Babies | Page 2 of 21

This Little Engineer: A Think-and-do-Primer, board book to cerebral action

There is an entire world of board books out there. Some board books teach the very basics. The common denominator is that they all feature soft, pleasing illustrations that crawlers and pre-k students enjoy. This Little Engineer: A Think-and-do-Primer is a board book that ages three through six will identify with. It’s part of the board books that spotlight certain professions or characteristics in the This Little book series from Little Simon. The book also does a great job of identifying a very challenging aspect of something that most children question, but rarely get a great answer to.

This Little Engineer: A Think-and-do-Primer is a board book that makes crawlers through 2nd grade think, but also clears up the vague definition of “what is an engineer?”

come on in you smart crawlers

Tell Me About Space is proof that a board book can extend where you think it is

One of my favorite family photos is of our oldest son, who was approximately 18 months old at the time, lying on his stomach while reading a board book. In that case it was one of the classic Eric Carle books in board book form, but it was the format of the book and not necessarily its content that captivated our child. The only constant about board books are their thick pages, which is just a defense mechanism against teething small creatures. Tell Me About Space is a board book, but it has more in common with the STEM-based books that we’ve previously talked about than the Carle book that our child was gnawing on.

Tell Me About Space is the smart, STEM board book that wanted read to you when you were two-years old.

Smart board books are great for us all

Footsteps on the Map, young child-illustrated book utopia from Nat Geo Kids

When is a National Geographic Kids book not a National Geographic Kids Book? Footsteps on the Map has the National Geographic Kids logo in the upper left-hand corner like others in their lineup, but something is different here. It’s obvious when you look inside, it’s a simpler book, with far fewer words than usual and mixed media illustrations that combine all manner of mediums.

Footsteps on the Map is a dreamy illustrated book about nature and exploring, done only the way that Nat Geo Kids can do it.

A nature book on exploring for those kids 3 and up

O is for Ossicone, a fun alphabet board book to plant smart STEM seeds

Treat kids as intelligent as you want them to be. I have that belief when I teach and it’s how we’ve raised our two children so far. You might’ve heard the tale about the baby who had a toy piano in their crib since they were born and they grew up to be a world-renowned concert pianist. I have no idea if that’s true, it sounds like the sort of information that lives in fables, but it could also breed familiarity with something that might psyche kids out as they get older. Was the child already a prodigy and the fact that they were given that toy just a happy coincidence? O is for Ossicone is a board book. Board books are meant for babies. I didn’t know most of the content in O is for Ossicone. I am not a baby. The proceeding four sentences are 100% true.

O is for Ossicone: A Surprising Animal Alphabet is the smartest, most enjoyable A, B, C board book that your kids have seen in a long time.

Don’t be alarmed if this board book is smarter than you

10 Cats, a counting book that uses logic, simplicity, humor….and cats

10 Cats is such a logical counting book, that’s also utterly original that you’ll want to slap yourself for not thinking of it first. It’s a counting book that combines the seek-and-find aspect that young ages have seen in some books but adds kittens. Oh, it is a counting book where pre-k and kindergarten ages learn to count, but instead of counting up, 10 Cats asks readers to find kittens with certain color patterns or other distinguishing marks.

10 Cats is a counting book that asks pre-k or K kids to use logic, observation, humor, a cat and nine kittens to add up to something fun.

Learning to count is not the cat’s fault

Bug Block, don’t let the board book nature fool you, this is smart stuff

We need to stop asking the folks at Abrams to stop trying to raise the ante with their Abrams Block Book series. Both of our children learned their ABC’s with them, mastered their numbers, had fun with dinosaurs, and more. They’ve gone to space with Space Block, learned about love with Love Block, and even went the Disney route with Star Wars Block and others. It’s an Abrams Block Book world and we’re just living in it. That’s what you think if you’re a four-year-old child who is digging into those high-quality, board books that don’t treat babies like babies. Bug Block follows the same format as the others, but if it’s not broken and your audience is always moving on, why change it?

Bug Block is the latest in the go-to board book series from Abrams, this time shining a light on the little creatures in our backyard.

Durable, engaging and entertaining for crawlers through K

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (A Collector’s Classic Board Book) review

“Is this the good Star Wars or the bad Star Wars?”, said the 11-year-old when he saw Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (A Collector’s Classic Board Book). Internally I was hoping that my bias towards certain Star Wars movies hadn’t prejudiced his opinion about the cannon. But then, after thinking about it for a moment I realized that some of those films deserved the negative scrutiny that they received. Then, I remembered that Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (A Collector’s Classic Board Book) is not intended for audiences who hold debates with themselves questioning the ranking of the films.

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (A Collector’s Classic Board Book) features the classic art by Al Williamson in a book that’ll engage readers in pre-k and up.

It’s for the kids. It’s for you. It’s for the kids. It’s for you.

A Delicious Story, happily zips along with charm to spare

This is a thick illustrated book. That’s what you’ll be thinking when you first pick up A Delicious Story. This is a lot of pages it’s probably quite a delicious story indeed. Yes, it is, but open up the book and you’ll see artwork that is the hallmark of Barney Saltzberg. The cartoonish mice are drawn with big, thick lines and have been lovingly painted to illustrate the difference between the baby mouse and the adult mouse. His art and stories always have a muted allure of a slow, patient tale that’s able to pivot to a quick reveal, twist, or surprise that leaves young readers smiling.

A Delicious Story is an illustrated book that seems simple and happily breaks the fourth wall in a story that allows young readers to guess, think and fill in the blanks.

The cuteness, oh, the cuteness for ages 4 and up