A home library for a young child is not about shelves groaning under hundreds of books. It is a small, carefully tended collection that changes as your child grows, and that says, every time they walk past it: these are yours, and there is always something here for you. Building one takes less money and space than most parents imagine, but it does take a little thought.

Start with board books that can take a battering

From about six months to two and a half years, books are physical objects first and stories second. Thick pages, rounded corners and wipe-clean surfaces are not a compromise — they are what makes independent handling possible. A baby who can turn a page without tearing it is learning that books belong to them.

Choose in stages. Young babies respond to high-contrast images and faces; a single clear object on a plain background is easier to name than a busy scene. Around the first birthday, look for simple sequences — getting dressed, going to the park, saying goodnight. By two, children can follow a short narrative with a repeated refrain, and they will want it read the same way every single time.

Do check that board book editions of well-loved picture books have not been shortened into clumsiness. Some are beautifully done; others lose the rhythm that made the original sing.

Picture books are where language takes flight

Once your child can sit through a proper story, the picture book becomes the heart of the shelf. This is where vocabulary widens, where sentences get longer and more interesting, and where a child first hears the difference between flat prose and language with music in it.

Look for:

• Rhythm and repetition — cumulative tales and rhyming texts that a child can join in with, such as the much-loved classics about bears, ducks and hungry caterpillars.
• A range of moods — funny books, gentle bedtime books, and one or two that deal honestly with fear, loss or a bad day.
• Wordless books — these are superb for building narrative skill, because your child has to tell you what is happening.
• Books you actually enjoy reading aloud, because you will read them forty times.

Aim for a shelf you can reach in thirty seconds when someone is tired or cross. Ten to fifteen picture books in rotation will do more good than fifty crammed in and forgotten.

Make diversity ordinary, not a theme

Children need to see their own lives reflected and to meet lives quite unlike their own. The trick is to make this ordinary rather than earnest. A book about a trip to the seaside is more powerful if the child in it happens to use a wheelchair without the story being about the wheelchair.

Look for stories with Black, Asian and mixed-heritage protagonists doing everyday things; books set in cities, countryside and other countries; retellings of folk tales from around the world; and a variety of family shapes — grandparents, two mums, single parents, foster carers. If your family speaks another language at home, keep a few books in it, even if you read them in English too. The message a child takes from a varied shelf is simple and lasting: everyone's story is worth telling.

Early readers: hand over the wheel

When phonics teaching begins, resist the urge to make every book a lesson. Decodable readers have their place, and your child will bring them home from school, but they should sit alongside the picture books you still read together.

Keep a basket of short, easy books that your child can read independently — five to ten minutes' worth, with plenty of repetition and friendly illustrations. Let them choose, let them reread, and do not turn the page into a test. If they stumble, give the word and move on. Meanwhile, keep reading books that are well above their reading level aloud, so their appetite for story keeps outgrowing their skill.

Where to keep them, and how to keep it going

Position matters more than quantity. A low, forward-facing shelf or a shallow basket by the bed works far better than a tall bookcase, because a child can see the covers and help themselves. Keep a couple of books in the changing bag, one in the car, and one wherever you eat breakfast.

Rotate. Store the rest in a cupboard and swap them every few weeks; old favourites will feel new again. Charity shops, library sales and swaps with other families keep the cost down, and a weekly library trip teaches your child that books are a public pleasure, not just a private possession.

Finally, build the habit rather than the collection. Ten minutes at the same time each day, following your child's lead, with you reading your own book where they can see you — that is what turns a shelf of paper into a lifelong love of stories and language.