The Very Hungry Caterpillar

 

"Set a reading time for your baby every day from now to when she leaves for college" – Baby 411

Of all the advice I got as a first time mom, this is my favorite. When Keerthana turned one month old and I felt more human than zombie, I started to read to her. Her first book was The Very Hungry Caterpillar. This book caught my eye long before I became a mother because of its brilliant illustrations. The story of a tiny and very hungry caterpillar looking for food and eating one new thing every day is simple, but Eric Carle manages to sneak in a ton of great things in it. The days of the week, numbers up to five, names of fruit, and even a message about getting sick after eating junk food and feeling much better after eating a "nice green leaf". The neat thing is, the book grows with the baby! At one month, Keerthana’s favorite page was the title page with the colorful circles. She would look at it longer than the other pages. Now she is 4 months old, and she loves it when I run her hands over the holes in the pages and loves to flip the pages around. This book is definitely a favorite for both Mommy and baby!