Newborn story books

Bathtime is one of the most reliable rituals of the baby days! And written in verse, this board book for babies will get your bub excited to suds up.

A classic exploration of opposites through funny dogs who are big and little, fast and slow, and all headed to a big dog party!

Babies are fed, dressed, and loved in this baby board book that celebrates babies everywhere.

Before your baby can even talk, they’ll be able to imitate the animals’ gestures in this boardbook for babies, turning their head like a penguin or shrugging like a buffalo. (See more interactive books for kids!)

Hugging kitty makes baby happy. Falling down makes baby sad. The simple examples throughout the board book teach babies about their feelings…and that’s a good thing!

A brave little truck helps a dump truck who’s stuck in the mud in a much-loved baby board book that features great values and great trucks!

In this board book for babies, a horse graciously offers a ride to a dog, cat, pig and duck…but they’d better hold on tight!

Every baby loves a good game of peekaboo, so try it in board book form as you spy on an owl that says “who” and a train that goes “choo choo. ”

For little ones who like things that go (and who doesn’t?), this is the perfect bedtime board book.

Very few things fascinate a baby more than the faces of other babies! Explain the parts of the face and the meanings of different expressions as you explore real life baby pictures together. 

This board book does more than just label the main parts of a kid’s face and body—it explains what they’re for, as in, “A nose is to blow, a nose is to sniff, a nose has holes for sniffing with.”

Even hippos have bedtime routines, at least in this board book for babies, which finds various animals brushing their teeth and donning jammies before rocking to sleep on their cozy boat.

It’s never too soon to build self-esteem, and I Like Myself does a great job showing how our differences make us uniquely awesome.

Sam proudly demonstrates the parts of his car and how he takes care of it with gas, oil and washing. We love Byron Barton’s cartoon-like illustrations and littles are absolutely fascinated to discover how things work.

“Little dishes on little carts” will make you hungry and eager to explore the culture that gave us such yummy goodies. 

If you need an excuse to shower your bebe with kisses, Besos for Baby is here for you.

On a quest to find the elusive green sheep, we meet the up and down sheep, the scared and brave sheep, and many others in this extremely silly rhyming board book for babies.

Author Karen Katz is a master of the lift-the-flap book, and this baby favorite teaches the parts of the body from head to toe.

Having trouble getting your little one to sleep or listen? Spike Lee feels your pain in this sweet baby book that he wrote with his wife…it’s the perfect way to prep for the toddler years ahead!

Jazzy rhythms and rhymes make this story about a boy and his bear on a berry hunt read like pure poetry.

It’s Spot’s dinnertime but he’s hiding so we’ll have to search the house! Baby can help lift the flaps in every room until our puppy is found.

Dr. Seuss gifted us with many classic books for babies, from Green Eggs and Ham to The Lorax. We love Mr. Brown for reading to babies because it’s all about making funny sounds like “buzz buzz” and “boom boom.”  

A small child compares himself to animals with different traits—like “loud as a lion” and “quiet as a clam”—because humans are complex and amazing!

A baby bunny learns that no matter where he goes, Mama will always be there in this imaginative fantasy.

Can The Zoo help us find the perfect pet in this lift-the-flap book for a baby’s first year? After several misfires—including an elephant that’s too big and a snake that’s too scary—a perfect puppy finally arrives.

Celebrating family love in its many forms, the three short stories in this classic board book are sweet as a baby’s smile.

“Crunch, munch, caterpillars lunch,” begins this nature adventure with just a few well-chosen words on each page and gorgeous illustrations.

Not every day starts out perfectly, but hang in there, and you can turn it around. That’s the moral of this beautiful baby book by Kevin Henkes.

This celebration of oh-so-sweet little baby toes will get little ones giggling with its charming rhymes.

Little ones are able to express themselves with gestures before they can speak, so teaching your baby sign language can be a helpful way to communicate with your kiddo early on. This book breaks down some essential signs to help the whole family learn!

An ode to families of all configurations, this baby book is the perfect way to help your sweet pea get to know their own family (the book includes a mirror and a blank family tree)—while also opening their eyes to the world beyond their home.

Chances are, in a few years you’ll be introduced to the bigger-kid books that have made Mo Willems such a hit with young readers (and their parents!). In the meantime, this baby-focused tome gives families a taste of Willems’ humorous writing style (with a dash of sweetness, too!).

More Books for a Baby's First Year:

• Interactive Books for Kids
• Books About Big Emotions for Little Kids
  
• Books About Animals
• Children's Books About Race & Equality
• The Ultimate Baby and Toddler Book List

Another essential for a baby's first year? SNOObear! SNOObear plays the white noise babies and toddlers love and doubles as a cuddly lovey. Learn more about SNOObear here. 

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Have questions about a Happiest Baby product? Our consultants would be happy to help! Connect with us at customercare@happiestbaby. com.

Disclaimer: The information on our site is NOT medical advice for any specific person or condition. It is only meant as general information. If you have any medical questions and concerns about your child or yourself, please contact your health provider.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Fairy Tales

Browse our collection of fairy tales including those made famous by The Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen

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Jack and the Beanstalk

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Goldilocks

Harold's Fairy Tale

Little Red Riding Hood

The Three Little Pigs

Three Little Pigs

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This is Goldilocks. She is called Goldilocks because of her sproingy locks of golden hair. Goldilocks is an expert at skipping. Usually Goldilocks likes to skip around the pond, but today she decided to skip through the forest. Along the path she noticed the cutest, coziest cottage she had ever seen. “I wonder who lives in such a cute, cozy cottage,” Goldilocks thought. Goldilocks skipped to the cottage for a closer look. She knocked on the door and was disappointed when no one answered. Then it hit her—the most wonderful smell she had ever smelled! “Porridge!” Goldilocks said dreamily as her stomach rumbled. “That smell is making me hungry! I don’t think anyone would mind if I went in for a quick taste.” She opened the door to the cottage. After all that skipping, Goldilocks was starving. Goldilocks went to the table, where she found three bowls of porridge. She tasted the first bowl. “Too sweet!” she said. Then she tasted the middle bowl. “Too cinnamony!” she said. Finally she tasted the last bowl. It was just right! “Wow! This is delicious porridge!” she said. After all that skipping and eating, Goldilocks wanted to sit down. Goldilocks looked around the cozy cottage and noticed three chairs. She sat in the first chair. “Too hard!” she said. Then she sat in the middle chair. “Too cushiony!” she said. Finally she sat in the last chair. It was just right! “This is the most comfortable chair ever!” she said. After all that skipping and eating and sitting, Goldilocks was feeling sleepy. She went into the next room and saw three beds. She flopped onto the first bed. “Too firm!” she said. Then she flopped onto the middle bed. “Too pillowy!” she said. Finally she flopped onto the last bed. It was just right! “Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!” she said. Meanwhile, three bears came in the door. “That was a fine skip through the forest,” said the papa bear. “It’s good to be home,” said the mama bear. “I’m hungry!” said the little bear. The bears went over to the table, where they noticed something was different about their porridge. “Somebody’s been eating my porridge,” said the papa bear. “And somebody’s been eating my porridge,” said the mama bear. “Hey, my porridge is almost gone!” said the little bear. The bears ate what was left of their porridge and then went to sit down. They noticed something was different about their chairs. “Somebody’s been sitting in my chair,” said the papa bear. “And somebody’s been sitting in my chair,” said the mama bear. “Hey! My chair looks like a person!” said the little bear. After all that skipping and wondering about porridge and chairs, the bears were sleepy, and they headed to bed. They noticed something was different about their beds. “Somebody’s been flopping in my bed,” said the papa bear. “And somebody’s been flopping in my bed,” said the mama bear. “Hey! There’s a girl in my bed!” said the little bear. Goldilocks opened one eye, then the other. She saw three bears staring at her. “Hello,” said the little bear. “We’re the bears that live here.” “You are?” said Goldilocks, wide eyed. “Did you know that you have the best porridge, chair, and bed in the whole world?” “I think so too!” said the little bear. “You don’t mind that I tried them?” asked Goldilocks. “No, I don’t mind!” said the little bear. “Let’s play!” The little bear invited Goldilocks to stay, and they laughed and had pillow fights all morning long.

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Top 15 Handbooks for Young Parents – News – IQ Research and Education Portal – National Research University Higher School of Economics

RESEARCH AUTHORS:

Zhanna Chernova , Professor of the Department of Sociology at the National Research University Higher School of Economics in St. Petersburg.

Larisa Shpakovskaya , Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, National Research University Higher School of Economics in St. Petersburg.

Books about early childhood assign different roles to parents. In some manuals, young mothers and fathers are just "students" who must follow the recommendations of "teachers" - experts. In other books, the "monopoly" on knowledge about the child is divided equally between parents and childhood specialists. The third type of books absolutizes parents and does not favor experts. At the same time, all books contain useful advice and serve as a good guide for young families.

Zhanna Chernova and Larisa Shpakovskaya studied which books about early childhood (up to three years*) are the most popular and how parental competence is understood in them. The results of the study are published in the article “Professionalization of Parenthood: Between Expert and Common Knowledge” (Journal of Social Policy Research, No. 4, 2016).

In modern society, parenthood is perceived almost like a profession. As in any business, it has its own special set of competencies, the process of learning them, and even control by specialists. This "professionalization" is influenced both by the social institutions associated with childhood and by the families themselves.

• Parents are persistently "educated" by all concerned: the state, pediatricians, psychologists, teachers, mass media and manufacturers of children's goods. Requirements for families are growing, new standards of parental care are being formed.

The old "formula" of maternal care - "clean, fed, shod, dressed" - has long been supplemented with new components. Among them are the "early intellectual development" of the child, his "psycho-emotional comfort" and "creative development". All this requires a lot of effort and time from parents, but it pays off with interest.

• Young families themselves also want to know more about the right way to raise their children (see Parents actively educate themselves, Parenting becomes a profession). This is evidenced by their activity in Internet forums on childhood, the fashion for a variety of "schools for moms and dads", joint activities with children (kids clubs, for example) and a high demand for children's goods / services.

Childhood forums and blogs are especially revealing: they reflect everything that parents have learned on the topic. Articles, oral advice from experts, videos, and books about childhood are discussed.

The authors of the study studied websites and forums for parents (littleone.ru, eva.ru, chado.spb.ru, babyforum.ru and many others) and determined which books are most often mentioned and recommended by their registered members. Other sources of data on the most read literature were conversations with parents (urban educated middle class, 100 interviews in 2010-2014) and a survey of St. Petersburg bookstore salespeople.

In the course of their research, Zhanna Chernova and Larisa Shpakovskaya identified fifteen books on childhood that were bought most often**. Some have already become classics for new parents. So, modern moms and dads still read the bestseller of the famous American pediatrician Benjamin Spock "The Child and Care for Him" ​​(first published in the USA in 1946). The advice of the famous Soviet educators Boris and Lena Nikitin is also popular (the first books were published in the 1960s; the works have been republished more than once and translated into at least ten languages).

The most read books on childhood tell about babies from "A" to "Z". Here and physical development (with specific indicators of growth, weight, skills of the child by a certain age), and the treatment of diseases, and educational games for children, and recipes for children's cuisine, and the psychological problems of parents and kids.

However, the authors of books see the parental role differently. And they differentiate the competencies of families and experts in different ways. In some books, parental experience is absolutized. Close contact with the child, intuition and parental love will help to find the right solution, they say. Other experts, on the contrary, insist on the need to "obey" specialists. Still others offer a compromise: the parent studies the opinion of experts, but makes the decision himself, taking into account the specific situation.

• Ludmila Petranovskaya. "Secret support. Attachment in a child's life.
• Irina Mlodik. "A book for imperfect parents, or Life on a free topic."
• Boris and Lena Nikitin. "We and our children."
• William and Martha Sears. "Your baby from birth to two years."

Main parenting competencies: love for the baby and developing your own parenting style that is optimal for the family. The goal of professionalization: a happy childhood and parenthood.

Pros: benefits teach neophyte parents to believe in themselves, develop intuition.

Controversial moment: "dictation" of parental experience.

Presentation style: confidential story, dialogue with the reader on an equal footing.

Distinguishing marks: close emotional and physical contact with the child - for example, breastfeeding, carrying the child in a sling, co-sleeping.

The authors of such books are opponents of dogmas in regard to the upbringing and care of the child. The argument is simple: babies differ in their psychophysiological characteristics, and the situations in families are different. The home environment, the involvement of the child in household chores and maternal love, according to Boris and Lena Nikitin, are more important than expert advice.

The books are addressed primarily to young mothers. Behind them is recognized "biological", natural knowledge about children. “Surprisingly, by nature itself, a young mother has already been given enough knowledge, skills, wisdom, love to take care of her baby,” writes Irina Mlodik. Close contact with the child increases this knowledge, develops parental intuition: the mother feels her baby better.

• Lyubov Pavlova. "A Practical Encyclopedia of Early Development: Years to Three".
• Mikhail Fedotov. Encyclopedia of early child development. First year of life.
• Georgy Bolotovsky, Alexander Tsaregorodtsev. "Three Major Years: A Book for Parents".
• Ludmila Sokolova, Nadezhda Andreeva. "This amazing baby."
• Valentina Alexandrova. "Encyclopedia of the Young Mother".
• Sergei Zaitsev. "A book for young mothers".

Key parental competencies: competent care of the child, training in proper care. The purpose of professionalization: the health and comfort of children.

Pros: Parents receive the most important knowledge about caring for a baby. Information is given on indicators of child development, and the range of recommendations is quite wide: from hygiene to dietetics.

Disputable moment: absolutization of medical knowledge, parental experience is taken out of brackets.

Presentation style: monologue guide. The authors of the books “offer an objective picture of the development of the child, thereby claiming the absolute truth of speaking about parenthood and childhood,” Chernova and Shpakovskaya explain.

Special features: Evaluation of all changes in the child in terms of health/illness.

Young parents, according to the authors of these books, are incompetent in matters of care. They need professional advice. After all, already from the first days of life, the child needs to create the right conditions, establish a competent (in terms of hygiene and health) life.

That is why the information in such books is extremely specific. So, the guide of pediatricians Georgy Bolotovsky and Alexander Tsaregorodtsev begins with the words: “To care for a newborn, you need cotton swabs and cotton swabs, gauze wipes, baby cream, powder, baby oil, two pipettes ...”. It is necessary to constantly monitor the physical condition of the child and, in case of any doubt, consult a doctor, the authors of the books are convinced.

• Mikhail and Nadezhda Telepov. “Education of parents. Questions for reflection.
• Evgeny Komarovsky. The health of the child and the common sense of his relatives.
• Benjamin Spock. "Child and Care".
• Elena Pervushina. Handbook for a young mother. Educational activities for kids.
• Ekaterina Murashova. "Your obscure child. Psychological prescriptions for parents.

Core parenting competencies: love for the child and the ability to think critically - adapt expert prescriptions to the person and situation. The purpose of professionalization: the health of the child, psychological comfort for the whole family.

Pros: balanced position. Parents are given a guide - medical information. At the same time, it is recognized that mothers and fathers must make independent decisions, taking into account all specific circumstances.

Controversial point: the need for a critical attitude of parents to very different information - both to ordinary stereotypes (which is quite understandable), and to the advice of experienced doctors.

Presentation style: instructions and imperatives alternate with confidence.

Special features: abundance of cases from practice.

Bookmakers give parents the freedom to decide. “The author does not aim to strictly regulate the actions of mom or dad,” writes Dr. Komarovsky. After all, sometimes expert advice is hard to put into practice. Then the common sense of parents helps, their ability to navigate the situation. This approach strengthens the position of parents when dealing with professionals, Zhanna Chernova and Larisa Shpakovskaya are convinced. "It allows mothers and fathers to be more autonomous in their choice of parenting model" and helps shape individual parenting style, the researchers conclude.

*Under three years of age selected in the study because babies need intensive parental care. On the other hand, during this period, parents are very actively involved in the course of things.

**Literature in the selection was published in 2000-2014.

See also:

Why grandmothers are replaced by nannies

Parents are actively engaged in self-education

Parenthood becomes a profession

Why children do not go to clubs and classes

Lyricist: Sobolevskaya Olga Vadimovna, February 10, 2017

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236 #Pregnancy and the first year of a baby's life

Larisa Surkova

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Pregnancy is an amazing time in every woman's life! Constant changes in the emotional background, a period of joyful excitement, the expectation of a miracle and the anticipation of a new life - all these feelings are important for the expectant mother and child! But in order to protect yourself from excessive anxiety, it is right to build a relationship ...

What are our births

Tutta Larsen

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Tutta Larsen is the author and host of the popular program "What are our births" on the TUTTA. TV channel, which she created especially for interested and caring parents. Tutta is a mother three times: Luka is now 12 years old, Martha is 7, Ivan is 2. Being pregnant with her youngest, Vanechka, Tutta realized that she had ...

365 tips for the first year of your child's life

Evgeniy Komarovsky

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The book that you are holding in your hands continues the series "Doctor Komarovsky's Library" beloved by many. Learn, rejoice, make wonderful discoveries, smile! After all, this book was written in order to reduce the likelihood of mistakes, so that the first year of a child's life does not turn into a feat...

Our first month. Step by step instructions for caring for a newborn

Tatyana Molchanova

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In the first month after giving birth, most mothers have many questions, the answers to which have to be sought in different sources. This takes precious time. But at this point you need quick and clear instructions. It was their author, the mother of a charming little girl, who collected them in the book after checking her...

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Evgenia Nosal

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Zhenya Nosal, a professional doula and lactation consultant, creator and leading expert of the Mother's Course, talks about what happens to a woman after childbirth. She offers a comprehensive approach to motherhood, supplementing it with comments from doctors and psychologists, as well as...

What does your baby want?

Tracey Hogg

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The child is crying and won't calm down. What does he want? Maybe he is teething, or maybe his tummy hurts? Did you get sick? Or just wants you to pay attention to him? The whole family wants to relax, but your child can't sleep - why? Tre...

200 questions about breastfeeding

Irina Ryukhova

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Is it necessary to prepare specially for breastfeeding; when milk comes and how to understand that the baby has enough of it; what to do if it hurts to feed; how much should a baby eat and sleep at different ages; what to do if mom is sick; how to organize life with a baby; when and how to start complementary foods; . ..

Call the milk fairy! Nursing Mom First Aid

Milk Fairies Authors

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This book is a sure remedy for all (well, almost all) troubles and nightmares of a nursing mother. Here you will find many useful tips and answers to the most popular questions about breastfeeding and the first months of a baby's life. Friendly company of experienced mothers and part-time psychologists ...

Newborn mother. 7 steps to calm motherhood

Evgenia Nosal

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Zhenya Nosal, a professional doula and lactation consultant, creator and leading expert of the Mother's Course, talks about what happens to a woman after childbirth. She offers a comprehensive approach to motherhood, supplementing it with comments from doctors and psychologists, as well as...

Perinatal psychology

Igor Dobryakov

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The book is dedicated to a new section of psychological science - perinatal psychology.

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