Five On Friday – Favorite Valentine’s Day Books for Kids

In keeping with the Valentine’s Day theme (I shared our Valentine’s Day décor yesterday), I thought that I would share some of our favorite books to read this time of year about one of our favorite topics – love. 

We love to read in our house.  Both of our kids would sit and read for hours on end if we would let them, and we always read a couple of books each night before bed. 

One of my favorite things to buy for the kids are holiday themed books.  We have loads of Christmas books, as well as books for Valentine’s Day, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, you name it!

Here are some tried and true favorites of ours for Valentine’s Day.

O N E

Love is You & Me. by Monica Sheehan. 

My favorite one of all!  You guys, this book is just darling.  The words are so sweet and the illustrations are fantastic. 

“Love is fun!  It’s feeling free!  It lets you be who you want to be.”

I mean, that is excellent advice for everyone!  How many times do we hear about people trying to change things about themselves because they’re just “not good enough” for someone?  A lot.  Well this book describes what love should be like, and it gives kids a healthy perspective on love from a very young age which will definitely come in handy once they grow up and start dating.  (I just shuddered even thinking about it.)  And obviously with advice like this, this book is not just for kids – it’s a great reminder for people of all ages.  This is actually one of my very favorite children’s books of all time and one that we will save to read to our grandbabies.  Yikes, I just shuddered even thinking about being old enough to have grandbabies.  

T W O

 The I Love You Book by Todd Parr

This book teaches kids about unconditional love which is something that is so incredibly important to me as a mother.  If there’s anything that I can instill in each of my children, it is for them to know that they are loved.  So much.  No matter what. 

When Jacob is doing something wrong, he often asks me, “Mommy, do you still love me even when I fill in the blank?”  (In his case, he’s probably asking about pooping in his pants – LOL.)  But the fact that he sometimes feels the need to ask this question is a little reminder that little kids really don’t know about unconditional love unless we teach them.

The book shows kids that they are loved when they are doing positive things and when they are doing negative things like not sleeping when they’re supposed to (or in Jacob’s case, pooping in his pants).  Hehe.  Anyway, we love this one a ton as well. 

T H R E E

Where is Baby's Valentine? by Karen Katz. 

This book is one of Olivia’s favorites simply because it’s a “lift the flap” book.  That girl loves looking under those flaps!  If you’re looking for a fun, interactive book for your baby, this is it.

F O U R

Happy Valentine's Day, Mouse! by Laura Numeroff

Well, who didn’t love If You Give a Mouse a Cookie?  This book is about the same little mouse celebrating Valentine’s Day with all of his loved ones and it could not be any cuter if it tried!

F I V E

Never Too Little to Love by Jeanne Willis

This book is about a little mouse who learns that love is for everyone – big, small, and everything in between.  It’s so sweet and the illustrations remind me of books that I used to read when I was little.

Each year I typically get each of the kids a new Valentine’s Day book to add to our collection, and this year I have my eye on Love from the Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.  The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a favorite by many so when I saw that Eric Carle just released this new one in December 2015, I knew that we have to have it.  It’s Eric Carle so it can’t be bad, right?  If you have it, let me know if you like it!

Happy Friday, loves.  I hope you all enjoy your weekends!

*Linking up with A Liz Adventures for Five On Friday and A Little Bit of Everything for Friday Favorites.