Hailey's Faves: Best Books for a One-Year Old

Ok mommas, you know the drill- babies need bedtime stories and you need something that doesn’t bore you to tears after reading it 3,645 times. A lot of books you end up getting at your baby shower are way too long to keep baby’s attention. Or, maybe you’re just looking for something new that your toddler will love and hopefully won’t make YOU fall asleep while reading. Either way, I’ve got you covered! After 16 months of books, I’ve found a few that Hailey loves to read over and over again- and, I think your little guy or girl will love it too!

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These are all the books I practically have memorized but still love to read anyway. I’ve also shared more about them, including why I like them so much! They're in color order, because we all know I love a good rainbow to organize things.

1. Mommies are Amazing This book is filled with cats and their kittens and talks about all the amazing things mom can do! We are a cat-loving family, so this is one of our faves. There’s also a dad version that features dogs, if you prefer!

2. My Mom is Magical Another fave! Personally, I love all the amazing drawings in this book. The words are different than the typical book, featuring phrases like my mom is “sillier than a band of bananas” with matching drawings that are equally as silly and elaborate. Again, there’s also a dad version called My Dad Is Amazing which is equally adorable and funny, but Hailey prefers the mom version.

3. Toes, Ears & Nose! A Lift the Flap Book This is a newer book that we purchased using a gift card from Hailey’s first bday party, but it’s quickly become a favorite for her. She loves moving the flaps to see what’s behind! There is a whole collection of books in this series, so try the affordable box set to get more bang for your buck- and fun for your baby!

4. Where’s Boo? Although this is a Halloween book, it’s one of Hailey’s faves. She loves to “knock” on the door to reveal the final page. I just got her the Valentine version too, so hopefully we can keep the fun going year round! I like that this book is a quick read, but also love seeing her “knock” for Boo at the end.

5. Feminist Baby We got this book as a gift for my baby shower, and it’s really fun! Hailey loves the baby in the book, since she’s on most of the pages. Personally I find the words and phrases funny and I like the message behind them. Hailey also loves the sequel Feminist Baby Finds Her Voice. Her favorite page is “Feminist Baby says ‘ba’ for her bottle” and she always says “ba” as soon as she sees it! There’s also a boy version, but I think the other two are fairly gender neutral even though feminist baby is a girl.

6. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? This story itself isn’t the most interesting for me. However, the sliders make it really fun for baby. I remember when Hailey was really small, she figured it out and it made me want to cry with pride. It makes up for the fact that the story itself is insanely repetitive. Also, she likes to kiss the teacher and students sometimes which is pretty cute. Plus, it’s a classic!

7. The Wonderful Things You’ll Be I love the amazing pictures in this book. The message is really sweet and it has a foldout that Hailey loves to look at! Plus, it’ll grow with your baby as they get older.

8. A Parade of Animals This was one of Hailey’s favorite books, although she seems to have outgrown it a bit at this point. But, it covers a bunch of animals plus counting so I figure she’ll get back into it soon!

9. Alphaprints ABC This book is pretty cool because it has textured animals made with fingerprints! I like to feel the textured book (I can’t be the only one!) and Hailey likes to point at all the misc materials that are used to make the animals.

10. Disney Bunnies All Ears This book isn’t particularly interesting, but it has moveable ears. The best part is that Hailey figured out how to move the ears and was able to match the story on her own! She likes it because it’s interactive and essentially a stuffed animal.

11. Good Night, Little One This book is short and sweet, and teaches your baby all their various body parts (and animals) through good night kisses. I like to touch the parts of her that the book references (good night nose, good night head) and I also teach her about the animals. She now makes monkey noises when we get to the monkey and gorilla pages! There are some other similar books by the same author, like this one and this one.

12. My First Book of Things To Learn Although Hailey doesn't actually interact with the book the way it’s meant to (it’s kind of a matching game in a book) she does enjoy all the pictures. There’s different sections, like matching animals to their sounds and baby animals to their parents. It’s definitely something that will grow with her, although right now it’s more of just a picture book!

I don’t know when my little baby became a big girl, but here we are. These pictures almost look like picture day pictures! The kind you’d get in school with a fake background of books, haha. She loves to pull them out and read them, so I’m glad she has so many that she can grab and look at! You can find more details about her room and how I organized her nursery here.

These are some of my favorite books (and Hailey’s!) but I’m always looking for new suggestions! What books are a favorite in your household? Let me know in the comments below!