Reading with your child is a great way to promote speech, language, literacy and communication development and can support children with developmental delays. There are so many fun books to choose from, our speech pathology team have provided their top 10 books for children aged 0-3 years old.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

By Bill Martin Jr

This one is an oldie but a goodie. First published in 1967, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? is a picture book designed to help young children associate colours and meanings to objects. Written by Bill Martin and brought to life beautifully by illustrator Eric Carle, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? opened up a world of learning to a generations of children and has sold over two million copies worldwide.

The Very Cranky Bear

By Nick Bland

Another bear that we love is The Very Cranky Bear! Written by Australian author Nick Bland, this is the story of four friends who encounter a very bad-tempered bear! They decide that they must cheer him up! The Very Cranky Bear is filled with rhymes, colours, animals, environments and emotions. These concepts help children to develop their language skills.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

By Eric Carle

Another much loved book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar is so much more – it’s a great language and literacy tool. The story can support the development of early language concepts, demonstrates sequencing, provides opportunities for description, teaches plurals and can help build vocabulary with fancy words like “chrysalis” and “larva”. There’s lots to love about this little caterpillar!

Llama Llama Red Pyjama

By Anna Dewney

In this catchy rhyming tale, Baby Llama turns bedtime into a llama drama! When tucked into bed by his mum, Baby llama starts to worry about being left alone. Children will relate to Baby Llama’s need for comfort so much that they might not realise that they are also learning their ‘l’, ‘m’, ‘r’, ‘d’, ‘p’, and ‘j’ sounds. The story provides the opportunity to talk to children about their emotions and to demonstrate empathy for Baby Llama.

Day and Night

By Dannika Patterson

Written by local Brisbane author Dannika Patterson, Day and Night is the story of Miki’s first camping trip with her family. It follows the activity of her early-morning rise in her city apartment to falling asleep in the forest under a blanket of stars. This beautiful story demonstrates the differences and transitions between day and night, light and dark and city and country.

Goodnight Moon

By Margaret Wise Brown

This gentle bedtime story, has lulled generations of children to sleep. In a great green room, a little bunny is tucked up snugly and safely in bed and is getting ready to say goodnight to all the familiar things in his room, one by one. We love this book because of its repetition (Goodnight…) making it a great book for little ones to “fill in the blanks”. There are so many things to say goodnight to and we can always think of more!

Hello World

By Lisa Shanahan

Awarded Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year in the birth to 3-year category (2022), Hello World gives us so much to talk about! The sun is up and so is one gorgeous munchkin, ready to welcome the world! With a delicious rhyming text and lovely illustrations, Hello World is a joyous celebration of all the small wonders waiting to be discovered, in a single ordinary day.

Peek-a Who

By Nina Laden

Peek-a Who is a fun and engaging picture flip book that promotes lots of language skills incorporating animal sounds “moo”, action sounds “choo choo” and rhyme “moo, choo choo, you”.

Ribbit Rabbit Robot

By Victoria Mackinlay

Ribbit Rabbit Robot is a highly engaging story brought to life through its beautifully detailed illustrations. A frog finds an enchanted lamp in an antique shop, but a cheeky rabbit and a dopey robot selfishly snatch it away. The fun begins as frog, rabbit and robot compete to get their wishes granted. The book explores themes of rhyme, alliteration, matching, labelling, inferring, copying sounds and so much more!

Snap!

By Annie Walker

Snap! Takes us on a funny, energetic, rollicking, rhyming, onomatopoeic adventure with one little frog! As Frog makes his way through the jungle, how will he escape the swoops, snips, and snaps of all sorts of animals in the forest and get to the party on time?

Baby Bedtime

By Mem Fox

Written in gentle, rhythmic rhyme, Baby Bedtime is the perfect winding-down picture book to read aloud before bed. “There comes a time for sleeping, and our sleepy time is now... So fall asleep, my angel, with a kiss upon your brow."