Matthew's Favorite Books at 2 Years Old

I'm on a combination of medication that puts me in a lot of pain, and caffeine that I consumed all day to make my weary body go, and therefore I'm up at 1:30, with no sleep in sight!

I've been wanting to make this list for my own sake anyway, so I figured, why not put it here!?

As I mentioned previously, Matthew LOVES to read. You would be hard-pressed to find a book he doesn't like. Occasionally he'll get bored if there are too many words that keep you on one single page too long, but otherwise, he'll sit and read or be read to for more than an hour at a time.

These are his current favorite books right now at 27 months. He's had other favorites come and go, but these are the current favorites. They're listed in no particular order, except the first one, which has been his favorite book now for more than a year. You can click on the picture of any book to be taken to its Amazon page for a description.


My Truck is Stuck
 
This has been on his list of favorites for more than a year. We have a copy at Grandma's house, we have a copy for the car, we have a copy for the bookshelf, and we have a copy that has been "retired" from being so well loved. It's a great book for transition between picture books and story books. It's very repetitive, so Matthew likes the rhythm. The illustrations are too cute. And I love the message of helping each other out. Plus, I think when he's older, he'll get the running gag of the prairie dogs stealing the bones out of the back of the stuck truck.

Heartprints
 
This book is all about being kind. It describes a "Heartprint" this way: "A Heartprint is formed when you do something kind. Your love touches others, leaving heartprints behind." It's all about being kind-visiting a sick friend, saying a nice word, helping with a project, etc. I love it and I love that Matthew loves it.

 Little Blue Truck and Little Blue Truck Leads the Way 

 He loves both of these equally well. They're great little tales about helping others and being kind even when someone else isn't (Little Blue Truck) and taking turns (Little Blue Truck Leads the Way). If you read them with gusto, they have lots of fun noises too (animals in one, vehicles in the other) and I think Matthew likes that a lot too. Another great introductory Story Book. He calls them "Beep Beep Truck" because Little Blue Truck says "beep beep beep."

 The Very Hungry Caterpillar 

This book needs no explanation. What child doesn't love The Very Hungry Caterpillar? This was one of Matthew's earliest favorites. We did his first birthday party in the Caterpillar theme. I would almost rank it higher than Truck is Stuck in terms of longevity on the list, but he enjoys truck with more enthusiasm now, so I ranked it higher.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? (et al)

This is another classic kids' book and Matthew loves it and all its variations. The repetition and the classic Carle illustrations make these a big hit.

Hush Little Alien
 
This is such a funny book and I found it in a second-hand store. It's a spinoff of the classic "Hush Little Baby," told by daddy Alien to baby Alien. It's full of things little boys (and little girls?) love, like aliens, rocket ships, astronauts and more. It's very cute. It's illustrated by the same guy who did My Truck is Stuck. Matthew just calls this one "Hush."

ABC Bible Verse
 
This book features one Bible verse for each letter of the alphabet. I like it, and I love that he's learning God's word through reading it, but I think there might be others like it that are better. This one uses the KJV in a lot of the verses, which is very stiff for kids. Some of her choices of verses go way over kids' heads too-especially kids that would be reading board books. For example, for Q, she uses "Quench not the spirit" and it shows a little kid giving back some money a passerby dropped. I like books that challenge kids, but I think she just misses the mark on some of them. But he loves it, so that's ok with me.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Chicka Chicka 123
 
 Honestly, I have no idea why he loves these as much as he does, other than that he loves the alphabet and numbers. I think they're sort of modern classics. I think they're a little odd, but he loves them and there's nothing objectionable about them. He calls them "Chicka Boom."

Anything Mama Llama
 
Mama Llama books are cute and fun and he loves the rhyming whimsy. We have a few of them and he enjoys them all equally.

Almost any picture book by Roger Priddy
 
They're big, well priced, vibrant, and full of pictures kids love to look at. Matthew has several in various themes and he loves them all. I don't like the Treasure Hunt for Boys Book because I think it features things that are unnecessarily dark for a little kid, but that's the only one I've disliked so far.

Wherever You Are, My Love will Find You 

Out of all of HIS favorites, this is my favorite. It speaks of the love God or a parent (depending on how you interpret it) has for the child and the unending lengths gone to show that love. I love this book. It's so sweet. The last lines are "You are my angel, my darling, my star, and my love will find you wherever you are." So, Matthew calls this book "Darling." So cute.

Sing Along Bible Songs
 
This is another one *I Love.* I love this book because it plays classic children's songs ("Jesus Loves the Little Children" and "Whole World" are two examples) as well as hymns like "For the Beauty of the Earth" and "What a Friend We Have in Jesus." There's no story-think of it more like a hymnal for kids. It's just the words to each song, with a cute little picture to illustrate, and then a button you can press to hear the tune. It's a little shrill in that mechanical book sort of way, but I love that it gets him listening to wonderful songs of our faith. It's out of print so you have to buy it used-snag it if you ever see it!

The Toddler's Bible


We've looked at and owned a lot of Bibles. This my favorite, and his. The illustrations are beautiful and vibrant and each story is only a couple of pages long so he doesn't lose interest. It's age appropriate and engaging. But it's not so abridged or sanitized so much that it cuts out important things. I've seen more than one toddler Bible that stops at the birth of Jesus. This one goes well beyond that, all the way through the life of Timothy. He loves it and I do too. And it looks and feels in size and weight like a "real" Bible. He knows that this book is different than his other books.

So there's my little boy as captured by his books: Faith, animals, vehicles, and being kind. Maybe one day I'll post a list of my favorite books for him. They're much more sappy and fortunately, he indulges me when I want to read those instead of about something that barks or has wheels.