Baby’s Colors by Karen Katz has solid pages that are large enough for my daughter to turn by herself.

The front cover shows a baby with an enormous forehead chasing a colorful ball.

Although Baby’s Colors is several inches thick, it only has 12 interior pages. Every page has a yellow border that makes it easy for even little babies to turn at their own pace. My baby loved being able to control the speed of turning the pages and she spent extra time on pages she particularly enjoyed.

The book is focused on different colors. Of the six colors in the book, Arya loved red the best. The left side of the page shows a baby against a specific colored background. The right side shows objects with the same color.

Text consists of the name of the color on the left side and the names of the objects on the right side. With less than half a dozen words on each page, Baby’s Colors isn’t necessarily meant to be read as a book. Rather, it is better used as a toy that babies can explore at their own pace.

The first four pairs of pages show one color per page: red, yellow, blue, and green. The fifth has two colors: orange and pink. The final shows a rainbow of the six colors with one object of each color. I would have preferred more consistency with one specific color on each page. While my baby is too young to care about internal structure, I would have rather seen one page dedicated to pink and one page dedicated to orange.

Baby’s Colors is ideal for the youngest babies. Unlike other books there are no weak points subject to ripping or tearing. Arya was able to play with the book by herself over several days without damaging any part of it. Older children who are familiar with colors will appreciate being able to name the different colorful objects. But the best use for Baby’s Colors is as a first book for parents of young babies.

Baby’s Colors costs (including shipping) under $6 new and under $4 used from Amazon.

My Very First Book of Numbers by Eric Carle is a unique book with a strange two-flap design.

Although it took her a while to get used to the book, eventually my baby liked turning the bottom pages to find pictures of new fruits.

My Very First Book of Numbers uses separate pages throughout the top and bottom half of the book. The top half includes a plain white background with a number and corresponding amount of black boxes. The bottom half has pictures of different colored fruits.

The quantity of fruits on the bottom half matches one of the numbers on the top half. Older toddlers will enjoy counting the fruits and finding the corresponding number. Although little babies are too young to explicitly count numbers, they will still like flipping the pages.

Arya took a minute to understand that the top and bottom half of pages turned independently. Once she figured it out, she spent the rest of the book playing with all the pages. She especially liked the colorful pictures of fruits on the bottom.

With ten numbers and ten types of fruits, My Very First Book of Numbers takes less than three minutes to read. My daughter still enjoyed playing with the different pages even after we finished reading the whole book.

My Very First Book of Numbers is ideal for children who are just learning to count. Rather than encouraging simple memorization of the names for numbers, the book forces children to grasp the concept of a specific quantity of items corresponding with a particular numeral. Younger children will still like playing with the pages and even babies will appreciate the colorful fruits.

My Very First Book of Numbers costs (including shipping) under $6 new and under $4 used from Amazon.

Since she liked the previous books, I thought she would like Little Pookie by Sandra Boynton as well.

The front cover shows a cute pig with a humongous nose and oversized clothing against a white background.

Little Pookie is part of a series of five books by Sandra Boynton. All of them focus on Pookie, a little piglet, who acts just like a human baby. As the first book in the series, Little Pookie is a good way to introduce children to the pig and the general theme of Boynton books.

In the book, Pookie’s mother tells the reader 11 different facts about Pookie. All of them–like the fact he doesn’t like peas–are easy for children to understand. Text consists of simple rhymes built around the 11 facts about Pookie. Short sentences and easy vocabulary make the book accessible for kids who are just learning to read by themselves.

Like all Sandra Boynton books, Little Pookie has cute, colorful pictures on every page. Different background colors add contrast and visual appeal. Despite the multi-colored images on other pages, Arya liked the big black piano the best. Since many of the other images are quite small, she seemed to focus on the large picture that dominates an entire page.

Any children who share at least one of Little Pookie’s traits will love reading the book over and over again. My daughter is too young to understand the concept of similarity, but she and Pookie both love macaroni and fuzzy things.

Little Pookie is aimed at preschool-age children who can’t quite read by themselves, but who understand the concepts of personality characteristics. Older children will enjoy the basic rhyming pattern. Babies may get bored since many of the pictures are much smaller than more suitable baby books.

Little Pookie costs (including shipping) under $6 new and under $4 used from Amazon.

The book, What to Expect When You’re Expecting by Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel, is the best selling pregnancy book of all time.

At 614 pages, it is also the longest pregnancy book available on the market.

With more than 14 million copies of the book in print, there are thousands of online reviews of all editions of the What to Expect When You’re Expecting. Most reviews are split along extremes with reviewers either loving or hating the book.

Common criticisms of the book include its tone and conflicting advice. A prime example occurs in the section about drinking during pregnancy (pp. 70-72). First the book comforts newly expectant mothers:

“There’s no evidence that a couple of drinks on a couple of occasions very early in pregnancy, when you didn’t even know you were pregnant, can harm a developing embryo.”

Then in the next paragraph:

“The Surgeon General, American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American Academy of Pediatrics advise that no amount of alcohol is safe for pregnant women.”

While the authors do emphasize that no amount of alcohol is safe for a fetus, they dilute the message with the preceding statement about lack of evidence. Why, if there is no evidence that alcohol can harm a developing embryo, does every major medical organization strongly advise against drinking while pregnant?

The conflicting tone continues throughout the book with many sections consisting of warnings about the negative consequences of less-than-perfect pregnancy behavior combined with uplifting statements designed to make mothers not worry. It is understandable that the authors did not want the entire book to simply be filled with admonitions of what to do and not do. However telling pregnant women not to worry about their bad choices likely serves to make women worry even more.

In spite of valid criticism, I still consider What to Expect When You’re Expecting to be the best pregnancy book that my wife and I have ever read. Two major points render the book better than its competition.

First, the book is an incredible value. With 23 chapters and 614 pages, the book covers every aspect of pregnancy with discussion of even rare outcomes. Nonetheless, at a full retail price of under $15 it is one of the cheapest pregnancy books of any length. If pregnant women gain even a single useful tip from the book it becomes well worth the price.

Second, the book serves as a great starting point for in-depth analysis of any issue related to pregnancy. For example, the section about weight gain during pregnancy provides clear guidelines regarding when a women should contact her physician. Rather than trying to apply a one-piece-of-advice formula for all women, What to Expect When You’re Expecting directs women to gain more information at the appropriate time.

Even though a large minority of sections–ranging from peanut allergies to belly piercings–had no bearing on my wife, we were both comforted at the thought that we could reach for one text to look up our pregnancy-related questions. Comprehensive coverage of pregnancy combined with its great value makes What to Expect When You’re Expecting a must-have book for all expectant mothers.

What to Expect When You’re Expecting is one of a long list of other books concerning pregnancy and parenting. The What to Expect brand has recently been expanded to include an online website filled with resources. The site, Whattoexpect, also uses the same formula as the book series with a combination of research anecdotes and straightforward advice.

What to Expect When You’re Expecting costs (including shipping) under $9 new and under $7 used from Amazon.

She is now old enough to actually pay attention throughout entire books. But whenever we read a touch-and-feel book my daughter gets so distracted by the textured elements that she forgets about turning the pages and reading the book.

Noodle Loves to Cuddle by Marion Billet has a fun touch-and-feel element on every page and Arya spent ten minutes playing with the book by herself after we finished reading it.

The front cover of Noodle Loves to Cuddle shows a cute panda clutching a blue teddy bear. The teddy bear’s ears are a touch-and-feel element with soft, brown fur. Arya liked playing with the fur so I knew she would like playing with the rest of the book as well.

Like most touch-and-feel books, Noodle Loves to Cuddle is short with only five pages. Each page has a unique textured item shown prominently on the right side: a duck with yellow fur; a purple ball with shiny, raised bumps; a telephone with rough, red tiling; a soft, blue blanket, and a shiny mirror.

All of the touch-and-feel elements are bright and attractive to young children. Arya liked playing with all of them and she didn’t seem to have any discernible favorites. I was a little concerned about her ripping off the blue blanket since it’s only held to the book by one edge. But it stood up to her tugging and pulling without any noticeable tears.

The reflective mirror at the end of the book was a delightful surprise for my little girl. She giggled when she saw herself in the mirror and proceeded to move around until she could see my face looking at her in the mirror.

There is no logical story line as the book is more a random collection of touch-and-feel components. Text is limited to a short sentence on each page describing what Noodle the panda is doing with each object.

Noodle Loves to Cuddle is perfect for any baby who enjoys touch-and-feel books. The mirror at the end is particularly interesting for young children who are fascinated by reflective surfaces. Older children who have outgrown a love of touch-and-feel may still like reading the short text by themselves.

Noodle Loves to Cuddle costs (including shipping) under $9 new and under $5 used from Amazon.

Since she is attracted to pictures of babies in books, I thought What’s Inside by Jeanne Ashbe would be a great book to read to my daughter.

The front cover shows a baby kissing his mommy’s pregnant tummy.

What’s Inside has a cute premise. Each of three groups of pages starts with a chapter summary providing an overview of the three pages to come. The subject pages show a picture of one object on the front cover of a flap. The flap opens to reveal the inside of the object.

The first group consists of a suitcase, present, and watermelon. The pictures under the flaps show packed clothing, a stuffed animal, and the inside of the watermelon. The second group is comprised of a teddy bear, television, and ball. Whereas the first group was made up of objects that people want to open up, the second group shows objects nobody wants to open up. The last group of pictures show a mommy in different stages of pregnancy. The flaps reveal identical pictures of the mommy’s belly partially transparent to reveal the baby growing inside.

Arya loved the lift-the-flap design and she eagerly played with every flap to the point of not wanting to turn the pages. I thought the theme of “looking inside” was quite novel for a baby board book.

The basic illustrations are not as colorful or dynamic as with other children’s books, but they do serve the purpose of showing readily identifiable objects. Since my daughter enjoyed playing with the flaps so much she didn’t pay much attention to any of the individual images.

What’s Inside is a terrific book for any fan of the lift-the-flap concept. Older toddlers will be delighted at the thought of being able to look inside. Even school-age children will like seeing the inside of a pregnant mommy’s belly.

What’s Inside costs (including shipping) under $10 new and under $5 used.

So any book that has the lift-the-flap feature is an easy choice for me to read to my daughter.

Whose Stripes by Fiona Munro has giant, full-page flaps that are easy for little fingers to grasp.

The front cover of Whose Stripes shows a cute tiger set against a contrasting green background. I immediately noticed the white text advertising “GIANT flaps” in bold lettering. Since Arya likes lift-the-flap books so much, I knew she would enjoy Whose Stripes regardless of the pictures or text.

Thankfully the giant flaps are as advertised. The right-side of each page contains an additional page with a fold-out design. So each pair of pages actually consists of three independent pages where the right-most one is tucked into its neighbor. The design creates enormous, page-size flaps that even the smallest baby fingers can manipulate.

Arya quickly learned how to work the big flaps. She spent most of the book playing with flaps from previous pages. My chief complaint about reading Whose Stripes to my baby is that she was so busy playing with the pages that she didn’t care about reading the book.

Colorful pictures and nature backdrops provide a consistent source of entertainment on each new page. The front of every flap shows a bright, two-color design. After I showed her how to open the flaps on the first page, my daughter quickly associated the two-color image with a flap she could open and close.

Although inconsequential in our case, Whose Stripes also has a cute premise. Each page describes one animal with stripes that is initially hidden among the background. Behind the flap is a large picture of the animal and bold text with its name. Four animals – tiger, bee, zebra, snake – are featured throughout the book.

Whose Stripes is a great book for any child who enjoys playing with flaps. Older toddlers who can learn the names of the animals will enjoy opening the flap to reveal the large pictures. Younger babies will enjoy the colorful images and the short length.

Whose Stripes costs (including shipping) under $7 new and under $4 used from Amazon.

So whenever I see a new Dr. Seuss book I look forward to the chance to read it to my baby.

Ten Apples Up On Top by Dr. Seuss is an obscure title that I had never seen before I read it to Arya.

Ten Apples Up On Top is part of the “Bright and Early Board Books” series by Random House which capitalizes on the popularity of Dr. Seuss by extending the line to shorter titles. Ten Apples Up On Top was written by Dr. Seuss under the name Theodor LeSieg which is simply his real name (i.e. Theodor Geisel) with his last name spelled backwards.

Originally published in 1961, the board book version was repackage into a small, easy to handle book for little children. Arya loved the small size of the book since she could hold it by herself with one hand and open and close individual pages at will. The fun, kid-friendly size alone makes the book a good choice to read to young babies.

The nonsensical plot centers around three animals who go through the day competing to see who can balance the most apples up on top of their head. The lion, dog, and tiger go from having a single apple on their heads to keeping ten apples up on top.

Amusing pictures accompany the short sentence on each page. The text and pictures combine the counting aspect of the book with a diverse array of backgrounds for the animals and their apples. If Arya was old enough to learn to count we would have been able to spend more time counting the apples on the animals’ head during each page.

Ten Apples Up On Top is not a classic like Cat in the Hat and does not convey any larger message like Horton Hears a Who. But it is still a cute book designed to entertain babies and young toddlers. The bright pictures and small size make it a great choice for keeping youngsters busy during car rides or while making dinner.

Ten Apples Up On Top costs (including shipping) under $5 new and under $4 used from Amazon.

The front cover of A Book of Sleep by Il Sung Na caught her eye with the bright, white eye of the owl against a dark, black background.

Whenever my baby likes the cover a book she usually enjoys reading the rest of it as well.

A Book of Sleep tells the story of animals going to sleep at night. Each page shows a type of animal sleeping through the night while a watchful owl with bright, white eyes stays up the whole time. By the end of the book, daylight comes and all the animals wake up. On the last page, the tired owl finally gets to go to sleep.

Although the text is simple enough for older toddlers to read by themselves, the plot is cute enough to amuse even adults. The book is clearly designed to be read to babies as they get ready to go to sleep at night.

Since every page shows a picture of an animal sleeping through the night, little readers will get used to the idea of going to bed themselves. The calming backgrounds and dark, muted colors of the illustrations also serve to help prepare little ones for bed.

Arya really liked touching the huge, white eyes of the owl and the fish. She didn’t respond as enthusiastically to any of the other images throughout the book. Nonetheless, the combination of the pictures and short text were sufficient to hold her attention for almost the whole way through the book.

A Book of Sleep is a fantastic choice for a bedtime ritual. For nostalgia’s sake we use Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown for use at bedtime. But A Book of Sleep would be every bit as useful as a consistent nightly ritual.

A Book of Sleep costs (including shipping) under $7 new and under $5 used from Amazon.

Since this represents the first steps toward learning to talk, I’ve been looking for simple baby books that associate names with pictures of objects.

Gaspard and Lisa’s Ready For School Words by Anne Gutman and Georg Hallensleben was a great choice for introducing my baby to basic words.

Ready For School Words combines a short story with cute illustrations focused on the lives of six-year old doggie friends Gaspar and Lisa. In addition to a brief sentence about the picture, each page also has a single word which identifies the major object shown in the image.

The plot revolves around Gaspard and Lisa’s day at school. The each get ready for school in their own house, play at school during the day, and leave school together at the end of their day. All of their activities are depicted in cute, hand-drawn illustrations with an accompanying sentence on each page.

The individual vocabulary words focus on basic items such as toothbrushes, blocks, and cookies. While some children will enjoy reading Ready For School Words to practice learning those specific words, I view the book as more of an introduction to the concept for younger kids. Even if Arya isn’t able to learn the words in the book, she seems to grasp the concept that a specific word is associated with a specific object.

Gaspard and Lisa are the stars of a famous U.K. cartoon. Although produced abroad, the cartoon is available in the U.S. on cable broadcast and fans of the cartoon will be attracted to the book series.

Gaspard and Lisa’s Ready For School Words is a great way to introduce young toddlers to the concept of learning vocabulary. Older children will get to practice reading with simple phrases while younger babies will appreciate the fast pace and colorful images.

Gaspard and Lisa’s Ready For School Words is not commonly available in the U.S. Both new and used copies are available from third-party merchants on Amazon.