Episode 36: Our Favorite Books for Babies + A Bookish Baby Shower for (Return) Guest Mary Heim

We’ve got another “first” for the podcast this week! We are talking to our first return guest! You met Mary Heim in Episode 24 when she recorded with Meredith. Now, she’s back to chat with both of us and we’re so excited. Again. ;-)

You’ll hear a “bookish moment of the week” from each of us: an upcoming bookish holiday (now just past), finishing the second book in a series, and an audiobook binge.

Next, we discuss our current reads for the week. We’ve got two current reads from each host and Meredith and Mary seem to almost coordinate their picks (we never discuss beforehand, so this is all coincidental), while Kaytee takes each round off to left field.

For our deep dive this week, we surprise Mary with a virtual bookish baby shower. This deep dive focuses in on the board books and other titles for ages 0-2 and is the first in a series. We’ll do subsequent chats about favorite books for 2-4 year olds and 5-8 year olds as well. So many great titles in this section!

As always, we finish up with A Book (yep, capitalized) that we’d like to press into every reader’s hands. This week Meredith and Kaytee are pressing more picture books, while Mary chooses a lovely essay collection she goes back to again and again.

As per usual, time-stamped show notes are below with references to every book and resource we mentioned in this episode. If you’d like to listen first and not spoil the surprise, don’t scroll down! 

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3:17 - Still Life by Louise Penny

4:29 - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

9:42 - Great With Child by Beth Ann Fennelly

9:48 - Heating and Cooling by Beth Ann Fennelly

13:08 - I Miss You When I Blink by Mary Laura Philpott

16:09 - Morgan Tallman on Episode 22 of Currently Reading

16:20 - Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank

20:48 - Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey (releases June 4th!)

20:58 - The Magicians by Lev Grossman

21:00 - Tana French books

23:37 - Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

24:22 - The Club by Takis Wurger

24:32 - Shelf Subscription from The Bookshelf Thomasville

25:34 - The Secret History by Donna Tartt

28:29 - Swearing is Good For You by Emma Byrne

36:25 - Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Eric Carle

36:51 - The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

36:55 - Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown

37:00 - Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell

37:08 - No No Yes Yes by Leslie Patricelli

37:11 - Big Little by Leslie Patricelli

37:37 - Where Is Baby’s Belly Button? by Karen Katz

37:46 - Where’s Spot? by Eric Hill

37:57 - Bright Baby books by Priddy Books

38:12 - Colors, ABC, Numbers by Bright Baby

39:06 - First 100 Words by Bright Baby

39:24 - Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina

39:43 - Wocket in My Pocket by Dr. Suess

39:50 - That’s Not My… series by Usborne

39:56 - That’s Not My Hat by John Klassen

40:44 - My Backpack by SkipHop

41:16 - Everywhere Babies by Susan Meyers

41:49 - Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle

42:12 - Lil’ Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

42:12 - Lil’ Oink by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

42:13 - Li'l’ Hoot by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

42:16 - Spoon by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

42:39 - The Going to Bed Book by Sandra Boynton

42:46 - The Belly Button Book by Sandra Boynton

42:55 - Moo, Baa, La La La by Sandra Boynton

43:05 - Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton

43:16 - Tuck Me In by Dean Hacohen

43:51 - A Book of Sleep by Il Sung Na

44:10 - Time for Bed by Mem Fox

44:35 - The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood

45:13 - Where Do Diggers Sleep At Night? by Brianna Kaplan Sawyer

45:20 - Where Do Steam Trains Sleep At Night? by Brianna Kaplan Sawyer

45:31 - Dinosaur’s Binkit by Sandra Boynton

45:45 - No Matter What by Debi Gliori

45:49 - I Love You, Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt

46:33 - Goodnight, Darth Vader by Jeffrey Brown

46:35 - Vader’s Little Princess by Jeffrey Brown

47:02 - Darth Vader and Son by Jeffrey Brown

49:42 - BabyLit Series by Jennifer Adams and Allison Oliver

51:21 - Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed

51:53 - Wild by Cheryl Strayed

54:49 - A Mouse Told His Mother by Bethany Roberts

56:47 - Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet and Allen Ahlberg

*Please note that all book titles linked above are Amazon affiliate links. Your cost is the same, but a small portion of your purchase will come back to us to help offset the costs of the show. Thanks for your support!*