These are books that Mom and Dad will love as much as baby.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
1. Especially for Mom and Dad
2. That's My Name!
Match a baby's first name with classic characters and their stories.
Or select books by favorite authors who share a baby's first name.
For a boy named Leo, Leo Lionni's four Caldecott Honor-winning classics, Inch by Inch, Frederick, Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse and Swimmy (Random House, $17.99, hdbk or $6.99 pbk, 1960s). Sumptuous collages illustrate fables of friendship and self-acceptance.
3. Confections
Put together a collection that's just right for baby's hands. Here are a few board books to mix and match.
4. Classic Tales
Bundle up favorite books from your childhood:
5. Books to Grow On
Select books about the lessons and joys of childhood:
6. Sleepytime Treats
Wrap up a selection of books to read with a blanket. Here are a few favorites.
7. Brain Food
Give a selection of learning books for now and later.
8. What about Me?
Here are a few books to get siblings excited about the baby and show them they're special too.
Pecan Pie Baby, written by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by Sophie Blackall (Penguin, $16.99, 2011). Gia's new sibling hasn't been born yet, but it seems like it's the only thing everyone talks about. In this beautiful, reassuring story, a little girl learns that she'll always be as special to momma as she is right now.
There's Going to Be a Baby, written by John Burningham, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury (Candlewick, $16.99, 2010) A little boy's head swirls with all that his baby sibling will want to do and see as he walks with his mom on errands and to their special places -- the garden, seaside and park -- in this tender tale.
Let's Draw and Doodle Together! Drawing Games for Kids and their Grown-Ups, by Elise Gravel (Blue Apple Books, $12.99, 2011) Show young siblings that Mom and Dad are there for them as much as before with this fun doodle book. Symbols direct kids and parents to drawing prompts, from decorating an enchanted forest to filling in colors of a rainbow.
Mama, What's In There? by Diane Muldrow, illustrated by Rick Peterson (Golden Books, $7.99, 2008) Just right for little ones wondering about their mamas' big tummies. Lift a flap to reveal a baby bear, elephant, dolphin, monkey, puppy and human curled up inside. A rotating wheel makes the baby dolphin move in the womb and a pull-out helps a human infant suck its thumb.
Where's Waldo? The Spectacular Poster Book, created by Martin Handford (Candlewick, $20, 2010) On delivery day, it's hard to wait for news of Mom and the baby, but these posters will keep siblings happily occupied. Seven scenes from classic Where's Waldo? books, plus a special poster of Waldo and his friends and jumbo press-outs of Waldo and Woof.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Animals No One Wants to Lose
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| from Disneynature African Cats |
Climate change, loss of habitat, hunting and poaching threaten all of these creatures, and in the case of manatees and whales, collisions with boats are also causing numbers to fall.
All three books, written for kids 8 and up but visually appealing to all ages, tie in beautifully with Endangered Species Day this Friday, an effort begun in 2006 to galvanize young and old to help protect disappearing species and wild places.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Scritch-Scratch a Perfect Match
By Kimberly Marcus
Illustrated by Mike Lester
G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2011
$16.99, ages 4-8, 32 pages
A flea chomps into the backside of big scruffy stray and causes him to lurch into the air and into the heart of an old man in this rollicking good read-aloud.
One day on a country path, a plump flea with chiseled teeth "FLIT-FLIT" flaps into a dog's shaggy fur, takes a bite of him and sets off a hilarious chain of events.
"AAROOF!" howled the stray as he jumped in the air," Marcus writes, as the dog's eyes bulge out and every part of him stiffens -- paws flex, his tail sticks up like a feather duster and his fur spikes out in all directions.
Turning the page, readers see the dog landing back first, paws up onto an old man strolling down the path. The man is launched into the air and belly flops across the fold with his nose leading the way.
"AWOOMPH was the sound as he dropped like a sack, / landing THUD! 'OH CRUD!' on an old man's back."
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
For Backyard Explorers
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| How Things Work in the Yard |
To help nurture their enthusiasm for nature and activities they love to do in the yard, here are two learning books that will keep them wide-eyed to the last page:
For more about these sweet titles from Blue Apple Books, read my reviews below!
Bugs by the Numbers
By Sharon Werner & Sarah Forss
Blue Apple Books, 2011
$19.99, ages 4-8, 56 pages
Little entomologists will delight in every page of this clever tribute to tiny creatures that crawl and fly, pester and amaze.
The gals behind the enchanting Alphabeasties and Other Amazing Types promise a myriad of marvels in this number bug book and deliver -- with lots of giggles.
As with that award-winner, Werner and Forss build creatures from numbers of varying size and fonts, and explore facts though fun graphics and flip-out pages.
"Each bug on these pages / Looks unique and rare, / Not like the insects / You see everywhere," reads a poem in the front fold. "They're made up of numbers: / The ones that you count. / 'Cause when you think bugs, / You think BIG amounts."
How Things Work in the Yard
Blue Apple Books, 2011
$14.99, ages 4-8, 40 pages
Eyes will dart around the pages of this charming book as if they were taking in a yard awakening with activity.
With adorable paper cut-outs and facts that say just enough, award-winning Ernst answers 20 questions about what children see as they play in their yard.
Each question is posed as child would ask it: How does it work? -- whether the thing is mechanical or not -- and this gives the story a sweet feeling from the start.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Hooray for Amanda & Her Alligator!
Written and illustrated by Mo Willems
Balzer + Bray, 2011
$17.99, ages 4-8, 72 pages.
Amanda's stuffed Alligator is a handful, but she wouldn't want him to be any other way.
She just needs a way to keep this zippy little fellow as busy as he wants to be.
In this sweet picture/chapter book hybrid, Caldecott winner Willems introduces a toy that can't sit still and the girl who just wants to make him happy.
I'm a Shark
Written and illustrated by Bob Shea
Balzer + Bray, 2011
$16.99, ages 3-6, 40 pages
Shark doesn't have a nervous bone (er, piece of cartilage) in his body, but could there be one teeny tiny thing that rattles him?
Get ready for giggles. Shea is back with another fun read-aloud, this time about a big-talking shark who tries to convince a little fish and crab that nothing can scare him.
Without wasting a page, Shark swims up to readers on the first spread, catches their eyes like a happy emoticon and declares: 1) He's a shark and 2) He's totally awesome.
After all, he is big and broad. And just look at that pointy-tooth grin.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Books to Turn You Green
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| from Patrick McDonnell's Hug Time |
To help empower your children to make a greener world, I've gathered a list of stellar books about caring for Earth.
The first two celebrate children's curiosity about the natural world: Me…Jane and Gus is a Tree.
The third explores the science of weather and climate change: How the Weather Works.
The fourth calls on children to take a stand to heal the planet: Gaia Warriors.
The next shows ordinary folks becoming energy-saving heroes: Energy Island.
And the last spotlights how great it feels to reach out and care: Hug Time by the author who brought us Me…Jane.
I've also listed 10 fun ways to help your children be green. Who knows, they might just sprout grass for hair!
Me...Jane
Written & illustrated by Patrick McDonnell
$15.99, ages 3-6, 40 pages
How does a child grow to love the natural world? If you're Jane Goodall, it begins by hiding out in hen houses and laying your cheek against a tree.
In this tender tribute to the legendary anthropologist, Mutts creator McDonnell shows a girl born with wonder in her eyes and a passion for creatures big and small.
In those early years, Jane flitted about her yard with her stuffed monkey Jubilee, watching nature unfold and climbing trees. She'd see birds knit together nests and squirrels scamper in spirals around trees.
Jane read everything she could about the things she saw and the exotic place she imagined visiting, a far-off place known as Africa where real-life chimpanzees perched in branches just like she loved to do with Jubilee.
She was entranced by Tarzan of the Apes (imagining herself Tarzan's Jane), dreamed of being Dr. Doolittle and filled every inch of her scrapbooks with observations, sketches and quizzes for a nature club she formed with her sisters, The Alligator Society.
Gus is a Tree
Written by Claire Babin
Illustrated by Oliver Tallec
Enchanted Lion, 2008
$14.99 each, ages 3-8, 32 pages
As a boy rests against a tree, he dreams that his feet have rooted into the ground and he's sprouted branches in this exhilarating French import.
In this second book in the Gus nature series, Gus steals away to sit quietly under a tree while other children in his schoolyard peel around and play.
He loves the grooves of the tree's bark, the way the leaves shimmer above him and the earthy fragrance of the wood.
With his back against the tree, he closes his eyes, reaches up with his hands to stroke the bark and remembers a walk through the forest with his father.
As memories of twigs crackling underfoot return, slumber takes him and Gus dreams.
In his imagination, he's a big old tree with thick branches for arms and bark striped like the sleeves of his shirt.
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