First Board Books

Board books are typically the first books that children experience. They are more durable with pages that don’t easily tear and are more resistant to dirt and stains. They also are smaller so that smaller children can hold them and turn the pages easily. Most recently many full size children’s books have been scaled to board books. Included in this list are some of the classic board books that all children should own.

black on white

Before being able to see colors, babies respond to strong-contrast black and white images. Black on White and its companion book White on Black are board books filled with silhouettes of familiar objects. The books were created by Tana Hoban, a photographer who turned to writing children’s books and created a series of similar titles. Although the high contrast images are intended to stimulate the developing visual senses of the very youngest children, I like them for the simplicity of the images.

Written and illustrated by Tana Hoban.
Other suggested titles by the same author include What are Those? and Who are they?

goodnight moon

Leo Lionni is one of my favorite children's book authors. Each of his books has a simple story and is expressively illustrated. I consider many of his stories as modern-day Aesop Fables with simple but profound lessons. A Color of His Own is the story of a chameleon who finds that he changes his color to match his surroundings, but he is sad that he never has his own unique color.  Young readers will enjoy the ending and hear the lesson about being yourself and not always trying to blend in with the rest of the world.

Written by Margaret Wise Brown. Illustrated by Clement Hurd.

the very hungry caterpillar

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Written and illustrated by Eric Carle.