ABC Nature (Touch and Trace) by Nicola Edwards and Thomas Elliott
A for acorn. B for butterfly. Touch and trace, feel and play your way through 26 letters of the alphabet. Big letters and small.
Large, nature-themed images illustrate the word chosen to represent every letter. Develop recognition of plants and animals from acorn to zebra. Beneath every image letters are cut from the board and lined with felt-like material. Capital letters and small. These are sized for small fingers to trace, enabling the reader to develop letter recognition and hand-eye coordination skills.
This is a lovely format that allows readers to explore the alphabet. The pictures are also photographs or photorealistic. This makes the books friendlier to older learners, ones who maybe didn’t learn to recognise letters prior to starting Infant’s School. It is equally friendly and acessible to smaller reades.
At the Fair and Up the Mountain (Gregory Goose is on the Loose) by Hilary Robinson and Mandy Stanley
Gregory Goose is on the loose. Where, oh where, might he be? Up the Mountain? At the Fair? And where on Earth is he hiding? These beautiful board books continue the adventures through different environments.
Play hide-and-seek while learning new vocabulary. See all the exciting things that can be found in new places. Ski slopes and chalets. Big wheels and teacup rides. The world is an exciting place. Gregory Goose allows tiny readers to take it all in.
As someone brought up on the Usborne duck series, a good hide-and-seek series for tiny readers always wins my heart. This is certain to appeal to the target audience. It has bright illustrations and a cheeky character whose sheer delight in his antics will be relatable to small children. The urge to be free and explore the world begins from birth. The text questions whether Gregory Goose may be in one place or another. That it sometimes misleads the reader has the double delight of making the adult or person reading aloud incorrect.
Two more joyful books. Flap your wings and join the fun.
Build by Xavier Deneux
We’re building a house. Are you ready?
Read and play with this truely wonderful book. Removable pieces allow the reader to immerse themselves in the world of building sites, from donning a hard hat, to shoveling dirt, and building a house brick by brick. Learn vocabulary about construction, and practice hand-eye coordination by removing the pieces from one spot and pressing them into another.
This is a story of co-operation. Two workers build a house together. They encourage one another and remind one another that it is OK to take time in order to get the job right. This would be a lovely book for encouraging team play and friendship.
With a white background and pictures made up of simple shapes, this book has a modernist, trendy feel. It puts the tiny reader firmly in command of the story. Every reading will change as the reader plays builder.
Homes and On the Go by Hector Dexet
Imagine all the homes and all the ways to get around in the whole wide world. This series has a fantastic feel to it. Bats live in spooky houses alongside ghosts. Little cars stretch into big ones at the turn of a page. The images and text appeal directly to a child’s sense of play.
Bold illustrations in primary colours fill white pages, with cut-out details on each page. These are differently-shaped across the book, and make up the illustrations as equally as the colour.
These books encourage chunky crayon drawings, games, and dreams. They allow for lots of playful interaction as the story is read – it would be fun to do noises for the different vehicles and animals with the small reader.
My Book of Feelings by Nicola Edwards and Thomas Elliott
How do you feel when it rains? What is your reaction to bananas on your plate? Is disgusted different from sad? Explore the world of emotions with this clever board book.
Every spread is dedicated to different subjects, such as the weather, food, animals and activities. Prompt questions are asked – how do you feel about …? What do you feel when you see …? Photographs and name labels allow children to answer the questions. But talking is one thing. This book goes a whole other level so that readers can really consdier different possible reactions.
A spinner with three wooden emoji-faces is inserted into the side of the book. This spinner is seen on every page. Readers can turn the the different faces until they find the closest reaction. This cleverly allows children to find the nearest emotion even if they don’t have a word for it. Adult readers can then help them to find the right name. A reference page at the front of the book suggests different possible words for every face.
This is useful on so many levels. Not only do children need to learn to recognise their own reactions, but they need to learn how to identify other people’s feelings. Remembering that the same kind of face can mean multiple things is important, and this book allows readers to think about the subtle differences between facial expressions.
This book is a must – it introduces a topic that isn’t talked about often enough.
On a Train and On a Tractor (Let’s Go Series) by Rosalyn Albert and Natalia Moore
Climb aboard a steam train. Climb aboard a tractor. The latest adventures are here in this fantastic board book series. Join in the fun with a group of friends and explore all things veichle.
This time we choo-choo down a railway line and trundle around a farm. The stories introduce vocabulary specific to each location while empowering readers to see themselves as the driver in control of the veichles. As noted in my Febuary 2020 board book round-up, this series is one of many that looks at veichles but one of very few that features a diverse group of children at the helm. It allows lots of children to see themselves as a key part of the adventure.
The illustrations have a calmer colour scheme and illustration style to many books about vehicles. There is no association whatsoever with vehicles and masculinity. Vehicles and certain types of behaviour. It is all about friendship and exploration. Which is, after all, what journeys are about.
- Thanks to Abrams and Chronice, Little Tiger, and New Frontier Publishing for providing the books featured in this round-up
Definitely getting Build, Peapod will love that! ABC nature looks great too.
It’s a brilliant idea for toddlers and small people, isn’t it?