The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is another classic picture book for very young children and toddlers.

This is another essential to add to your collection so that your toddler has all the best books! In this lushly illustrated book, a caterpillar pops out of the egg and starts to eat many different things, unable to satisfy its little appetite.

On Monday he eats through one apple.

On Tuesday the caterpillar eats through three plums.

The large text and spacious feeling of the pages in this book help your toddler to learn the difference between text and pictures very early on.

All while teaching them about days of the week and everyday objects, not to mention the lifecycle of a butterfly! At the end of the book, his appetite finally satisfied, the caterpillar makes himself a cocoon and sleeps for a few weeks before transforming into a butterfly.

It’s a beautiful book for toddlers.

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd is simply a classic.

This is one of the best bedtime books for your toddler.

The simple story depicted in the book is of a little bunny tucked in bed, saying goodnight to everything in its room (“Goodnight room, goodnight moon”).

Generations of toddlers have been read this book and then gone on to read it to their own children.

This is what makes Goodnight Moon is a necessity in your toddler’s book collection.

The quiet poetry in this book and soothing illustrations help to set the mood for slumber while you read this with your child.

Big brothers and sisters love to read this “baby book” to their little siblings, the story becomes familiar so quickly that the practice of reading it is like a sweet meditation.

Goodnight Moon is just a great book and a classic that is truly loved by all.

No list of the best books for toddlers would be complete without a book from Dr. Seuss.

While classics like The Cat in the Hat, Fox in Socks, and Hop on Pop are great books for toddlers, the first Dr. Seuss book you should get them is Dr. Seuss’s ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book! Even the littlest toddlers will be able to get an alphabetical education thanks to the genius writing of this book.

Each letter of the alphabet gets a moment, for example “BIG R, little r, what begins with R? Rosy’s red rhinoceros. R…r…R” with amazing illustrations to match.

The way Dr. Seuss wrote the poetry of this book repeats the sound of the letter in each verse to help solidify the sound in your child’s ears as you read it.

This is a fun and perfect book to introduce your toddler to the world of Dr. Seuss.

You may have been read this classic book by your parents as a child.

Today, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You see? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle remains one of the most universally loved books for toddlers.

This is probably because young children are fascinated with animals, and the beautiful tissue paper collage illustrations that depict the many animals in this book are a sensory delight for young toddlers.

In this book, gentle sing-song rhyming introduces your toddler to these wonderfully illustrated animals.

Each animal sees another animal, and colors are used throughout as well.

For example, Brown Bear sees a Blue Horse, who sees a Green Frog.

The rhyme pattern, “Blue Horse, Blue Horse, What do you see? I see a Green Frog looking at me” is repeated on each page.

This makes this book very easy for toddlers to follow along with and, after many readings, join in on.

The rich colors of fall in rural farmland give this book a gorgeous country backdrop.

This adorable book is set in the countryside with a little blue truck full of farm animals.

Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertie is one of the best books for toddlers because the text features fun truck and animal noises for you to make while you read.

This keeps toddlers engaged by providing a sense of sound to go along with the pictures they see and the story being told.

The theme of this book is the power of friendship and how rewarding it is to help others out, so your child will benefit from the valuable lesson in this story.

When a muddy country road stops the Little Blue Truck from pushing a dump truck out of the mud, farm animal friends help to get the Little Blue Truck back on the road.

This simple but much loved book has over 3,000 reviews on Amazon with an average rating of 5 stars, so your toddler will love this book!

Rhyming books are the best way to introduce toddlers to the pleasure of reading.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault with illustrations by Lois Ehlert uses rhyming verse and happy, colorful block art to introduce children to the alphabet.

The fun art is matched by simple words that complement the colorful images.

From the first line of this great board book, “A told B, and B told C, ‘I’ll meet you at the top of the coconut tree,” the different letters of the alphabet start to climb on and pile on the big green coconut tree.

As each letter of the alphabet lands at the top of the tree, the palm’s trunk starts to bend under the weight.

Coconuts begin to fall of the tree, making the title sound of “Chicka chicka…boom! Boom!” Toddlers aged from 2 years old to 5 years old love the nonsense verse and the suspense built by the bending palm tree.

If you little one is reluctant to get ready for bed, the Going-To-Bed Book by author Sandra Boynton may be the best way to start their bedtime routine.

This silly book will get your tired but slaphappy toddler’s attention with an ark of animals who watch the sunset together and then prepare to go down for bed.

The animals’ funny bedtime antics include all the animals taking a bath together in a big tub, putting on pajamas, brushing their teeth and then getting one last bit of exercise in before bed.

Boynton does a wonderful job of starting the book out with energy and slowly winding down the tone of the words to help soothe your child.


This board book is one that you will find yourself reaching for when reinforcing a bedtime routine with your child.

The concept of parental love is introduced in the cutest way possible to your toddler by illustrated rabbits in Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney.

In this tender bedtime book, a young rabbit named Little Nutbrown Hare tries to come up with different examples to express his love to his dad.

Big Nutbrown Hare comes up with his own example, and they try to outdo each other with a bigger description of their love for one another each time.

This amazingly simple story of each bunny saying “I love you more” in different ways concludes with a very sleepy Little Nutbrown Hare declaring to his dad, “I love you right up to the moon” before falling asleep.

This very soothing tale is perfect for toddlers aged 3 and up, but 2 year olds will enjoy it too.

This book perfectly express parental love in a way that your toddler can understand, truly making Guess How Much I Love You one of the best books for toddlers.