Book Review: January 22 Board Book Round-Up, Part 1

So, I separated this post into two because I only actually read two of them with Carter. The rest I read on my own for the committee.

One might ask, how do you determine whether Carter likes a book? I think some of the indicators for me are 1.) whether he sits and listens to the entire book, 2.) whether he points at items on the pages or starts "talking" about something that was read or 3.) if he brings it back for another read. The latter is really only books we own. We rarely read a library book twice for multiple reasons - we don't let him have access to the library books yet since he might rip the pages or break the cover and we don't keep library books that long since Carter and I go the library once a week and I'm sometimes at a library every day depending on meetings and holds coming in to the West End.

The two titles I read to Carter this week from the list we were reviewing on the committee were The Opposite Zoo by Il Sung Na and Baby's First Words by Christiane Engel.

The illustrations in The Opposite Zoo are beautiful, borderline artwork and appear to be watercolor. The plot, however, doesn't match the level of quality. While it's great because it introduces some new vocabulary for a toddler but maybe not a baby, the words are all adjectives that are ones that are typically not geared at this age group. The first and last page are the only ones with text more than the adjective which follow on each page with the opposite.

Carter really had no reaction to this book. He listened but he showed no emotion and promptly walked away when the book was over. I think had the artwork, which to an adult looked nice, been brighter or the animals more recognizable he might have been more engaged.

It should be noted as well that this book comes in picture book and board book format. We read the picture book was so much better because it was larger.

Baby's First Words was a much different book from the first. It was day in the life of a baby (i.e. wake-up, playtime, getting dressed) and each page featured multiple vocabulary words. The wonderful thing about this book is the diversity featured. The baby has two dads and both it appears are of different ethnic backgrounds.

Carter sat and look through this one on his own. He wanted to look more closely at each page and didn't want to be read to. I think this is great because it shows his print awareness skills and curiosity of each page. He was of course most impressed with the vroom vroom page, which featured a fire truck and lots of wheels.

You aren't missing much if you skip The Opposite Zoo but I would highly recommend reading or checking out Baby's First Words for your baby.

Happy Reading!