Having a two year old means reading a lot of picture books. And they are just so much fun!

These are some of my daughter's favorite books:

My Dad by Anthony Browne -- This was the first book that really reached my little one. She seemed ecstatic to find a book that appreciated how fantastic Dad really is!

Little Beauty by Anthony Browne -- A gorilla and a kitten are best friends and in the end the kitten saves the day.

The Tiger who came to Tea by Judith Kerr -- A tiger comes to tea and eats and drinks everything Sophie and her mother have in the house! We read this one dozens of times every day for the first week, and it's still a daily read.

Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann -- The gorilla (who is a sweet little monkey who doesn't look much like a gorilla, but that would be nitpicking...) steals the zookeeper's keys and breaks out all the animals. They all follow the zookeeper home. We got this one as a present from a friend in the US and it was an instant hit with all of us. It even got my picky daughter to start eating bananas, the only fruit that will pass her lips. One bite for every page with a picture of the mouse carting around a banana...

Hug, Tall and Yes by Jez Alborough -- My daughter loves little Bobo, especially how his mom is always there for him.

The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson -- we got this in English first, and she really liked it, even with Mom and Dad's halting on-the-spot translation which is pretty much impossible with rhymed text. Then we got the Icelandic translation, and she LOVES it now that her parents have stopped stuttering their way through...

Busy! Busy! Busy! by Jonathan Shipton. Something about comforting a crying Mom seems to appeal to my daughter.

Courderoy by Don Freeman. My agent sent this to my daughter, it came packaged with a small teddy, and Courderoy was of course renamed George after my agent. A little teddy wanders around a department store hoping to find a button to fix his trousers and then gets brought home by a little girl.

Tommy goes to the doctor by Gunilla Wolde. My daughter spends a lot of time at the hospital and seeing different specialists. There has been a lot of fear and pain. This book has been a great comfort to her and for a long time we called it "Tommy has a blood test" because she had painful blood tests all the time and in the book Tommy has a vaccination and cries.


Not a picture book, but I have to mention the Moomin books by Tove Jansson. My daughter is mad about the Moomins. She can watch the series endlessly.

Now her dad has started to read the original books to her at night. We thought she might be way too young, but she listens carefully and recognizes the story from the television series.

It's so much fun reading with my child and watching her develop through books. There are so many wonderful books I look forward to sharing with her.