I give you... my kids' first favorite childhood books! :-D These books are so worn & loved, they hold a place on our bookshelves even though no one reads them anymore. I think these come from Baby's First Book Club. I really loved getting something new in the mail every month and these were so great. (They did not ask me to say that... or give me anything for saying that. They should.)
My reviews:
What Baby Wantsby Phyllis Root
Illustrated by Jill Bartow
This baby cries in caps while the relatives try to figure out what he wants. I think my kids loved the idea of such a bad-mannered baby making a big fuss. They loved to see all the family loving the baby and trying to help the baby, but especially the way only "little brother" was able to quiet baby. It is the first moment that such a little family member is such a big hero. The illustrations of the family's attempts to help are funny. The farm animals get involved and it's quite a mess while momma takes a break. The words are easy to change and add noises and animation... it's just really fun. Great book!
My Truck is Stuckby Kevin Lewis and Daniel Kirk
This book grew on me the more I read it with my boys. The idea is delightfully silly - the big truck gets stuck and lots of passerby's try to help pull it out of the hole, but nothing works until the tow truck arrives. The illustrations add another level to the story as gophers steal the dog's bones. The kids thought the sneaky gophers were hilarious.
The book is fun to read outloud as each vehicle makes a different honking noise, but that's not my favorite part. What I liked best was the use of the "k" sound. It's not an easy sound to make especially at the end of a word and this book makes it FUN to practice over an over. We enjoyed exaggerating all the words and sounds as we read. My kids never knew they were working on their speech. Lol. Perfect.
Toes Are to Tickleby Shen Roddie & Kady MacDonald Denton
This book is a treasure. It encourages big sibling love for the littler one, which was its first draw for me. The story has a family waking in the morning... getting ready for the day... going for a walk... playing at home... getting ready for bed... the safe, happy routine of a day. I could almost see the thoughts turning in my kids' head as they noticed similarities to our days. How we wake up in the morning with funny hair wearing PJ's. How they get to climb on dad at the end of the day sometimes. How kids everywhere have to brush their teeth. Lol. I love the feeling of love and "family". This book feels like a peek into someone else's day as a family and I never felt like our day had to be exactly like theirs to still recognize that same feeling of "we are family".
I like this book even more, though, because of the backwards sentence structure. Like the title, each sentence starts with the subject and then describes what it's for. "Clothes are for putting on." It gives a different perspective on the entire day, like from a child's view of seeing things simply, for how they bring pleasure to life. "A tree is to hide behind." My kids agreed with the logic.
