Whenever I post a photo on Instagram of our daughters room and her bookshelf, I always get asked if I have any recommendations for fun books. Well yes I do! We love reading to Mia, and she loves it as well. Before bedtime, we let her pick out a book herself and sometimes she picks the same book night after night, but mostly she enjoys several books. I thought it would be a great idea to collect our favorite children’s books here on the blog today!
Without a doubt Mia’s favorite children’s books revolve around books that make sounds. Wether it’s music, or farm animals; she loves them. So let’s start with that list!
(PS. Since we are Dutch, this list features Dutch books. But since I blog in English, this blog is in English. Sorry ‘bout that :)
– Paco is een Rockster (only in Dutch)
Mia’s favorite BY FAR. It revolves around a dog going to London to form a rock band. It features several instruments, so it’s a really nice educational book.
– Paco en de Jazzband (only in Dutch)
This “Paco en..” is a whole serie of books, for now we have two of them. I plan to buy the whole collection, haha. This book I find a bit less interesting than the rock version, but it’s great nonetheless and the jazz music is beautiful. The “Paco en..” serie also features Vivaldi, Mozart, a brass band, and many more. So yes, a lot to choose from!
– Dieren op de boerderij
No specific title on this one, I’m pretty sure every language has a book with sounds around (farm) animals. Mia loves those.
– De Gruffalo
I gotta be honest here: this is one of my personal favorites, maybe more so than Mia’s. The story is just so cool, I love it. Available all around the world.
– Nijntje (Miffy)/everything from Dick Bruna
Mia loves Nijntje, and so do I. We have a lot of books from Dick Bruna, the inventor of Nijntje. Some small books, like “Nijntje goes to the zoo, to the playground, etc”, but also some music books, like “Boe zegt de Koe” and “Wat hoor je Nijntje?”. They are all great and I would love to expand our Nijntje collection with loads more. There is something about Nijntje, the rhyme, the simplicity of the illustrations. Yes, a great hit here!
– Gonnie en Gijsje (Gossie & Gertie)
One of Mia’s first expressions was the screaming “Kom meeeee!” from this book. Gonnie & Gijsje is also available in other languages, written by Olivier Dunrea. It’s a story about two friends and it’s adorable, I totally get why Mia loves it.
– We hebben er een geitje bij! (only in Dutch)
The rhymes in this book are só good! It’s about a petting zoo gaining a new goat, and a boy is going to visit him. It’s a great way to practice animal sounds with your kid while reading, one of my favorites as well.
– Raad eens hoeveel ik van je hou (Guess how much I love you)
The expression “To the moon and back” is probably the most used expression in children’s merchandise, and it comes from this book. While it’s not a book Mia chooses that much, it had to be in this list. It’s about two rabbits (a big and a small one) trying to express how much they love each other. It is a classic and I feel it should be on every kids bookshelf.
– Rupsje Nooitgenoeg (The Very Hungry Caterpillar)
Also a classic, about a caterpillar growing into a butterfly. A beautiful book with nice illustrations and your kid will love the can’t-stop-eating part :)
So, that was our list of favorites! Hope you liked it and it will give you some new ideas. Even though we already have quite some books, I feel you can never have enough books. They’re educational and a great way to bond with your child while reading to them. I might have given myself a boost to buy some new books today :)
Thank you for reading!
x, Marrit
