Baby & Toddler
Pre-K
Growing Reader
Valentine’s Day Book Gifts for
Little Readers
by Janssen Bradshaw
I think Valentine’s Day is such a little February blessing.
The big holidays are long since over, the glow of the new year is starting to fade, and winter still seems like it has a long time to go, with lots of time cooped up inside.
And then comes Valentine’s Day, with lots of celebrating, hearts, and happiness. It’s just about the best thing that could happen right smack in the middle of those long winter months.
My girls love Valentine’s Day and I’ve loved making it a festive occasion in our home the past few years.
I especially love adding to our Valentine’s Day book collection every year and gifting them each a book that they’ll enjoy reading over and over again, probably snuggled up with some hot chocolate.
If you’re looking for some fun Valentine’s Day book gifts for your little bookworms, here are some of my favorites by age group.
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Ages 0 - 2
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Welcome, Baby: Love You, Baby
Also available from:This sweet board book features a peek-though, glittery heart that will engage little hands as they turn page after page of cozy animal friends snuggling up. “Baby snuggles, close together. We could stay like this forever.” Us, too!
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My Fuzzy Valentine
Also available from:Anyone who has had a toddler knows that they want to touch EVERYTHING so a book designed to let them do just that is the perfect Valentine’s Day gift. In this one, featuring beloved Elmo, he’s received a valentine but no one's signed their name to it. Can he figure out who sent it?
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Huggy Kissy
Also available from:Leslie Patricelli’s board books — starring one very cute, bald baby — take a toddler-friendly peek at playful, everyday concepts. In Huggy Kissy, a family exuberantly expresses their affection for each other, culminating in a hug pileup.
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That's Me Loving You
Also available from:This sweet, reassuring board book perfectly captures the power of a parent’s love. With soothing rhymes and illustrations of children independently going about their days, the story reminds little readers that no matter where they go, they can find their parents’ love near them: “That feeling you always have in your heart? / That’s me loving you.”
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Llama Llama I Love You
Also available from:The full-length Llama Llama books can be a little long for the two and under set, so the board book versions are the perfect introduction to this bestselling series. In this one, Llama Llama celebrates wholeheartedly with lots of cards and hugs for the people, er, animals he loves best.
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I Love You Like No Otter
Also available from:I Love You Like No Otter is stuffed with adorable animal-themed puns: bumblebees who “bee-long” together, a kangaroo family that makes one another oh so “hoppy,” and more. What love puns can you think up for each other?
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A Valentine for Uni the Unicorn
Also available from:Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s Uni the Unicorn series is a fan favorite, and now readers can celebrate the holiday with their favorite not-so-mythological character who’s hoping for a valentine from the little girls and boys flipping through these pages. No Valentine’s Day is complete without a little magic!
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Who Loves Boo?
Also available from:Little ones first met Boo in his Halloween-themed debut, and now they can pick up the game of hide and seek in this Valentine’s Day edition. Tactile elements and die-cut pages make the search for Boo’s big heart all the more fun.
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Dr. Seuss's Lovey Things
Also available from:I don’t know about you, but Thing One and Thing Two are two of my all-time favorite characters from the Seussian canon. Here, Thing One and Thing Two gush about some of the lowercase-T things they love (and they’re not as mischievous as you’d think!).
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Ages 3 - 5
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Love from The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Also available from:For any child who has spent the first years of their life obsessed with that caterpillar, this book is perfect for Valentine’s Day, with all the collage images and colors that have made Eric Carle so famous. Bonus idea: Pack it with some tissue paper and let your child make their own Valentine’s Day collages.
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The Wonderful Things You Will Be
Also available from:I always appreciate a book that has lots of fun things to look at in the illustrations so that every subsequent read feels fresh and new, and this book does just that. At this age, the most important love in a child’s life is their parents, and this book celebrates the strength and length of that special relationship.
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Little Miss Valentine
Also available from:I bet you can’t guess Little Miss Valentine’s favorite holiday! As the heart-shaped starlet attempts to deliver valentines to her friends — all familiar characters from the Mr. Men and Little Miss series — things don’t quite go as planned. But it turns out that among friends, all you need is love and good intentions.
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The Sweetest Valentine
Also available from:For fans of Peppa Pig and all her friends, it doesn’t get much better than this Valentine’s Day activity book. Readers will draw hearts, connect the dots, follow a maze, and so much more. Keep the creativity flowing long after the last valentines are signed, sealed, and delivered.
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Love: from Sesame Street
Also available from:From our friends on Sesame Street comes a delightful survey of what love means to some of our all-time favorite characters. (Would you believe that Cookie Monster thinks of love as warm cookies?) With each read, you and your loved ones will have a blast coming up with new metaphors for what love looks like to you.
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Love
Also available from:A favorite for baby showers and family libraries, award-winning author Matt de la Peña’s Love — illustrated by the celebrated Loren Long — is a poetic and heartfelt ode to the power of love and the way it shows up in moments big and small, on good days and bad, ultimately connecting us all.
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Guess How Much I Love You: A Book of Valentines
Also available from:I challenge you to find cuter, more nostalgic valentines than these. Big and Little Nutbrown Hare have hopped straight out of Guess How Much I Love You and onto this set of 36 cards, ready to be colored, stickered, and dispatched to your favorite valentines.
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I Love You with All My Heart
Also available from:We’ve all been there — an innocent mistake (or maybe an unflattering outburst on a difficult day) can beg the question: am I still loved? Mommy Bear knows just what to say to her little one in this sweet story about unconditional love.
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My Love is All Around
Also available from:Pair I Love You with All My Heart with My Love is All Around and follow Mommy and Baby Bear through a heartwarming day in the forest as they explore all the sights, sounds, and sensations that remind them of each other’s love.
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Ages 6 - 8
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Love from the Crayons
Also available from:First, the Crayons quit, and then they fled home. Now, the Crayons are feeling sweetly sentimental (and wouldn’t you, after all that hubbub?). In Love from the Crayons, everyone’s favorite colors are waxing poetic on loving colorfully — and even outside the lines.
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My Heart
Also available from:This gorgeous picture book is all about hearts – open hearts, closed hearts, broken hearts, and more. Written as a poem about the many emotions a heart can feel, Luyken's message is one of compassion, caring, and self-love. An absolutely lovely book for all ages, even adults.
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Here Comes Valentine Cat
Also available from:Our family loves all the Cat books by Deborah Underwood, and at this point we basically don’t celebrate a holiday without one. This one features Cat VERY unhappy with his new neighbor, Dog, who doesn’t seem to understand personal space or have any ability to keep his old bones on his side of the fence. But just as Cat is about to send a not-so-nice valentine, Dog does something that just might be an overture of friendship.
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A Book of Love
Also available from:Of course, displays of affection aren’t just reserved for Valentine’s Day, nor does love look like one thing. In Emma Randall’s cheerfully-illustrated picture book, readers learn the many manifestations of love, including patience, kind words, and a helpful spirit.
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Dear Valentine Letters Mad Libs
Also available from:Fill in the blanks to create your own wacky and hilarious stories written as valentines. The pages are bigger than a typical Mad Libs book and made so you can fill out one side, tear it off and fold it up to mail.
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