a plea for books!

[daniwithtea]

okay, so my dad and his wife need nothing for the baby, they say. but when i said "books", my dad lept and said "yes! books! buy books for the baby! books!" i never took my father for such a book hound, but hey - this kid's going to be getting books from me for the rest of her life; I might as well start now. so i ask you, dear readers (and a certain librarian who i'm sure will have some faboo suggestions): what are some good books I can start off my baby sister's collection with? keep in mind that the maternal grandparents are uber-catholics, so i should probably stay away from the "books for kids with gay family members" reading list, at least for now.

Here's what I have so far:
So What's It Like To Be A Cat? by Karla Kuskin - a very cute book I saw at the store tonight.
Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type and Giggle, Giggle, Quack by Doreen Cronin - I adore Click, Clack, Moo (even have my own copy), and now there's a sequel! whee!
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle - doesn't every kid have a copy of this book?
Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss - again, doesn't every kid have this? If not, they should.
Just Go To Bed by Mercer Mayer - a very cute book that I used to own but I believe went the way of my former nephew's book collection

Some of these books I'll end up getting her for the holidays, like Robert Sabuda's The Night Before Christmas Pop-Up, which yes, I realize is a completely inappropriate gift for a baby, but she's my baby sister, damnit, and I'll give her what I want to.

And while I recognize that I have many years to fill her bookshelves, I'd like to get her library started off right. We're leaving in the morning to go into hiding until Sunday, but I plan to order these when I get back so they get here in time for the shower in two weeks. So please fill me in! Also, if anyone knows of a good source for kids' books online (other than the mega-sites), please let me know.

Comments

[lavablu.livejournal.com]

It took me awhile to not get this lil crazy streak when my oldest niece, as a baby, would shred her books. When I was little we didn't really have money to buy them so we got them from the library but my mother would stress to treat the books with the utmost delicacy because she couldn't replace them, its an anal thing thats carried over, I dont even leave books open laying on things so it doesnt break the binding. My whole family are big readers and I still get books for all three of my nieces each christmas. This last year my middle niece said, Aunt Shelly when are you gonna get us fun stuff, but a week later she sat in my lap reading it to me so I didnt feel so bad.
I adored "Where the Wild Things Are" by sendak. I recently got to enjoy The Living tree with my youngest niece after my sweeties reminded me of its existance. I always loves Suess, fav being "Green eggs and ham". Harold and the Purple Crayon was a big fav. The Rainbow Fish, although I kinda disagree with the moral of sharing so everyone can be the same, but the artwork is beautiful. Goodnight Moon is fun to read to my nieces at bedtime. A really good copy of grims fairy tales is always fun, especially if the artwork is really good, the Met used to sell a version I got for my nieces. I got my nieces Please Baby Please by of all people Spike Lee but they really enjoy the book. They also really like Happy to be Nappy which talks about all the different kinds of hair little girls have and shows a good appreciation for human differences.
Thats all I can think of off the bat that doesn't include dora the explorer, hehe.