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Books make great gifts for kids at any age, but helping a new parent build a toddler-friendly library, or adding titles to meet the insatiable curiosity of a child’s developing brain, makes giving a great book particularly special.
Books also sit in a liminal space of gift-giving: Unlike toys, which sometimes come with lots of little parts and often get relegated to the bottom of a bin, a great book can come in and out of a kid’s life in phases: First it’s read aloud by a parent, or a kid can pore over the pictures on their own, and eventually they learn to read it to themselves.
The very best books to gift are the ones that will appeal to parent and child alike and lead to lots of laughter or heartfelt feeling. They’re fun to read repeatedly. They’re a little bit silly. They have great illustrations that reveal tiny delights each time you look through them. They have memorable rhyme schemes or characters you root for. They make your imagination run wild or encourage you to dream. And they’re not so common that your recipient will already have them — no shade to classics like The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Where the Wild Things Are, or The Cat in the Hat, but gifting a book they may not have heard of before is like sharing an especially satisfying secret.
I talked to over a dozen parents, toy designers, bookshop owners, editors, children’s book authors and illustrators, and children’s media experts about their favorite kids’ books to give to little kids, ranging in age from baby to early elementary school. I also included several of my own go-tos — the books my two kids and I have loved most over the years. I recommend that each time you gift a book, you write a little note to the recipient inside. My kids are now 7 and 9, and I love coming across an inscription that lets them know who gave a book to them and why.
Books for babies
The best books for babies capture their attention with bright or high-contrast images and sounds or words that are fun and engaging to hear aloud. They are also sturdy enough to withstand a lot of enthusiastic handling from little hands (and mouths).
Spots and Dots, by Chez Picthall, checks the high-contrast imagery box and comes recommended by comedy writer and author Bess Kalb. “It’s just black-and-white images, but it’s essentially baby LSD and awakens something within an infant’s brain that turns him from a flopping potato into a genius,” Kalb notes.
Another baby-friendly title Kalb recommends is Mrs. Mustard’s Baby Faces, which combines the high-contrast imagery of Spots and Dots with another thing babies love: other babies. “When my oldest was born, it entertained him for an entire pandemic,” she says. “He binged it. It was his Sopranos. It was his Love Island. He laughed, he cried, he discovered facial recognition.”
Writer, book editor, and parent of two Lauren LeBlanc also recommended Everywhere Babies, by Susan Meyers, with the same idea in mind: “Babies love to see other babies, and as a parent, it’s a fun book to read as they grow and meet different milestones.”
The under-2 set also thrives on singsong sounds, animal noises, and anything that requires an adult to embody a character and tap into their humility. Moo, Baa, La La La! is a classic board book for the littlest readers from the prolific Sandra Boynton, known for her many rhythmic titles. “It’s full of silly animal sounds and playful rhythm, making it fun to read aloud with wee ones,” says Courtney Klein, co-founder of Storq, a maternity- and postpartum-clothing line, and parent of two.
A favorite of my own kids when they were toddlers was Bruno Munari’s Zoo, by an Italian artist and designer who created many children’s books. He takes you on a tour through the zoo, meeting each animal in their habitat. I became increasingly invested in making accompanying sounds, which produced more giggles upon every reread.
For an animal title that also doubles as a toy, a teether, and a mesmerizing distraction, Klein also recommends Indestructibles: Jungle Rumble. “Indestructibles truly live up to their name, as they’re rip-proof, chewproof, and washable,” she says. “I like giving them because they’re durable enough to survive any enthusiastic reader, while still being bright, colorful, and engaging for little ones.” Other books in the Indestructibles series include Hello, Farm!, Baby, Let’s Eat!, and Things That Go.
Strategist senior editor Winnie Yang discovered this lift-the-flap-book at a friend’s house and promptly ordered one for her own baby and another friend’s baby. “This sturdily constructed lift-the-flap book has a hidden animal and a riddle on each spread, and you make the animal appear by pulling on a tab,” she says. “But the tabs are cleverly engineered so that, for example, when you reveal the elephant, its trunk curves around the page, as does the duck’s head on the reverse.”
This “very simple board book makes a great add-on gift,” says Strategist senior editor Jen Trolio. “It covers all the classic do’s and don’t’s of baby and toddlerhood (share your toys, don’t hit people, etc.) in a very simple way without getting too preachy. There’s one spread in particular, ‘Say you’re sorry when you are / Don’t let your anger go too far,’ that makes me tear up and applies to all of us, forever. I still repeat it out loud sometimes, whether to my 6- and 9-year-olds or to myself.”
Sarah Jacoby, a Philadelphia-based illustrator and children’s-book author, recommends My Friends and Little Truck, by Taro Gomi, one of Japan’s most prolific children’s-book authors. “They’re sweet, meditative, and not annoying when read over and over,” she says. “Amazingly, the meaning grows on each rereading.”
This book by Richard Van Camp and illustrated by Julie Flett is “a tender book about family with beautiful illustrations by Indigenous/First Nations creators,” says Ruth Chan, a Brooklyn-based illustrator and parent who recently published Uprooted, a graphic memoir. The book is about celebrating the potential of all little children and has a singsongy, lullaby-like cadence that’s soothing to read.
Interactive books for toddlers
One aspect that makes for a great toddler book is a bit of interactivity — say, an invitation to touch part of a picture to “activate” an element of the story, slide or pull a tab to make an illustration change or move, or unfold a flap to discover something beneath.
This lesser-known book of Eric Carle’s was the subject of a many-months-long fixation for my daughter, who was obsessed with the moon as a toddler. The centerfold offers a reveal where “papa” climbs on a very long ladder into the sky to fetch the moon.
Chan also recommends The Light, by Scarlett Lam and illustrated by Mindy Lee, which is full of bright, abstract shapes, interesting textures, and cutouts. The book’s design invites young readers to look through and reach through the die cuts and touch and feel the pages. “My 9-month-old loves turning the pages and seeing the surprise at the end,” Chan says.
Klein describes Press Here as “pure magic in book form.” Starting with a few dots that appear to be blobs of paint on a page, Hervé Tullet, a French artist and children’s-book creator, invites a child’s creativity to expand from there. “It’s interactive in the simplest yet most delightful way, turning a few dots on a page into an exciting adventure,” says Klein. “My kids always had so much fun with it, and I love gifting it because it makes reading a playful, hands-on experience that’s endlessly engaging.”
This die-cut book by famed artist and illustrator Ed Emberley reveals a monster gradually: At first, it scares you, then you scare it back. The monster’s big, yellow eyes peer at you for the duration of the book, while its wobbly ears, long nose, and other features come and go, depending on who is in charge. It’s a masterful play with emotions, arc, and big, colorful shapes that will hold up as long as your kids don’t rip the monster’s face off.
For little lovers of transportation, Usborne’s Wind-Up books are equal parts book and toy. The train one comes with a wind-up toy train that kids can place on tracks and see it pass through the various settings: city, mountains, river, and eventually the train museum. Each spread can be removed and combined with the others to create a much larger track as well. “This was given to us when our son was a toddler, and my friend wanted to be there when he opened it. I totally understand why — he was transfixed for ages,” says Priyanka Mattoo, parent of two and author of the recently published memoir Bird Milk and Mosquito Bones.
Picture books
At some point, kids graduate from images, objects, touch, rhyme, and repetition to a world where they’re eager to learn new vocabulary and inhabit worlds and characters, and they also start to develop and show a sense of humor. This is where the world of picture books really comes alive. The best ones both are fun to read aloud and age well with time. This can happen for so many reasons: incredible illustrations, hidden details, a line or part of the plot that everyone looks forward to. Or perhaps it is a gentle and soothing read that simply leads both kid and parent to feel happy and calm.
This joyful book features an alligator who loves watermelon and inadvertently swallows a seed. “My children are now 8 and 11, and I still know this book by heart,” says Emma Straub, author and owner of the Brooklyn-based bookstore Books Are Magic. “It’s absolutely hilarious.”
Straub also recommends Du Iz Tak?, by Carson Ellis. “I have bought more copies of this than any other book,” she says. “It’s written in its own secret language, the illustrations are gorgeous, and I think Carson Ellis is one of the most perfect geniuses to ever exist, full stop. There is no child too young or adult too old to appreciate this book.” Jacoby enthusiastically seconds this recommendation: “It’s a creative and beautiful story about bugs witnessing the life of a flower. There are so many details and little narratives to notice in this one. The bug language is fun to say out loud, and it’s very cute to hear a 3-year-old repeat ‘Oooky’ when they see a roly-poly in the wild.”
Today is “equally engaging for a precocious toddler as it is for an early elementary-schooler. It’s been our bedside mainstay for many years,” says Ligaya Tichy, co-founder of Majo Ideas, which makes creative, sticker-based activity packs for kids. It “invites quiet reflection about a child’s own joys, preferences, and habits,” as kids can choose what to wear, where to go, and what to do in the course of a day.
“Whenever a friend of mine has a baby, I send them a copy of George and Martha: The Complete Stories of Two Best Friends,” says writer and artist Austin Kleon. “I loved reading these short stories to my kids and I think the late artist, James Marshall, was an underrated picture book genius.” (Marshall is also the illustrator of Harry Allard’s beloved Miss Nelson Is Missing.)
Also from James Marshall (under the name “Edward Marshall”) is this series, which isn’t as well known as George and Martha. “They’re as charming if not more so for the wry wit and playfulness of the cast of characters and their mishaps,” says LeBlanc. These funny books capture a wide range of emotions and depict a dynamic sibling relationship.
“All Kinds of Cars is perfect for any kid who’s vehicle-obsessed,” says Klein. “The illustrations are quirky, creative, and packed with enough wild and wacky cars to keep little eyes glued to the pages.” Once you’ve covered ground vehicles, you can also check out All Kinds of Planes by the same author and illustrator.
A book my son delighted in, despite its relatively few words, is The Neighbors, by Israeli author-illustrator Einat Tsarfati. In this tale, a girl climbs the seven stories to her apartment and encounters (or imagines) colorful surprises on each floor. One apartment is occupied by world-class thieves, another by the members of a circus. Will any surprises greet her when she gets home? Or will it just be a boring, regular apartment? There are an abundance of tiny details for a kid to spot, like a hamster that appears on every floor, that make this tale a delight.
This book “is a captivating story of the journey of 5-year-old Eddie to find a great birthday gift for her mom,” says Jacoby. “The town she creates is filled with interesting characters that captured my 3-year-old’s heart.”
Another gorgeously illustrated story full of imagination, Bedtime for Bo comes recommended by Alex Aranda, co-founder of Majo Ideas and a NYC-based parent of two. “It’s my go-to gift for a 3-year-old’s birthday. The story is incredibly imaginative, and the illustrations are out of this world — dreamlike — making for the perfect bedtime read.”
Kalb recommended this tender story of a little boy, Julián, and his grandmother. Julián sees several people dressed as enchanting mermaids on the subway, and is mesmerized. He goes home and puts on his own transformative mermaid outfit. “It’s a gem of a book — every page a framable piece of art. My kids are completely enchanted by the pictures and the story and I have to steel myself not to cry,” says Kalb.
Children love the emotive buffalo at the heart of this tale, written by Kalb and published in 2024, and its highly repeatable rhyme: “I’m the Buffalo Fluffalo / I heave and I huffalo / Leave me alone because / I’ve had enuffalo.”
“I love Mai and the Missing Melon by Sonoko Sakai, about a young Japanese girl who travels by train to share a melon with her grandmother,” says Claire Mazur, a co-founder of 831 Stories, a modern romantic-fiction company and Brooklyn-based parent. “I’d followed Sonoko on Instagram for years because of her cooking content, and this book is such a beautiful extension of her voice, sensibility, and love of Japanese culture.”
“It can sometimes be hard to find a book about diversity that isn’t so earnest it hurts,” says Chadwick Matlin, a journalist and parent of two who writes the Substack Writ Small about kids’ media. “The Truth About Dragons avoids the trap by focusing on what’s shared between different cultures, and how those differences can create something new and uniquely whole.” With gorgeous illustrations by Hanna Cha, this tale of “a mixed-race kid who hears stories about the cave-dwelling dragons of the West and the sky-ruling dragons of the East” received a Caldecott Medal Honor in 2024.
“We love the artwork and the sly humor; there’s at least a joke or two in each of these that makes us all crack up,” says Mattoo of these tales that center on animals — an anthropomorphized mouse in Mina and a frog in Pokko and the Drum — who have to consider whether or not to trust and listen to their parents when faced with some big decisions. Mina also comes recommended by Stephanie Lemoine, toy director at Sago Mini, who says, “Not only is it a feast for the eyes, but it highlights the genius of kids and how we as adults should pay more attention to what they’re telling us.”
Kelly diPucchio’s Gaston and Antoinette are “funny and heartfelt stories about how families are about love, not appearance, with Christian Robinson’s iconic illustrations,” says Chan. Both feature a poodle named Ooh-la-la, which makes for delightful reading aloud.
This book by Margaret Wise Brown “should be as famous as her others,” says LeBlanc. Brown, who famously authored both Goodnight Moon and Runaway Bunny, writes here of Scuppers, a dog who wants to be a sailor. “He’s a brave and fearless character who meets the crisis of a storm with great sense and aplomb. He’s a winning hero in a sweet tale,” says LeBlanc.
“The best kids’ books are the ones told from a kid’s perspective,” says Matlin. “This book, a hilarious critique of the insufferable small talk that afflicts adults everywhere, goes inside the mind of a kid who just wants to get to the damn playground already. Her parents promised her they’d take her but saw some friends, and now they’ve been talking about single-use kitchen gadgets for the last 15 hours,” Matlin says. “Our protagonist is an accomplished waiter and we wait with her, watching as she does anything — anything! — to pass the time. You won’t be looking for a way to excuse yourself from this one.”
For kids (and adults) who appreciate a slightly macabre twist to their tales, The Skull “is a gorgeous retelling of an old Tyrolean folktale, done with Jon Klassen’s typical wit and charm,” says Eric Fan, half of the Fan Brothers duo, who have created gorgeous books such as The Barnabus Project, The Night Gardener, and It Fell From the Sky.
The Chirri & Chirra series by Kaya Doi follows twins Chirri and Chirra on their bike-based adventures to magical worlds. They travel through tall grass, into town, underground, through the snow, through the night, or under the sea, and their travels usually involves eating an imaginative and delicious-looking snack of some kind. “It’s simple, and the colored-pencil illustrations are very charming — the best imaginative treats,” says Jacoby. “I love a book that is just so clearly written to access the world inside a child’s mind,” says Kalb. “It’s an adventure to nowhere and everywhere and is so visually enchanting.”
Another character that’s captured my kids’ imaginations for years is Yuki Ainoya’s Sato the Rabbit. Each book in the series depicts a child dressed as a rabbit in magical vignettes that bridge reality and the imagination. In one, Sato rows away in half of a watermelon. In another, a puddle, reflecting the sky, becomes a window the child can climb through. Capturing both the poetic, gentle, and spiritual ways a child may experience nature, Sato is a portrayal of a magical reality.
Circles, squares, and triangles appear all over children’s books and were used in classics like Round, Square, Triangle, by Dick Bruna, and The Wing on a Flea, by Ed Emberley. But never have they taken center stage like they do in the Shapes Trilogy, by Jon Klassen and Mac Barnett, where each of the shapes is a main character, navigating their own fears, challenges, and sense of identity, and figuring out who they are. These are books that on the surface tell a simple story — for example, about a triangle who goes to play a sneaky trick on his friend, a square — but, zooming out, it becomes a bigger story of intention and friendship that asks kids and adults alike to examine their relationships.
“How powerful it is when a picture book can fill you with wonder and appreciation for the world you’re living in, invite you to ponder the details of life (from the profound to literally microscopic), and expand your heart,” says designer and artist Erin Jang of this book by Sophie Blackall. “I love watching kids open this book and pore over Sophie’s stunning illustrations. The bird spread is one of my favorites.”
“Happy Birthday, Madame Chapeau is a really fun one to gift for birthdays because of the obvious theme tie-in,” says Mazur. “The main character is a milliner whose look is clearly inspired by Isabella Blow, and all of the hats are references to originals from icons like Philip Treacy and Elsa Schiaparelli.” Even if your child doesn’t understand the fashion references, “it’s from the same writer-illustrator team who does the delightful Questioneers series (Ada Twist, Scientist; Iggy Peck, Architect; etc.),” Mazur says, “so it has the same satisfying-to-read-aloud rhyming and gorgeous imagery.”
“The Giant Jam Sandwich is an older book that’s not super well known, but it’s often my go-to for gifting to my friends’ kids,” says Jason Kottke of Kottke.org. “Huge food, bugs, chaos … what’s not to like?” The book combines witty rhyme with a town wasp invasion and a clever scheme to trap the pesky invaders in, well, a giant jam sandwich.
“A book that’s just as fun for the grown-ups to read as it is for the little ones to hear,” says Klein. “With its use of absurd words and sounds, it turns reading into a performance, making it impossible to get through without laughing. If you’re going to have to read a book over and over, it might as well be this much fun.”
“I love, love, LOVE Byrd Baylor’s I’m in Charge of Celebrations with Peter Parnal’s beautiful illustrations,” says Misko Beaudrie, an L.A.-based parent of two kids, ages 8 and 5. “The story/poem is fantastic for kids to think about celebrations rooted in nature and their life experiences. It’s also a great jumping-off place for kids to begin saving and collecting their own memories and celebrations.”
“Like many of Yoshitake’s books, Can I Build Another Me? illuminates the absurd hilarity of everyday life,” says Tichy. “It’s an illustrated journey of a young boy earnestly attempting to clone himself. During the process, we begin to ask ourselves profound questions about what makes us each unique and special, laughing all the while.” My family has also read this book in our home hundreds of times, along with Yoshitake’s other humorous and profound titles.
Little Witch Hazel is the story of a forest over four seasons, told from the perspective of a thimble-size witch named Hazel. Wahl’s drawings of nature and the forest are full of appreciation for the tiny details that make the great outdoors a wondrous place, and to this backdrop, she adds a cast of animals and magical forest creatures who are full of their own concerns, joys, and feelings. My kids often plead for “just one more season” before bed. Beaudrie also recommends Wahl’s The Blue House and Sonya’s Chickens as great gifts: “Her artistry is gorgeous … and her stories are accessible in the here and now of life and loss.”
Although this is technically an alphabet book, it’s really a set of 26 clever stories about each letter of the alphabet. C is for a cup that falls out of the cupboard, forgetting how far down the jump is. F is for a frog that falls in a forever hole. X is for an X-ray that reveals the intentions of a thief. The stories weave together through a shared sense of humor and some overlapping characters, more like tiny thought exercises and clever conundrums than any ordinary account of the alphabet. My kids have laughed and loved this book for years, long after any other book about letters has left the rotation.
“Hey Willy, See the Pyramids, by the artist and writer Maira Kalman, was the book that made me want to be a comedy writer and children’s book writer,” says Kalb. “It was so important to my family; it’s partially why my little brother’s name is Will. It’s a wacky, absurdist, beautifully painted series of vignettes from the inside of a New York kid’s mind told as a conversation between a brother and sister as they’re falling asleep. Not to get carried away, but reading it to my kids as they drift off to sleep is the closest I come to understanding the divine.”
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