I think parents everywhere know Boynton books forwards and backwards. Our bookshelf is about 1/4 Boynton books. They’re fun, simple, whimsical board books that infants and toddlers make you read over and over again, including all of the animal sounds (yes, I mean Moo, Baa, La La La, which is one of the first ones I memorized. Doggies is the second. ). She’s a prolific children’s book author, and often includes dogs and fuzzy cats in her books. Our daughter’s Kindle FreeTime even has some Boynton books converted into game-like apps. But one of my favourites – and my 3-year old’s – is Fifteen Animals. It’s about a man named Bob who likes animals and has given each one a special name. I won’t spoil it for you, but it’s very cute. It’s educational, too, as he has 15 animals. It features not only a dog and a cat, but also a hamster and a number of other animals.

Some of our other favourite Boynton books (the ones that don’t totally drive us crazy after successive readings) include: Hippos Go Berserk, Birthday Monsters, Barnyard Dance (which we had to hide at one point because our little one made us do the dance with her Every. Single. Time.), Happy Hippo Angry Duck, The Going to Bed Book, Pajama Time!, A to Z, Opposites, Snoozers