I’ve been reflecting on riley’s birthday this month and when I think back to the past year, what stands out is that it was a really fun year to see riley’s love of books & reading take off like a 1 year old.
I loved watching her explore and enjoy books as a baby, but once she was a year old, it was like her love of books exploded and it’s been such a fun ride.
You are reading: Best books for one year old boys
It’s been fun watching her start sitting by herself and looking at her books for a long time, as well as shoving books in my face and saying “here!” and then “read this, mom” until she reads them. I love seeing her get involved and interact with the books we read. I love seeing her being able to further explore the world we live in through books and seeing her learn through books.
We’ve read so much this year that I feel like I’ve become an expert on the best books for a 1-year-old, between the books she loves and the books I read to kids as a babysitter, I wanted share what we’ve loved this year that I think are great books to read with 1-2 year olds.
Obviously, Riley can’t dictate this list of her favorites, but I clearly know which books she’s loved all year and which ones made her happy, so you’ll have to rely on my observation and judgment skills.
I feel like he definitely had some favorites between 12 and 18 months old, but once he got past 18 months he got into books on a whole different level and really started memorizing, pointing things out and gravitating towards some longer books and opened the door to many new favorites, especially as he approached age 2!
She still loved a lot of her old favorites as a little girl, but it was so much fun to see the kinds of things she really loved when she was 1.
[disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means that if you click on a link and purchase something I have discussed or recommended, I will receive a very small percentage of the sale. see my disclosure policy for more information.good books to read with your 1 year old
p.s. I really like this chart that breaks down reading by age groups and tips and tricks for them and how to interact with your baby/toddler while reading at different ages!
I divided them into two groups: 12-18 months and 18-24 months just to show the difference and progression he really got into once his language really exploded and he understood a lot more at 18 months. .
Many of the former have remained favorites throughout the 1-2 year range, though they remain solid choices for older children and toddlers. even at 2 years old, he still loves most of his short 1 year old, but I can tell he craves a little more in his books, which is why we don’t read them as often anymore.
but she really sits still and has the attention span for longer books, while other kids may not be in this age range; both are perfectly normal and some of these shorter books can still be perfect if your child is restless and doesn’t. she likes to sit for books.
what we loved between 12 and 18 months
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A lot of the books you loved before you were a year old are also in this category, because you really fell for them in a different way once you were a year old.
She had always been good at sitting down and paying attention to books, but I felt like by the time she was 1 she exploded in her ability to really understand them and really liked pointing to them and interacting with them and saying the words.
also really started to sit down by herself and go through them all. literally. every book taken off the shelf. every day. but it’s the kind of mess I can make behind haha. I know something about stacks of books myself.
Tip: Board books for kids under 1 are the way to go in my opinion because their fine motor skills seem to translate to torn pages even when they’re not trying. I always tried to get board book editions if possible because I tended to accidentally tear the pages when I was turning them and was hard on them otherwise. He got a lot better once he was about 18-20 months old and we can read. many more books that are not cardboard, but it is always risky because she is very hard on books. she just loves them so much.
best nonfiction/educational type books that riley loved (and still loves)
These types of books have been her favorites since she was less than 1 year old and I feel like her language exploded in this age range with these books.
She always liked looking at the actual pictures in them when she was younger, but she spent a lot of time sitting on my lap and pointing at them all (or making me point at them at first) and making me say them and then she’d start pulling it out on her own and pointing and say what you know.
We have a lot of these types of books, but these are the ones I loved the most and thought were great books for 1 year olds.
favorite lift the flap books (1-1.5 years old)
Flapback books are very tricky in this age range for us because she was still tough on them, but she was outgrowing some of the thicker ones we had for her as she got older.
Luckily I feel like the flap books got a lot better around 18 months and now he rarely breaks them. I really loved these interactive books for 1 year olds! we play with them in many ways, especially with animal noises.
Check out our favorite flip-up flap books!
lift the flap books by karen katz (literally all of them, but these are our favorites)
I’m not kidding: where’s the baby’s belly button and toes, ears, and nose are 1000% why riley learned the parts from your body pretty soon. we read these two all the time.
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where’s the baby puppy? and zoom zoom baby were other favorites for this age group. all the interactive books that I always brought with me.
all things by sandra boynton are great books for ages 1 and up. they are dumb, short and always among the most requested. So many great ones to choose from, but these seem to be Riley’s favorites from everything we’ve read in the past year.
18 months – 24 months
When she turned 1.5 years old, many of the books in the 12 month section were still her big favorites and she discovered some in a whole new way, which was fun! we read each of these books, in the next section, today at 2!
riley really fell in love with books with realistic photographs, especially of children. these next two books are fantastic and have been our most read books and still have them. every night these two books seem to be in our bedtime reading line. she really interacts with them and I think it’s because of the realistic photos of kids doing things that she could do too. both are diverse and I love that!
riley became obsessed with all things baby around 18 months when we read about the ten toddlers we shared above. then babies everywhere and then I had to snag a bunch of other baby books. I don’t know what it is, but he likes to read about babies and what they do, which probably reflects a lot of what he does. These are perfect books for young children!
some of your seasonal favorites & holiday books at 1
more detailed lists can be found here: best christmas books for babies, best christmas books for toddlers, best fall books for toddlers, best pumpkin books for toddlers, best snow books
10 Busy Brooms: a fun little counting book for Halloween that Riley seemed to like a lot!
Duck & Goose Find a Pumpkin: We were reading this book year-round pretty much until I finally hid in February. She LOVES silly Duck and Goose. It’s a perfect book for the younger 1’s. Riley thought it was the funniest book ever in the fall when she was like 14/15 months.
Jingle Bells: I can’t even say this is an actual book for this age group but Riley fell in love with this one!! I finally had to hide this one because I couldn’t take how often she was asking for it. It’s literally just the Jingle Bells song but the pictures tell a different story. She doesn’t get the story happening in the photos but I get a kick out of it. Update: still a favorite and now she sees the story the pictures are telling.
We’re Going On An Egg Hunt: This was such a fun lift the flap for Easter! Riley really enjoyed finding the eggs.
these are some of my favorite books and stories from riley and me for 1 year olds! I’ve really enjoyed making these toddler book lists because we read a lot and I love sharing them. What are some of your favorite books for children ages 12-24 months?
pin these book suggestions from 1 year ago to later
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