow into something beautiful that she wants to share with others.  The book is so sweet and simple in the way that it makes love a tangible thing and begins to help kids understand that sharing love helps it to grow.  We've checked this book out multiple times since then and I finally decided to buy it for my daughter for Christmas because she loves it so much.

How Do Dinosaurs series by Jane Yolen
The How Do Dinosaurs series is so fun!  I honestly wish we owned all the books in the series (there are over 20).  I actually did a review on it a while back because I loved it so much.  Each book answers a question, such as, How Do Dinosaurs Go To Sleep?, How Do Dinosaurs Play With Their Friends?, How Do Dinosaurs Clean Their Room? and so on.  They all teach something different about manners or routines in a way that gets kids laughing.  If your kids love dinosaurs, these books are a must have.  The illustrator (Mark Teague) draws pictures of real dinosaurs with their names next to them which makes learning even more fun.

Little Critter books by Mercer Mayer
A while back my mom was going through some of her books and came across her collection of Little Critter books that we had as kids.  She divided them up between my sister and I and they have become some of my kids favorite books to read.  Each one is from the perspective of Little Critter and they all deal with something that kids struggle with, such as a babysitter, moving, feelings, etc.  We've picked up additional ones from the library and my kids love them.

Sandra Boynton books
The first book I bought by Sandra Boynton was the Belly Button Book.  The title made me laugh, especially because I know how intrigued kids can be by belly buttons.  Currently I own close to 15 of her books because they are just so darn cute!  Some of them teach simple things like colors, animal sounds and counting, while others are just silly.  One thing I really like is that they are all short so reading a couple before naps or bedtime isn't a big deal.  I've read each of them so many times that I've got them memorized and my daughter even has a couple of them memorized as well.  They are all board books which makes them nice and durable for little hands.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
My daughter has started to grow out of this book, but my son still loves it.  The Very Hungry Caterpillar is fun and simple, with holes in each of the foods the caterpillar eats.  Both my kids love the last page where he "turns into a beautiful butterfly".

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr and Eric Carle
Our poor copy of Brown Bear, Brown Bear has been taped back together more than any other children's book we own.  The repetitiveness of Brown Bear is fun for the kids and it also helps them learn their colors.  My daughter learned how to "read" (aka memorize) this book when she was about two and she would sit in her room and read it to herself daily.  Now, she "reads" it to her brother.

If you'd like to check out the some more children's books, be sure to click on the link of each blog below.

Kiana  |  Glitter & Donuts

Madeline  |  CaseyLand

Juli  |  Enjoying the Journey

Monica  |  It's All About

Rachel  |  Tutus and Heels

Cayli  |  Nightchayde

Chelsea  |  Naturally Chels