Board Books that Won’t Bore You

Some board books… meh. But these ones have fun features to engage both you and baby!

In My Den
In My Pond
In My Tree
In My Nest
by Sara Gillingham
Chronicle Books
Audience: 0 – 3 yrs

This sweet little series is growing, and now includes a few more titles based on the same pattern – a simple description of an animals habitat, with layered die-cut pages that illustrate it in simple, graphic style. In the centre sits a felt finger puppet anchored on a stretchy fabric, who is at the heart of each page. The last thing noted about each home is certainly not the least – it is the creature’s family, and two parental figures are added.

The illustrations here are lovely, and the colours beautiful. The layering of patterns makes for a gorgeous cover that hints at what’s inside. The finger puppets are adorable. But what about the durability of pages with the middles cut out, and that finger puppet? I had my concerns at first, but they are super sturdy, with pages thicker than normal to provide strength, and a finger puppet that I have yanked on firmly enough to feel convinced that I can leave this is the hands of my rugged toddler. It’s evident that thought went into construction as much as making them pretty, and that has made me a fan.

Pop-Up Peekaboo! Playtime
DK Publishing
ISBN: 978 0 7566 7171 6
Audience: 1 – 4 yrs

This board book features a fun surprise – not only a flap that folds out, but a pop-up behind it! This title is about playing with toys, and there is a nice range of toys, including a wooden train, a Fisher Price fire engine, and some seriously cute corduroy dinosaurs that I want for myself. (One on the farm is also available.) 

It’s a cute concept for a young child, and is bound to be a winner – kids love pop-ups. The problem with your average pop-ups are the complexity of the unfolding and the delicate paper engineering that is easily ruined, but DK has thought about this. The flaps are the hardy variety that are continuations of the pages, and un-tearable. The pop-ups all open smoothly with the flap – there is no need to touch the moving parts to make them work, but of course, we all know kids will. those parts, though, are also created in a thick card that makes them resistant to your average curious fondling, though for a more exuberant, clumsy, or notoriously accident-prone child, this might be best reserved for reading together.

I Like Vegetables
by Lorena Siminovich
Candlewick Press
ISBN: 9780763652838
Audience: 0 – 3 yrs

This lovely little board book on vegetables is illustrated by the same person responsible for the pictures in the In My Nest set of books, above, and her collage art is just as charming here.

This book is trying to cram several things into one small space – talking about vegetable, introducing some simple opposites, and including sensory touch features, all at once. Despite the book’s very short length, though, it all seems to work without seeming forced. The opposites work with the images and veggies pictured, and the textured papers and fabrics are a nice touch, rather than a total focus. You could easily read this three times, focusing on a different aspects each time, and making this a more flexible repeat read (becuase we all knkow how much they love to hear the same darn story over and over.)

Little Pink Book
by Renee Khatami
Random House
ISBN: 9780375861314
Audience:  – 3 yrs

This book celebrates the many places we find the colour pink – fuzzy piglets, seashells, and roses, to name a few. the book is illustrated with photographs, and each page includes a little sensory feature – a texture to touch, a scratch and sniff, or a little reflective bit to catch light. (Thankfully, no noisy features for hearing, though.)

This is a lovely gift for a child who loves colour, and with the Little Black Book coming in July, we might be expecting to see a whole rainbow of these within the next couple of years.