baby lit
Filed Under Stuff | November 23, 2011
We’re partial to giving books to the littlest special people in our lives, whether for baby showers, Christmas, or birthdays. And since books for the under two set don’t have a lot of room for plot development, we feel they need a certain “je ne sais quoi” to bring pleasure to the parent reader as well. With board books you want a little something to chew on (quite literally for the youngest ‘consumers’ ), which usually that comes in the form of wordplay, tongue in cheek humour, and/or great design – qualities our newest picks have in abundance.
We were recently introduced to two counting primers by Jennifer Adams: Romeo and Juliet, and Pride and Prejudice. The later is our favourite for telling references to the original (two rich gentlemen, three houses, four marriage proposals, etc.). Austen aficionados will particularly giggle at the climax: 10,000 pounds a year! We’ve now got our eye out for Adam’s Alice in Wonderland colours primer to be released in February 2012.
Another recent find is Matthew Porter, an artist from Seattle whose acrylic and ink paintings on wood translate wonderfully to children’s books. We checked out his ABC book which we liked because it moved beyond the usual cat, dog, and horse standards to a broader range, including penguins, geckos, and quokhas (what’s that you say? You’ll have to check it out!). And as fans of collective nouns we were particularly enamoured with Calling all Animals. How can you resist a “flamboyance of flamingos” and a “sleuth of bears”?
For the slightly older crowd, ages 2-6, it’s hard to beat Porter’s Monkey World: an A-Z of Occupations. “T is for Trumpet Player” makes us gleeful, ending with: “The trumpeter from next door/moved out of his apartment/He got a record deal and tour/ And I got blissful silence.”
Yo mama, what else do we round out the collection with when we give a bundle of books to baby? Check out the rest of our top 10 fave board books on our blog.
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Let us know what you think or share your great finds with us so we can share them with other Vancouver mothers!
