The Best Baby Books: A Treasury of Ideas For Writers & Readers

The Best Baby Books:
A
Treasury of Ideas
For Writers & Readers


This list of best selling books and the best baby books is the product of an
extensive survey into infants' development and "reading" preferences. It is a
useful guide if you're looking for great reads for babies, or help in writing a
book.

If you'd like to write for children, we hope a study of the bestsellers
listed below will help you gain insights into what makes a story a favorite with
readers, and perhaps spark off your own original ideas for writing a book kids
will love.

Happy Reading!



Best Baby Books #1: Books About Animals

List of Best Selling Books
& Approximate Sales Figures
Beatrix Potter: Peter Rabbit series (150
million): The Tale of Peter Rabbit (45 million); The Tale of Benjamin
Bunny (over 4 million); The Tale of Jemima PUddle-Duck (over 3.8
million); The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin (over 3 million); The Tale of
Tom Kitten (over 3 million); The Story of Miss Moppet; The Tale of Mr
Jeremy Fisher
Norman Bridwell: Clifford the Big Red Dog series
(110 million)
Eric Carle: The Very Hungry Caterpillar (22 million);
The Very Busy Spider (over 1 million); Will You Be My Friend?; The
Very Quiet Cricket (1.4 million); and Have You Seen My Cat?
Sam
McBratney: Guess How Much I Love You (15 million)
Janette Sebring
Lowrey: The Poky Little Puppy (15 million)
Kathryn and Byron Jackson:
Saggy Baggy Elephant (7.5 million)
Marcus Pfister: The Rainbow
Fish (over 4 million)
Margaret Wise Brown: Runaway Bunny (4
million)
Robert McCloskey: Make Way for Ducklings (Caldecott Medal; 3
million)
Ole Risom: I Am a Bunny (over 2 million)
Eric Hill:
Where's Spot? (1.2 million) and sequels
Kathryn Jackson: Tawny
Scrawny Lion (over 1 million)
Gyo Fujikawa: Baby Animals So Tall Board
Book (800,000)
Best Baby Books
Rod Campbell: Dear Zoo
Eric Carle:
Have You Seen My Cat?; Will You Be My Friend?; 1, 2, 3 to the Zoo; Rooster's
Off to See the World
Nancy Carlstrom: Jesse Bear, What Will YOu
Wear? and Jesse Bear's Tum-Tum Tickle
Cressida Cowell: What
Shall We Do with the Boo-Hoo Baby?
Joyce Dunbar: Four Fierce
Kittens
Deborah Guarino: Is Your Mama a Llama?



Best Baby Books #2: Bedtime Stories

List of Best Selling Books &
Approximate Sales Figures
Sam McBratney: Guess How Much I Love
You (15 million)
Margaret Wise Brown: Goodnight Moon (over 10
million); The Runaway Bunny (4 million)
Robert Munsch: Love You
Forever (over 8 million)
Watty Piper: Little Engine That Could
(over 5 million)
Don Freeman: Corduroy (2.5 million)
Sandra
Boynton: The Going-to-Bed Book (1.4 million)
Debra Frasier: On the
Day You Were Born (over 1 million)
Popular Baby Book List
Sandra Boynton: Snuggle Puppy
Mem
Fox: Time for Bed
Anne Gutman: Daddy Kisses and Mommy
Hugs
Barbara Joosse: Mama, Do You Love Me?
Virginia Miller:
I Love You Just the Way You Are
Lauren Thompson: Little Quack's
Bedtime
Nancy Tillman: On the Night You Were Born



Best Baby Books #3: Nursery Rhymes & Rhyming Songs

List of Best
Selling Books & Approximate Sales Figures
Margaret Wise Brown:
Goodnight Moon (over 10 million)
Dr Seuss: Green Eggs and Ham
(over 8 million); The Cat in the Hat (over 7.2 million); One Fish, Two
Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (over 6 million); Hop on Pop (5.5 million);
Oh, the Places You'll Go! (over 5 million); Fox in Socks (3.7
million); and Mr Brown Can Moo! Can You? (over 2.65 million)
Bill
Martin and John Archambault: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (over 850,000)

Good Books for Babies
Marc Brown: Finger Rhymes; Hand Rhymes;
Play Rhymes
Kay Chorao: Knock at the Door and Other Baby Action
Rhymes
Bruce Degen: Jamberry
Mem Fox: Time for
Bed
Lenny Hort: The Seals on the Bus
Ezra Jack Keats: Over
in the Meadow
Edward Lear: The Owl and the Pussycat
Sylvia
Long: Hush Little Baby
Bill Martin Jr and John Archambault: Chicka
Chicka Boom Boom
Charlotte Pomerantz: The Piggy in the
Puddle
Jack Prelutsky: Ride a Purple Pelican
Raffi: Down by
the Bay
Chris Raschka: Charlie Parker Played Be Bop
Michael
Rosen: We're Going On a Bear Hunt!
Nadine Bernard Westcott: The
Lady with the Alligator Purse; Peanut Butter and Jelly: A Play Rhyme




Best Baby Books #4: Favorite Funny Stories & Funny Poems

List of
Best Selling Books & Approximate Sales Figures
PD Eastman: Go,
Dog. Go! (3.5 million)
Laura Numeroff: If You Give a Mouse a
Cookie (1.8 million); If You Give a Moose a Muffin (1.15 million);
and If You Give a Pig a Pancake (0.9 million)
Sandra Boynton: Moo,
Baa, La La La (over 1.5 million); Barnyard Dance! (1.15 million);
But Not the Hippopotamus

Best Baby Books
June Crebbin: Cows in the
Kitchen
Alexandra Day: Good Dog, Carl
Vivian French: Oh No,
Anna!
Bill Grossman: My Little Sister Ate One Hare
Pat
Hutchins: Rosie's Walk



Best Baby Books #5: Best Seller Books About Vehicles

WV Awdry and
Christopher Awdry: Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends series (90
million)
Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things That Go (1.7
million); Cars and Trucks from A to Z (800,000)
Peter Spier: Big
Trucks, Little Trucks; Fast Cars, Slow Cars; Here Come the Fire Trucks; Trucks
that Dig and Dump
Byron Barton: Boats; Planes; Trains; Trucks; My Car;
Airport; I Want to be an Astronaut
Donald Crews: Truck; Freight Train;
Inside Freight Train; School Bus
Thacher Hurd: Zoom
City
Philemon Sturges: I Love Trains!
Dan Yaccarino: Zoom!
Zoom! Zoom! I'm Off to the Moon!


Best Baby Books #6: Picture Books for Babies & Interactive Children's
Books

List of Best Selling Books & Approximate Sales Figures

Dorothy Kunhardt: Pat the Bunny, Golden Books, 2001 (over 7.5
million)
Eric Hill: Where's Spot?, 1980, PUtnam (1.2 million)
Debra
Frasier: On the Day You Were Born, Harcourt Children's Books, 1991 (over
1 million)
Paul Zelinsky: The Wheels on the Bus, Dutton 1990
(800,000)
Gyo Fujikawa: Babies So Tall Board Book, 1963, Grosset &
Dunlap (1 million)
Matthew Van Fleet: Fuzzy Yellow Duckling, 1995,
Dial (over 850,000)

Popular Interactive Stories & Educational Books for
Babies
Janet and Allan Ahlberg: Baby Sleeps; Blue Buggy; Doll and
Teddy; See the Rabbit: all 1998, Little, Brown
Jez Alborough: Hug,
2000, Candlewick
Molly Bang: Ten, Nine, Eight, 1983, Tupelo; Yellow
Ball, 1991, Greenwillow
Clare Beaton: Mother Goose Remembers,
2000, Barefoot Books
John Burningham: Hushabye, 2001, Knopf, and Mr
Gumpy's Outing, 1971, Henry Holt
Eric Carle: From Head to Toe,
1997, HarperCollins
David Carter: If You're Happy and You Know It, Clap
Your Hands, 1997, Scholastic
Alexandra Day: Good Dog, Carl, 1985,
Aladdin
Elizabeth Hathon: Oh, Baby!: A Touch-and-Feel Book, 1999,
Grosset & Dunlap