I have long been of the view that books are among the best kind of Christmas presents (both for children as well as adults). But I also know that when faced with vast number of books in both real and virtual book shops, it can be difficult to know what to chose. So, here are a couple of books that we own and that are pulled down from our bookshelves time and time again. In terms of age range for these books, they are all loved by both Mr Moo (now aged 4 1/2) and his little sister (who is now 2 1/2).
This is a beautifully illustrated tale of a little termite who learns that although others may be better than you at certain things, everyone is especially good at something, you just have to find out what that something is. In our house, each page is poured over to identify all of the various insects and little creatures who are taking part in the ‘Great Insect Games’. A lovely message and a lovely book.
This is the story of an accident prone little owl who gets lost. However, with the help of rabbit and frog, I’m glad to report that he is ultimately reunited with his mum. The illustrations in this book are really interesting, not your typical cartoon-ish drawings in primary colours. I really like this one.
Once you get your head (and mouth) around the various dinosaur names, this is a really fantastic book with an almost hypnotic rhyming text. Dinosaurumpus introduces us to all of the different types of dinosaurs who are on their way to what might be accurately described as a great big dinosaur disco. Its lots of fun to read and was a huge hit when Mr Moo brought it into creche earlier this year.
Bertie is a small boy with a long list of very dirty habits! This book will make you and your baba laugh as you follow Bertie through his day which involves some of the most disgusting childhood activities you can imagine! Your children will love his horrendous antics and will adore his horrified family’s response to each one…..”No Bertie, that’s dirty Bertie”.
For such a little boy, David manages to get himself into a lot of trouble! On each page of this book we see David getting up to something he shouldn’t be while his poor mum is constantly chastising him. Happily, in the last pages we see David repent for his naughty deeds and are reassured that even a naughty boy’s mum loves him very much. This book contains very few words, in fact for the most part the text is comprised of the two words “No, David!”, but the illustrations speak volumes and provide all the story that your babas will need. Mr Moo and Lollipop love pretending to be David’s mum and shouting “No, David” at each page.
Ben receives Penguin as a gift but, initially at least, Penguin doesn’t live up to Ben’s expectations. Then Penguin shows his true colours and they are worth waiting for. This book is both funny and heart warming, a real winner in my book.
The heroine of this book has come to tell us what will happen if we don’t eat our greens……bits of our body will start to fall off and will need to be stuck back on using vegetable glue. A truly cautionary tale! This book is illustrated in an oddly old fashioned but very endearing way, we love this story and always eat our vegetables !
This over-sized book is simply jammed full of fantastically illustrated animals and birds. The creatures are arranged into unusual groupings like ‘Underground’, ‘In the trees’ and ‘Horned’. You and your babas could happily spend hours peering at the huge almost encyclopedia-like pages of this book.
This is a visually beautiful book which combines art with fun. On each page there is an abstract design and hidden in each one is a person, an animal or a bird, all you have to do is ‘Spot It!”. We have a lot of fun with this book as we each race to be the first to point out the hidden creatures.
This is a fun pop-up book which follows a chatty wide-mouthed frog as he hops around meeting various other animals and asking them what they like to eat. Its all going well until he meets a crocodile who likes to eat wide-mouthed frogs and our hero suddenly becomes a little less talkative. The pop-ups in this book are fun and the huge one on the last page always makes for a happy ending.
These construction/destruction sessions have been enormous fun and cries of “again! again!” abound.
In other news, I am seriously considering a new career in architecture…..check out this tower. Renzo Piano eat your heart out!!
