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7 Best Bilingual Baby Books for Fun & Educational Storytime (2025 Reviews)

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Reading to your baby is one of the easiest ways to bond with your child while also igniting a love of literacy. It is never too early to introduce your babies to books, even before they can read or speak on their own. Books are one of the first ways babies are introduced to new vocabulary words. To further expand your little one’s knowledge, sharing bilingual children’s books can help build a better foundation for not only their first language, but their second language and beyond.

This selection of bilingual baby books will expose your infant to numerous languages using pictures and simple vocabulary. Even at an early age, your child will absorb all that’s around him or her and begin to put words to objects, preparing them for when they can communicate. The simple act of reading and rereading these bilingual baby books is the initial step to fostering a love of language.

The Best Bilingual Baby Books

  • 1. First 100 Words Bilingual: Primeras 100 palabras Spanish-English Bilingual

    (Best photograph book — $)

    Why it’s great: With bright and engaging photographs, First 100 Words Bilingual: Primeras 100 palabras Spanish-English Bilingual is a simple way to begin introducing your baby to new words in English and Spanish. The corresponding images make it easy for your little one to make the connections between objects and words. The durable cover and pages can stand up to teething babies and the small size fits perfectly in your child’s small hands.

    Keep in mind: Some of the vocabulary reflects different variations of Spanish, such as from Spanish spoken in Mexico versus Spanish spoken in Spain.

    Good for: Parents who prefer actual photographs to help reinforce new vocabulary for their infant.

    First 100 Words Bilingual: Primeras 100 palabras Spanish-English Bilingual

    View on Amazon.com ➜

  • 2. French Nursery Rhymes Musical Book

    (Best song book — $$)

    Why it’s great: This bilingual sound book includes six songs in French and English. The French Nursery Rhymes Musical Book includes a button that plays the songs aloud, making it easy for babies to hear and learn phrases in both languages. The interactive feature invites children to actively participate in reading and singing, while learning the melodies makes remembering the new phrases simpler.

    Keep in mind: The book works for approximately 300 button pushes before the batteries need to be replaced.

    Good for: Babies who learn best through song and music.

    French Nursery Rhymes Musical Book

    View on Amazon.com ➜

  • 3. Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes (Cabeza, Hombros, Piernas, Pies)

    (Best board book — $)

    Why it’s great: Connecting new words with physical body parts is an effective way to teach different languages. Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes (Cabeza, Hombros, Piernas, Pies) is part of an award winning series that uses well-known nursery rhymes and interactive texts to teach various languages. It supports your little one’s language development by introducing them to speech patterns which stimulates the brain and ignites muscle memory. Singing songs and learning new vocabulary words with your baby is the perfect way to spend quality time together.

    Keep in mind: The Spanish translation of this rhyme is not a literal translation of the English text. The Spanish translation is a well-known Spanish version, which uses the word “piernas” instead of “rodillas”.

    Good for: Parents who prefer indestructible texts in the form of board books.

    Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes (Cabeza, Hombros, Piernas, Pies)

    View on Amazon.com ➜

  • 4. BoBo Loves Dumplings (A Bilingual Language Counting book in English, Chinese and PinYin)

    (Best board book — $)

    Why it’s great: BoBo Loves Dumplings is a bilingual counting board book in both Mandarin and English that follows along a very hungry red panda. Babies will be able to listen to counting from one to ten in both English and Chinese while learning about authentic foods along the way. The bright, colorful illustrations further support your little one’s learning of both numbers and types of authentic Chinese dishes.

    Keep in mind: The book includes Pinyin, which is the spelling out of Chinese phrases using the English alphabet, allowing Chinese words to be read aloud.

    Good for: Parents who enjoy a bilingual storybook that has an engaging storyline while teaching how to count.

    BoBo Loves Dumplings (A Bilingual Language Counting book in English, Chinese and PinYin)

    View on Amazon.com ➜

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  • 5. Where is My Little Dog? Wo ist mein kleiner Hund? (English-German Bilingual Picture Book)

    (Best illustrations — $)

    Why it’s great: This delightful read aloud follows along a little dog who goes missing. Using simple words in both English and German, Where is My Little Dog? Wo ist mein kleiner Hund? Introduces babies to the vocabulary words for different places and objects. The simple storyline is engaging for little ones of all ages. Plus, there are an additional four coloring pages included at the end of the book to further increase engagement.

    Keep in mind: This book follows a very simple storyline that is best for babies and younger toddlers and may not be suitable for school-aged children.

    Good for: Babies who learn vocabulary best with clear, enchanting illustrations.

    Where is My Little Dog? Wo ist mein kleiner Hund? (English-German Bilingual Picture Book)

    View on Amazon.com ➜

  • 6. Bao Bao Learns Chinese

    (Best book with sound — $$)

    Why it’s great: Featuring a real mom singing in a loving and calm voice, Bao Bao Learns Chinese uses high quality audio for babies to hear Chinese songs with musical accompaniment. The teething-resistant pages and durable buttons make this book suitable for babies of all ages. Using classic children’s songs, this book helps little ones learn Chinese through music and song. Every song is written in English, Mandarin, and Pinyin to further support language learning.

    Keep in mind: The book does not include a volume control button.

    Good for: Parents and babies who learn best with an interactive book of music.

    Bao Bao Learns Chinese

    View on Amazon.com ➜

  • 7. The Three Little Pigs (Los Tres Cerditos Bilingual Storybook)

    (Best bilingual format — $)

    Why it’s great: The classic story of The Three Little Pigs (Los Tres Cerditos Bilingual Storybook) makes it easy to learn new vocabulary when there is already some familiarity with the storyline. The side-by-side English and Spanish text supports language recognition as well as reinforces early reading comprehension. The engaging story is sure to capture your little one’s interest to further increase their attention to new vocabulary.

    Keep in mind: The text itself is not for early readers and works best as a read aloud read by adults to their little ones.

    Good for: Parents learning along with their babies with an easy-to-follow bilingual text format.

     The Three Little Pigs (Los Tres Cerditos Bilingual Storybook)

    View on Amazon.com ➜

Best Overall

First 100 Words Bilingual: Primeras 100 palabras Spanish-English Bilingual

The First 100 Words Bilingual: Primeras 100 palabras Spanish-English Bilingual is our overall top recommendation. It's the highest quality product we have found with the most affordable price making it the best value on our list..

First 100 Words Bilingual: Primeras 100 palabras Spanish-English Bilingual

View on Amazon.com ➜

FAQs about Bilingual Baby Books

  • 1. Why should I read bilingual storybooks to my baby?

    Reading bilingual storybooks to your baby helps expose them to not only new vocabulary, but to new sentence structures and literacy patterns. Learning various languages encourages children to pay attention to what they’re hearing, as well as motivate them to practice their new found skills. Even before they can read, write, and speak on their own, reading bilingual baby books to your little ones creates a strong love of words.

  • 2. What should I look for in a bilingual storybook?

    When looking for a bilingual storybook, ensure it has clear pictures or photographs to help with learning word meaning. The text should be formatted in a way that it’s easy to compare two or more languages and pick up the important elements of each. Make sure the book is not too overwhelming, and sticks to simple, engaging storylines and images.

  • 3. How often should I expose my baby to bilingual stories?

    The more exposure babies have to bilingual storybooks, the better! Integrate bilingual stories within your normal library to ensure your child is exposed to books in solely their first language, as well as in any other languages you would like to encourage.

  • 4. Can my baby learn a second language?

    Babies begin to learn a language as soon as it’s integrated into their daily interactions. Just as with any language development, it takes repeated exposure and continuous work to learn the vocabulary and styles of various languages. If you consistently read bilingual baby books and use key vocabulary in your conversations, babies will begin to pick up pieces of all the languages spoken around them.

  • 5. Which language should I choose for bilingual baby books?

    The language you choose for your bilingual baby books is entirely personal preference. It may help to choose a language the parent or caregiver has some background in to encourage language development in daily conversation in addition to reading picture books. However, both baby and parents can learn a new language together by integrating bilingual baby books into their library.

Conclusion

Reading bilingual baby books to your little one is an amazing way to build a strong foundation of understanding literacy concepts. Far before they can speak on their own, babies absorb the sounds and words they hear around them, helping create an extensive vocabulary. By hearing sentences in various languages, infants start to learn and compare sentence structures. This encourages little learners to experiment with these literacy skills in not only their first language, but in the other languages they’re exposed to. This selection of bilingual baby books offers a variety of languages formatted with English so you little one can begin understanding the idiosyncrasies of reading, writing, and speaking.