What is a good book to give a new baby? For starters, the book has to be one that won’t be duplicated in other gifts at a baby shower. That eliminates a lot of popular titles like Goodnight Moon and Dear Zoo. Those are excellent books, but let someone else buy them. Instead pick a baby book or book set from this list of excellent board books that may not be on all the other bestselling books for babies lists, but still deserve to be!
This list of books for babies includes titles that parents won’t mind reading again and again. Plus many of the books include photographs of baby faces, which babies love to look at! There are bedtime books, books that encourage interaction and books that gently introduce concepts like feelings and colors. Whatever you are looking for, you’ll find it on this list!
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Best Board Books for Babies
After each featured baby book, I’ve listed one or more books to add and make it a special book gift set!
Global Babies/Bebes del mundo
from The Global Fund for Children
Babies LOVE to stare at other baby faces! Now they (and you!) can look at adorable faces from around the world while hearing simple, sweet and loving text.
Make it a book set with: Global Baby Bedtimes, Global Baby Girls, Global Baby Boys
Haiku Baby
by Betsy E. Snyder
A darling first poetry book with six haiku poems about nature and animals. I really loved how Snyder uses onomatopoetic words which naturally appeal to babies and the collage illustrations are colorful and sweet. The chunky tabbed pages are easy to grab when your baby wants to turn the pages herself!
Make it a book set with: Haiku Night
MORE: Poetry for babies and toddlers
Little You
by Richard Van Camp, illustrated by Julie Flett
I absolutely love this adorable board book. Little You is a tender, rhyming love story from mom and dad to their baby. Illustrator Julie Flett (who has rapidly become one of my favorite illustrators) uses autumnal colors to depict the family as the baby grows. Simply marvelous.
Make it a book set with: We Sang You Home
Whose Toes are Those?
by Jabari Asim, illustrated by LeUyen Pham
This book is perfect for a lap sitter. Short, sweet rhymes will encourage parents and babies to interact and giggle with each other. A fun take on “this little piggy.”
Make it a book set with: Whose Knees are These?
Toesy Toes
by Sarah Tsiang
Can we all agree that baby toes are irresistible? Photographs of diverse babies and their toes in everyday settings will delight your little one. Tsiang uses rhyming couplets that beg to be read aloud again and again.
Make it a book set with: Clap Hands
Black Bird Yellow Sun
by Steve Light
Parents who have an eye for design will love this choice, and babies will love the bold, contrasting graphics. A black bird flies page to page through a world of colors, a yellow sun, orange leaves, purple grapes. Don’t miss the wriggly worm who is along for the journey!
Make it a book set with: You Are Light by Aaron Becker
Making Faces
Photographs by Molly Magnusson
Making faces is another great baby book with photographs to draw in your little one. The text and photographs of diverse faces teach five different emotions, happy, sad, surprised, silly and angry. The text prompts grown-ups to interact with their child and the book includes a mirror so babies can see their own faces.
Make it a book set with: Baby See Baby Do
Holi Colors
by Rina Singh
Rhyming couplets are paired with charming photographs of diverse children covered in Holi colors. Holi is the Hindu festival of colors and love, but this book will be enjoyed by children of all backgrounds who will love looking at the faces and pointing out the colors.
Make it a book set with: Diwali Lights
Did you know babies love staring and black and white images? Which is why these black and white board books for babies must be on your must-have list!
Little Boat
by Taro Gomi
Gomi has once again given us a a true gem of a book, perfect for your little one. Little Boat goes on a journey, encountering obstacles like traffic in a shipping lane, a scary storm and bigger boats. But Little Boat’s bravery pulls him through and the reader is reassured at the end that “Little Boat is fine!”
Make it a book set with: Little Truck, Little Plane
Go Baby! Go Dog!
by Anne Vittur Kennedy
Crawlers and pre-crawlers alike will enjoy the simple and repetitive text of this board book. A crawling baby follows a dog around. At first the dog is none to happy about this, but when the baby becomes sad at the dog’s reticence, events take a turn and baby and dog become sweet companions.
Make it a book set with: Everwhere Babies
More baby books:
Dee says
Do you have a printable list of these books for babies?
Erica says
Hi Dee, I just put up the form to get the printable list! Sorry for the delay. Sometimes I just run out of time to get everything done. 😉
Norah says
Check out board books by Petr Horácek. Beautiful artwork and appealing themes: