The Quiet Book
by Deborah Underwood, illustrated by Renata Liwska
Houghton Mifflin
$12.95, ages 4-8, 32 pages
This enchanting book visits some of the ways animals like be quiet and will inspire your little one to find his calm time too.
On one page a little bunny does stretches before anyone else wakes up. On another, a porcupine perched on a stool in a birthday hat makes a wish with all of his might.
In my favorite, two best friends, a bear and rabbit, chase waves on a beach together, contented in the silence of their play.
Liwska's illustrations are as soft and sweet as well-loved toys. What a wonderful way to segue into a little impromptu quiet time.
Over the Rainbow
illustrated by Eric Puybaret, with the voice of Judy Collins
Imagine Publishing, Inc., 2010
$17.95, ages 4-8, 26 pages
As a storm clears, a rainbow pours out of a cloud into a girl's window, beckoning her to crawl up its path to a magical place in the sky in this breathtaking adaptation of Arlen and E.Y. Harburg's song, "Over the Rainbow."
The girl, dressed in a soft-white night gown, sees a woman joyfully leaping off a cloud shaped like an outstretched hand, then follows her lead to play among the planets and moon, and soar with long-necked birds.
Readers will think they're already dreaming when they open the book and turn on the CD of Grammy Award-winner Collins' singing the classic song. Bring along a portable CD player and watch little faces grow serene.
My Circus
written and illustrated by Xavier Deneux
Bloomsbury, 2010
$9.99, ages baby and up, 18 pages
In this whimsical board book, readers are invited into the big top to see magical sights, from a clown blowing droplets of water from a horn onto a daisy to acrobats balancing on wobble boards.
Just 6 inches square, the book is printed mainly in red, black and white, with simple, graphic images that tie one circus act to the next through cut-out windows. (An acrobat's striped shorts on one page later becomes part of the belly of a zebra jumping through a hoop on another.)
This little gem is just the thing to make your toddler forget he's been belted into a car seat longer than he likes.
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