We introduced Yashaswi to the wonderful world of books at the age of 3 months. He is now 20 months old. Books have really helped us sail through every situation and he has built a really good vocabulary at his age with the help of books. It’s the first time Yashaswi has participated in a Kids Book Cafe campaign, and I am sure he has a long way to go. Happy Reading 🙂
- An orange-colored book – The Koala Who Could by Rachel Bright
It’s a story of a Koala called Kevin who likes to cling to a tree. He loves to relax in the sun, take a nap, and munch on leaves. He enjoys to live in his comfort zone and is not ready to try anything new. One day a woodpecker started pecking holes in the tree. All his friends on the ground urged Kevin to just jump, and assured him they would catch him but Kevin was scared to do so. The book has lovely illustrations that go well with this cute yet inspiring story. - A Lift-the-flap book – Where is Baby’s Belly Button by Karen Katz
A cute and easy-to-lift flaps book that engages babies with its colorful pictures and helps them understand basic body parts. Yashaswi also picked up his first words like the cup, shirt, bubbles, hat, cat, etc. from this book. - A Sandra Boynton board book – The Going to Bed Book
It is a story of a bunch of animals on a ship getting ready for bed. It has funny illustrations where all animals take bath in a big tub, brush together, exercise together, and finally doze off to sleep in a rocking ship. Exercising just before you sleep, I found it a little weird because who exercises just before going to bed in India but I made it sound funny to Yashaswi in a way that animals were not able to sleep and decided to exercise to drain their energy so that they get a good sleep. - A book with a vehicle – Trucks(Lift the flaps) by Roger Priddy
An insightful book on different types of Trucks like Dump trucks, Tractors, Tankers, Diggers, Delivery Trucks, Fire Engines, etc. It explains the function of every truck and its different parts with a small description. Every page has colorful trucks and flaps under which a toddler can find out where the driver sits, where the engine is found and where the tool kit is kept. A must-have book for all crazy truck lovers. - An elephant book – Elephant Wellyphant by Nick Sharratt
It is a funny rhyming storybook for all Elephant lovers. The book has several theme-based elephants like Wellyphant – an elephant wearing wellies, Unwellaphant- an elephant who is sick, and Shelliphant – an elephant with shell-like ears, similarly you will find more of them on each page. The book has colorful illustrations and a few interactive flaps to lift and discover. Yashaswi’s favorite elephant is Rude Smelliphant – an elephant who farts 😀 . He lifts the flap and says PARP! and laughs out loud.
This book can be ordered from Scholastic India via our kbc storefront as well. Scholastic India always has special offers on. - A rhyming book (not nursery rhymes) – Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
This was Yashaswi’s first storybook and it is very close to our hearts.
It is a rhyming bedtime story about a bunny. The story starts like this – In the great green room, a little bunny is all set in the comfy bed to sleep, it looks around and wishes goodnight to everything in the room like the telephone, clock, kittens, mouse, bears, chairs, balloon and the list is long. Yashaswi has learnt to wish goodnight to everything in our home before he goes to sleep from this book. He knows this book by heart. I read one line and he will tell me the next line. It is a lovely rhyming book that babies will memorize very soon. - A Peppa Pig book: Peppa Pig: The Wheels on the Bus
It is a story of Peppa and his friends who go on a school trip to the mountains. They sing along the famous wheels on the bus go round and round song with a little modification. The best part of the book is that it has four real wheels that resembles a bus, so it is a book on wheels 😀 - A book by an Indian author – The Shloka Book by Vidya Shree G
A very thoughtfully curated book of Shlokas. It is a good way to introduce Sanskrit language to little ones. Every page has one shloka with a corresponding colorful picture describing that Shloka which helps the little ones to connect with the Shloka written on that page. There are Shlokas for all the daily rituals like Morning Shloka –
“Karagre Vaste Lakshmi: Karamdhe Saraswati, Karamule Tu Govindah Prabhaate Kardarshanam.“
Similarly, there are a total of 12 Shlokas written in English which makes it easier for Non-Hindi speakers to read. - A Scholastic book – I love old MacDonald’s farm by Sandra Magsamen
It is a lovely book based on the classic Old MacDonald had a farm rhyme. A nice book to introduce farm animals and their sounds singing along to the tunes of the Old MacDonald had a farm
E-I-E-I-O!
This book can be ordered from Scholastic India via our kbc storefront as well. Scholastic India always has special offers on. - A bedtime book – Llama Llama 2-in-1: Wakey-Wake/Nighty-Night by Anna Dewdney
It is a unique book that you can read from both sides front and back. On one side it is a morning book called Wakey-Wake and on the other side, it is a night book called Nighty-Night. This book is a great way to set up a nighttime routine for little ones from brushing teeth to putting on sleepsuits and finally reading a book before sleeping.
Similarly, Wakey-wake is all about starting the day brand new by brushing your teeth, wearing clean clothes, having breakfast, and then leaving for school.
This book with its lovely illustrations and simple language has captivated Yashaswi. He picks this book a lot of times to read it to himself. He is a true Llama Llama fan. - A dino book – Hello World! Dinosaurs by Jill McDonald
We are Jill McDonald’s fans when we want to read books about science and nature. Each page has a type of dinosaur with a good description of its characteristics and facts. The pictures tell you so much about dinosaurs without too much reading. Yashaswi has learned to recognize Velociraptors, Apatosaurus, and a few others from this book. - A book with a number in the title – Das Din by Pridhee (T4Tales Books)
Das Din is our favorite Hindi book. The book is based on the classic Hindi nursery rhyme -“Ek Tha Raja Ka Beta”. This book teaches you to count in Hindi in a rhyming way. Every line is written in both English and Hindi, making it easier for Non-Hindi speakers to read. It has very thoughtfully designed lift the flaps and also push-pull-slide flaps to enjoy this lovely book. Yashaswi has memorised the book because of its rhyming tone and learnt to count in Hindi. He loves to explore the flaps and slides.
His favorite page is “Do din se that bistar par leta” and he will slide the thermometer in and out of Raja ka Beta’s mouth 😀 - A book with siblings – Topsy and Tim Go on a Train
This is our first book in the series of Topsy and Tim. Yashaswi loves trains so I thought to give this sibling book a try to give him a virtual experience of how a train ride looks and feels like. Topsy and Tim series is a good way to introduce first experiences of different things to our little ones. - A rib-tickling book – You Can’t Let an Elephant Drive a Digger by Patricia Cleveland-Peck
It is an extremely hilarious storybook. The pictures and expressions in the book will make you laugh out loud as you read along. It is a story about different animals trying to help you in your daily activities and messing it up in a very silly and funny way. - A non-fiction book – Hello World! Arctic Animals by Jill McDonald
A nice book to introduce the the concept of Arctic Circle and the life of the amazing animals that live there. The book has two levels of description on each page- the one in bold with basic characteristics of that animal and another description (written in smaller font) for more detailed facts. Yashaswi has learned a lot about arctic animals from this book. He can easily identify all the arctic animals like Narwhal, Walrus, Puffin bird, Husky, Polar bears, and others. Plus he knows their characteristics as well e.g. Narwhal has a long tusk…
- A book on toddler tantrums – This tree is just for me! by Lucy Rowland
A beautiful rhyming book about sharing and friendship. It is a story of a boy called Jack who got a new book which he wants to read in peace. He finds a tree that is perfect for him to sit and read and says “This Tree is Just for me”.
But soon he is disturbed by his animal friends one after the other and he asks them to leave so that he can enjoy his book alone. As soon as he finishes reading, he waits for a new noise but no one comes. He then realizes there is no joy in being alone and he shouts
“Come Back, It’s a tree for us all”.
Off lately, I had observed that Yashaswi was not happy when somebody would touch his toys or books. I was in search of a book which deals with this situation in a friendly and delicate way. And this book did a great job in helping us understand that there is so much joy in sharing and friendship. - A bath book – Magic Bath Book Sea World
It is a color-changing book. The color of the page changes as soon as water falls on it.
It is a fun bathtime book for babies. - A puppet/ pop-up book – Play with Peppa
A cute puppet book with Peppa Pig characters. Reading along the book holding the puppet to nod, clap and wave is a lovely way to make your reading sessions interactive. - A push-pull-slide book – The Jungle Book (Campbell First Stories)
A lovely interactive book to introduce the classic story of Jungle Book to toddlers. The push, pull and slide tabs help little ones unfold the story of sweet and wild Mowgli and his jungle friends Sher Khan, Baloo, etc. - A sound book – Peppa’s Super Noisy Sound book
It has different sounds that a baby would love to press the button and hear. An entertaining and engaging Peppa book. - A book by Nick Sharratt – Car Car Truck Jeep by Nick Sharratt
Nick Sharratt leaves no stone unturned when it comes to entertaining little ones with his reading. Sing along to the tune of Baa Baa Black Sheep. The illustrations are bright and colorful. A must-have book for Nick Sharratt and vehicle fans. Yashaswi keeps singing “Car Car Truck Jeep” all day long since I got this book for him. - “Bestest” read-aloud book at home! – Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell.
Dear Zoo is our favorite book since Yashaswi was 10 months old.
He has three different versions of this book 1) Lift The Flap 2) Noisy Book 3) Pop-Up book. A very entertaining book for babies to learn about different animals and their characteristics. Dear Zoo is a story of a little one who writes to the zoo to send him a pet and the zoo sends him different animals which he sends back either because it is too big, or too scary, or too tall… - A book that kept you busy on your own! – Poke-a-Dot First Words by Melissa and Doug
An engaging book for babies. Every page has a picture of familiar things which a baby sees around in the house like a chair, apple, shoes, etc. and there is a button that when poked creates a ‘click’ sound. Yashaswi has become a pro in poking with this entertaining book 😀 - A book by your favorite illustrator – The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
A lovely book to introduce little ones with the concept of quantity recognition and days of the week and also the interesting lifecycle of how a caterpillar becomes a beautiful butterfly. It is one of the best picture books that we have come across. Yashaswi loves poking the holes. - A book by your favorite author – Counting Kisses by Karen Katz
An adorable bedtime read. A kiss and count book that helps babies learn about different body parts and counting numbers sweetly. It has helped me calm down Yashaswi whenever he has a meltdown. He thinks a kiss is magical and it can heal anything. The book is all about the importance of kisses and love. - A new author you were introduced to – Cache-Cache Magique Grand et petit by Susie Hammer(Illustrator)
This book was gifted to us by my sister who lives in Europe. This book is written in French. It is a book of opposites like happy and sad, big and little, and so on. A colorful lift-the-flap book to introduce a new language to your baby. - A book that was gifted to you – See, Touch and Feel – A first sensory book – Priddy Books
A very sturdy book that makes it easy for infants to turn the pages independently. The book allows little hands to explore each page by seeing, touching, and feeling the colorful images and raised textures. Every page has unique textures, shapes, and musical instruments like drums and xylophones, and a mirror on the last page. All of this helps in stimulating different sensory skills of the baby. Yashaswi bangs the drum and feels the teddy bear’s fur. The fun part is he kisses the mirror and is amused to see who is the other baby in the mirror!
This book is not only for infants’ sensory play, but as your babies grow, you can learn many things like colors, shapes, opposite words, sounds, and much more. Wear your creativity hat and enjoy this book in several ways. We have few other touch and feel books but this one is the best. - A book you read in repeat mode – My Astronaut Adventure by Lucy Barnard
It is a story of a boy who decides to be an astronaut for a day. The story is about the adventure the boy goes through in space. He lands on a planet in his rocket ship, where he finds aliens. He finds them nice and friendly so they party together. It is a cute little book with peep-through pages. Yashaswi enjoys this book alone. He peeps through the pages to find what is next and loves flipping the pages to see amazing illustrations of planets, rocket-ships, aliens, etc.
This book can be ordered from Scholastic India via our kbc storefront as well. Scholastic India always has special offers on. - A book meant for an older child that you enjoyed – Hello World! Solar System by Jill McDonald
A must-have book for Space lovers. A very informative book to learn about the entire solar system-planets, comets, asteroids. This book has helped Yashaswi understand different planets and their characteristics – Mars is the red planet because it has giant volcanoes, and Saturn has rings made up of ice, dust and rock. He can also recognize satellites, constellations thanks to this book. - A book you tore – P is for Potty by Naomi Kleinberg
A great book to introduce toddlers to potty training. It’s a story of Elmo and his little cousins – how Elmo and his mommy teach his cousins to use the potty. Yashaswi is still not potty-trained. Theoretically, if you ask him anything about potty training he will give you the best answers in the world while practically he is still a diaper boy 😀 The book has very small-sized flaps that are very inviting to tear apart 😀
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