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Odd Beasts proves that board books have a life past pre-K

Hello, little sponge of knowledge. Would you like some food? Board books speak to crawlers in a variety of ways. The vast majority of them are silly, building block-oriented books that teach colors, numbers, or the alphabet. It works like that in whatever language you’re learning, as a matter of fact, reading board or illustrated books, in a second language is a great way to learn vocabulary and some grammar. Odd Beasts: Meet Nature’s Weirdest Animals is a smart board book that’s meant for crawlers, aged two and up, but also goes north to those first and lower second grade students. For those of you keeping score, that’s a board book that can be interesting to young readers for five years, which is a massive spread in the Range Game on The Price is Right.

Odd Beasts: Meet Nature’s Weirdest Animals, introduces ages 2 and up to strange critters in a board book that demos through second grade.

A board book on odd Animals that demos past crawlers and into 2nd grade

Spookytale, high quality board book narrative, with an Abrams Block twist

What if you had some delicious, baked potato chips that were sold in a can? They taste the same as the ones you’re used to eating, but they’re a little bit larger, the packaging is different and their shape is just a bit round, instead of oval. Spookytale is that board book. It’s by Christopher Franceschelli and has a young elementary spooky vibe that’s complete with the fold-out, die-cut aspects that his other Abrams Appleseed books deliver. It introduces Halloween-ish elements to those young ages via thick, durable pages and a fun, engaging story that’ll get them primed for October 31.

Spookytale, a board book that feels familiar, but has a story to tell to kids aged 3-6 that is in line with the Abrams Block Book Series that those ages love.

Taking a great thing and extending it to continued other great things

Where’s Brian’s Bottom? proves that board books can think out of the box

Where’s Brian’s Bottom? is a very intelligent and unique board book that uses every square inch of its pages to entertain crawlers through first grade. If it’s been a while since you read a board book or you’re new to them then that sentence might seem odd. It’s a cardboard book with thick pages whose audience might be crawling or somewhere in first grade. How could a book like that be smart and make kids curious about its content? As we’ve covered before, board books, the same ones geared towards that crowd can talk about complex things like quantum physics. Where’s Brian’s Bottom? is a board book that flexes its graphic design muscle and infuses it with a grinning sense of humor.

Where’s Brian’s Bottom? is an interactive, fold-out creation that will really engage those crawlers through first-grade.

A board book whose content is as big as its size

Vegetables In Halloween Costumes, dress-up mirth for crawlers

Jared Chapman potty trained my children. It’s not that author/illustrator, Jared Chapman has a side hustle wandering the country training toddlers about the virtues of going to the bathroom in the toilet. Among other books, he’s the author of Vegetables In Underwear. Vegetables In Halloween Costumes takes that theme, focuses on the carrot, and lets crawlers through pre-k kids loose with the laughs.

Vegetables in Halloween Costumes has the produce Jared Chapman has made famous and gives them the chance to dress up.

This is a great halloween board book to start the crawlers out with

Sharkblock, far from jumps the subject matter for ages 4 and up

Don’t judge a book by its cover. I know the saying. Yet, I was completely judging Sharkblock before looking at it. Ironically, my first thought was that the ‘block’ series has jumped the shark. How could Franceschelli and Peskimo make a block book about sharks that was something more than just a board book asking young readers to look at the sharks? Quicker than you can say ‘hold my cartilage they’ve made a book that continues the excellence that you’d expect from this series. Sharkblock has the thick, interactive pages that fans of the series expect to see, but has added education in the most kid-friendly way possible to their subject matter.

SharkBlock shatters board book expectations by being fun, educational and engaging for ages 4 and up.

Board books are just for babies you say…..

LoveBlock, tweaks the block books for the better

We’ve been fans of the Abrams Block Books since AlphaBlock came out and taught our then three-and-a-half-year-old his letters. Internally, I’m going whaaa, it’s really been eight years? That comes for both the age of our oldest son and how long it’s been since we received AlphaBlock. That book series evolved into dinosaurs, numbers, building, Disney, Marvel, and more. With LoveBlock the series from Christopher Franceschelli with art by Peskimo has changed again, albeit in a very subtle way.

LoveBlock takes the art and style of the block books, tweaks it a bit and nails the concept of love for ages one and up.

Love is, this book and its capture of how it’s exemplified in life

This Is Still Not A Book!, an absurd, elementary-aged board book

When is a book not a book? This is Still Not A Book! is the sequel to This Is Not A Book!. “This is a very direct book”, said our 11-year-old when he opened it. I wasn’t sure what he meant by that, and after looking at the board book I can somewhat understand what he meant. It’s worth noting that this child is very literal and able to see the big picture, as well as, the small picture. That is important because This Is Still Not A Book! is a board book from the realm of absurdity, from which you have to venture through The Far Side to get there. All that’s missing from this book are a couple of cow puns or talking animals to complete the classic one-strip motif.

This Is Still Not A Book! is a wonderful, creative, surreal board book that’s part optical illustion and Far Side for elementary.

This is a very clever and smart board book

Busy Bots, a board book that turns tools into animals

When is a board book not a board book? I’ve asked this riddle before, but it deserves to be asked again. Busy Bots is a board book that occupies one of the interesting corners of the crawler book library. It’s a STEM-minded board book that turns real tools into insects, animals or pretend animals that will leave ages two through seven grinning for multiple reasons.

Proving that board books can be smart and STEM little kid minded