Nursery Starter Library
The following is a list of books that would make a strong foundation for building a child's personal library. They are all books appropriate to infants through preschoolers, although some can also be enjoyed by slightly older children or children who are just learning to read.
We'd be interested in any books you think ought to be added to this list. Please enter your comments below.
Stories - General
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Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown |
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Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown |
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The Golden Egg Book by Margaret Wise Brown |
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Home for a Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown |
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Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson |
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Carl's Afternoon in the Park by Alexandra Day |
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Carl Goes Shopping by Alexandra Day |
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Nutshell Library by Maurice Sendak (has a counting book, an alphabet book, a poem, and a story book) |
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Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak |
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Owl Babies by Martin Waddell |
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Floss by Kim Lewis |
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Choo Choo, The Story of A Little Engine Who Ran Away by Virginia Lee Burton |
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Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton |
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The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge by Hildegard Swift and Lynd Ward |
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Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey |
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The Little Red Caboose by Marian Potter, illus by Gergely Tibor |
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Curious George by H. A. Rey |
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Anybody at Home? by H. A. Rey |
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Feed the Animals by H. A. Rey |
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All the Way to Lhasa by Barbara Helen Berger |
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A Lot of Otters by Barbara Helen Berger |
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Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel |
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Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, illustrated by Robert Lawson |
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Angus and the Ducks by Marjorie Flack |
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The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss |
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The Teddy Bears' Picnic by Jimmy Kennedy, illustrated by Michael Hague |
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In the Small, Small Pond by Denise Fleming |
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The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper |
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Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear ? by Nancy White Carlstrom |
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The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter, illustrated by Beatrix Potter |
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The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher by Beatrix Potter, illustrated by Beatrix Potter |
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Dogger by Shirley Hughes, illustrated by Shirley Hughes |
Alphabet Books
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A Was Once An Apple Pie by Edward Lear |
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Animalia by Graeme Base |
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Curious George Learns the Alphabet by H. A. Rey |
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The ABC Bunny by Wanda Gag |
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Alphabears: An ABC Book by Kathleen Hague, illustrated by Michael Hague |
Counting Books
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Ten Little Rabbits by Virginia Grossman, illus by Sylvia Long |
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My First Counting Book by Lillian Moore, illus by Garth Williams |
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Curious George Learns to Count from 1 to 100 by H. A. Rey |
Books about Color
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Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present by Charlotte Zolotow, illustrated by Maurice Sendak |
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The Color Kittens by Margaret Wise Brown |
Books about Time (telling time, seasons, day / night, etc.)
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A Child's Goodnight Book by Margaret Wise Brown |
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Grandfather Twilight by Barbara Helen Berger |
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Around the Year by Elsa Beskow |
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Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Eric Carle |
Books about Etiquette
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What Do You Say, Dear? by Sesyle Joslin, illustrated by Maurice Sendak |
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What Do You Do Dear? by Sesyle Joslin, illustrated by Maurice Sendak |
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Manners Can Be Fun by Munro Leaf |
Rhymes
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My Very First Mother Goose by Iona Archibald Opie, illustrated by Rosemary Wells |
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Mother Goose: A Classic Collection of Nursery Rhymes by Michael Hague |
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The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear, illustrated by Jan Brett |
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The Rooster Crows by Maud and Miska Petersham |
Poetry
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The Random House Book of Poetry for Children edited by Jack Prelutsky, illustrated by Arnold Lobel |
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A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Tasha Tudor |
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Give Yourself to the Rain: Poems for the Very Young by Margaret Wise Brown |
A Children's Book of Verse by Eric Kincaid (poetry anthology)
The Golden Book Family Treasury of Poetry, edited by Louis Untermeyer, illustrated by Joan Walsh Anglund