Babies | Page 3 of 22

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

Little Pea, a super-cute read-aloud book that rises to the challenge

Little Pea is one of those books. It’s a book that’s meant to be read aloud to toddlers through first-grade students. The text is simple. The illustrations are cute, very detailed in a cartoon fashion, and relentlessly happy. With great read-aloud books, the magic happens when you read it and combine everything together. That’s what happens when you read Little Pea to children.

Little Pea is a very simple book with a message crawlers through first will enjoy and grin at, with art that’s as detailed or as simple as you need it to be.

A book in a 3 to eight minute pinch

Nature is an Artist is a toddler’s first canvas or a relaxing read

Storytime! It’s that time when pre-k or kindergarten kids need a story read to them. It’s the book that they look at or listen to as they’re winding down for the day, or just for a little bit. The text in great storytime books usually rhymes and has illustrations that are colorful and loaded corner to corner with various hues. Nature is an Artist is one of those storytime books. Its premise is as direct as the title and will have toddlers through kindergarten hopefully looking at the things around their outside world in a different way.

Nature is an Artist is a soft, dreamy look at how kids can see the beauty in nature in ways that are obvious, but often overlooked.

Now this is an ‘art in nature’ book that we can dig

No! Said Custard the Squirrel, super silly fun for crawlers-pre k

Pre-k and very early elementary school students need silly time. No! Said Custard the Squirrel is geared and targeted right at the silly spot that ages three through six crave. On the book’s cover we see a duck who is properly dressed as if they’re an artist politely, but firmly telling a curious possum, no. The possum is dubious of the duck’s claim, thus the story behind, No! Said Custard the Squirrel.

No! Said Custard the Squirrel is a beautifully silly, simply tale about being yourself, with charming and subtle illustrations.

Gird your loins for read-aloud fun

Vegetables in Pajamas, not stopping a great thing in the Underwear series

Vegetables in Underwear will always hold a special place in our potty training heart. Little did we know that this cute board book would have legs that spawn off books just as great as the one that we held such fond memories of. If you haven’t seen any of the Vegetables in Underwear board book series then Vegetables in Pajamas is as cute as you can imagine. Picture a board book where dozens of softly drawn vegetables are modeling pajamas, using simple words to describe their bedtime apparel and eventually being tucked into bed. If cuteness were a commodity that kids could eat then they’d gobble this book up and then some.

Vegetables in Pajamas is silly, uproarious, board book fun that ages three through five will seek out during story time.

Fear not the clothing we sleep in vegetable friends

MerryTale, A Christmas Adventure allows the holiday to pop for pre-K and up

If SpookyTale is the sister to MerryTale, then their father is Christopher Franceschelli. Both of them are board books in the Abrams Trail Tale series. They are also much more than just a seasonal book with pages thick enough for little hands to easily turn. Board books have a special place with pre-k kids because they’re something that they can engage in without any oversight from an adult. It’s something that they won’t break, or get hassled about doing and will even help them in the long run.

MerryTale: A Christmas Adventure continues the Abrams Trail Tale board book series that gives the medium a punch up.

A board book for those who are aging out of the medium

Extraordinary Animals, a durable, interactive, smart book for ages five and up

If six-year-olds were in charge of bathroom books then Extraordinary Animals would be on top of every tank. The basis behind a great toilet book is that it’s fun to read and can be consumed in nuggets. Granted, in some cases, those books graduate from the water closet to mingle with the books in the general library or for leisure reading. Ultimate Spotlight Extraordinary Animals is a book that falls in that category. It also combines interactive elements from two of our favorite series of books.

Ultimate Spotlight Extraordinary Animals melds the best parts of an interactive book, board book and STEM curio into one.

Interactive, stem-oriented books for the very young you seek?

Footprints Across the Planet is a soft picture book on life and impact

Did you hear about the dinosaur footprints in Texas that were exposed during a drought? I love that story because A. I love all things dinosaur and B. It reminds us that there are extraordinary things that might be just beyond our eyesight. Maybe it’s something that takes a little effort or it could be the everyday things that we simply may not appreciate as much as it deserves. Footprints Across the Planet is a picture book by Jennifer Swanson. Swanson is an author who writes non-fiction books for children, with this one being on the picture end of the teeter-totter.

Footprints Across the Planet is a picture book about the impact things make, softly demonstrated by animals and metaphors.

Jump on in, the pictures are great