Karen's Picks
Top 5 Classic Board
Books for Little Ones
One of the best
gifts you can give your child is a love of reading. Babies,
toddlers, and preschoolers learn to love reading when they equate it
with loving attention and a happy time of sharing. The best place to
start with young children is with board books since they enjoy being
able to handle books themselves.
Bedtime Board Books
"No, No, NO!!!" If
that's the response you get when it's time for bed, bedtime board
books may be just what you need to encourage your sleepyhead to go
to bed. One of the nice things about board books is that they are
designed for heavy use. You don't have to worry about your child
inadvertently ripping the pages. After an adult has read to them,
many small children like to "read" books to themselves until they go
to sleep. Board books, with their sturdy cardboard pages, are
perfect for this.
"The Very Hungry
Caterpillar" written
and illustrated
by Eric
Carle
On Sunday a caterpillar hatches from his egg. On Monday he eats an
apple. On Tuesday he eats two pears. On Wednesday he eats three
plums. The hungry caterpillar eats more and more food for every day
of the week. What will happen to the caterpillar after all this
eating? Die-cut pages and colorfully textured collage illustrations
accompany the simple text. Introducing readers to colors, foods,
numbers, the days of the week, and the concept of metamorphosis, THE
VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR is the first book in Carle's extremely
popular Very series that includes such other titles as THE VERY
QUIET CRICKET and THE VERY BUSY SPIDER.
"Goodnight Moon,"
written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd
This
book
has become a
classic! The story features a little rabbit in his crowded bedroom
at bedtime. The first half of the book describes, very simply, all
of the things in the rabbit's bedroom. Next, the little rabbit
slowly prepares for bed by saying goodnight one by one to each
occupant and thing in his room. The text features repetition and
rhyming phrases, both of which are appealing and calming to young
children.
"Kiss Goodnight,
Sam" written by Amy Hest and illustrated by Anita Jeram
My children and I were
first attracted by this book's cover art, of a mother bear kissing
her cub goodnight as he lay tucked in his bed. The story is a simple
one. When Mrs. Bear asks her cub, Sam, if he's ready to go to sleep,
he replies, "Oh, no. I'm waiting." After trying a number of things
and getting the same response, Mrs. Bear realizes he is waiting for
his good night kiss.
"Brown Bear, Brown
Bear, What Do You See?" written by Bill Martin Jr
and illustrated
by Eric
Carle
A
rhythmic text and bold collage illustrations combine to introduce
children to a variety of animals and colors in this classic book for
the very young. The chant-like text practically begs to be read
aloud while the lovely illustrations promote close observation with
their bright colors and interesting textures. A staple in both the
preschool classroom and the toddler's home library, BROWN BEAR,
BROWN BEAR, WHAT DO YOU SEE? is the first book in a series which
also includes POLAR BEAR, POLAR BEAR, WHAT DO YOU HEAR? and PANDA
BEAR, PANDA BEAR, WHAT DO YOU SEE?
"Good Night,
Gorilla" written
and illustrated
by Peggy
Rathmann
Peggy Rathmann's
book will also give you the giggles. The zookeeper goes around
locking the cages of the zoo's animals, not realizing he is being
followed by a little gorilla who unlocks each cage he has just
locked. The animals follow him home and go to bed in his bedroom.
When his wife wakes up and sees them, she walks them all back to
their cages where they all stay, except for the gorilla and a little
mouse who quietly follow her home.
Happy reading!
Karen, Trystan &
Shane
© 2006 ByDeBook. All rights reserved.
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