Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
Bill Martin Jr. & Eric Carle
Often a child's first experience of "reading", because they have it memorised before they know what letters are.
The whole list.
28 books, youngest first. A short list is the entire point of this site.
Dear Zoo
Rod Campbell
Forty years old, and still the perfect machine for teaching a baby what a book is.
Goodnight Moon
Margaret Wise Brown & Clement Hurd
A book that works less like a story and more like a dimmer switch.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Eric Carle
The holes in the pages are still one of the best ideas anyone has ever had in a book.
Each Peach Pear Plum
Janet and Allan Ahlberg
The original I-spy book, and the reason your toddler already knows who Cinderella is.
Owl Babies
Martin Waddell & Patrick Benson
The most useful book in existence for the week before nursery starts.
We're Going on a Bear Hunt
Michael Rosen & Helen Oxenbury
Less a book than a piece of theatre you put on in your own living room.
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
Mo Willems
For once, the child is the grown-up in the room, and they take the job extremely seriously.
Giraffes Can't Dance
Giles Andreae & Guy Parker-Rees
Every child who has ever felt clumsy deserves to meet Gerald.
Press Here
Hervé Tullet
A paper book that behaves like an iPad, and it is better than an iPad.
Room on the Broom
Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler
A witch keeps saying yes to one more passenger, and it turns out that was a good idea.
The Gruffalo
Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler
A tiny mouse lies his way through a forest, and the verse is so tight you could set a clock by it.
The Rabbit Listened
Cori Doerrfeld
What to do when your child is upset, in one short picture book, for both of you.
The Tiger Who Came to Tea
Judith Kerr
A polite tiger eats everything in the house, and absolutely nobody panics. Perfect.
I Want My Hat Back
Jon Klassen
A bear politely asks about a missing hat. The ending is the funniest crime in picture books.
Last Stop on Market Street
Matt de la Peña & Christian Robinson
A boy asks why he has to take the bus, and his nana answers so well that the book won the Newbery.
The Book With No Pictures
B.J. Novak
A book whose only rule is that the grown-up must say everything on the page. The grown-up has made a terrible mistake.
The Day the Crayons Quit
Drew Daywalt & Oliver Jeffers
A stack of resignation letters from a box of crayons, and it is funnier than most sitcoms.
The Girl, The Lights & The Prince
Kisszu
A girl who heals the world by dancing, told in rhyming poems and rhythmic prose.
The Invisible String
Patrice Karst
Less a story than a tool: a simple image a child can hold on to when someone they love is away.
The Paper Bag Princess
Robert Munsch & Michael Martchenko
A princess rescues a prince, he complains about her outfit, and what she says next is one of the best endings in the genre.
Where the Wild Things Are
Maurice Sendak
The best book ever made about being furious at your mum.
Frog and Toad Are Friends
Arnold Lobel
The best book ever written for a child who is just learning to read, and it makes grown-ups cry.
Charlotte's Web
E.B. White & Garth Williams
Still the best first novel to read aloud to a child, and still the one that will break you.
Pippi Longstocking
Astrid Lindgren
The strongest girl in the world lives alone, with a horse on her porch and a suitcase of gold, and has never once asked for permission.
Matilda
Roald Dahl & Quentin Blake
A small genius, the worst parents in fiction and a headmistress who throws children, and all of it is very funny.
Moominland Midwinter
Tove Jansson
The strangest and most beautiful winter book for kids, from Finland, about being awake when everyone you love is asleep.
The Wild Robot
Peter Brown
A robot learns to be a mother on a wild island, and you will both want to read the next chapter.