My baby is now a whole year old, and very very different from her brother. She’s a full-on kiddo with very little patience, tons of courage and initiative, huge wells of enthusiasm, and no problem letting me know exactly what she wants. She loves song and wordplay, texture and motion, turning the pages herself, and when she’s done the book is over. So in celebration of an intense little person, her joy and her fury, here are the books that get dropped in my lap with an “Eeee! Eeee! Eeeee!” ... and what happens next, transliterated into words for easier perusal.
Peek-a-Who? “Do the owl again. Do the mirror again. Okay train. Okay whole thing again. Okay owl.”
Peekaboo Kisses Initiate one hundred thousand openings of the flaps. Noises, petting. Flaps again. “No mom your thumb goes HERE so we can squeak the mouse. See, just push like this. Hey a mirror!!!”
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Poke each hole and make “chomp” noises. Don’t worry about what happens after the cocoon, no one cares about that.
Ten Nine Eight “That’s the daddy. Where’s my toes? Look! Shoes! Shoes shoes shoes! Let’s point at the seashells. Here’s the buttons. Here’s the eyes. Where do the kisses go? OK done.”
Pajama Time This book ends with a dance party. Some people think it ends with going to bed; those people are wrong.
That’s Not My Puppy “Clearly this is my puppy, this is the best puppy with the hairy coat. I suppose I will examine these other puppies. Ooooo, shaggy! Woof! Woof woof woof! All puppies poked, good job.”
Behowl the Moon “Ooo, lion, wolf, snoring! What does the owl say? What’s this fairy? What’s the donkey say? Don’t you try to skip those noises. Do the noises. Everybody! Pat the animals. ‘Else the Puck a liar call’---yup you’re a big liar the end.”
What a Wonderful World “Trees, ok. Let’s look at these roses. They’re red! Red roses! Nine of them! No hook. Next page, poke the clouds, next page, no hook. Next page, rainbow! Kids! Page, page, FISH!!!! End of book.”
Tails Plenty to poke here and even more to grab at.
Snuggle Puppy “Look, hearts! Hearts hearts. Puppies! What are these oooo’s about? More of those. OK, book over.”
Never Touch a Monster With this one we just pet the cover and then read the first page and then repeat, mostly. But since I am perfectly happy to just prod the squiggly rubbery bits too I don’t see a problem with this.
Peekaboo Animals Heaven help you if this flap does not come up the first time.
Goodnight Gorilla This one we actually just talk through the story. Who would guess?
Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See? Somewhere there is a toddler who will listen to call AND response on each page. But half is pretty okay too. And poking the animals makes for a good parent pop quiz.
NB: I should really move Where’s Spot? and Dear Zoo into rotation; they are in the wrong place in the house and getting unfairly left out of the flap-happiness. Time for Bed and A Book of Babies get some play. Goodnight Moon has had its first peak and waned already, it will almost certainly be back later. Baby Beluga is very interesting in the middle; not so much in the beginning and the middle.
*Links are mostly Amazon affiliate links but this is because I am out of time! Please remember your favorite bookstore anyway until I have a chance to get in and add the Indiebound/Barnes and Noble options.