At our home we love a good book. Reading for us is very important since it keeps our minds educated together with a bright intellect.

When we had our first child Davide, I went on a shopping craze for a while. I was in love with children books and I had this thirst for knowledge that I wanted to transfer on to him. I was eager to teach him everything. I would often buy books that were religious especially from Seagull Books.

Eventually I knew I wanted to have only a few books because I didn’t want to pile our home with items that we would only read once and never open up again. Some books I have gotten tired of during the years and have eventually gotten rid of.

I wanted to share with you a list of all of our top children books that we still love after having read them to 4 children in a row. We find valuable enough especially for the toddlers and babies when they are expanding their vocabulary. But even our older kids will sit in and listen to them when it’s time for a calming bedtime story.

I love this Pad because it teaches kids to recognize sounds and letters from the books that it comes with. Children see sounds from the book and they get to click on the pad the same symbol which then will repeat the letter or the sound depending on which book they are reading. My little Dorian picked up on this interactive library real quick and would love to sit in his crib and play with it quietly before nap time many times. I am currently working on teaching Zara how to recognize it and use it.

Dr. Seuss Books: I particularly like The Ear Book and Mr. Brown Can Moo for when it comes to books that will make you imitate a million sounds and that will make your children read along with you over and over again.

Zara has been obsessed with the foot book. She recognizes it because it’s green. And I read it slow and fast on one page where it talks about going slow and fast which makes her crack up every time.

First of all I like to start after the yeark mark. There are some cool book looking toys that can be a good start for them, but before the year children learn a lot with their mouths so they need to be around toys that they can suck on and feel, and possibly destroy. Then they learn how to walk so their attention span is very slow. They are excited to be moving around so for a little bit they never want to be held and sit still. Around 18 months is when I feel that they like to sit down quietly and start learning with you. Plus they are finally starting to talk so it’s perfect for their level of interest. Obviously this varies for every family and their personal circumstances.

For me it’s been a lot of trail and error teaching the kids how to read. with Davide and Siena I used to read to them while they were playing on the carpet. And I tried often to read to them at night time before bed. We were often tired though so the evening was not always working out for us.

I found that the best way for me to be consistent was to do it right before the littles nap in the afternoon. I finally got it down with kids number 3. So with Dorian for example, I would sit on our rocking chair in the nursery and read to him every afternoon when it was his time to nap. I would eventually start reading quietly and my voice would put him to sleep. I loved doing it because I never had to worry about him crying because he didn’t want to nap. He would usually be out by book 2 or 3.

I have selected some of these books in the hardcover version. The hardcover version is shorter than the original book, but works best when reading stories to the younger kids since they are still learning how to turn pages and hold a book correctly.