Some of these were surprises: I did not expect my anxious toddler who's afraid of the car because "it's too loud" to be enthusiastic about the monsters-under-the-bed series, but he requested How I Met My Monster and its sequel, I Need My Monster, multiple times.
The thesis of both books is that each kid has a personal monster who helps them sleep by scaring them into bed and making them stay put. In the first book, the little boy finds the right monster; in the second book, his monster packs up and heads to the room next door, because his little sister now needs a monster more than he does. The books are fun, but the monsters are actually scary looking. (There are also a couple of board books in the series, but I consider these inappropriate for younger toddlers.)
Ollie's Ski Trip is by Elsa Beskow, a Swedish author (1874-1953) who also wrote The Sun Egg and Woody, Hazel, and Little Pip. If you're looking for "Waldorf" style books, this one's for you. Young Ollie receives his first set of real skis and sets off on an adventure through the snow, meeting Jack Frost, the King of Winter, and Mrs. Thaw. It's a charming book with charming illustrations, but like most older picture books, it's long. I had to do a lot of skimming and condensing to make it toddler-friendly, and while the little guy enjoyed the story, it wasn't his favorite.
Here Comes Jack Frost is thematically similar, but aimed at a younger audience: a young boy laments the coming of winter until he makes a new friend, Jack Frost.
Daniel Tiger Cleans Up is a board book with a very simple storyline (Daniel and O the Owl clean up their toys) and moving parts. The three year old loved it. From a design standpoint, it's a creative book--your toddler can "help" clean up by moving the toys to their bins.
(I don't recommend it for a baby, because of the aforementioned moving parts which can be ripped off.)
Paw Patrol: Stories to Share was the week's biggest hit. This was an impulse buy at Walmart that thankfully worked out: 10 Paw Patrol stories in one volume for about 11 dollars. (I believe it's basically the same set of stories as the Paw Patrol: 5 Minute Stories collection available on Amazon for 11 new or 6 used.) That works out to $1.10 per book! The only downside is that you might get stuck reading the whole thing all the way through over and over again. Like me.
This volume contains: Track that Monkey; Gold Rush Pups; Ready, Race, Rescue; King for a Day; Dive into Puplantis; Ice Team; Pup-Fu Power; The Pups Save the Bunnies; Chase's Space Case; and Dinosaur Rescue.
Axel! Straightforward "beginning reader" series about an anthropomorphic monster truck who likes driving around and getting dirty.
The Dogs Next Door: I might devote a separate post to this one. It wasn't my toddler's favorite (that was the Paw Patrol one), but it was definitely the weirdest book we read this week and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. If you've read it, I would love to hear your thoughts.
Pancakes! I adore this board book. It's basically a recipe book with moving parts. You pull a flap and it looks like the flour is pouring or pancakes are cooking. You may have noticed that I listed another book from this series as the "best board book" in my intro post on this blog, so I was stoked to see the library had a new one focused on pancakes. I rate this one gift-worthy.
Follow that Tractor: a fingertrail board book. It's not a standout in the genre, but the concept is fun and tracing the cut-out paths teaches pre-writing skills.
Ugh, adding all of the links takes too long. Go to your library! The books are free there!
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