Top Book Recommendations for a 2 1/2-3 Year Old Girl

We love the Olivia books. Our favorites are Olivia, Olivia Saves the Circus, and Olivia and the Missing Toy (though this one has kind of a scary page in it). The Fancy Nancy books are excellent too and totally and completely girly.

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"Birthday Monsters" by Sandra Boynton has always been a big favorite. It reads like Dr. Suess so it has a great cadence to it that the kids really get into.

Enjoy!

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I have a 2 y/o and a 4 y/o little girls. Here are just a few of our favorite books:
Eyes , Nose, Fingers, and Toes by Judy Hindley
The Flea's Sneeze by Henry Holt
If you give a mouse a cookie by Laura Numeroff
If you give a pig a pancake by Laura Numeroff
If you give a pig a party by Laura Numeroff

My 4 y/o also loves princess books. The Disney princess stories are sometimes long. So, if you decide on a disney princess book, make sure it is one that has multiple short stories in it. I have both. The long stories my 2 y/o will not sit through. She wants the pages turned before your done reading and then gets frustrated. My girls love angelina ballerina and I didn't know there were angelina books. I will definitely be looking into those.

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My daughter (almost 2.5) loves the Olivia books, and her fav page is the scary picture that someone mentions in the missing toy book. Also we love the books by Anna Dewdney...Llama Llama Mad at Mama, Llama Llama Red Pajama, Grumpy Gloria, Nobunny's Perfect...beautiful illustrations and great real-life situations.

Lift-the flap and pop-up books are a huge hit at this age - anything about animals or families are popular.
My son loved "Dear Zoo" and "Where's Spot?"

The Alfie books by Shirley Hughes. Or any book by this author. Google her and you will learn she is a national treasure in England. Her Alfie series and other books have delighted the young children in my care for a long time. You will find them at the library if you want to do a trial run. I promise you these books will be enjoyed by ALL the small and tall folks at your house!!!

Definitely the "Fancy Nancy" books or Disney Princess books for my little girl. I like Fancy Nancy because it is a regular little girl who enjoys dressing up, sprinkle and sparkles and large "fancy" words so some of the books are really good for introducing vocabulary that will be beneficial as they grow up. One of my favorite Disney Princess books...I think it's called "How to Be a Princess" and talks about how princesses are kind, giving, etc. If this little girl is like most girls this age, it is a nice book. Good luck shopping for a book!

Our granddaughters - 3 and 4 year olds - love anything princess or fairy tale... the Disney princess stories. Winnie the Pooh is always a favorite theme with kids this age. We also have a series of Raggedy Ann and Andy story books that the girls ask for over and over again. I'm not sure what's available currently in that theme, but highly recommend them for pure enjoyment. Each one we have also has a good life lesson in it, but delivered in such a way that it isn't 'preachy'.

Someone gave my daughter a book that she really loves: The Dress I'll Wear to the Party by Shirley Neitzel. It's a cute rhyming book about a girl dressing up in her mother's things. Very girly and cute.
My daughter also loves the Angelina Ballerina books by K. Holabird. I have to admit that I enjoy those too. The stories are cute (several about dancing/performing)and the pictures are really well-done.

My daughter adores the glitter princess books. She also really likes Dora, anything princess, Barbie, Strawberry Shortcake, etc...

Todd Parr books are amazing and my 2 1/2 loves them. They are bright and fun.

Hi,
My daughter is 3 1/2 and absolutely LOVES the book "Pinkalicious" by Kann-Kann. This is a very cute book and perfect for the girly girl. My daughter has to have this read every night so of course now my husband & I have it memorized and she is getting pretty good at having it all memorized also. Good Luck!

"Do Princesses Wear Hiking Boots?" is a great one! Cant remember the author's name at the moment. But shouldn't be too hard to find.

I always liked "The Runaway Bunny" and "Goodnight Moon". goodnight moon has a little mouse somewhere in every picture that my son loved to find over and over. the illustrations in both the books are beautiful. good luck!

My now 4 year old loved and still loves: Pinkalicious(a story about a girl who eats so many cupcakes she turns pink), the Princess Knight, the Madeline series, Ballet Kitty, The wildest Brother, also Richard Scarry's books are great with so many things to look at!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar, though not a "girl book", is a hit with both my kids- my daughter is 2.

Jada Pickett-Smith wrote a great book called Girls Hold up This World. Here's the amazon link http://www.amazon.com/Girls-Hold-Up-This-World/dp/0439087937

Happy reading...

Lots of good suggestions. I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Madeline books by Ludwig Bemelmans.

Like Dr. Seuss, they rhyme. They have great watercolor illustrations. What I love best is that Madeline isn't a perfect little angel, yet she's loveable and clever.

I also recommend Stellaluna by Janell Cannon - a little fruit bat gets separated from her mother and has to live with birds for a while to survive... beautiful illustrations and a good story. (It's not specifically girly, but the Mama - little girl thing is sweet.)