My daughter is 13 months old now, and she is entering a fun age of reading. She loves books, she loves reading, and she loves eating, ripping, and tearing apart any book-like item that comes near her! The combination means there are lots of reading times with the book just out of her reach. But mostly I’ve been looking for board books that she loves.
Her favorite thing right now is babies. Crying babies, smiling babies, far away on the other side of the room babies. She loves them! She knows she is a baby and loves herself too. It’s so much fun to enjoy this stage once again. My son liked babies, but nothing like this. At 13 months, he was obsessed with cars and trains. My daughter just loves babies!
American Babies is a board book with all different babies smiling and crying. There are words on each page, and occasionally we’ve read it together. I love that the babies are all different races. My daughter just loves to look at the babies!
Grandma sent her a book called Love Song for a Baby by Marion Dan Bauer and illustrated by Dan Andreason. We do not have the board book, although one is available. This is another book we do not read because of the words. I find the text a little awkward to read, actually. But the large, realistic pictures of babies and frequent use of the word “baby” make this another favorite of my little girl.
Colors and numbers books are also a favorite. She love the Happy Baby Colors book by Priddy Books, which has photos of babies surrounded by the various colors. And Karen Katz’s Baby Board Books are fantastic because of the durability factor (extra thick wooden pages!) and adorable baby illustrations! We only ha ev Karen Katz Baby’s Shapes, but there are so many concept books to enjoy with adorable babies!
And then there are “naming” books. My daughter loves books that have lots of little pictures and things are labeled. There are two books we got through the Cybils 2012 judging process that are just right for this.
Tell Me about Colors, Shapes, and Opposites by Aurelie Guillerey and Dellphine Badreddine (OwlKid Books, 2012) has an awkward title, but now I don’t have to do too much explaining! There are questions from a child as she searches for her toys, plays with her cat, and prepares for a party. There are lots of large illustrations and prepositional phrases in addition to those things mentioned in the title. It’s a fun book for learning vocabulary and making reading together an interactive experience for a young child.
Picture My Day by Severine Cordier and Cynthia Lacroix (OwlKid Books, 2011) more simply focuses on the nouns that a child encounters throughout the day. Three children get dressed, eat, play, and enjoy their day. Although there are many books like this out there, this one just hit the spot for me. The kids are adorable and finding familiar items in their world is fun. The way my daughter is learning is by living in the world.
Both OwlKids Books have sturdy covers and extra thick paper, which means they are not easy to rip. (I promise, my daughter has tried!)
We are having a lot of fun reading these days. What are you reading with your kids?
Note: I received review copies from the publisher of Tell Me About and Picture My Day for review consideration.
I can’t believe my girls are getting older so we don’t read as many “baby” books these days. My youngest just turned 5 and she loves the “Froggy” books. My oldest is almost 7 and she is reading tons of chapter books these days. Each stage is fun!