10 Bedtime Books

10 Bedtime Books We've Been Reading 

Reading books helps create a routine before bedtime: hearing the comfort of a parent's voice with the lull of rhythmic reading, cuddling close to a slower heart-beat all reminds their bodies that it is time to fall asleep. I like having approximately 4-10 books near the child's bed that they can choose from. We typically read three different books plus our last book, which is our prayer book: Good Night, God. We then sing our goodnight song "Jesus Loves Me" and turn off the light.
Any book can become a bedtime book; however, books about sleeping, prayer or love can lend to better bedtime book choices.

These are our favorite books for this age range, starting with the ones we first read that our daughter still loves, to the newest ones she most recently enjoys.

1. Good Night, God by Ginger Swift, illustrated by Daniela Sosa. Cottage Door Press published 2018. Ages Newborn to 5

We were gifted this book twice, by two different friends, and we loved it so much we gifted a copy to another friend. We read this book every night, and have been ever since she was 2 months old. We use it as a prayer, that we change to reflect on the day, such as using the specific names of foods that she ate that day or other details from the day into the prayer.

2. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown and pictures by Clement Hurd. Harper Festival A Division of  Harper Collins Publishers. First published 1947, first board book 1991, 2013. Ages Newborn to 3. 

I don't remember when we started reading this book with her, maybe the 3 month mark. At around 12 months she started to pick this book out from her collection to flip through on her own. This book is great for rhyming words which are so important for them to help them tune in to the different sounds our language makes. I love to pause when reading the book to hear her fill in the blank for what the old lady says ("hush"). She loves pointing to the different objects in the artwork, especially the mouse. Just like in the book we tell our surroundings goodnight: "goodnight piano, goodnight Georgia dog, goodnight outside world..."

3. A Snuggle Time Prayer by Kayleigh Rhatigan, Illustrated by Lee Holland. Published by Little Hippo Books in 2019. Ages 1 to 5.

We bought this book just after she turned one. When I first started reading it to her she would turn the page before I could read all of the text. She loves to point out the crackers in the book: "May God bless the food that together we share, the carrots the crackers, the slices of pear." I like how this book shows a cradle in the pictures because I have found that some books show a bed even when the book is geared towards young babies and toddlers. 

4. Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney, illustrated by Anita Jeram. Published by Candlewick Press 1994-2019. Ages Newborn to 3. 

Three months before our child was born, my amazing blessing of a husband came home with this big book. Our daughter recently started picking this book more often than not and she likes how big it is. She turns to me for a kiss on the penultimate page when the book says, "He leaned over and kissed him good night." She's been acting out the motions putting her arms wide and high and hopping and pointing. Do you agree with me that everyone should grow up reading the book that the phrase "I love you right up to the moon --- and back" came from? 

5. Any Sandra Boynton Book. Night-Night, Little Pookie by Sandra Boynton. Published 2019 by Robin Corey Books, an imprint of Random House Children's Books. Ages Newborn to 4. 
In this book Pookie gets ready for bed in a Pookie-filled style. My favorite parts in this book are that Pookie chooses to wear his stars and cars pajamas and his mom kisses his ears, nose and eyes so that means I get to kiss my child's ears, nose and eyes! Last night my daughter wanted me to have the mom in the book, on the first page, call for "Pooooo-kie!" over and over again.
Currently we've been reading Happy Birhday, Little Pookie. Any of Sandra Boynton books are always a hit for child and parent. 

6. The Napping House by Audrey and Don Wood. Published 1984 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Ages 1 to 4.

10 months

Almost two years old

This book was gifted to us at my baby shower. We love reading it and the companion book The Full Moon at the Napping House as well. The book is about everyone who is getting ready to fall asleep, until, oh, no, "can it be a wakeful flea?" They were all asleep until the flea bites the mouse who lands on the cat who claws the dog, and you get the point. Our daughter loves the sounds I make for the bed breaking and she would say "uh-oh" on that page, pointing to the broken bed! So adorable.

7. Jesus Loves Me by Ginger Swift, illustrated by Maria Mola. Published in 2020 by Cottage Door Press. Ages Newborn to 5.

This was a gift for her second Christmas when she was 19 months old. She loves the pictures and she signs "help" when I read one of the prayers: "God keep me from being too busy to see when someone could use a little help from me." This is another one she likes to read on her own during the day. 

8. Good Night, Octopus by Caleb Burroughs, illustrated by Emma Randall. Published 2015 by Cottage Door Press. Ages 1-3.

This was another gift for her second Christmas. Cute little Octopus gets ready for bed and even though an octopus is a foreign thing to her, she still finds this book engaging. We love that this book shows bedtime routines, has rhyming and is fun to point out things in the pictures. As we are working on potty training, we love that it has a pink potty in it as part of the bedtime routine.

9. Everyone is Yawning by Anita Bijsterbosch. Published in 2016 for the English language edition through Clavis books. Ages 2-5. 

We checked this out from the library a month ago and our daughter has wanted to read this over and over and over! It has ten animals and a child. With ten flaps and a fold-out page at the end, it is an instant winner! Yawning is normal drowsy behavior, and with every page having yawning animals, it makes for a perfect before-bedtime book. Plus, who doesn't like seeing mouths full of teeth when you have another tooth coming in?! 

10. Time For Bed by Mem Fox, illustrated by Jane Dyer. Published 1993 by Harcourt Brace. Ages Newborn to 5. 

This book has been read to babies and toddlers for 30 years! The book was written in an hour when the author was preparing for a workshop for teachers. The book has sold over 1.5 million copies. This book is also available in board book format, which would be good for newborn to 2 years of age. The realistic, full-paged images, and repetitive rhyming text is what makes this a classic. We enjoyed listening to the author read her book, https://memfox.com/books/time-for-bed/. 

So there you have it, a top ten bedtime book list for babies and toddlers! We have read and enjoyed many more books than these and it was so hard to choose only our top ten. 

Did you get any new ideas for you to read with your child, or an idea to gift someone for a baby shower or baby dedication/baptism? What are your favorite or most read bedtime books? Let us know!