Minnow is really fun these days. She loves to “help” me unload the dishwasher, fold the laundry, carry things, and close doors. She is also starting to really enjoy reading books. She’s not just cuddling with me while I read, and she’s not just trying to eat them anymore. She’s starting to point at pictures and want to turn pages, and occasionally even laugh at the funny animal sounds I make while reading them.*
So I thought I’d share some of Minnow’s current favorite books.
An early and continued favorite of ours is Moo, Baa, La La La by Sandra Boynton. I’ve actually had the words to this one memorized for six months or so, but it’s a reliable giggle instigator for both of us because of the funny words and pictures. Actually, a lot of Sandra Boynton books are pretty popular and we are hoping to add to our collection.
A sweet bedtime book featuring mama and baby animals is Time for Bed by Mem Fox and illustrated by Jane Dyer. (I’ve also got large chunks of this book memorized as well.) This is a good book for talking about names for baby versus adult animals, and the gentle rhymes have a very lulling cadence to them. Plus, it’s got no plot so we can open it up where we want and it doesn’t matter if we don’t finish it.
Another book that we’ve recently begun to enjoy is Tails by Mathew van Fleet. This board book needs to fairly carefully supervised, because it’s got swishing tails to move, furry and spiny tails to touch, and even a stinky tail. Right now we just point and touch, but when Minnow’s older it’s also got a counting game to play.
“Brown Bear, Brown Bear what do you see?” illustrated by Eric Carle delights Minnow, mostly because I try to make different sounds and voices for each of the animals. After we’ve read it through, she’ll flip the book open to a random page and I’ll make the noises. She seems to prefer the sheep, dog, and frog. Carle’s “Polar Bear, Polar Bear” book has not reached the same level of either MInnow or Mommy enthusiasm, probably because I can’t make some of the animal noises in the book (elephants, flamingos, etc.).
*Mostly she laughs when I make dog sounds or when we look at pictures of dogs. My hypothesis is that she actually knows what a dog looks and sounds like, whereas things like sheep and elephants are still abstract concepts only seen in books. We’re going to have to bring her to a zoo this spring.