These books are favorites in our home library with only the best books for an 18 month old. Instilling a love for books and reading literacy.
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Why read aloud?
Togetherness
Reading aloud is such a wonderful way to bring the family closer together.
Next to family dinners, reading aloud as a family is of utmost importance in building our family culture, even at the baby and toddler stage of childhood.
This list from our home library, includes the best books for an 18 month old that I have read.
As a mom of four little ones, I have read quite a few books to toddlers and these top the list.
Story
Stories speak to the very depths of a person. There is just something about listening to a story with someone that helps you relate to one another better.
When we enjoy stories together we have many common ground subjects to talk about.
At the early age of 18 months, the best stories introduce toddlers to new and familiar words.
These stories provide a wonderful opportunity for snuggles and quality time.
We get to engage in the storyline together while growing the child’s ability to pay attention and learn new things side by side.
What to think about when you are building a home library.
As a homeschooling mom of many, one of my favorite roles is being our home’s librarian.
I love knowing that each of our family members have quality, wholesome books to read that are going to be nourishing to their minds. Even down to our littlest family member.
This role of home librarian can have mommas asking a couple questions though such as “what makes a good book?”, “what makes a book nourishing and not junk food for your mind?”, “what type of books should I be looking for”?
These are all great questions.
When I look at choosing books for our family, I am partial to Charlotte Mason’s meter of choosing literature. I look for books that she would call “living books” and avoid those she termed ” twaddle, as much as I can.
Living books
Literary style
A living book is one that is written in literary form.
Living books take you along a journey.
Even if they are non-fiction nature or history books, living books are written to take you along the narrative. This form of story is much different than a text book listing facts and cutting to the information the author wants you to gather.
Make the subject come alive
Living books make the subject come alive.
The author of a living book communicates their passion for the subject throughout the book. You can feel this come out in the writing and illustrations.
Even the most simple board book with few words can engage children in this way.
I make sure that the majority of books coming into our home are living books. These living books are the best books for an 18 month old to engage with and a joy for parents to read aloud.
Rich language
Next, a living book is written using excellent, rich language.
This narrative language and vocabulary speaks to the heart of a person. When looking for living books for children, the language of the story should not talk down to the children and diminish the vocabulary.
Rich language is elevated and full of literary voice. Almost like you can hear the author speaking to you.
One of the key aspects of reading living books to toddlers, is the level of vocabulary they are learning with you.
To hear beautiful poetry, meter, and wonderful vocabulary at a young age helps build reading literacy and helps even beginning talkers with their sound formation.
Rich language is a top priority in choosing the best books for an 18 month old.
Touches the imagination & feeds the mind
Finally, along with being rich in language and taking you along the journey, a living book feeds the mind and touches the imagination.
A living book helps to cultivate something in hearts and minds of people. The journey the author takes you on and the way the subject comes alive helps cultivate virtue in those who are listening.
In conclusion, there are so many books we could choose from to bring into our homes and family time. Many of the books filling library shelves are not worth our time.
That is why I love a good, verified book list of living books as only the best books for an 18 month old.
Living books are worth your time. They cultivate virtue and nourish the mind of a person.
How to build the habit of reading?
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Reading is a good habit for everyone to have in my opinion.
I think it is important to engage with ideas in longer form and build the muscle of reading.
Out of everyone, this is vital for children to develop the habit of reading at a young age.
Habit stacking
To help develop the habit of reading in your home, I would use the stacking habit method.
What is something you do every single day no matter what?
Here are some ideas:
- Bedtime or naptime can be a great time for reading as part of the wind down routine.
- Having a basket of bedtime books next to a rocking chair or in the nursery can be a visual reminder to read before fully settling down.
- The visual reminder of books on display, a cozy spot for snuggling up in, along with the already set habit of bedtime can help facilitate more reading in your home.
- If bedtime is difficult, I would suggest reading at meal times.
- Meal times are a staple in the day and it’s wonderful because little mouths are typically full of food to not be making much noise.
Choose a time of day that would be easy to tack reading onto, make the books visible and accessible at that location, and practice pausing what you are doing and say yes when your child brings you a book to read to them.
I think you will be pleased with the snowball effect these simple tricks can have on reading in your home.
What type of books are the best books for an 18 month old?
- Living books for engagement, literacy, and building attention spans
- Board books and books they can read independently
- Different books covering a variety of subjects to introduce them to the best ideas
- Books I won’t mind reading 100x in a row 🙂
The best stories read over and over again help young ones build reading literacy and their growing vocabulary.
Book care
When choosing the best books for an 18 month old, I look for books that I am not going to worry about pages ripping when being read independently.
The best books for an 18 month old are often secondhand
I am always on the lookout for quality books at Thrift Stores and library book sales.
Spending less on books allows me to give free access to my children over these books a little bit easier.
Next time you are doing some secondhand shopping, do not miss the book section to help make building your home library more affordable.
We have developed a culture of caring for books in our home from the very beginning.
Rules such as putting books back on the shelf or basket, turning pages carefully, and not stepping on books or throwing them, are all important for learning how to care for books.
But accidents can happen and our favorite books do need repair over and over. We carry a healthy supply of book tape in our home as well. 😉
Building our home library with this expectation of caring for our things but realizing that wear and accidents will happen, helps to create an atmosphere where we can love reading, take care of our things, and not be too picky or careless in the process.
This is especially important with toddlers.
The best books for an 18 month old to read independently are board books
Board books that do not have too wide of spines, are the most forgiving for little hands learning to handle books.
I love to have a basket of board books always within reach for my littlest ones.
Best books for an 18 month old other than board books
The other types of books I love to read to my toddler are picture books I pull off a higher shelf for reading to them aloud.
These picture books I don’t keep at toddler height because I don’t want pages to rip if I can help it.
I love to read books that I know we are both going to enjoy. Yet mommy sometimes needs to monitor care for the pages when I cannot find these books in board book form.
Curating our shelves to be full of beautiful ideas whether in board books or picture books, makes reading aloud more enjoyable for me.
The best books for an 18 month old are ones they want read over and over again
Toddlers love to reread the same stories over and over. Because of this, I like to make sure our library is full of books that I won’t become tired of reading time and time again.
Further FAQ when it comes to reading to toddlers
How many books should I read to my child before bed?
I like to read as many books to my child as their attention will allow.
Over time, sticking to their attention span, yet stretching it ever so slightly by drawing their attention back to the story, helps their capacity for longer stories to grow.
I think it does a disservice for their attention in the long term to keep reading when they are completely checked out.
This takes some time to get a feel for, but finding a good balance of holding the child’s attention, while not stretching it too far, is my meter for how much we are going to read.
Now with having older children along with a toddler, we read all the time and the toddler is very used to joining in with all lengths of reading.
When I am not reading specifically with her, I don’t worry about her paying attention or not. She is being exposed to the love of reading in our home and this is the normal atmosphere for her, which I love.
How long should I spend each day reading to my child?
We aim to spend time reading each day with each of our young children.
I don’t have a formula for this but I do like to make it a top priority in our day to spend some time in our books throughout the day. I have heard 30 minutes a day but I personally do not keep track that way.
As I have 3 children older than a toddler, the older ones are easier to read to all at once.
Reading one-on-one with my toddler is the best way I am able to connect with her, snuggle, and read together.
The beautiful thing now having another reader in our home, is that my oldest daughter loves to read to her little sister.
Curating a home library full of the best children’s books and other great books for the family is a worthy endeavor.
A wonderful library can be a blessing in many ways for the home atmosphere.
Let’s dive into my top recommendations for the best books for an 18 month old
Best Books for an 18 month old
Tabitha Paige books
These books are wonderful for introducing new words and building language development.
Tabitha Paige is a watercolor artist, certified speech pathologist, and a mother of three herself. This is reflected in her work.
The illustrations in these books are so beautiful and the colors she uses are realistic to the familiar objects my child will interact with in the world.
With simple words and charming illustrations these board books are at the top of my list.
The best little books for our own home library as well as gifting at each baby shower we attend.
Tabitha Page writes an excellent book for little ones.
Some of our favorites:
Nursery Rhymes
Nursery rhymes are filled with poetry and meter.
Mother Goose books are always a staple for our little ones and I love to thrift a board book version when I see one.
When reading nursery rhymes it is fun to watch toddlers bounce to the tune of a song or sound things out they have heard repeatedly.
These are wonderful stories for introducing poetry, folk songs, fairy tales, along with other favorite hymns and stories.
Some of our favorites:
- My First Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes
- Eloise Wilkin’s Poems to Read to the Very Young Lap Library
- Beatrix Potter Nursery Rhyme Book
Eloise Wilkin
Eloise Wilkin books are older books but absolute treasures.
The illustrations are stunning and she has published some of the best living books for 18 month olds.
What makes these books so wonderful, is that Eloise Wilkin invites you into the child’s world at their perspective.
From home life, growing up, engaging with real life and familiar objects from a toddler perspective, these books are treasures.
I want to keep these around to read to my grandchildren one day.
They also make a great gift for a baby shower.
I have found a few of these in board book form.
But the larger Treasury is my favorite and one I will pull off the shelf exclusively to read with a toddler in my lap.
Reading books here and there with real pages can be a great opportunity to teach 1 and 2 year olds to care other books later on.
In a home with older children that have books everywhere, this is a good practice to get into sooner rather than later.
Learning book care while young can help to avoid many ripped pages, taping sessions, and mistreated books.
Some of our favorites by Eloise Wilkin:
Best books for an 18 month old: ABC and 123 books
Learning ABC’s and 123’s are building blocks for a child’s education. It is important to me (& more enjoyable) for these books to be beautiful to engage with regularly.
Some of our favorites:
- A is for Art by Lanaya Gore
- 1 is One by Tasha Tudor– Tasha Tudor books are beautiful books. These are the types of board books I love to read my babies in the first year or two of life.
- A is for Annabelle: A Doll’s Alphabet by Tasha Tudor
- Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert
- Mrs. Peanuckle’s Alphabet Books
Ellie Holcomb
Ellie Holcomb has published beautiful, faith-based board books of children.
We enjoy having these in our home library. They have been taped many times and well loved!
Our favorites:
Classic Favorite Board Books
Eric Carle
I am not a huge fan of Eric Carle illustrations but my children do love these books.
Eric Carl has a way of introducing animal noises, colors, and taking you into the life of nature in a living way.
These all come in board book form which is a win and they are popular enough that I always come across them secondhand.
Some of our favorites by Eric Carle:
- A Very Hungry Caterpillar
- A House for Hermit Crab
- The Very Busy Spider
- Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do You See?
Dr. Seuss & P.D. Eastman
Dr. Seuss has a few good books my children have enjoyed.
Some of his books I would classify as twaddle, but others I would say have been good books for our home.
With simple sentences, rhyme, and memorable story lines, my toddlers bring these to me over and over again.
Dr. Seuss books do have a rhyme and meter to them that I think can help with early literacy and engage a child for a long time.
Some of our favorites:
- The Little Red Box of Bright and Early Board Books Collection
- The Big Boxed Set of Bright and Early Board Books About Me
Lift the Flap Book Recommendations
My children love a good lift the flap book.
Lift the flap books are good books for building hand-eye coordination and can be very engaging for little minds.
I find the best lift the flap books for toddlers are ones with sturdy flaps.
Here are some of our favorites:
Interactive book recommendations
Next to lift the flap books, books that facilitate movement are great for toddlers.
Facial expressions, singing, and other modes of interaction are very fun for babies and toddlers.
Some of our favorite interactive books for toddlers:
- Melissa & Doug Poke-a-dot Books
- Stir Crack Whisk Bake: An Interactive Board Book about Baking for Toddlers and Kids
- There’s a Dragon in Your Book
- The Four Seasons (Musical Books)
Interest
Sometimes I choose books based on interest.
I have had little boys very interested in vehicles and planes so books such as Goodnight Construction Site have been hits.
Books such as Dear Zoo have been loved by my animal loving children.
I have had children interested in different types of shells, sharks, or aspects of nature at different times.
One of the tips I have learned for building a home library and helping children become voracious readers, is by providing quality books that meet their interests.
Reading begets reading. The more I have found my children reaching for books they love, the more open they are to trying new books.
Some favorite books & authors for specific interests:
- Gail Gibbons Board Books
- Baby Farm Animals – and other golden books geared toward specific interest
Wordless Books for 18 month olds
Our favorite wordless books have been the Carl the Dog books and Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie DePaola.
Wordless books are fun because the illustrations are engaging and as the parent we make up the story as we go along.
My children have loved this.
As they have gotten older, they take on the narrations themselves and love reading to their little siblings these engaging stories.
Some of our favorites:
- Good Dog, Carl
- Pancakes for Breakfast -Paperback
Richard Scarry books
Richard Scarry books have been great for all of my young children at a variety of reading levels.
These books have an engaging way of introducing children to different places, people, and things.
They become familiar with the characters and enjoy seeing the variety of scenes Richard Scarry presents in his picture books.
Favorite Richard Scarry Books:
Photo Album books
Photo album books can be some of the best books for 18 month olds.
They have very simple photo books where you can add your own photos into little slip covers.
There are also more detailed photo books that you can design online.
A baby board book full of pictures of loved ones and familiar objects to their home life. What a thoughtful gift to give a little toddler or a mother expecting for her baby.
Some fun options for photo books for toddlers:
- My First Family Album
- Artifact Uprising: Custom Baby Board Book – this company makes beautiful, heirloom quality products. (not sponsored)
Full list of the best books for an 18 month old:
- Baby Farm Animals – and other golden books geared toward specific interest
- Pancakes for Breakfast -Paperback
- Artifact Uprising: Custom Baby Board Book – this company makes beautiful, heirloom quality products. (not sponsored)
I love this! Books / reading have always played an important role in our home. We have quite the collection and are making a cozy library in our new/old house. I just love books! Our children are all grown so now I’m enjoying buying books for our nieces and hopefully grandbabies one day. 🙂
Oh I love that! I hope to have a nice collection for our grandkids one day too! & Hopefully a beginner library to send off with our children 🙂