Say hello to their new favorite gadget: board books. 

Tactile and interactive, board books are good books for babies at the start of their reading journey. Combining image, touch, and language, these enchanting tools will plant seeds of literary love and build motor skills. Start with our favorite hands-on stories and your baby will see (and feel) that board books are anything but boring.

Busy Numbers

By Martha Costa

Just starting on the 1-2-3s? Build a bridge to counting with the charming construction sites of Busy Numbers! Colorful bulldozers, cranes, and trucks drive this numerical journey. After counting a given item on the page—like how many orange hats or red trucks there are—little readers can spin a number wheel to show their answer. (No idle hands or minds on this worksite!) Before you know it, your 12- to 24-month-old will be pointing out numbers and colors on the page like a hard-hat professional. And if your child is a fan, author Martha Costa has an entire board book series waiting for them, from Busy Shapes to Busy Colors.

Light Up the Stars!

By Gabrielle Clima

Baby’s hands are always busy—reaching for Mom’s hair, snagging a banana slice on the high chair tray, or pointing gleefully at every puppy in sight. Light Up The Stars! illuminates ten million more directions to reach for. Slide down shimmering rainbows and cruise across constellations as you explore the language of night and day. Your 1- to 3-year-old will unlock their motor skills to pull tabs, grow flowers, and even light up a city sky with its high-contrast illustrations.

Everybody Needs a Buddy

By Ellen Jackson

We’re pretty sure it’s a scientific fact: Baby brains (and adult brains) love adorable animals. Wielding the power of cuteness, Everybody Needs a Buddy is one of the good books for babies starting to internalize key lessons. Watch your little ones learn the importance of friendship as they guide their furry friends through lessons of kindness. On each sturdy board page, Maddie Frost’s illustrations capture companionship across the animal world while Ellen Jackson’s rhymes add memorable musicality. When you read together, your baby may just roar and crow with every lyrical line.

What Makes a Rainbow?

By Betty Schwartz

Rainbow, schmainbow. As adults, we may forget just how beautiful the colors of those arches are. But for your baby? Every new hue is like a laser light show at a Wiggles concert! Explore the wonder of colors through our hoppy friend the Little Rabbit in What Makes the Rainbow? Watching him bounce from color to color and friend to friend, your budding reader will get to practice story sequences as they work to construct a magnificent rainbow!

My Magical Dragon

By Yujin Shin

Alphabet letters, colors, and numbers are all important early-life skills. But what about bravery? Or imagination? My Magical Dragon ignites that adventurous spirit, wrapping your child in a mystical, cloud-filled escapade. Spin wheels and slide panels while following this sparkly dragon into his enchanted land. Tactile details keep curious hands engaged, while special holographic foil adds a shimmer that draws your reader’s attention. If your little one loves fairytale books, My Magical Dragon will introduce them to their imagination and their love of reading.

I’ll Love You Till the Cows Come Home

By Kathryn Cristaldi

How much do I love you? To the moooooon and back! Kathryn Cristaldi’s sweet board book is the perfect bedtime send-off for your favorite newborn or toddler. Let your little one know how much you love them as they sail off to Mars with their favorite spotted friends. Sturdy pages, touching illustrations, and the perfect dash of humor make this nighttime read a verbal and tactile dream. They’ll be requesting this bedtime story until the cows come home!

Burrow into Board Books for Baby Bookworms with Literati

With wide eyes and curious hands, babies are meant to enjoy board books like Dora enjoys exploring. That’s what makes board books such good books for babies entering the literary world. Little ones can pull, grab, examine, learn from (and maybe even chew on) each page to immerse themselves in the fantastic world of a story. 

At Literati, we believe it’s never too early to start enjoying the magic of literature. Introduce your child to the wonder of words through our Literati Kids Book Clubs, where we send handpicked titles for their reading skills and favorite topics. From enchanting board books to soothing picture books, our titles will always lend something more to enjoy. 

Open the literature lab with our personalization quiz to find the book box with their name on it.

The post The Best Board Books for Babies appeared first on Literati.

Reading & Development for Babies

Your baby is learning so much about the world around them every second. Books are an integral part of brain development because they provide specific visual and tactile stimulation your baby might not otherwise be exposed to—but not all board books are created equal! 

When it comes to reaping the rewards of reading, you want to introduce certain skills at the right stage of brain development. At Literati, we think great baby books should also be a hit for parents and caretakers too, as reading together provides some of the best opportunities for daily bonding. Here are our picks for the best baby books—spot-on titles for your little one’s brain and bookshelf.

Light Up the Stars!

by Gabriele Clima

Interactive board books are a playground for perceptual learning, tailor-made for early brain development.

In Light Up The Stars!, your child will go starry-eyed for all the different ways to grab, pull, and push throughout the book. Young readers will adore the books’ interactive pull-tabs, which unlock the ability to bloom flowers or light up a city skyline. A perfect bedtime read, Light Up the Stars! places the twinkling, majestic world above us into your baby’s hands.

One Red Sock

by Jennifer Sattler

In Jennifer Sattler’s One Red Sock, the Little Purple Hippo can’t find a matching red sock. As she frantically tries on different colors, we slowly learn that perhaps matching socks aren’t really what matters after all. The beauty of Jennifer Sattler’s tale is how it subtly lets children know that mistakes are perfectly normal.

Perspective and humor sparkle throughout this picture book, making it one of the best read-aloud books for young children. But be warned: you may be inspired to mismatch your and your child’s socks (shoes, shirts, and more) well into their elementary school years!

The ABCs of Love

by Rose Rossner

Reading with your baby is always valuable bonding time, but no book shares the love like The ABCs of Love. This adorable board book also just so happens to be a fantastic introduction to the alphabet.

These heartwarming rhymes are a great fit for little learners as language development begins to take shape. Adorable animal illustrations and colorful, high-contrast pages also support visual focus. The ABCs of Love is an absolute favorite among Literati parents, and with pages this sweet and comforting, we think you’ll see why!

Where’s My Llama?

by Becky Davies

Touch-and-feel elements are essential to supporting tactile perception, which is convenient when little ones can’t seem to get their hands off of them!

From furry llamas to rough cacti, Where’s My Llama is one of our favorite interactive board books thanks to its wide variety of textures your baby will love to explore. As they search for the hidden llama, your baby can lift flaps and find the fuzz, all while immersed in a vibrant and colorful story filled with sensory stimulation and adorable animal friends!

Busy Numbers: Spin the Wheel to Learn Numbers!

by Clever Publishing

Grab your hard hat and your thinking cap—we’re heading to the construction site! With the help of a spinning wheel and some hardworking builder friends, your baby can learn all about numbers.

Busy Numbers helps little ones develop fine motor skills while getting familiar with basic counting concepts (and perhaps even sparking an interest in machinery). The spinning wheel element is creatively weaved into each scenario; little hands will certainly be kept busy!

Tomorrow I’ll Be Brave

by Jessica Hische

Journey together through a world filled with positivity and beautifully hand-written words of wisdom in Tomorrow I’ll Be Brave, written and illustrated by Jessica Hische. This book reminds readers that tomorrow is a new day full of opportunities and empowers them to be bold when trying new things.

Your little one will love listening to these comforting words, making this a perfect bedtime read with the potential to remain a special part of your home library.

8 Little Planets

by Chris Ferrie

We all know the planets are extraordinary, but did you know that they can also be… adorable? In 8 Little Planets, you and your reader can explore the most fun and friendly solar system in the universe!

The bright colors and layered pages of this delightful board book take little ones on a tactile trip around the sun. As your little one tours the galaxy, the book celebrates the unique qualities of each planet. Set to the tune of “Ten Little Monkeys,” this stellar story’s familiar rhythm makes it a super fun read to keep in the nightly orbit!

Which One is Different? Numbers

by Kasia Dudziuk

Now that we’ve got colors and letters covered, let’s talk numbers! Our #1 pick for an introduction to the 1-2-3’s is a playful and interactive board book, Which One is Different? Numbers. This book asks readers to spot the differences in its illustrations: “Which bicycle has 2 wheels?””Can you find 1 car on its own?”

As your baby gets more familiar with object identification, this book can support their ability to discern differences. The combination of everyday objects and larger-than-life dinos keeps little readers engaged, while interactive counting gives them a headstart on math and problem solving.

Rainbow Colors

by Juliana Perdomo

Rainbow Colors is a creatively designed introduction to the colors of the rainbow that features humorous search-and-find rhymes and a message of inclusivity with diverse children from all over the world.

Curved and layered “touch-and-feel” board pages increase in size as you move through the book, which helps to develop your child’s hand-eye coordination as they turn the pages. Rainbow Colors delivers on more than just bold hues—it’s an all-around fantastic addition to your home library as your baby’s cognitive development leaps into bold new territory!

Little Learners Thrive with Literati

Board books offer a world of shapes, colors, sights and sounds to stimulate your baby’s senses and help them understand their surroundings. Literati’s personalized book clubs are designed to help equip you with the best books for your baby’s developmental progress while they’re growing every day.

Every box of books is curated with the help of education experts, so you only get books that are perfect for your little one’s development, and introduce the right skills at the right time. Take the personalization quiz today and get your first box of perfectly-curated, exceptionally engaging stories today!

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