Buying Books for A Baby Shower

I buy books for baby showers.  All the time.  The last baby shower I was at, I bought for the parents-to-be, Ten Apples Up On Top and Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?.  I love these books.  I love them because my children love them.  They weren't ones I read as a child, they were gifts.  Seeing my kids love them makes me want to spread the baby bookish love. I've bought loads of different books for showers, The Paperbag Princess, Goodnight Moon, Goodnight, I Love You and so many more. I've even included Go the F*ck To Sleep so that new parents can get a warning about how difficult it can be to put their child to bed.  I want to add, I don't typically buy only books (though I had a friend tell me to only get her books and pick the ones my children liked best).  Usually the books go with toys or something on the registry or a cute onesie.

For an upcoming shower I purchased, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and The Cat In The Hat. They are classics and loved by children everywhere.  I was told by someone, who asked what I had bought for the shower - well I don't think the parents are readers.  They disapproved of my shower gift.  I might have been offended, I definitely got defensive.  My reply was something like, they better become readers. There are so many benefits to reading to your children.  I could angrily list them all here, but if you're reading this, you probably know what many of them are.

What I'm wondering is: would you NOT buy books for a baby shower if you knew the parents weren't big readers?  I guess I think books are classic, can't go wrong, loved by children, gifts....

Books I Wish I'd Read as a Kid

1. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, by: C.S. Lewis
2. The Hobbit, by: J.R.R. Tolkien
3. Goodnight Moon, by: Margaret Wise Brown
4. Where The Wild Things Are, by: Maurice Sendak
5. Alice In Wonderland, by: Lewis Carroll
6. Peter Pan, by: J.M. Barrie

Some of these books I've now read, but some I still haven't.  An honourable mention goes to Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, (as well as the rest of the series). I would have read it as a kid, but it was published when I was seventeen, then I didn’t actually hear about it until I was 19. I did read it a couple years later and now, I absolutely love the series.

I couldn’t make it to ten this week. I honestly read a lot of good books as a kid, Anne of Green Gables, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and an assortment of Dr. Seuss and that’s just what I can think of off hand. I just bought The Monster At The End Of This Book for my daughter because I loved it so much as a kid. I hope that my kids grow up with the love for reading I did.

Thanks to the Broke and the Bookish for another great Top Ten Tuesday!

The Book Mine Set: The Great Wednesday Compare #5- Margaret Wise Brown VERSUS Maurice Sendak

Two great children's authors go head-to-head. Who will win? I'm voting for Margaret Wise Brown, but Maurice Sendak is pretty amazing too.
The Book Mine Set: The Great Wednesday Compare #5- Margaret Wise Brown VERSUS Maurice Sendak

Goodnight Moon

Is it possible for my 4-month-old to already love Goodnight Moon? I think it is. Almost every night, my husband sits with our little baby and reads her the story of the little bunny saying, “goodnight”. It is simple and sweet. My daughter loves to look at the illustrations and even helps her father turn the pages. You might think that it’s just the soothing sound of his voice, but no other book gets quite the same reaction.