Snugglebug Friday: Mother Goose

Engelbreit, Mary. HaperFestival: 2005-2008

Mary Engelbreit's Happy Mother Goose

Mary Engelbreit's Silly Mother Goose

Mary Engelbreit's Funny Mother Goose

If you love Mary Engelbreit's art and you love classic children's rhymes such as Hey Diddle, Diddle, then you will absolutely love these three books. Engelbreit crafts her classic artistry to illustrate even more classic rhymes. Children love the rhymes about Humpty Dumpty and Jack and Jill, and Engelbreit brings them to life in each of her illustrations.

The rhymes are the same Mothergoose rhymes that most people grew up reading and repeating. Occasionally, a word is slightly different but that is typical of most books repeating the classic rhymes. The rhymes include: Hey Diddle, Diddle; Rub-a-Dub-Dub; Humpty Dumpty; The Old Woman in the Shoe; Mistress Mary; Wee Willie Winkie; Jack and Jill; Pat-a-Cake; Old King Cole; Ring Around the Roses (with different words than the original); Little Bobby Shafto; and Little Boy Blue. These are just a few of the poems in the three books.

A few of them Ladybug had never heard such as:

Three little ghostesses,

Sitting on postesses,

Eating buttered toastesses,

Greasing their fistesses,

Up to their wristesses,

Oh, what beastesses

To make such feastesses!

Every child should know these classic rhymes and what better way to enjoy them than with Mary Engelbreit. Snugglebug and Ladybug enjoyed these three books and hope you do, too!

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

Snugglebug Friday: Fish, Swish, Splash, Dash

Macdonald, Suse. Fish, Swish, Splash, Dash. Little Simon, 2007

Snugglebug loves Macdonald’s Alphabet Animals so much that for his first birthday his mama, Ladybug, purchased another of Macdonald’s books.

Fish, Swish, Splash, Dash is an unusual counting book in more ways than one, making it an especially fun book to read. The illustrations are actually cut-outs with the colors of the next page showing through. Snugglebug loves sticking his fingers through the cut-outs.

The second aspect of the book is that it is really two books in one. Once you get to the end of the book, you turn it around and count backwards to the cover. It can be a never ending story because once you reach number one it again invites you to turn the book around and count to ten again.

This book is fun and one that Snugglebug can grow into as he learns to appreciate counting in both directions.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

Snugglebug Friday: Three Reviews by Our-Most-Special-Guest

Sharkey, Niamh. I'm a Happy Hugglewug

While this is a board book, it seems to be geared to an age group older than 12 months. Snugglebug, who is now 12 months old, was not interested in the text or the pictures. Ladybug deduced the reason was too many words per page. Perhaps an older child would find the songs and rhymes of interest, but Snugglebug was closing the book two pages in.

Planet Earth: Baby Penguins

This book, too, was a little much for Snugglebug the first time it was read. The second time it was read, Ladybug reduced the amount of text for him to keep his interest. If your child is a penguin lover, then there is definitely not too much information. But for fish-loving Snugglebug, he prefers to keep the info on Penguins short and sweet. Ladybug loved the photographs. They really felt like you could reach out and cuddle the baby penguins.

Walker, Anna. 2009. Froggy Green. Kane/Miller.

Froggy Green is a fun book with fun color names. Snugglebug really enjoys this book and has chosen it during reading time several times. He has yet to be introduced to Rainbow Ice Cream and has yet to decide his favorite color, but he still enjoys the colorful pages and the fun color names. The text is simple enough to keep his attention and yet instructive enough to make Ladybug happy, too.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

Snugglebug Friday: A Child's Day: An Alphabet of Play

A Childs' Day: An Alphabet of Play. Pearle, Ida. 2008: Harcourt, Inc.

Ladybug was thrilled when Miss Becky passed this book on to Snugglebug to review. The art is bright and stimulating. Snugglebug loved this book. The art keeps his attention while the text introduces the alphabet.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

Snugglebug Friday: Alphabet Animals: A Slide and Peek Adventure

Alphabet Animals: A Slide and Peek Adventure. Macdonald, Suse. 2008, Little Simon (Simon and Schuster).

This book is a Caldecott Honoree for good reason. Macdonald has taken the alphabet and made it appealing to the youngest audience. Each page is a single animal in the shape of the letter. Within that page is a sliding page with the letter in block form and the animal name underneath.

An alligator illustrates the letter A, and a bird represents the letter B, and so on. The illustrations are bright and clear. The letters are easy to recognize in the animal shapes and the pull-out pages are so much fun. Snugglebug enjoys seeing the page pop out from nowhere.

At almost one year of age, Alphabet Animals is the perfect introduction to the alphabet. Ladybug hopes he will learn his alphabet at a very early age, paving the way to a lifetime of reading.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

Snugglebug Friday: Reviews of the Just Like Us series

Just Like Us! Series. Stockham, Jess, 2008

Books in this series: Having Fun!; Together!; Making Friends!; Taking it Easy!

This is a series of four books. Each book has the same basic premise and layout. On the left page is the text and on the right page is a picture of animals or birds. Then the reader lifts the flap to see two children in the same activity as the animals or birds. The text might read something like, "Raccoons are hide-and-seeking," with the facing page reading, "We are too."

Snugglebug and Ladybug love this series. Snugglebug loves the animals and Ladybug loves the children. She especially loves the children because they encompass so many races and disabilities. There are several pictures portraying a child with a hearing aid and another has an eye patch. Ladybug loves the way this book teaches Snugglebug that we are all the same regardless of race or disability. Especially poignant since Snugglebug too wears an eye patch occasionally.

This is a great series. We are enjoying reading all four books over and over.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

Snugglebug's review of I Love My Daddy

Galvin, Laura Gates. 2007. I Love My Daddy.

Snugglebug loves this book. Miss Becky explained it well when she reviewed it, so Snugglebug would just like to add his own kudos to the author. This is a great book especially for a little one who is a Daddy's Boy Deluxe!

Becky's review:

Drawing from scenes in nature, I Love My Daddy uses simple text and illustrations to discuss the many reasons why fathers are wonderful and loved and needed. For example, this is how it begins, "I love my daddy because...He always likes to see me play. He keeps me safe and warm each day. My daddy helps take care of me." One reason--usually--per spread. The sentences are short, sweet, and simple.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

Knut: The Baby Polar Bear--A Snugglebug Review

Knut: The Baby Polar Bear

Ladybug has read this book so many times to Snugglebug that she has the text memorized. Snugglebug enjoys reading the book while cuddling his own stuffed polar bear. Interestingly enough, at 7 months, he made the connection between the story and the stuffed animal. Babies are smarter than most people give them credit. Miss Becky said it best in her review of the same book, "Simple text, actual photographs. The way it should be." We agree and highly recommend this book.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

A Big Treasury of Little Animals

Spangenberg, Judy and Phoebe Dunn. A Big Treasury of Little Animals. Random House, 2007.

This collection of animal stories was written between 1977 and 1987 by Judy Spangenberg. Six stories separately follow the adventures of a lamb, a puppy, a kitten, a rabbit, a duck, and a pig. Each story is accompanied by photographs taken by Phoebe Dunn. The photos vividly capture the text, which considering the artist was working with animals is quite a feat.

The stories are a bit too long for one sitting with little ones; each story is about 30 pages. But the photographs kept Snugglebug interested in the story for the entire length of his short attention span. Each story is strongly formulaic in that it begins at the animal's birth, continues with a child being the new owner, and is followed by the animal making all types of discoveries and getting into various types of mischief. Ladybug was a bit bored with the formula after the first two stories but Snugglebug didn't seem to notice.

Overall, Ladybug and Snugglebug would say this is a good collection of stories but not the greatest. The photographs definitely make up for the lack of diversity within the text.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

Snugglebug meets Big Fish, Little Fish

Heck, Ed. 2007. Big Fish Little Fish.

Since Miss Becky already reviewed the concept of Big Fish Little Fish, SnuggleBug will focus on the desirability of the same book.

Snugglebug loved, loved, loved this book. The illustrations are bright and colorful, and they have shiny areas on the pictures that really captured his interest. Upon seeing the cover alone, his eyes lit up, and he smiled a big smile. He let out a joyful sound when he saw the illustrations inside.

The oversized pages are great, too. They are easy for him to grasp and turn, and he loves to turn the pages. SnuggleBug also noted that the book tasted good, too. The cover is made of a firm plastic and not cardboard. Ladybug noted that since everything goes in SnuggleBug's mouth right now, this is one book that will withstand teething.

Introducing Snugglebug!!!

You know how much I love baby reviewers! Well, I am very proud and happy to introduce you to our newest baby reviewer, Snugglebug!!! Snugglebug's reviews will be written by his mama, Ladybug.

McBratney, Sam. 1996. Guess How Much I Love You. Illustrated by Anita Jeram.

Originally published in 1996, Guess How Much I Love You is a definite must read for anyone young or old. Four-month old Snugglebug was mesmerized the first time his mama, Ladybug, read it to him. The illustrations by Anita Jeram are simple enough to catch his eye and detailed enough to keep him interested. He studied the illustrations of Little Brown Hare and Big Brown Hare while listening intently to the story of Little Brown Hare's attempt to prove he loves his father, Big Brown Hare, more than his father loves him.

The author, Sam McBratney, uses just the right number of words for each page so little eyes are not bored before reaching the end of the page. The number of pages are also the perfect amount reaching an end to the story just as the small one's attention span also reaches an end.

While not a classic yet, Snugglebug declared it one of his favorites. Ladybug noted the only downside is the pages are not thick enough for Snugglebug to turn them. Ladybug would strongly recommend one's parents purchase this book as a board book for anyone Snugglebug's age.

Merry Christmas from Little Miss!!!

On Wednesday, December 19th, Becky, LittleMiss, LittleMiss' Mama, and select other friends got together to celebrate Christmas early. LittleMiss as always was just adorable. She looked so adorable in her Christmas jumper. Here are the goodies LittleMiss took home:


3 books by Sam McBratney
2 books by Beatrix Potter

But LittleMiss wasn't quite satisfied with just her goodies. No, she wanted--she really, really wanted her Mama's new potholders.


And really, who could resist such bright and colorful creations? Not LittleMiss, certainly. And....wait a minute...she's not the only one....


Pilly, or Pilgrim, can't resist them either! Who could have ever guessed that homemade, quilted pot holders would be the smash of the 2007 holiday season??? Pilly and Sarah both like to chew on them. Hot pink must taste good!

Becky knew that LittleMiss' daddy loved reading the book Guess How Much I Love You to his little darlin'...so she hoped these new sequels would be much-appreciated.




LittleMiss really enjoys her new books, "Colors Everywhere" and "When I'm Big" by Sam McBratney from Miss Becky. She loves hearing how little Nutbrown hare learns about growing up and the beautiful colors in the world around him. Normally LittleMiss' Daddy reads her stories about the little Nutbrown hare, her Mama just couldn't wait so she had to give her sneak peek.

The two books really are delightful especially if you're already a fan of Sam McBratney and Anita Jeram. In Colors Everywhere, Big and Little Nutbrown Hare discuss the colors they see around them in nature on a bright summer's day. Sky blue. Leafy green. Berry red. Flowery yellow. Nutbrown brown. And in When I'm Big, Big and Little Nutbrown Hare discuss how everything grows and changes. Tadpoles become frogs. Acorns become trees. Caterpillars become butterflies, etc. Overall, I say these two books are definitely too much fun to resist if you can't get enough of these two hares.

LittleMiss Reviews Baa Baa Bedtime

The second book that LittleMiss reviewed was Baa Baa Bedtime. This book appealed to her very much because each page had fluffy, fleecy little sheep to touch and grab. In fact, she was so enthralled with each page that her mama had a hard time turning the pages! LittleMiss' mama loved the illustrations, they are warm and the pages almost seem to glow. LittleMiss' Daddy was quite excited to have new books to add to her bedtime reading ritual.

Here is my take on Baa Baa Bedtime. It is by Susan Curtis. (LittleMiss didn't make that clear in her review. But give her a break, she is only six months! She still has plenty of time to learn about authors and publishers.) It is illustrated by Janet Samuel. Like LittleMiss, I loved the pictures of this one. The wooly sheep are just too cute to miss. And the illustrations, while cartoon-like, are very vibrant and fun. It's just a very user-friendly little book. The text is a bedtime story obviously, but it also introduces the concept of subtraction and/or counting backwards. First there's five sheep, then four, then three, then two, etc. Until all five little sheep are tucked in for the night.

And look at what the publisher website provides!

LittleMiss Reviews Ten In A Bed

Miss Becky gave LittleMiss some new books and LittleMiss could hardly wait to review them. She talked her mama into postponing naptime so she could read her new books. The first book she read was "Ten in the Bed" by Penny Dale. LittleMiss really loved this book, she held it in her lap while her mama read the pages. LittleMiss especially enjoyed the fact that each animal made a different sound as it fell out of bed. She laughed each time she heard the new sound that they made.


Here is my take on Ten In A Bed. LittleMiss did a great job with this one! This is a board book variation on a popular children's song "Ten in a Bed" while some of the words have changed...the concept is as fun as ever!

"There were ten in the bed and the little one said, 'Roll over, roll over!'
So they all rolled over and Hedgehog fell out. . . ."

Baby's Day and Let's Play

LittleMiss was the proud recipient of two board books at our last visit. Both are published by Candlewick. Both are part of their "Easy-Open" series of board books. Both are by Michael Blake. Both feature black and white photography. One of the titles, Baby's Day, focuses on common objects that a baby is likely to encounter: rattle, book, chair, diaper, wipes, bathtub, towel, teether, etc. Let's Play is a title that again focuses on objects from a toddler's world: shoes, hat, sunglasses, pool, bucket & shovel, balloons, etc. What are the books like? Well, the photographs sometimes are one page, sometimes two pages. And each black and white photograph has the selected object highlighted in color. For example, the text might read "rattle" and so the yellow and red rattle would stand out against the black and white background. Primary colors--red, green, blue, yellow--are used throughout. What does Easy-Open mean? Well, the pages are staggered. So they're easier for little hands to grasp (or big hands) because the pages don't stick together. And you can differentiate between the pages easier. (So you won't accidentally turn two pages.) Overall, I enjoyed the books. I really liked the two-page spread of balloons found in Let's Play as well as the two-page spread featuring the wading pool and toys.



Let's see what LittleMiss thought of the books:

Sarah enjoyed both the "Let's Play" and "Baby Day" books. She didn't stare at the pages quite as long as some of her other books, perhaps because of the black and white pages. Her mother thought the books were beautifully photographed and they reminded her of coffee table books for babies. Her mother also thought that the easy open pages were quite smart. The only drawback is that the books are not slick and so when they ended up in Sarah's mouth (as most things do these days) the cover was a bit wet for a while.

Three Little Duckies

LittleMiss is quite fond of her bath book, Three Little Duckies, written by Jan Jugran and illustrated by Ana Larranaga. (There is a tilde over the n.)She likes to grab at the puffy pages and stare at the yellow ducks while listening to the very brief text. The best part of the book is that it comes complete with three baby sized, yellow rubber ducks to float around in her bathtub. The first time we intruduced the ducks it caused quite a stir with much kicking and splashing. If I am reading her facial expressions correctly, I believe she's wishing she had the dexterity to get the ducks to her mouth so she could chew on them.

Find The Puppy & Bear in the Square

LittleMiss' mama was very excited that I have chosen to make her a guest blogger on the site. And so she emailed me today with some of LittleMiss' current favorites:

FIND THE PUPPY by Phil Roxbee Cox and Stephen Cartwright

I believe that she is particularly fond of this book because the puppy in the illustrations looks like her own puppy, Pilgrim. She likes that it isn't too "wordy" because really it is all about the pictures and short sentences that rhyme. She also seems to follow my finger when I point to the puppy on each page. She seems particularly fond of the page with the red background when puppy makes a puddle by spilling a bucket of soapy water.

BEAR IN THE SQUARE by Stella Blackstone and illustrated by Debbie Harter.

The colors are very very vibrant. She was so impressed with the bold visuals that she did not even realize that the book is teaching her to count. (Her mother is trying not to offer her own opinions about math being boring)





A brief aside: I have begun to be concerned that I am starting a bad habit by reading to her on her changing table. Is this how bathroom reading begins?

My Little Miracle

Title: My Little Miracle
Author: J Beck & J. Croyden
Publisher: Scholastic
Year: 2007

My Little Miracle is a sweet board book. It has gentle, flowing, rhythmic text alongside some very cute photographs. There are photographs of babies, toddlers, and some nature shots as well. I really loved the photography. It was just well done. Very interesting. And I think people of all ages can ooh and aah over the cute and adorable babies.

Here is a sample of the text:

Welcome to the world of smiles and hugs...when tucked into bed or cuddled in rugs.
Enjoy warm sunshine and feel soft rain. Look for a rainbow when the sun shines again...

But my favorite part of the text:

Let stories and books bring the magic of words...

And of course there is a photograph of a parent reading to a child and pointing to each word as its read. (Or I suppose the parent could be pointing to a picture. The point is that it's an interactive process.)

Overall, I enjoyed this one a great deal. Which leads us to Little Miss's response.

(Written by her mama of course)

Little Miss found this book to be quite comforting. She appeared to respond most happily to the words as they were read to her. This is most likely because her mother found the book to be quite precious and thus read the words with a very loving voice that cracked a bit as she got teary eyed.



And to give credit where credit is due, the photos are by her mama presumably...and the beautiful, beautiful quilt is by MY mom :)

Eric Carle's Animal Sounds

Carle, Eric. 2007. My Very First Book of Animal Sounds.

Eric Carle has many board books coming out this year. And he has many books in print at any given time. The book's pages are in two halves. A top half that features a picture of an animal. And the bottom half that features the word representing the sound the animal makes. It's a mix and match book. You could have a cat saying "squeak" or "quack" or you could make him say the proper "meow."



List of animals:

cat
rooster
dog
duck
cow
mouse
lion
owl
chicks
sheep

List of sounds:

squeak
roar
meow
moo
hoot
quack
peep
crow
baa
bark

Knowing that babies are the only judges that matter. I put this book to the test. Here is what SugarCookie, who is roughly ten months, thought. He really seemed to like looking at the pictures. It was really fun to watch his face light up with a big smile. He seemed to especially like the cow, dog, and cat. He loved to "pat" or "pet" the pictures. He liked turning the pages. And he seemed to like that there were more pages to turn. He'd go back and forth between the pictures. Of course he was way too little to understand that the bottom pages, the words, meant anything or correlated with sounds. And I wasn't about to demonstrate since this book activity was during church. But he thought the book tasted good as well. Overall, it kept him entertained and still for a good bit of time. His other entertainment seemed to be playing with the velcro on his shoes. He would take turns between those two activities. That and munching on Gerber fruit puffs cereal. But overall he was a very happy baby.

Peek-a-Zoo

Little Scholastic is a new line by Scholastic books. You can read all about it on their official site:
http://www.scholastic.com/littlescholastic/

Many of these new titles were released on July 1, 2007. I haven't received all of the titles yet, though I have requested them from Scholastic so they should be on their way soon, but based on the one title I have received, I am very excited.

Little Scholastic books are designed for babies age 0 to 3. And as the back of the book proclaims it is a title that will "grow" with your child.

Babies: Touch the textures. Point to the images.
1-2: Look at the pictures and text. Listen and repeat the words.
2-3: Learn the concepts. Connect the meaning of the words and images.

I encourage parents to go to their site because it really is quite a resource. I especially recommend reading the article, "Why Babies Need Books" by Kate Jack. Another great article is "Quick Click: Integrating Reading Into Everyday Life for Birth to Age 2." So explore and learn...and then read, read, read!

My thoughts on Peek-a-Zoo:

I liked the brightness of the colors. I thought they were very bold, very striking. There are some great contrasts going on. There were also plenty of textures for babies to touch and feel. (rough, bumpy, soft, furry, smooth, squishy, etc.) The cut-outs were very fun. And the mirror, well, I'll let SugarCookie do the talking there! So this book had a lot to offer visually and texturally.



SugarCookie's thoughts on Peek-a-Zoo:

SugarCookie is ten months old. While he had no problems maneuvering the pages of Eric Carle's My Very First Book of Animal Sounds, he found Peek-A-Zoo to be a bit more tricky. He needed help to turn the pages. He liked to try to turn the pages. But he would try to turn the pages by grabbing the cut-outs on the inside of the book. Which sometimes worked, most times didn't. But fortunately, he had help turning the pages and was able to 'read' the whole book. Again, I wasn't concerned with the reading aspect. It was more of watching to see how we responded to the pictures and textures. He did like to point at the pictures. And he did discover the differences between the textures. But what SugarCookie loved most of all was playing with the mirror on one of the pages. Thanks to the cut-outs, this mirror was available to see on two of the pages. He liked watching himself. He liked making faces. But he really, really liked going nose to nose and mouth to mouth. I don't know if he was trying to kiss himself or what. (I just think that's something kids like to do universally...to play with noses and mouths on mirrors.) But I do know this: he loved it. SugarCookie didn't find this book tasty. Surprisingly enough, he didn't even try once to put the corners of the book in his mouth. I guess he was having too much fun looking and feeling to give it the taste test. Regardless, I think it's a safe bet to assume that he enjoyed his Sunday morning visit with Peek-a-Zoo.



Looking for more board books review, today our other baby reviewer, LittleMiss, reviewed two books.

Two Reviews By LittleMiss