We like books you can sing with babies and toddlers. This metallic covered cardboard book is sturdy enough for repeated sharing and little hands that will want to turn the pages with independence. The familiar Rain, Rain Go Way rhyme needs no introduction to grownups and children alike. 1 & up

Age: Infants, Toddlers. Award Year: 2013. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Great illustrations of barnyard animals by the late Simms Taback. Printed on sturdy stock, this is a good lapbook for hamming it up and playing around with animal sounds. A good knowing and naming book to share with toddlers, who will love the "magical" motion of the hologram duck on the cover and making animal sounds.

Age: Infants, Toddlers. Award Year: 2013. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

A collection of babies and toddlers from all over the world, all doing what babies and toddlers do. Each new pair of children introduce us to some new locale, new actions, new ethnicities--but always the alternating pages show how they all have ten little fingers and ten little toes. We loved the original and now this bilingual edition, done on sturdy cardboard stock for independent beginning page turners.

Age: Infants, Toddlers. Award Year: 2012.

Charming illustrations accompany the familiar lullaby, Hush Little Baby, but the verses here are not the usual. If you know the original words for forever, you may have trouble accepting this newly minted version, but in a sense they give both mama and papa, the singing parents some freedom to make up more new verses that are tailor made for their own little one. This is sort of close to the familiar and though some of the rhymes are only near rhymes, it works. Fair warning--if you do not like variations on old classics, skip this. 0-2

Age: Infants, Toddlers. Award Year: 2012. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Though most of us know a verse or two of this old song, this oversized picture book includes many more stanzas than you probably ever heard. Best of all, the glorious illustrations follow a 19th Century family in their horse and sled on the way to Grandfather's house. The sights and scenes capture a sense of another time and place that takes the song back to its roots and gives young children a bit of visual history.

Age: Infants, Toddlers, Preschool, Early School Years. Award Year: 2011. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

What will baby hear? Lift the flaps on the peek a boo pages and baby will see and hear the sounds of a toy train, peeping chicks, a honking car, frogs that ribbet, and a baby who giggles. As always, Karen Katz's lively colorful art feels exactly on target for laptime readers. Indeed, her books are among the best choices for turning your baby into a book lover.

Age: Infants, Toddlers. Award Year: 2011. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Cleverly designed, this sturdy cardboard book has a hand that folds out and can be used to play along with the actions pictured on the illustrations. Your toddler can wave, pat a puppy, give a high-five, hold a teddy bear, blow a kiss, play peek-a-boo, and wave bye-bye. Now this is a truly interactive book without any sound effects or batteries needed. 9 months & up.

Age: Infants, Toddlers. Award Year: 2011. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

A stack of ten little chunky books, each with a familiar nursery rhyme. The set includes Baa Baa Black Sheep, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Hey Diddle Diddle, Humpty Dumpty, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Jack be Nimble, Little Bo Peep. Little Miss Muffet, This Little Piggy, Twinkle Twinkle, and Rain, Rain Go Away. The set is produced on recycled materials and is printed in more muted tones than similar collections. 2 & up.

Age: Infants, Toddlers, Preschool. Award Year: 2011. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Colorful images of father and son capture the fun the pair share. There is no real story, but rather a catalog of the active things they like to do together. Printed on sturdy cardboard stock, this is a book for toddlers. Good for talking about what is happening in the pictures and for making connections between their own Daddy and the games played in the pictures.

Age: Infants, Toddlers. Award Year: 2011. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Using pet names from many cultures and adorable paintings of babies from all over the world, this is a rhythmic rhyme to share with babies and toddlers. Printed on big sturdy cardboard pages this is a book that can take the kind of handling it is sure to get from "ndependent" little readers. You won't just read the words on the page, there's so much to talk about as you look at what the babies are doing through the day. 6 months & up

Age: Infants, Toddlers. Award Year: 2010. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.