The first baby books you get from someone else aren't likely to be the first books your baby will like. You stand a good chance of getting The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Goodnight Moon, Where the Wild Things Are, Guess How Much I Love You, On The Night You Were Born, or Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Plus some Seuss, probably. And those are all great. But they're not the first books your baby will love.

Tiny babies six months and younger are just learning about the world and what's in it. Pediatricians recommend reading to them right from birth. But reading what? (Besides Shakespeare, of course.) They're so small--how do you get them interested in books? How do you start making reading fun for both of you as soon as possible?

It's not too hard! You want to hold their attention, associate books with fun, and create a routine around reading. The categories below will get you off to a good start: Contrast for when baby is super little, Playtime and Song books for fun, and Sleepytime books for naps and bed. Rhythm is a good intermediate category that can be used for any of the slots.

I recommend picking one book from each section, whatever appeals to you most. They also make cheap, durable, useful baby shower gifts that aren't quite as likely to be doubled up on.

Contrast

High-contrast books are for early days, when your baby still gets tripped out looking at a stripy shirt. They'll help you start the habit of book time, but by three months these are pretty well out of their usefulness, so they're good candidates to borrow from the library. Try to talk about what’s happening on the page, even if there’s no text. Even if it's more of a DIY Rorschach test.