The Dear Dr.MOZ Baby Blog

Dear Dr.MOZ,

I’m a grandmother of a three boys (ages 1 and up) who are about to welcome a baby sister this September. They are already fascinated with electronic gizmos and video games, so I’d like to give them a big library of children’s books to get them hooked on reading while I still can. What are the best books for the job? We’ll have 0-6 year olds soon, so I’ll need a good collection!

Thanks Doctor!
Grandma Phillis

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Hi Grandma Phillis,

Wow, that’s quite a challenge but I think I’m up for it! When it comes to baby and toddler books you really can’t go wrong with the classics. Children will want something a little more modern as they get older, so here’s a list of the top 25 children’s books according to hardcover sales up to year 2000. There are a lot of great books that haven’t yet made it into the top list of “sales”, but this will provide a solid collection of classics along with some of the new hits like Harry Potter for the older kids to grow into.

1. The Poky Little Puppy, Janette Sebring Lowrey (1942)
2. The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter (1902)
3. Tootle, Gertrude Crampton (1945)
4. Green Eggs and Ham, Dr. Seuss (1960)
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J. K. Rowling (2000)
6. Pat the Bunny, Dorothy Kunhardt (1940)
7. Saggy Baggy Elephant, Kathryn and Byron Jackson (1947)
8. Scuffy the Tugboat, Gertrude Crampton (1955)
9. The Cat in the Hat, Dr. Seuss (1957)
10. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J. K. Rowling (1999)
11. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, J. K. Rowling (1999)
12. Where the Sidewalk Ends, Shel Silverstein (1974)
13. One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, Dr. Seuss (1960)
14. The Giving Tree, Shel Silverstein (1964)
15. The Littlest Angel, Charles Tazewell (1946)
16. Hop on Pop, Dr. Seuss (1963)
17. Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, Dr. Seuss (1990)
18. Dr. Seuss’s ABC, Dr. Seuss (1960)
19. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, J. K. Rowling (1998)
20. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle (1969)
21. The Children’s Bible (1965)
22. A Light in the Attic, Shel Silverstein (1981)
23. The Tale of Benjamin Bunny, Beatrix Potter (1904)
24. Are You My Mother?, P. D. Eastman (1960)
25. The Rainbow Fish, Marcus Pfister (1992)

I’ve include links to Amazon for reference purposes, but I always recommend supporting your local independently owned book store when possible. Thanks for the great question Grandma Phillis and happy reading!

Best,
Dr.MOZ

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