Every year, a handful of picture books are released as board books for the very young. This year, we have some good ones!
Book of Sleep
by Il Sung Na
Alfred A. Knopf
ISBN: 978 0 375 86618 0
This quiet book about the nighttime is made wonderful by its quirky, magical illustrations of many animals and how they sleep. The deep, inky colours are soothing, the language kept short but gently humourous, and the whole has the same sort of quieting effect as walking companionably down a street at night with someone you know well. The end has its own little twist, with the nocturnal owl heading to sleep.
Flip Flap Fly
by Phyllis Root
Candlewick Press
ISBN: 978 0 7636 5325 5
I have always been a Phyllis Root fan, and love her longer stories especially, but this work for the very young shows she is just as able with a rhyming book. This softly illustrated book treads the line between sweet and not sappy perfectly, and pairs a little intro to animal babies with fantastically-handled rhyme and rhythm. Lovely!
Bears on Chairs
by Shirley Parenteau
Candlewick Press
ISBN: 978 0 7636 5092 6
This super-simple book is perfect for the board format, with only a handful of words per page and the world’s most basic rhyming scheme – everything rhymes with “bear.” The pictures are a tiny bit too cute for me, but not so much that they make my teeth ache, and I read this aloud anyhow, because it also demonstrates a very nice lesson on sharing without getting obvious about it.
Fred and Ted Like to Fly
by Peter Eastman
Random House
ISBN: 978 0 375 86802 3
I’ve always been a huge Fred and Ted fan, and this newer book carries on the tradition well, keeping the same look and feel, though it is shorter by necessity than some of my favourites. Still, they continue to do things completely the opposite while remaining the best of friends, and their ears still have the goofy flappiness and their face bear the same little grins that always made them so endearing in the first place. These must be the most fun way to teach opposites that I can think of!
It’s My Birthday
by Helen Oxenbury
Candlewick Press
ISBN: 978 0 7636 4970 8
This very cute birthday book from a real master of young children’s books follows a young child who is determined to make his/her (?) own cake, and gets some help from the animals. In the end, the child invites them to share the cake, making this all into a sort of positive spin on the story of the little red hen, as well as a nice story of helping out in a community of friends. The only problem? There is a cake recipe at the back, and your own young child might just want you to make it for them… But then, maybe some of you bake.
Nice suggestions 🙂
They all look terrific, Alice!!