Someone asked us recently about our favorite books to give the parents of a new baby, and we couldn’t love this question more.

A family library builds a love of literacy from a young age, and reading to a child is proven to be one of the best things a caring adult can do to support their cognitive development. Reading together creates opportunities for healthy affection and intimacy, like ensuring that some pleasant snuggling time is a regular part of a bedtime routine.

Here are some of our favorite children’s books with beautiful art and meaningful messages that we encourage you to share with the tiny humans you love.

The Everything Seed, A Story of Beginnings by Carole Martignacco, Illustrated by Joy Troyer

The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch, Illustrations by Michael Martchenko

The Everything Seed , by Carole Martignacco, is a beautifully illustrated creation story, combining spiritual and scientific ideas about the origins of the universe. The powerful, life-giving seed is in the origin of all living things, including the creation of each new human life. For a picture book that instills awe and wonder at the natural world, and offers an entry to conversations about God, mystery, and where babies come from, we recommend this gem. Emmalinda’s pick—her fairy god-daughters often request this one at bedtime.

Red: A Crayon’s Story by Michael Hall. This very sweet story about a misunderstood crayon is a great allegory for a transgender child, and invites conversation on gender diversity and stereotyping. Jill loves this book as a straightforward introduction to trans identities for very young children, and a celebration of being yourself.

The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch. A classic princess story with a clever twist: Elizabeth loses all of her beautiful princess clothes when a dragon burns down the castle and steals her prince. She puts on a bag to track down the dragon, outsmart him, and save Prince Ronald—but then he has some rude things to say about her clothes and hair, and Elizabeth learns an important lesson about their relationship. She lives happily ever after.

A is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara. We’re a values-centered organization, and we love to see parents raising children with a sense of justice from an early age. This alphabet book for little activists is a fun collection of vocabulary on civil rights, democracy, environmental movements, and community organizing--with a cat to find on every page.

Everybody, Every Body! by Emmalinda MacLean, Illustrations by Audrey Herbertson

Of course, we couldn’t be prouder of our own book: Everybody, Every Body! by More Than Sex-Ed’s program director Emmalinda MacLean, illustrated by Audrey Herbertson. This brightly colored, large print read-aloud discusses what it means to live in a body, knowing that bodies can get hurt or sick, but that bodies can experience wonderful feelings, too. It defines consent in a child-friendly way, and you can even download the discussion guide from our website for more ideas on processing the book with children.

Program administrator Gregory C. Carrow-Boyd adds that he loves to give infants, toddlers, and their caregivers books that focus on the basics of intersectional feminism, and feature a diversity of skin tones, locations, and cultural customs. It’s important to him that little ones learn about strong female leaders throughout history, understand a wide range of gender expression as normal, and gain an appreciation of complex characters who hold more than just one social identity. You can find his top pics here.

Red, A Crayon’s Story by Michael Hall

A is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara