We Recommend for Under 5s

I am a great lover of books and today I thought I'd profile a couple that would make a great addition to a little person's bookshelves.
One of the things I'm sure you already know is how quickly a much loved title can become much loathed - not by them, never fear - by you. I always remember when Flip was small reading him a book and loving it and thinking 'I will never tire of reading this'. But oh I did.
When you have read a book more than 10 times in one day you start to fantasise about hiding the book away for good, or at least a month. See how parenting changes the way you think and the kind of things you long for??

Today I'll give you 5 reads that have been adored at our place - I couldn't call them a top 5 we have so many more than 5 we couldn't pick but these are five for now I would recommend.

1. Where is the Green Sheep - by Mem Fox. A gorgeous book that uses simple descriptors 'Red Sheep, Bed Sheep, Near Sheep etc while engaging the delight of looking for the green sheep. Sweet illustrations and a delightful story.

2. Who Sank the Boat - by Pamela Allen - this story once it has been read a couple of times causes great delight as the child gives you the answer all the way through the book. A funny tale about a group of animals taking the boat out for a row in the bay.

3. Rosie's Walk - by Pat Hutchins. I have my own very fond memories of this book and in fact it was the first one I got whilst pregnant with Flip. The illustrations are fantastic - highly stylised 70s pictures and they tell half the story as a cunning fox tries to catch Rosie the hen while she is out on her walk. Each illustration shows the mishaps he gets into while Rosie walks on oblivious to his efforts.

4. Dear Zoo - by Rod Campbell - this is a simple lift the flap adventure that brings great delight to children as they guess and learn the names of different animals the zoo sends and why they wouldn't make great pets.

5. Giraffes Can't Dance - by Giles Andreae -  This book is one of those classic stories that teaches the lesson of being true to dancing to our own beat. As the giraffe in the story says, 'We all can dance when we find music that we love'. A well written rhyme scheme and an engaging and endearing tale with all the best jungle animals showing us their moves.

Over the last few Mondays we've been profiling some of our favourite finds for under 5s in the hopes of helping out when you are asked for Christmas present recommendations from the relatives.
Which books are well loved enough to have breakfast stains on them in your house?
I will definitely profile some more book choices later as well. Perhaps one featuring some NZ authors?