Love is in the air! Just in time for Valentine’s Day, here are 14 of our favourite children’s books about love. Love for family, friends, pets… and velveteen rabbits. But of course love is not just for February 14. These heartwarming and classic books are perfect to read any day of the year.
I’ve shared a quote about love from each of these books. Any of these would make a lovely Valentine’s Day gift for your little one, or visit your local library and see how many you can find.
Then he lay down close by and whispered with a smile,
“I love you right up to the moon – and back.”
– Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney (1994)
I love your happy side, your sad side, your silly side, your mad side,
I love your fingers and toes, your ears and nose.
I love your hair and eyes, your giggles and cries.
I love you running and walking, silent and talking.
I love you through and through… yesterday, today and tomorrow too.
– I Love You Through and Through by Bernadette Rossetti-Shustak (2005)
And the boy loved the tree… very much. And the tree was happy.
– The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein (1964)
“But Mama, but Mama, what if I were a super smelly skunk,
and I smelled so bad my name was Stinky Face?”
“Then I would give you a bath and sprinkle you with sweet-smelling powder. And if you still smelled bad, I wouldn’t mind,
and I would whisper in your ear, ‘I love you, Stinky Face.'”
– I Love You, Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt (1999)
“I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always,
As long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be.”
– Love You Forever by Robert Munsch (1986)
“Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”
– The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams (1922)
Ooh! Snuggle Puppy of mine,
Everything about you is especially fine.
I love what you are.
I love what you do.
Oooooh! I love you.
– Snuggle Puppy by Sandra Boynton (2003)
“Whenever you feel lonely and need a little loving from home,
just press your hand to your cheek and think, ‘Mommy loves you.
Mommy loves you.'”
– The Kissing Hand by Audry Penn (1993)
Someday I will watch you brushing your child’s hair.
Someday, a long time from now, your own hair will glow silver in the sun and when that day comes, love, you will remember me.
– Someday by Alison McGhee and Peter H. Reynolds (2007)
Love is sweet…and love is GRAND!
Sometimes love…is just holding hands.
It’s a feeling inside. It’s a smile in your heart.
It keeps us together when we’re apart.
– Love Is You & Me by Monica Sheehan (2010)
“What if I threw water at our lamp?”
“Then Dear One, I would be very angry. But still, I would still love you.”
– Mama, Do You Love Me? by Barbara M. Joosse (1998)
At night the three penguins returned to their nest.
There they snuggled together and, like all the other penguins in the penguin house, and all the other animals in the zoo, and all the families in the big city around them, they went to sleep.
– And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell (2005)
“I love you, Littletail,” said Longtail, as he kissed her good night. “You always say that,” murmured Littletail sleepily. “Do I always?” said Longtail as he lay down beside her. “Well, that will be forever.”
“I love you always and forever,” he whispered with a smile.
– I Love You Always and Forever by Jonathan Emmett (2007)
So she bends down and gives him a great big kiss.
Which just goes to show that, even if you are tiny…
you are never too little to love.
– Never Too Little to Love by Jeanne Willis and Jan Fearnley (2005)
For never before in story or rhyme
(not even once upon a time)
has the world ever known a you, my friend,
and it never will, not ever again.
– On the Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman (2006)
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So many great kids books!! Our fave is The Kissing Hand. Each time my girls head off to school I kiss them on the hand 🙂
Love reading these. This one “I love you right up to the moon – and back.” is one of our traditions that my children (all 7 now adults) share with each other a lot of the time. 🙂
i lOVED THESE BEAUTIFUL QUOTES. i AM JUST READING ALSO Life Is to be enjoy quotes