Reddit reviews Jamberry

I'm not a regular contributor, but I felt like making a top-10 list of my favorite books so far. (My son will be turning 3 soon.)

The rules mention links to facebook or blogs; I'm hoping non-referral links to Amazon are okay. I'll link board books where possible, because pages get ripped and torn until at least two-and-a-half years of age.

• Little Blue Truck: Most parents probably already know this one. Great book for when children are starting to speak - you can point to each of the animals and ask what it "says."
  
• Jamberry: Beautiful illustrations, and it can be read as a song. I'm pretty sure two verses were switched - I think it should be "Three berry four berry, my berry your berry, hayberry strawberry, finger and pawberry." Bugs me a little bit.
  
• Chugga Chugga Choo Choo: Another singable book with rhymes and good illustrations, and a good means of prompting child participation - they can fill in the "whoo whooo!" part.
  
• Planting a Rainbow: Great eye-grabbing book for learning colors. Can also be read with a rhythm, though it isn't as singable as the others.
  
• Little Owl's Night: Great book for pre-empting any fears of the dark. "Owls wake up at night time, and sleep when the sun is up." Surely if this little owl is chilling at night with his fox and turtle buddies, that means nighttime is nothing to be afraid of.
  
• The Little Dump Truck: Has a good rhythm and good illustrations. Helps give your kid, who loves dump trucks but doesn't know why, an idea of what dump trucks actually do.
  
• Twenty Big Trucks in the Middle of the Street: Fantastic counting book, and has a good rhythm as well. Highly recommend for getting your kid to count past ten.
  
• Potty: A godsend for potty training. Start reading it a couple months before you introduce the potty, and read it often. We potty-trained our son at about 34 months with a combination of this book and Season 2, Episode 1 of Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. He used a little plastic thing for about two weeks before we moved him up to the integrated seat, which is great because it can just be wiped down after use.
  
• Julia's House for Lost Creatures: Beautifully illustrated, and a great introduction to cleaning up after yourself. "What do good boys do if they make a little mess?" "Um, clean up!" The text doesn't flow well in some parts - I get the impression that this was intended for comic-book reading children - but it isn't overly wordy and has more than enough art to compensate.
  
• Why is the Grass Green? First Questions and Answers about Nature: If anyone knows about a more recent version of this, I'd be very interested. We found this one in a library's outdoor "take one, leave one" box. Some of it is still too advanced for our little one to wrap his head around, but the way this book distills concepts into concise explanations with simple wording is amazing. Highly recommended for any child that asks a lot of "why" questions.

Yeah, I second the book idea. Not totally unique but I think three to five books for kids that you loved when you were a child or that your child loves are great. That's what I always go with and that's what we used to do when I would go shopping with my mom. My faves that aren't super obvious (i.e. not "Good Night Moon") are Jamberry, Jesse Bear What Will You Wear (that's my name, so, I loved it, obviously), Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (huge hit for me and later for my sis, which would make sense if you know the plot), Snow Day, and Happy Birthday Moon.

If you want to go absolute classics, these are some of my faves: The Very Hungry Caterpillar, In the Night Kitchen, The Giving Tree, and Harold and the Purple Crayon (Probably my favorite children's book of all time).

Hope that helps!

Edit: formatting

Begin reading right away. Even when he was too young to look at the book, we read to him. We also got some Indestructible books for him to gnaw on.

We always read to my son, even when he started getting mobile and wouldn't sit still for it. We'd let him wander around the room as we read. Kids go through so many stages. There will be stages when they want to chew on the books or tear the books. There will be stages when they want books that do things (pop-outs, etc.) and books that have things to feel in them. Just keep up the reading!

My son's favorite books change all the time. He likes Jamberry, and he likes any books with animals in it. What else? He likes Goodnight, Moon, of course! He has an ABC book that he loves, too, and he learned all of his letters from it before he was 2. He also likes Are You My Mother?. Oh, and he likes Little Critter. Basically, your child will end up liking wahtever you read to him/her!

Over in the Meadow

Little Blue Truck

One Duck Stuck

Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?

Sheep in a Jeep

Jamberry

The Napping House

Hand Hand Fingers Thumb

Bubble Gum Bubble Gum

This brought back great memories. Also, type any title into youtube to listen to a reading so you know if you like the book before buying. As for category, "animal noises" or "onomatopoeia" are good search terms.