As I look down the home stretch of pregnancy (one month to go!), I realize there is one baby accessory that strangely has not made it onto my radar. BABY BOOKS. I don't know if its because I have a library of children's books already (though they are in storage at the moment since we're away from home), or that I've just been preoccupied with making sure we have the basics like diapers and pjs. But I haven't bought one baby book!
What are some of your favorite baby board books? I've always loved Good Night Gorilla, Pat the Bunny, and of course the Eric Carle board books. If any parents or board book aficionados out there have any recommendations please leave them in the comments! I'd love to support some new authors.
19 comments:
Not necessarily board books, but I love:
THE DOT by Peter Reynolds
VERY HAIRY BEAR by Alice Schertle
YOU ARE MYI LOVE YOU by Maryann Cusimano
Enjoy!
None of my favorites are undiscovered gems, but anything by Sandra Boynton is fun to read and it kept their attention.
I know it skews a bit older, but I also love reading "Guess How Much I Love You" to my daughters. I'm a guy and it still chokes me up.
"How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night," is another favorite (Mark Teague is brilliant).
My go-to baby shower gift is "How Many Kisses Do You Want Tonight?" by Varsha Bajaj
Jamberry by Bruce Degan, Time for Bed by Mem Fox, I Love You as Much by Laura Krauss Melmed, I Love You Like Blueberry Pancakes by ?
The Foot Book and Mr. Brown can Moo, Can You? (board book versions) Dr. Seuss
Piggies by Audrey Wood (Great for doing the hand motions)
The Very Lonely Firefly and The Very Quiet Cricket by Eric Carle (along with The Very Hungry Caterpillar)
Also, ditto on Sandra Boynton - especially Barnyard Dance
Also, don't forget to get some of those "touch & feel" books. Those were the first ones my kids wanted to "read" on their own.
Congratulations! :-)
Anything by Leslie Patricelli. Yummy Yucky was probably the favorite with my boys, but they're all great.
Are You My Mother? By PD Eastman was a favorite at our house as well as Karen Katz.
Thanks guys! These are great.
Patricelli's board books are my favorite :)
We read Everywhere Babies every night for a year and a half and never got tired of it.
My go-to book for baby showers is "On the Day You Were Born." It makes me tear up every time I read it. Do not miss it.
Board book favorites were Eric Carle books - especially The Very Busy Spider which does well in BB format - Boynton - esp The Going-to-Bed Book- and now Global Babies.
My 10 month old daughter is gaga for her board books. Her top three are:
We're Going on a Bear Hunt, by Rosen/Oxenbury
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you See? by Eric Carle
Pajama Time, by Sandra Boynton
But get many many books, cause we read them again and again and again and again...
I love Higher, Higher. And so does my 2-year old!
The Gossie and Friends books, by Olivier Dunrea.
Oh my goodness. They are so sweet.
Hi Anna,
At the risk of sounding pathetic mentioning my own book.. I probably shouldn't but I will. :o)
I recently illustrated ABC, Baby Me! (Random House/Corey) and has been one of my favorite books so far!
The thing is, I really truly love it and can honestly say it's a wonderful book to read with your baby. I think it stands out from most ABC books out there, because the text takes you through the day of your little one's life. It's very sweet and I believe reading it can be a bonding experience for you and your baby.
If you like I can send you a dedication card for you to print. :o)
Just let me know, you can find my email at my website.
Take care and congratulations on your new baby!
(Ok.. Im leaving now.. *blush*)
Ali
Thanks again everyone! I am going to look into all of your suggestions.
Ali- No reason to be shy about mentioning your own book, it sounds great!
I don't have anything to add about suggestions, but we could get into a lovely discussion about how it's impossible to get a board book published... they basically publish the same stuff over and over again. I always thought it would be fun to do one. Is there not enough money in board books? Sandra Boynton seems to do well enough!
Sorry Anna, I didn't mean to rant on your post.
Nice choices here. I would add Where, Oh Where is Huggle Buggle Bear,Elephant and Piggie books, Ten Little Kisses, How do Dinosaurs series, Trace Moroney's 'When I'm feeling' books for starters. Of course, when it comes to babies, I hear it's not as important what you read as it is to read often and consistently. Your site is a great resource btw.
Meghan- I've always wanted to do a board book too, it seems like a really fun format. I have no idea how publishing decisions are made about them, but it does seem to be more competitive. Maybe they have to do large print runs to make them profitable, so its safer to go with authors who already have a name in that genre?
Favorites in our house:
the Maisy books, by Lucy Cousins
the Mini Masters series, by Julie Merberg and Suzanne Bober
Leslie Patricelli (as mentioned above)
Sandra Boynton (ditto)
the Usborne touchy-feely books (we have THAT'S NOT MY CAR and THAT'S NOT MY LION)
cloth books like FIND THE BALL from Manhattan Toy
Regarding Meghan's question, from a publishing perspective, board books are relatively expensive to produce and yet can't be priced very high, so you have to sell a lot of copies to make a profit. That's why many publishers tend to do board book conversions from successful picture books — the track record is already there.
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