Olivia a French mom living in Bremen, Germany and runs the awesome webshop Babyssimo. And she is a lady after my own heart, she loves to travel and bring back lovely things she found on the way.
So a nice French touch here today but not only of course…
This one is a favorite of my little boy Joseph (soon-to-be 3 years old) at the moment. He just loves to sit on my laps on the sofa and we read this book together. I also love it, it is so direct and honest, like children! When I read the last page for him (“I love you to the moon and back”, I always get a little emotional ;)
2. Le Petit Prince – “The Little Prince“, Antoine de St Exupery My kids are still a bit small for this one. It’s a personal favorite of mine since I was a kid. Sometimes when I need a bit of comfort, I just pick a page and read. It just feels good!
3. Le livre des bruits, Soledad Bravi
… Has been translated in many languages. We have it in French and in German at home. Babies LOVE this book, there are no other words. They find it so funny when you read if for them, because you have to make all the animal sounds and more. Then they start doing them themselves… You’ll be busy with it for several months!
4. Wimmelbücher
This is something very German, but I guess it must exist also in other countries. These are BIG books, with no texts, and images with a LOT of details. My kids love them. They can spend 20 minutes on one picture, trying to describe everything they see. I find it excellent for them to develop vocabulary, especially in a bilingual family like ours.
My kids are still a bit young for this one, but it’s another favorite of my childhood. French tales around the themes of childhood, farm-life and animals that can talk. Just magic.
Shih-Fen lives in NYC and opened Le Carousel not very long ago. Her daughter Stella is one cute monkey and I am looking forward to meeting them both this August!
Me and my daughter had so much fun reading and playing with this interactive book. It also sends message of how fun and cool glasses are and how it can help some poeple to do things they want to do better
This used to be my daughter’s favorite book for a long time. (She grew out of it after she turned 3). She used to be able to memorize every single page and read it to me every night before she went to bed.
We bought this book recently and she fell in love with this book immediately. Since we live far away from her grandparents. It is a fun book for her to picture what she can do together with her grandmom when they see each other every summer.
4. The Adventures of Zach & Zoey
My friend gave this book to us as a gift. The story is very cute and it is based in New York City, so my daughter can totally relate to the places mentioned in the book. Now I give the books as birthday gifts to all the kids I know.
5. Little Sparkle
This book is my daughter’s all-time favorite because it is a personalized story for her only. It is also another great gift idea :)
Julia shows us all these great stuff for boys on her blog boys be cool and the books today are handpicked by her 8 years old son Tyler Max and consists of his all-times absolute favorites.
Tomie dePaola’s classic (and hilarious) story of a young cave boy and his mysterious egg. I must have read this book to my son about 14 millions times and I didn’t want to burn it while he was at preschool. Kids can’t have enough of “ooga-ooga” and you will appreciate the “cave decorating” gems.Wonderful message wrapped in humor.
Mama Grunt sends Little Grunt out to find a dozen eggs. All he can find is one huge egg. The egg hatches and out pops a baby dinosaur. Little Grunt names him George. Soon George grows too big for the Grunt family cave, and poor Little Grunt has to send him away. But when the local volcano erupts, there?s only one dinosaur who can save the day!
If you have a budding scientist this giant book is a must have! My 8 yrs old still consults it for hours lining up legions of his stuff animals on appropriate pages. A unique feature is a diagram showing each animal’s approximate size in relation to a human. The animal’s location is also highlighted on a world map, which is nice for tying in a geography lesson.
3. How Did That Get in My Lunchbox?: The Story of Food by Chris Butterworth and Lucia Gaggiotti
An absolutely fascinating book for all ages! It highlights the complex process behind every single item of kid’s lunchbox. From planting wheat to mixing dough, climbing trees to machine-squeezing fruit, picking cocoa pods to stirring a vat of melted bliss, here is a clear, engaging look at the steps involved in producing some common foods. Health tips and a peek at basic food groups complete the menu.
My absolute favorite of all times and forever! People totally miss the point of this book focusing on Vegetarian issues or have lengthy discussions on whether “crunchy knights” and “soft, delicious princesses” expressions are appropriate for the kids. The message is wonderful: “I won’t ask you to change your habits/ideas/principles if you don’t ask me to change mine”. It’s about co-existence and respect for each other’s differences. Add hilarious illustrations and equally hilarious story and you’ve got a winner! I read this book to the entire class of kindergarteners and they were completely fascinated by the story. Confirmed by two teachers who wrote down the book’s info and by endless email messages from moms requesting info on this wonderful book their kids couldn’t stop talking about! Added bonus – the book came with terrific stuffed Herb, the Vegetarian dragon. There is also a follow up in the shape of
All the dragons in the forest of Nogard like nothing better than raiding Castle Dark and carrying off princesses to eat all the dragons, that is, except one. Herb is at his happiest tending his vegetable patch, for Herb is a vegetarian. So it is unfortunate that he is the one captured by the castle s knights in armor.Treacherous Meathook and his dragon cronies will only help Herb if he agrees to eat meat will he give in to their blackmail?
This book might be too creepy for younger readers, as this title aptly suggests. My son loves it for the yucky and screams inducing factor. Some of the vivid pictures are too “ewwww!” even for me. So you might want to hold off on this one until your kids are older. My son insisted on including this book into HIS selection.
The 6th title in the best selling Ripley’s Believe It or Not! annual series is a compendium of incredible bizarre facts, stories, interviews and features all presented in a stunning bright new design.
This year’s book features icons that guide readers to astounding video clips on our new fully-integrated website, where they can see some of our subjects in action. Be amazed at the dentist with no arms, the snake that swallowed a wallaby, an underwater sculptor and a four-eared cat! For the legions of dedicated Ripley’s fans, and anyone else on the planet who loves unbelievable facts and jaw-dropping images, the latest annual in this successful series is a feast of delights. Also, a dramatic eight-page gatefold section presents some extraordinary performers of the past, and additional black and white Ripley archive photographs feature throughout the book.
Lena lives in London, UK and not long ago launched her online shop Milo et Mimi. Her daughter is three and she chose the books:
1) The Snowman by Raymond Briggs Little scenes and snippets in this books have stolen L’s heart – like when then Snowman decides to try James’s dad’s false teeth or when he sneezes in the parents bedroom. L loves recounting these scenes to us.
2) Bella Gets Her Skates On A fun story about overcoming fear which is a firm favourite. L has never been skating, but having experienced snow, she relates to the adventures which Bella and her siblings encounter.
3) Aliens Love Underpants L loves choosing her favourite pair of underpants and enjoys looking at the unusual alien colours and shapes.
4) Dogs Don’t Do Ballet L thinks it’s really funny seeing a dog wearing a tutu! She loves this book because Biff (the dog) is hiding on some of the book’s pages and she has fun finding him.
5) Hairy McLary L loves the dogs’ unusual names in this book and always laughs when the scary cat frightens all the dogs aways!
Nele is the designer behind beautiful label robe of feathers and lives in Hamburg, Germany with her 2 very blonde daughters {and husband}.
She is a very charming and sweet person and I really hope to meet her one day!
1. Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers A classic. Lovely book about friendship and togetherness in pretty pictures.
2. Sturm Stina by Lena Anderson Beautifully illustrated story about Stina’s summer with her grandpa on a little island and a big storm.
3. Die Torte ist weg by Tjong Khing Great story about the pursuit of a cake. No words, lots to see. Perfect to be told by the kid.
4. So schoen wie der Mond by Komako Sakai So, so sweet! Little Akiko and her little balloon. Beautiful little tale, supercute illustrations!
5. Die Schnecke und der Buckelwal by Axel Scheffler and Julia Donaldson Just a great Axel Scheffler story about an adventurous little snail travelling the world.