The short version
Start with a cloth book at four months, thick board books at six, lift-the-flap at one, and Indian stories from Pratham and Tulika at eighteen months. Books get parents talking more than any toy (67 words a minute vs 40 with a talking toy).
What happened
The first book he loved, he ate. A board book with a lift-the-flap elephant; the flap went first, then the corner, then the elephant. I kept it. It's the most honest review a book can get.
Books were the one thing I over-bought on purpose, because of a study I'd read before he was born: parents talk more to their babies over a book than over any toy, about 67 words a minute against 40 with a talking toy. I couldn't make him clever, but I could make myself talk.
The order that worked. Four months: a cloth book with a crinkly page and a mirror, because that's a toy that happens to be a book. Six months: thick board books with one picture a page, which survive teeth. One year: lift-the-flap, with the understanding that flaps die. Eighteen months: the Indian ones, Pratham and Tulika, with autos and idlis and grandmothers who look like his, in Kannada and English. Two: anything with a repeated line he could shout.
What didn't work: the alphabet and number books gifted by relatives, which are for the giver. The expensive imported hardbacks, which are beautiful and got no attention. And the ones with sound buttons, which belong in the toy post, not here.
He has about forty books now, a third of them chewed. The elephant is still in the basket.
In the JAMA Pediatrics toy study, books produced the most parent speech (66.9 words per minute) and the most infant vocalisations (3.9 per minute), compared with 39.6 words per minute with electronic toys. The AAP's toy guidance recommends books and simple toys because the value of play for infants is the interaction with the caregiver.
Sosa AV, JAMA Pediatrics 2016;170(2):132. Summary · AAP, Selecting Appropriate Toys for Young Children, 2019.The verdicts
Pratham Books and Tulika board books
Indian stories, Indian faces, bilingual editions, and inexpensive. The books we reached for most.
A cloth book with crinkle page and mirror
For the four-to-eight month window. Washable, chewable, and the first thing he 'read'.
Thick board books, one picture per page
Survive teeth. Buy a few, then let the library or a swap group do the rest.
Cubworthy, with a catch
Imported hardback picture books under two
Gorgeous, fragile, ignored. Save them for four.
Product details are as we used them; the version on sale now may differ. Check the exact model and the manufacturer's instructions.