SQT {13}: Anti-Boredom Board Books

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Seven Quick Takes

board-books

Just to be clear, the title of this post refers to the sweet spot in children’s literature wherein the reading parent doesn’t go crazy and the child asks for more.

-1- Little Feet Love by Bendon Inc.

Honestly, this book doesn’t even have an author, and it makes me die inside a little to include it as one of our top book pics.  It’s a touch and feel book- – for feet!  What this book lacks in proper punctuation and capitalization, it makes up for with gratuitous baby feet.  We got it for Cee for her first Easter, and thus all four of our children have loved Little Feet Love.

Yes, we actually rubbed their feet on the “sand,” “blanket,” and “crunchy leaves.”  Yes, the kids all then went through a phase when they insisted on using their feet on every other touch and feel book.

LFL buys a few minutes at Mass, because we take off the kids’ shoes and have them feel all the pages.  Literary gold?  Nope.  Parenting gold?  Yep.

 

 

-2- Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr.

I would test myself (and the kids…I would tell myself it was for the kids’ sake) on what animal would  come next.  It was like mommy lumosity to create connections to see how to get from one animal to another.  We’d also just go through and make the sounds or list the colors.

That sounds weird, but when you  read-chant a book a million times, you gotta do what you gotta do to survive.  I like the pictures an rhythm of this book, so I didn’t mind those million times.

 

 

-3- The Real Mother Goose Board Book by Inc Scholastic

Our neighbor was giving away some books, and this gem was in the stack.  Bea hasn’t gotten to enjoy this one because it was literally loved to bits by the other kids.  There are many Mother Goose books out there, but this was a great intro since it’s board-y.

I’ve gotten decent with my book surgery skills, but this guy just kept needing services beyond my training.  At one point I actually just poured Elmer’s glue down the spine as a last ditch effort to save him.

May he rest in peace.

 

-4- Dr. Seuss’ ABC by Dr. Seuss

There was one four hour trip where baby Cee was so unhappy that David and I sang “Old MacDonald” on repeat for almost the whole time.  Our only break was reciting this book from memory, which we were oddly proud to find we could do.  (Do you want me to do it now?  I totally could.  No?  Okay.)  The paper version IS NOT GOOD.  But the board book is amazing.

Now that the kids are older, we recite this book but change the names to people we know.  The holes in our name version of Doctor Seuss’ ABC do play a part in our ongoing list of baby names.  I don’t love, love the name “Xavier,” but we’ve got gaps to fill, people.

 

 

-5- Moo Baa La La La by Sandra Boynton

Some dear friends gifted us this book saying, “She’s one of my favorite authors.”  This is the first Sandra Boynton book we’ve owned, and it’s just the best.  Cheerful.  Silly.  Rhymey.  Elle especially loved this book as a baby.  We’ve gone on to appreciate more of Boynton’s work, but this will always have a special place in our hearts since it was the first.

 

 

 

 

 

-6- The Very Hungary Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Counting.  Food.  An insatiable appetite.  Holes.  Winner, winner chicken dinner.   My kids couldn’t get enough of the gastronomic tour of a gluttonous caterpillar.  I can still hear the way Moe says “one shashage” during the last big binge of the not-so-little-caterpillar.  A treasure!

 

 

 

 

-7- Quack! by Phyllis Root

Bright, cheerful rhymes match the watercolor illustrations perfectly.  This is one of the only board books we’ve purchased ourselves, and it was well worth the $1 at the thrift store.

I love a good onomatopoeia book (Yes, I had to look up how to spell it.), and so do the kids.  Crack!  Crack!  Crack!

 

 

 

 

Egads!  After I started trying to come up with a list of our seven favorite board books of all time, I realized how hard it was.  So…I’m cheating and adding an Honorable Mention supplemental list.


Honorable Mention

Doggies by Sandra Boynton

Baby, Come to Church by Virginia Esquinaldo

Animal Babies

That’s not my train… by Fiona Watt

Poke a Dot!  Old MacDonald’s Farm

Happy Hippo, Angry Duck by Sandra Boynton


Baby’s Sounds

TOUCH and FEEL WILD ANIMALS

 

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5 Comments


  1. // Reply

    I have two girls (almost 3 and almost 1), and I’m a former children’s librarian, so we read a ton of board books, but I don’t know a lot of these! I’ll have to see what our local libraries have. Have you seen the video on YouTube of Bill Martin Jr. reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear? He has a unique way of chanting it that my almost-3-year-old loves.


    1. // Reply

      You’re a children’s librarian?!?! (Once a librarian, always a librarian.) Please can we be friends? 🙂

      I will definitely check out the Brown Bear video.


  2. // Reply

    Popping in from quick takes! Ooo thanks for the book recommendations!! My two year loves reading and we have a couple from your list but I’m always happy to add more. 🙂 He is a big fan of the Spot lift the flap books and anything Dr Seuss, like Hop on Pop.


  3. // Reply

    Great list! Haven’t heard of Baby, Come to Church- I’ll have to look around for it. And somehow I hadn’t read Brown Bear to my girls before this summer. We don’t own it but it’s one I wouldn’t mind adding to our shelves. 🙂

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