I Say, You Say Lift-the-Flap Books

When I was asked if I wanted to review these new board books for "hip parents and babies" I had to say yes, being that I am the very hip sort. Or, maybe it was because I have a one and a half year old (hipper than me) that I thought would enjoy them. Either which way, they looked cute enough to give them a go.

I Say, You Say Animal Sounds! and I Say, You Say Opposites! are both sturdy board books that can handle little hands manipulating the pages to a fair extent. The pages are thick and glossy, reminding me a lot of the Indestructible books actually. (The material is not the same, but it had a similar feel to it.) The pages are stitched together and you can see the thread throughout the book as you turn the pages. This, I think, gives the pages a little more "give" when little fingers are trying to flip pages up, down and sideways. (You still have to be a little gentle when looking a them though. My one and a half year old is a very enthusiastic page turner and did manage to rip a small bit on one of the creases of the flap. Because it's a lift-the-flap book for children just beginning to learn how to play with and enjoy books, I very much appreciate the cost of these books: $6.99 each. (I mention that because children's books are usually so exorbitant in cost that it makes it hard for me to want to pay for a brand new copy . . . although I am willing to pay for a good book more than most people, I think.)

The most notable thing about these books are the illustrations. They are designed by artist Tad Carpenter who wanted to create children's books since the time he was a child himself. With this set he is hoping to place an emphasis on visual literacy. These books picture a variety of animals with large eyes and happy expressions. Interaction with the book can be loud, quiet, enthusiastic or instructive. At this point in the game, I can't say to my daughter, "I say pig and you say . . ." and expect her to answer appropriately. So, currently, we're sticking with, "What does a pig say?" Also, rather surprisingly, I don't have any books which are explicitly about opposites so we've been using I Say, You Say Opposites! to introduce concepts of short vs. tall, etc., and it is helpful to have animals on the page to compare the differences. (She loves the "short" monkey, for example, which is compared to a tall giraffe.)

Here is a happy little (hip! - sorry, can't resist) video describing the books:


More happy news: I have THREE sets of these books to give away to three of you!

How to win?:

Simply leave a comment below. DO add a valid e-mail address IN your comment so that I can contact you if you are the winner. If you do not leave an e-mail address, I will have to select another winner in your place. This contest is open to U.S. Residents only and will be open through Tuesday, October 9th.

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. The three winners, as selected by Random.org, are #21 - Letters, Numbers and Books, #12 - Sethglass and #4 - Bluerose. Congrats!

Thanks to LB Kids books for shooting a copy of these two books my way in exchange for my thoughts, and for offering an additional three copies to three of my readers.

Beach Baby Books

We have ourselves a beach baby! Which is kind of funny really, being that neither Jonathan nor myself are overwhelmingly fond of the beach. (I like it more than Jonathan.) We took the kids to our "local" beach about a month or so ago and Bookworm3 nearly passed out with glee. Despite the fact that the water was frigid, she was happy as a clam running further and further out into the waves. She loved tasting sand, sinking into it and generally making merry with her brothers. It was a blast watching her! Since then, I've been keeping my eyes and ears open for beach titles and there are two which I was provided for review which I will present to you now.

The first is Noodle Loves the Beach. (Apparently there are a series of books in the Noodle series, but this is the first I've personally seen.)



This is a tactile learning book. If your kidlets like touching different surfaces, than this is a fun book to flip through. It's a board book, so it is nice and sturdy. Each page spread has one sentence on it, so it is best utilized by the earliest readers among us. Each page also has something different to feel. There is a shiny sail on a sailboat which you can flip over, a rough sandcastle and, most impressively, a sticky peach! (That page is quite popular with my 1, 3 and 5 year old.) Simple illustrations of a cute panda bear exploring the beach makes this for an enjoyable read. (I'm very curious to find out what the other Noodle books are like now!) Bookworm3 (age 15 mo.) loves it!

Secondly, we enjoyed Maisy at the Beach: A Sticker Book.



We had not yet experimented with a Maisy sticker book, although we have read (and do own) countless Maisy books! She's been a hit mouse in this household and Bookworm3 seems to be coming right along in the same direction as her brothers before her. Lucy Cousins' bold illustrations just draw the younger readers right on it! (Simple story telling combined with cute animals tends to be popular around these parts!)

In Maisy at the Beach the readers are encouraged to complete the story being told throughout the book by applying appropriate stickers on each page. For example, one of the pages talks about how Maisy and her friends are at the beach. Then it asks if you would please put the beach hats on Maisy & Co. We took turns adding stickers to complete the story and then read the book through together at the end. This one was popular for activity sake but I can't imagine that we'll be re-reading it over and over again (as we do with other Maisy titles) because the text prompts action which, once taken, isn't as exciting.

Both books were provided to us by Candlewick Press in exchange for our honest thoughts which I have now given you. But I will leave you with a picture of my Beach Baby who had a fantastic time exploring the Oregon coast!



Happy beach-like thoughts to you on this lovely Tuesday morning!

Baby and Toddler Books from Tiger Tales Books

Tiger Tales Books recently released their new Spring line-up and so we enjoyed receiving a box full of new titles to read! Here are some new padded baby books from their collection that we thought were awfully cute.




One Rainy Day is a perfect book for here in Oregon. (But it's not so bad for spring-time at large, for all that!) Following the antics of a little duck who loves the rain, we learn about what is needed to play in such weather as well as learning about colors. We need: red boots, an orange umbrella, a green frog, blue puddles, etc. On each page spread we see Little Duck splashing about and having a great time in the rain, just as little children usually do. Quite cute and definitely one we're glad to add to our home collection.



Rock-a-bye Baby is not just a padded board book but also has a fuzzy bear on its front cover, inviting little hands to touch and feel. Illustrated by John Kanzler, the words will be all-too-familiar to you as the adult reader. You can choose to sing a long with the words or read them, of course. The important and fun part of this book is that you would have a babe in arms when you are making your way through it! This book would make the perfect gift for new parents and babies. Sweet. Cute. Familiar. Fun.

For toddlers, you might consider the following two titles:



Neither Commotion in the Ocean nor our next book, both illustrated by Giles Andreae and illustrated by David Wojtowycz, are new titles from Tiger Tales Books. Rather, they have been re-released as board books. (They have both been previously released as hard and paperback books in the past.)

I'm actually glad that they were released as board books because they are sturdier and therefore have a longer lifespan, as a general rule. (My children are quite gentle with books but still. It's nice to have a sturdy book!)

Commotion in the Ocean is filled with rhyming text telling about various ocean animals. For example:

"Dolphins

The wonderful thing about dolphins
Is hearing them trying to speak.
It's not "How do you do?"
As I'd say to you.
It's more of a "Click-whistle-squeak!"

And so on and so forth from jellyfish, swordfish, octopus and the blue whale. There are plenty of sea creatures to love and learn about in this book. (If you know us, you know that we're obvious fans of this particular title.)



Rumble in the Jungle is, of course, quite similar in style, only our subject matter in this particular book is - ta da! - jungle animals! From chimpanzees to leopards and tigers, this is a fun read. My boys both took great delight in turning the pages and discovering which animals were coming up next. Lots of smiles from this book and we recommend it.

Thanks, Tiger Tales Books, for sending and allowing us to preview your Spring line-up! We love your offering and appreciated the opportunity of reading through these fun titles.

Big and Little Box Set

Recently I received the following two sets of mini board books from Kane Miller, which is connected to Usborne Books and More. Small and compact, there are four books within each set which are perfect for little hands. (They are also perfect to stuff away in backpacks for perusal during church or when sitting in waiting rooms or while driving in the car.) Small and concise, (the books are 3 3/4 " x 3 3/4"), they make for easy reading and are very entertaining to the young fry.

In the Big and Little Set by Ana Martin Larranaga we find four mini books about animals: Splash in the Sea, Stomp in the Swamp, Fun on the Farm and Snuggle in the Snow. Each story focuses on an animal baby and its parent and is a warm and snuggly read, full of love and fuzzy warmth. Naturally these books were a hit around here seeing that they dealt with our favorite subject matter - animals! The illustrations (also by Larranaga) are bright and bold. If you look at a picture here on your left of the box that holds the four titles, you can get a feel for the style of the books.

Very cute, very fun and exciting - especially if you are a toddler.

Mini Machines is another box set - this one by James Croft. The books are also small in size and deal with another well-loved subject (by Bookworm2, age 2) - construction trucks!

We found this particular set somewhat more appealing because the books are all interconnected, sharing the story of the same characters. We learned about Bill's Bulldozer, Dave's Digger, Dan's Dump Truck and Carl's Crane. Bill, Dave, Dan and Carl all work on the same construction site though so you may see them interspersed throughout the books. It adds a certain continuity to the subject matter and was very much enjoyed.

If you have a little boy who is just old enough to start being interested in construction trucks - this is a very fun set!

These books are earmarked for ages 2 to 3 years but I would put them in the 1-3 range myself. My four year old was only interested in them as a curiosity, but not as stories of substance. On the other hand, my soon-to-be two year old was enthralled with the pictures, the books and the ability that he had to remove the books from the box and replace them (over and over again.)

Both Big and Little and Mini Machines are both listed on Amazon but I should point out to you that they are actually not available through Amazon. If you are interested in them, follow the links provided to Usborne Books & More where you can obtain copies.

In the meantime, I am happy and delighted to tell you that Kane Miller has offered one copy of each of the above series to one Reading to Know reader. Interested? Simply leave a comment below! This contest will be open through Tuesday, February 1st and is open to U.S. Residents only.

Thank you, Kane Miller, for sending us these copies to check out and for your generosity to one of my readers!

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. THE WINNER (as selected by random.org) IS #13 - STEPHANIE'S MOMMY BRAIN. CONGRATULATIONS!

Books for Babies

I've recently been sent a few books geared more for babies and after having given them a ride with Bookworm2 (age 1 1/2) I thought I would share a little bit about a few of our favorites.

The first two come courtesy of Tiger Tales and are a part of their new fall line-up. (By the way, Tiger Tales recently redid their website and I have to say it is a remarkable improvement! It's easy to find titles you are looking for now, so if you want to check out all that they have to offer, take a peek!)

Hello, Animals! and Hello, Bugs! are "black and white sparkler" books. Written by Smriti Prasadam and illustrated by Emily Bolam, these two board books are full of simple but eye catching illustrations. As they are both a part of the "black and white sparkler" books you can guess at the colors that you'll find here. Yes, that's right! Primarily you'll see a lot of black and white which gives the books a very bold feel. However, each page also has a hint of color which, yes, you've guessed it again, sparkles.

For example, in Hello, Bugs! we open the book to find a page spread that contains a lady bug and a caterpillar. Both are white highlighted illustrations. The ladybug's back is red and the stripes on the caterpillar are green. The words on each page are simple, making this a quick read-aloud for the newest readers among us.

"Hello, Ladybug! scurry, scurry
Hello, Caterpillar! munch, munch"

Simple, bold and basic. The board books are sturdy and up to Tiger Tales solid standards for good reads. We recommend them to newbies.

Next up we have some titles from Roger Priddy. Now, we are long term Priddy fans around here. I credit the Roger Priddy Happy Baby series with a few huge accomplishments:

1. Teaching Bookworm1 the alphabet and basic vocabulary words; and
2. Teaching Bookworm2 basic vocabulary words.

We love the fact that Priddy books contain real photographs and not just cartoon drawings! This is so enormously helpful to both of my kids as they have begun to explore the world around them.

We have quite a collection of Priddy books in our house and we were happy to add these additional two titles, particularly because they appeal to the kinesthetic learner (which is Bookworm2!)

We have Priddy animal books but we hadn't seen Slide and Find - Animals. This book is fun as you have little sliders on each page to move around and reveal various animals. (Baby books are marketed rather clearly. "Slide and find" pretty much says it all!)

Each page spread in this book asks a different question from "Who am I?" to "Who's my baby?" Use the sliders to talk through the questions (or play hide-and-seek with the animals.) This is a cute and fun little book which Bookworm1 found to be very engaging.

Out of this particular stack of books though, we would have to say that Baby Touch and Feel Honk! Honk! is our favorite. You see, we've just discovered cars (and trains) and anything on wheels is a pretty big hit around these parts. Plus, did I mention the "touch and feel" part? Each page spread has something for the youngster to run their fingers over and explore.

If you want Bookworm2 to be really excited about a book, giving him something to touch and finger will make the read all the more interesting and this is a book he is content to sit down and spend some time with.

I, of course, love the Priddy photographs and 1-2 sentence descriptions of each vehicle for you to read and learn more about. This book is definitely a big hit around here and we heartily recommend it.

I appreciate the fact that publishers like Macmillan (home to Roger Priddy) and Tiger Tales are out to create books to engage and enlighten the youngest among us. It's fun to introduce children to the world of reading. I'm glad we have such books available to us to help make this possible.

Modern Art Books for Babies

As I mentioned earlier today, we are celebrating the fact that our adoption of our youngest child was finalized yesterday! In celebration of that fact, I have a fun little surprise for FIVE of you!

As I have also mentioned before, our youngest was not really very interested (at all) in books upon his arrival. I've been constantly scouting out books that I think might have some appeal to him. These days - I am delighted to say! - it's quite normal to find him with a book in hand. He seems to have dived into the book world with gusto (making me one very happy mommy to two very happy readers!) Naturally when I went to the Book Expo, I was on the lookout for books that I thought would be bright and appealing to Bookworm2. I was looking for something that would grab his attention and engage him. When I came upon the Tundra Books booth and saw a series by Marthe Jocelyn and Tom Slaughter, I had a feeling they were onto something, not only for reluctant readers, but babies in general. Check these out:






This is a series of book written and designed by husband and wife team, Tom Slaughter and Marthe Jocelyn. The first book in this series - 1 2 3 was put together by Tom Slaughter, a New York City based artist whose works are featured in the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum. The rest of the books followed in quick succession with his wife's participation and partnership.

The books are illustrated with paper cuts, using primary colors which create bright, bold pictures. The books are described as "deceptively simple" and they are that. They are very attractive to the eye and draw children in. I held up one of the books in this seven book series for Bookworm2 to see and he was instantly and visibly excited about them. Bookworm1 enjoyed them also, as they feature a lot of animals (including a sperm whale!)

Each book in the series teaches a different concept. Out of the seven, these three were our particular favorites:

ABC x 3 English, Espanol, Francais - Teaches children the alphabet in three different languages: English, Spanish and French! (I cannot confess to being able to pronounce a single syllable in French, but the concept of the book is pretty awesome!)

One Some Many - Teaches the concept of counting multiple objections. How much is "some?" How much is "many?" These are the questions the young reader is asked in this book which is filled with bold, simplistic pictures which represent the concepts in discussion.

Eats - In this book we see what different animals eat. Bears eat fish, bees eat nectar, a whale eats a squid. While this book is one of our favorites, I must also point out for Bookworm1's sake that they didn't give the squid ten tentacles. "They got it wrong, Mommy!") SO...it's more like a jellyfish, really. To be all technical about our sea life and everything. But other than that, this book was a true delight.

Each book in this series is interesting in some particular way. We enjoyed the paper cuts of the bees most especially and looked for them throughout our reading.

Slaughter's goal is to introduce children to the concept of modern art and develop an appreciation for it at an early age. These books also serve a significant educational purpose as well, by introducing children to basic concepts (such as counting) at the same time. I think these books fulfill their purpose perfectly and we've enjoyed them.

I am therefore delighted to let you know that Tundra Books has very, very generously offered up FIVE SETS of these seven titles to Reading to Know readers. Yes. You read that correctly. Five of you will each win the seven books in the Slaughter/Jocelyn series.

I'm so happy to be able to host this contest on a day of celebration around here and am glad to pass these along. To win? Simply leave a comment below. This contest is open to U.S. Residents only and will be open through July 1st.

I know that many of you are adoptive parents and so, if you are connected to adoption in some way that is close to your immediate family's heart - then please leave a second comment for a second entry!

In the meantime, if you get a chance to check out these books - do!

To learn more about Tundra Books you can visit their website (by clicking on their name.) You can also follow the Tundra Books blog and for the rogue Twitter-ite, you can catch Tundra on Twitter and stay up to date with what they have to offer and stay in the loop regarding a variety of giveaways.

Good luck and have fun!

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED!

Read Aloud Thursday

First of all, it's been awhile since I've participated in a Read Aloud Thursday event over at Hope is in the Word. Every week I see it come up and I miss it. So I'm glad to be back.

UPDATE: I had previously moved my Read Aloud Thursday participation posts over to Reading My Library because it made more sense to do that in conjunction with our library reading. However, two small children do not always make for good library visits and I don't find myself with the ability to get over to the library as often as I'd like. So. I'm still going to continue the Reading My Library challenge (click on that last link to find out what it is, if you are unfamiliar with it) but I'm going to move the challenge to Reading to Know and just continue the challenge here. (Keeping up two book blogs also proved something of a challenge in and of itself and for simplicity sake - I'm turning inward and sticking with Reading to Know for all bookish things.)

Without further ado - here is what we've been reading aloud with Bookworm2 (age 1 1/2). For starters, I should also update you all to let you know that he has suddenly become a reader! When he first joined our family he had NO concept of what a book even was (heartbreaking to this reading mommy!) but constant exposure seems to have done the trick. Now he never seems to want to stop reading and he is carting books all over the house.

These are his favorite:

Bathtime (Baby's World, DK Publishers) is now out of print which is might prove to be a HORRIBLE situation should we ever lose or destroy this book. This was an absolute favorite of Bookworm1's and so it's kinda fun to know that it's Bookworm2's favorite also.

We read this book ALL. THE. TIME! Jonathan and I still do not understand the fascination but we both have it memorized and can recite it whenever we need to. I've recited it to the little guy in the grocery checkout line when I need to hold his attention. Works like a charm! The last page includes the line, "I put my bath toys away and I say 'bye-bye'!" which always results in a fit of wild waving and a huge dimpled smile.

The most awesome thing about this book though is that even Bookworm1 has it memorized and "reads" it to his little brother. So. Adorable. They both chuckle their way through this because Bookworm2 thinks everything that his older brother does is just perfectly awesome and he sits and listens to him "read" with giggles and smiles, which cause a happy reaction in brother also. Love this book for all the good memories it is producing.

Pooh's Five Little Honeypots is also quite fun because it has five little honey pots to slide around on top of the book. Our youngest is quite the little kinesthetic learner and so anything that he can touch, poke and move around is sure to be a huge it! This book is told in rhyme and is lots of fun. I picked this up when Bookworm1 was little and he still enjoys reading this one with us.

The storyline is that Pooh has five honey pots up on the shelf and he takes them down one-by-one to eat them all up! By the time he has eaten four of the pots, well, there is just one left and it must be awfully lonely up there!

This is a great hands-on book which also allows us to learn basic counting. Plus, it tells us about some of our favorite characters!

Lastly (for purposes of this post anyway), Bookworm2 frequently picks up a copy of Baby Faces, by Margaret Miller, and hauls it over for a "reading." Each page spread on this book includes a close-up picture of a baby's face and a descriptive word to go along with the picture.

The babies are making all sorts of faces to go with words like "stinky" and "Yippee!" "Our" favorite page is "Uh-oh" and he knows exactly which page that is! He flips to it and yells out, "UH-OH!" with great gusto every single time.

I'm happy with it if he is happy with it.

He's starting to get into more short stories but mostly we're about pictures of babies and short descriptive words and phrases. Considering he wouldn't come near a book except to consider it a play thing, I think we're making awesome progress and I couldn't be more delighted.

It's very fun to see him engaging with stories and bring books to us to read with him. It's great when he waddles up, hands me a book, and plops himself down in my lap. It's the best cuddle time I think I could ask for and I love it!

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To find out more about what others are reading aloud with their kids, visit Hope is in the Word. You could also play along yourself and share your own book goodies!

In the future, I plan on using this meme to keep up with my Reading My Library challenge. But for this week, we stuck to our own home library.

Indestructible Books

Are you ready to be beside yourself amazed!? Totally floored? Completely mystified?

First off all, let me introduce you to the artist of these "100% Baby Proof" books - Kaaren Pixton. Kaaren original hails from Ireland but now resides close by where I live in Portland, Oregon. Kaaren created the artwork that you see here in these wordless books. The publisher's website describes Pixton's work as "reminiscent of Eric Carle" and I would have to agree. Pixton is a remarkable artist and these books are delightful to look through.

Pixton has a passion for art and has been teaching children art for the past 30 years. Her first published books are the Indestructible series which have been published by Workman Publishing. The books were originally created for Paxton's grandchildren (triplets!) who were going through board books like nobody's business.

Now this is where things become interesting. Paxton created a few books for her grandkids that were made out of a paper-like material which causes them to be "indestructible." Children can gnaw, drool or try to rip these books and they will remain in excellent condition. She gifted her grandchildren with these books and her daughter-in-law, Amy Pixton, saw the potential for these books to be marketed to other parents of young readers. Workman agreed and a product was born.

Now, I have to confess that I had my doubts that these books were truly indestructible. They look like paper. They feel like paper. It looks like a flimsy little book in actuality. So I tossed one over to Jonathan and told him of the claims that these books made. He didn't believe it either and proceeded to try to rip it (carefully, of course, because we are both respecters of books!) It wouldn't rip. He was pretty impressed!

So then I took the books after he had gone to work and handed them over to Bookworm2 who is somewhat less than gentle with books at the moment (but he's learning!) He squished and mangled and scrunched the pages and --- nothing happened. The books still looked pristine. Huh! Soooooo.....feeling a bit more bravely optimistic, Mommy took the books back and gave a valiant attempt at ripping them herself. Nothin' doin'.

With great fear and trepidation over the possible consequences, I took the books over to the kitchen sink. I couldn't believe the experiment I was about to undertake, but I held the books under the water faucet and let the front cover become quite wet. Or not? I wiped the water off and the book looked brand new still! SOLD to the mommy blogger who is filled with doubt no more!

This is such a fantastic concept! I can't decide what I love most of all about these books:

* Their indestructible-ness?

* The fact that brilliant artwork is displayed, and not something cheesy?

* The fact that this is a mother-in-law/daughter-in-law venture?
The fact that these books were originally created for the joy of having grandchildren?

*Their affordability?

All of these things are good reasons to like these books.

If you like the concept, you'll be delighted to know that there is a whole line of these books to choose from.

Indestructibles Flutter! Fly!

Indestructibles Wiggle! March!

Indestructibles Creep! Crawl!

Indestructibles: Mama and Baby!

Indestructibles: Hey, Diddle Diddle

Indestructibles: Humpty, Dumpty

There are many more titles to choose from and more on the way (due to be released this spring.) Guess what lands high up on my "to buy" list for mothers of new babies?

Thanks, Workman, for allowing us the opportunity to become believers. This is such a fantastic product and we're excited about them. (Can you guys tell?)