Valentine Books for Your Kid's Bookshelf

Valentine's Day is such a sweet holiday to celebrate the love you share with your kiddos and husband. My favorite thing about the holiday as a whole is that you can make it as big or small as you want.

No matter how you choose to celebrate, a really special thing you can do to add a little more love this February is to sprinkle in a few Valentine books to your kid's seasonal bookshelf.

As you go through this list, you may notice that a few of these books are not geared towards Valentine's Day and that was very intentional. We choose to still include a few of our favorite winter books to create a nice balance for this seasonal book nook. Not because we don't think love is important, but more so because I just can't get behind a lot of the mainstream Valentine's Day stories, especially when they cost $10 a piece.

There are a lot of great books out there, but sometimes it can feel like finding a needle in a haystack. Don't you worry, I've done the work for you! In this post, I'm sharing my favorite Valentine books along with a brief description and personal rating.

If you're interested in growing your library, don't worry, I have you covered. HERE is the link to shop all of the books I'm about to cover, but I will also encourage you to shop from a second hand bookstore if you're able. There's just something so special about having a book that's not in perfect condition and has been loved well by another family.

Alright, let's get to the good part! Let's talk books!

VALENTINE BOOKS FOR YOUR KID'S BOOKSHELF

Happy Valentine's Day, Mouse: It's our beloved friend, Mouse! Come along with Mouse as he creates Valentine cards for all of his friends, sharing all of the wonderful things he loves about each of them. This is a super easy to read board book that's definitely geared towards young readers, but if your kid's love Mouse and his friends, they're going to love this book too! Our personal rating is an 8/10.

Polar Bear Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? If you love Brown Bear, Brown Bear then you're going to love this one too! It's very similar, but instead of talking about the colors the bears see, it's talking about the different noises the polar bear hears from other zoo animals. This is another board book geared towards young readers, but it's still loved by our boys no matter how old they get. We give it a 10/10!

The Mitten: n this story, a mitten is lost in the woods and a bunch of the forest animals take turns trying to fit inside the mitten in order to stay warm from the snow. The mitten stretches to fit all of the animals until it can stretch no more. Another great book with a score of 10/10.

Love Bug: This touch and feel board book is geared towards young readers and takes you on the journey of a love bug looking for love and a hug. In this adorable rhyming book, it allows your kids to squish and touch special pages in the book and follow the love story of the love bug. Very cute for young readers with Valentine's Day and we rate it 7/10.

You Are My I Love You: This is one of those bedtime books that you'll read a bunch of times and still love to pick up. It's one of those books that are perfect for baby showers or birth announcements, etc. This simple rhyming board books takes you through the day of a parent and child and how special this relationship really can be. We love this one and definitely give it 9/10.

Construction Site You're Just Right: Come visit our friends at the construction site and walk with them as they give each other special Valentine's Day cards. This is a cute board book with flaps for your kiddos to lift and engage with as they read the story with you. If your kids love the tales from the construction site friends, they will love this! We rate it 9/10.

I Love You Like No Otter: This is a super cute little board book to share your love with your young reader. As you flip through the pages, you'll be invited to read about the love through different expressions with different types of animals. It's an adorable read and we rate it 7/10.

Snowy Places: Another great lift-the-flap-book that takes young readers into the arctic and forest to learn about different animals and how they live during the winter. It talks about how animals stay warm when it's cold, what they like to eat, and how animals or people live in cold places. We love this book and our boys still interact with it every year. It's rated a solid 8/10.

Fox Versus Winter: This is a super cute and short book that our boys absolutely love! This is another one of those books that has longevity because it's one we can read together now, but will also be a really good "first reader" book for the boys as they begin to learn how to read. It's the story of a little fox who isn't excited for winter to come and tries to fight it's arrival, but in the end he learns how special winter is and welcomes it! We rate this one 10/10!

The Valentine Bears: This feels so nostalgic and very wholesome. We were gifted this book and I'm so glad to have it on our shelf. It's the story of Mr. and Mrs. Bear who, due to hibernation, have always missed Valentine's Day. This year is different, Mrs. Bear sets her alarm to wake up and celebrate only to see that Mr. Bear has also chosen to wake up and surprise Mrs. Bear with an idea of his own. This is a very cute book and we rate it 10/10.

Clifford, We Love You: This is the story of our beloved Clifford who is having a sad day and feeling a little down. Emily Elizabeth tries to cheer him up with various activities and finally, it works as she shares a song about how much she loves him. We rate this 7/10.

Winter Wonderland: Another great book from National Geographic (I've included lots of these in other book posts)! This one is specifically geared towards the season of Winter and walks kids through the season of Winter and all of the special things this season has to offer. What I love most about this book is that instead of hand drawn or animated illustrations, it has actual photographs from the National Geographic archive and really invites kids into the story. I always rate these 10/10.

You Were Worth the Wait: Shameless plug for our own book because well, duh! This book is written from the perspective of a parent in waiting. It's the story of our baby, for our baby, and it's dedicated to all of the couples who know the various hardships of building the family of your dreams. We wrote this book in the midst of our own infertility journey as a way to give the infertility community a space on the bookshelf. We love to put it on the Valentine's book shelf because it just reiterates how much we love our boys and if this sounds good for you, please consider buying a signed copy HERE. Obviously, we rate this 10/10.

I'd Know You Anywhere: Saving one of the best for last because we really love this book! It's another board book, but has a strong message of the love a mother has for her kids. The title and thought of "I'd Know You Anywhere" is on every page in the book. No matter what, the mother will know and find her babies wherever they are. We rate this one 10/10.

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I hope this gives you a solid place to start as you create an intentional book nook for your kiddos. Doing this for my kids is one of my favorite things and it's also really nice to be able to switch out the books as needed.

The Importance of Switching Out Books

Whether you have a seasonal shelf in your playroom or in each of your kid's rooms, there are SO many benefits to switching out your books with the changing seasons. First of all, it helps your kids to have a better understanding of the structure of the year and the different things you get to do or experience within that time. Second of all, it really helps to keep your books fresh and lively versus reading the same books all of the time.

How We Store Our Seasonal Books

I have a bunch of small buckets (which I'll link HERE) that house our seasonal books and I store them in our game closet, but you could also store them in the garage. I have a bucket for each big season or holiday- Spring, Easter, Summer, Fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and so on. I store everything I need for the seasonal shelf in the bucket and each bucket is labeled so it's easy to find. You could also use large ziplock bags depending on how many books you have (you don't need a lot of books in order for this to feel special).

When it Comes to Buying Books

Let's state the obvious- books can be really expensive. That's why I always try to link new books that are $10 or less (when or where I can) because I know how crazy expensive it can be. This is also why I encourage you to shop at a used bookstore or consignment sale when possible! Many of our books are not new and have been purchased second hand, so don't forget to look for seasonal books the next time you go thrifting! Sometimes you can find them for as low as $1 each.

Setting Up the Book Nook

Our current Book Nook is located on a wall in our playroom. It was super easy to put together, but I also want you to know that it didn't start out this way. Our seasonal books started out as a simple basket in the boy's room with the right books for the season or holiday. As they got older and we moved to a new house, I decided to make a more permanent space which is where we are today.

I found the baskets on Amazon and this was probably the most important part because you want to make sure you're finding baskets that are sturdy enough to hold a lot of books. The baskets I use and would recommend are linked with the books and come in a set of four.

Once I have those in place, I add a few simple things to make it a little more festive. A seasonal banner, from the one and only Hunny Prints, hangs above the books and I usually try to add another element for the season like a garland, etc.

This is a super easy thing you can do to magnify the magic of each holiday or season and once you fall into a routine, it may just become your new favorite thing. As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to me.

Stay tuned because I'll be sharing our Birthday Book Nook next and you don't want to miss it! Thanks for stopping by and I'll see ya again real soon.

SB