In case you're wondering, when I read out loud to Baby I don't choose from the pile of books I'm reading for myself. Baby's literary treats tend to be board books, since they double as great teething toys and I don't have to worry that she'll ruin her appetite with the pages.
Baby really seems to get a kick out of turning pages; in fact when we were on the flight home from Fiji I gave her a folded-over sick bag and she played happily with it for many minutes.
Her current favourite is Bathtime Peekaboo, which answers questions like "Where is the cuddly penguin?" with "...under the bathmat?. Peekaboo!" She's probably going to miss it when I return it to the library in four weeks.
Her previous library favourite, which we took to Fiji with us, was Anne Geddes' 123. As you'd expect, it's full of Geddes' trademark too-cute photos of infants in strange containers; it's way too sugary-sweet for my tastes, but Baby loved those pictures of babies in flowerpots and dressed as daffodils.
Touchy feely books get a lot of attention too, such as That's Not My Bear ("That's not my bear, its nose is too rough" and the bear has an appropriately scabrous nose). This too, is a library book - and not worth stealing because the last page is ripped up.
The only two books she really likes, which we actually own, are The Very Hungry Caterpiller (it might be because she enjoys poking her forefinger into the holes where the caterpiller has eaten through something) and The Real Mother Goose Touch and Feel Book. The Mother Goose book has cool touchy feely bits, but I suspect Baby likes it mostly because there are plenty of pages for her to turn.
6 comments:
Any of Eric Carle's stuff is just great. Our little guy is huge fan of any book with textures and the liek as he is only 9 months, but the reading has sparked an addiction in my daughter that matches my own. I only hope her love for reading doesn't diminish as she grows. She's currently mental for the pooh bear stories (we read the original ones from a treasury of Milne and not the Disney-fied versions).
Aahh Violet - you're SUCH a librarian! You were here when I put out the "Choosing Books for youe Baby" pamphlet, right? It's all about texture, holes and physicality, baby!
Beth - I'd love to do something like Bookstart at my work for babies, or kids getting their first Library card or something. ~sigh~
I have the whole Eric Carle on video and the animation is straight from the books with classical music. It was the most watched video when the girls were young.
Well I am certainly glad you are choosing good books for your daughter. I was going to report you but guess I won't have to now, tee,hee..
beth: sounds like a wonderful scheme, and getting free books can't be bad eh? We received one free book when Baby was born - it's the Food book which she so loves chewing on. I did know about the touch feely series, but I haven't seen the other ones around at the library or the bookshops.
rainypete: I hope that Baby keeps up with her book-love too, since she has to have something over the babies who are already cruising...
wicked: I don't remember that pamphlet actually. But I do get the whole physicality that with the books. Most of her books make noises or have textures.
Nyx: it'd be tempting to get a ton of stuff on DVD but there's plenty of time to get her hooked on the telly - and anyway I want her first great tv love to be Buffy.
happy and blue2: thanks for keeping me on the straight and narrow!
eb: ooh, I haven't tried that!
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