Bryn Savage

The Kleiner Jakob series is an excellent series for very young toddlers. Each board book consists of about five scenes with one flap per scene. Each narrative has a clear beginning, middle, and end, and includes gentle humor that connects with the youngest readers. The series builds on the expansive world of Liane Schneider’s famous series, Meine Freundin Conni — where the Conni books start at around age 3, the Jakob series cover adventures from 18 months to two years. Sandra Grimm has written most, but not all of the 30+ books in the series (Büchertreff series page). There is a story for almost any occasion, including Christmas, learning to use the toilet, etc. Our favorites are Jakob übernachtet bei Oma und Opa, Jakob ruft Stopp!, and Jakob feiert Weihnachten. The only one I wouldn’t recommend is Jakob kann das schon alleine, in which Jakob does a lot of things a two-year-old wouldn’t really do, such as fill an entire shopping cart by himself.