The Book Basket Company

The Book Basket Company Our cute, clever gifts help babies and young children fall in love with reading.

14/02/2026

Book #12 in my series of the best picture books to read with children for St Valentine’s Day is I Love Me published by

Written by Indigenous mother-and-daughter team, Sally Morgan and Ambelin Kwaymullina, I Love Me is a colourful, joyous book about self-love and appreciating our unique selves.

In bouncy, rhyming text, it encourages children to rejoice in the things that make them different and to love themselves just as they are:

I love my ears.
I love my laugh.
I love the way
My toes make art

This book is available as a board book which is great to share with babies and toddlers. I regularly use it in the classroom and love it so much that I created an I Love Me Little Book Gift!

I Love Me is also one of the books included in our Aboriginal Authors Gift Basket.

I suggest sharing this one with children aged 1-7 years.

Save this post to help you find this book at your library or bookshop.

Happy reading,

Felicity
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14/02/2026

Book #11 in my series of the best picture books to read with children for St Valentine’s Day is Koala Lou by and


On the surface, Koala Lou is a story about sibling rivalry and not winning an important competition.

But it’s also a story about love.

Koala Lou is her mum’s oldest child and is loved by everyone around her. A hundred times a day her mum laughs and says “Koala Lou, I DO love you!”

But then, brothers and sisters start to be born and mum becomes too busy to tell Koala Lou she loves her quite so often. So Koala Lou wonders – as all older siblings do – whether mum still loves her.

So she enters the Bush Olympics, hoping to win so her mother will throw her arms around her and once again say  “Koala Lou, I DO love you!”

Despite her best efforts, Koala Lou comes second and is devastated. But, of course, her mum still loves her and she says those all-important words.

I suggest sharing this one with children aged 3-8 years.

Save this post to help you find this book at your library or bookshop.

Happy reading,

Felicity
X

13/02/2026

Book #10 in my series of the best picture books to read with children for St Valentine’s Day is Sometimes I’m Bombaloo by and

This is a book I often share with children in the classroom.

It’s not a book that springs immediately to mind when we think about Valentine’s day books for kids but I do think it has a lot to say about love and acceptance. 

Sometimes I’m Bombaloo is about a little girl called Katie who’s usually pretty happy and can do lots of cool things. But, like all of us, Katie gets angry and sometimes she even explodes and has to have a bit of time to herself to calm down.

When she explodes, Katie says she becomes someone quite different from her usual self and she calls the person she becomes “Bombaloo”. It’s scary being Bombaloo but her mum understands that and gives her hugs.

This is a great book for discussing how Katie’s mum shows that she loves her:
⭐️ she doesn’t get mad when Katie explodes because she knows that’s a normal part of growing up and that Katie is still a good person;
⭐️ she understands that getting so mad is scary for a child and she lets Katie have the time and space to feel her feelings and to calm down;
⭐️ and, when Katie is calm, her mum provides hugs and reassurance and then helps Katie put things right;

I suggest sharing this one with children aged 3-8 years.

Save this post to help you find this book at your library or bookshop.

Happy reading,

Felicity
X

13/02/2026

Book #9 in my series of the best picture books to read with children for St Valentine’s Day is Words and Your Heart by

This is a deceptively-simple and really lovely book about the power our words hold to heal, to create, to destroy and to spread love.

The illustrations are simple line drawings in black and white with touches of red and the message is positive and empowering for children.

I really love the simplicity of this book, with its single, clear message and uncluttered illustrations. It conveys an important message in terms which make it easy for children to understand and to think about.

I also love that the book includes some examples of affirming things children – and all of us – can say to each other.

I regularly use this book in the classroom with my 5-12-year-old students and it sparks some really fascinating conversations.

I suggest sharing this one with children aged 3-8 years.

Save this post to help you find this book at your library or bookshop.

Happy reading,

Felicity
X

13/02/2026

Book #8 in my series of the best picture books to read with children for St Valentine’s Day is You Are Loved by and

This is a large-format board book which celebrates unconditional love.

With simple, rhyming text and colourful illustrations, it reminds children that they are loved no matter what they do (or don’t do!) and offers a way to remind themselves, when things go wrong, that they are still loved:

You are loved when you win the race.
You are loved when you don’t.
You are loved when you brush your teeth.
You are loved when you won’t.

This is such an important truth for children to internalise and the younger we start helping them to understand this the better.

At the end of the book there’s a lovely meditation for an adult to do with a child to help them tune into their feelings and access a place of calm where they feel loved.

I suggest sharing this one with children aged 1-5 years.

Save this post to help you find this book at your library or bookshop.

Happy reading,

Felicity
X

10/02/2026

Book #7 in my series of the best picture books to read with children for St Valentine’s Day is My Heart by

This is a really lovely rhyming book about a little girl’s heart and all the different ways it can feel.

It begins:
My heart is a window, my heart is a slide.
My heart can be closed or opened up wide.

This book has the most exquisite monochrome illustrations with touches of yellow and they’re perfectly complemented by the sparse but lyrical text.

I especially love the metaphor of the heart as a light and a guide and the final lines:
Closed or open … I get to decide.

I suggest sharing this one with children aged 3-10 years. Adults will also love it - I do!

Save this post to help you find this book at your library or bookshop.

Happy reading,

Felicity
X

09/02/2026

Book #6 in my series of the best picture books to read with children for St Valentine’s Day is How Do You Say I Love You? By and

This is a book is about all the different ways children say ‘I love you’ in their own languages in their own countries: French, Italian, Quechua (the indigenous language of Peru), Hausa (spoken in West and Central Africa), Spanish, Farsi, Tongan, Arabic, Filipino, Auslan, Mandarin, Greek and Korean.

The book is a beautiful exploration of love and culture and a fantastic springboard for talking with young children about how things are different in different countries. Each double-page spread shows a child with his family or friends and in rhyming verse explores the way ‘I love you is said’ in the child’s language.

I suggest sharing this one with children aged 3-10 years.

Save this post to help you find this book at your library or bookshop.

Happy reading,

Felicity
X

09/02/2026

Book #5 in my series of picture books to read with children around St Valentine’s Day is ‘The Day it Rained Hearts’ by the illustrator of ‘If You Give A Mouse a Cookie’, a book that’s extremely popular in the US but perhaps not so well-known in Australia.

Unlike the other books I’ve recommended, this little book is explicitly about St Valentine’s Day. The story is about the delightfully-named Cornelia Augusta who catches hearts on a day when they unexpectedly rain down from the sky one day.

The hearts are all different and she examines them carefully before setting out to use them to make just the right Valentine’s Day card for each of her friends.

This is a cute and simple book to share with children around the ages of 3-5 years.

Save this post to help you find this book at your library or book shop.

Happy reading,

Felicity
X

07/02/2026

Book #4 in my series of picture books to read with children around St Valentine’s Day is ‘I Am Love: A Book of Compassion’ by and and published by

This sweet board book explores the power of love and compassion and all the ways we - and our children - can express our love for each other:

❤️ We can act with tenderness
❤️ We can listen and not say a word
❤️ We can keep our minds and bodies safe and healthy

This is a beautiful book to share with children around the ages of 3-8 years to spark discussions about love for ourselves and for others.

Save this post to help you find this book at your library or book shop.

Happy reading,

Felicity
X

07/02/2026

Book #3 in my series of picture books to read with children around St Valentine’s Day is simply called Love by and
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This lovely book explores the many ways we experience love, from the day we’re born throughout the years of our childhood and beyond.

This is a poetic and comforting book which sparks lovely conversations with children, as well as building brain connections.

Hit save to help you find this book at your library or book shop.

Happy reading,

Felicity
X

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