Board Book Roundup

Board Book Roundup

‘Barnyard Baby,’ by Elise Broach, and More

From "Barnyard Baby"

By SARAH HARRISON SMITH

Published: September 18, 2013

BARNYARD BABYBy Elise Broach
Illustrated by Cori Doerrfeld
14 pp. Little, Brown & Company. $7.99. (Board book; ages 3 months to 3 years)

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• Times Topic: Children's Books Reviews

As sweet as fresh apple cider, “Barnyard Baby,” by Elise Broach, with illustrations by Cori Doerrfeld, follows an irrepressible toddler though a day’s adventures on a farm. Broach’s text is impressionistic, with a fun-to-read-aloud sing-song rhythm. “Hayride baby / Feed the sheep / Leaf-pile baby / Run and leap,” she writes. The book’s spreads are autumn-hued, with many cheerful details: a brown puppy wears a jaunty yellow scarf à la Rupert Bear; tiny mice hold hands as they play on a hay bale; and when leaves fall to the ground, they form the outline of a heart. There’s much to look at and discuss, and lift-the-flaps give little hands something to do.

KISS, KISS GOOD NIGHTBy Kenn Nesbitt
Illustrated by Rebecca Elliott
12 pp. Cartwheel Books/Scholastic. $8.99. (Picture book; ages 3 months to 3 years)

Kittens, lambs, bear cubs, bunnies and chicks all snuggle their way to sleep with the help of their mothers in “Kiss, Kiss Good Night.” Kenn Nesbitt gives this big-format board book, with its shiny padded cover and dusky nighttime vignettes, a narrative in jaunty couplets: “When cuddly cubs begin to doze, / their mothers stroke them on the nose, / then grumble softy in their ear. / In Bear, that means ‘Good night, my dear.’” Tiny children will love the comforting sentiments, and older ones may find themselves memorizing the ingenious rhymes.

GIGGLE
Written and illustrated by Caroline Jayne Church
10 pp. Cartwheel Books/Scholastic. $7.99. (Board book; ages 3 months to 3 years)

Parents and children are equally likely to enjoy Caroline Jayne Church’s adorable pictures of chubby-faced toddlers smiling, laughing and playing together in this very short book, and the text, only nine sentences long, is nicely written: “You may be small, / but you smile wide / when we play / side by side.” Opinions may differ, however, on the electronic button marked “Press here”: it emits a recording of giggling sounds that lasts about seven seconds. After a try or two, those seconds begin to feel — to an adult — a little long. Children, however, will probably want to press that button again and again. Caveat emptor.

YOU ARE MY LITTLE PUMPKIN PIE
By Amy E. Sklansky
Illustrated by Talitha Shipman
16 pp. Little, Brown & Company. $6.99. (Board book; ages 3 months to 3 years)

The cover of this delectable-looking book shows a bibbed baby tucking into what for many kids is the best treat on the Thanksgiving table. A pie tin shines with silvery corrugated paper, raised lettering glitters with pink sparkles, and Talitha Shipman’s palette of mango orange, bright purple and chocolate brown is good enough to eat. Inside, pumpkins hide in each seasonal scene of babies and their doting parents. On one page, they decorate a girl’s barrettes; on another they line a row-house stoop; children can have fun pointing them out. Those with a super-sweet tooth will find the text to their taste.

ALPHABLOCK
By Christopher Franceschelli
Illustrated by Peskimo
104 pp. Abrams Appleseed. $16.95. (Board book; ages 1 to 4)

Chunky dimensions make “Alphablock” easy for little hands to handle. From A to Z, each letter appears in a cut-out profile so kids can feel its shape. Though it is no surprise that “D is for dog,” Peskimo brings an element of humor to the familiar as a dachshund — whose elongated shape is already something of a punch line — is half hidden behind its signifying letter until the reader turns the page. While it’s graphically sophisticated enough to please adults, little children can happily flip through this book on their own.

SPOT THE DOT
By David A. Carter
14 pp. Ruckus Media Group/Scholastic. $12.99. (Novelty board book; ages 3 to 5)

Hold the phone! A book based on an app? Brilliantly colored, each page presents a seek-and-find game in a different format. Some pages have pop-up elements, others have wheels and flaps that move to reveal shapes and colors in a tantalizing way. On repeated readings, children can use “Spot the Dot” like a memory game. Don’t let anti-app sentiment put you off; this book is a deviously clever piece of paper craft, perfectly suited to its medium.

MUNCH!
Written and illustrated by Matthew Van Fleet
14 pp. A Paula Wiseman Book/Simon & Schuster. $9.99. (Board book; ages 2 to 6)

Matthew Van Fleet specializes in sturdy, bright books with pull tabs, textures and moving parts. In “Munch” (similar to its predecessors “Lick” and “Sniff”), animals of all sorts  —  with expressions ranging from grumpy to glad  —  homp, grind, swallow and gobble their way through their favorite foods. The book’s text does not trip off the tongue, but kids probably won’t notice; there’s fun enough to be had in making a beaver’s teeth judder across a log. Thick cardboard makes “Munch” more durable than some such books, though there’s nothing to stop human teethers from gnawing their way through it if they are so inspired.

COLORS
Written and illustrated by Xavier Deneux
20 pp. A Handprint Book/Chronicle Books. $14.99. (Board book; ages 3 and up)

OPPOSITES
Written and illustrated by Xavier Deneux
20 pp. A Handprint Book/Chronicle Books. $14.99. (Board book; ages 3 and up)

These two thick volumes by Xavier Deneux, part of a series called TouchThinkLearn, make wonderful companions. The pages have a visual and tactile elegance that will appeal to eyes and hands. In “Colors,” one side of each spread has a raised cardboard picture — of a green leaf, in one case, on a white ground, while on the opposite side, the leaf shape is carved out of the page, leaving a white negative shape on a glossy green page.  Some pages correspond less directly: to demonstrate “blue,” a whale is faced by a submarine of a similar shape. In “Opposites,” Deneux uses the same style of page design to illustrate “caged” and “free” and more common pairings, like heavy and light, and white and black. The luxurious feel and minimalist style of these books could make them welcome gifts at the holidays.

THE BOSS BABY
Written and illustrated by Marla Frazee
36 pp. Simon & Schuster. $7.99. (Board book; ages 3 to 7)

Not every board book is for babies. This one — originally published in 2010 as a picture book  —  seems best enjoyed by parents and their older children, who are ready to laugh (perhaps wearily) at the antics of one very bossy baby. He arrives wearing a suit-and-tie pajama ensemble, and he’s got an agenda that requires his parents’ constant attention. “He made demands. Many, many demands. And he was quite particular. If things weren’t done to his immediate satisfaction, he had a fit.” Marla Frazee (who illustrates the Clementine series and Mary Ann Hoberman’s “Seven Silly Eaters,” and is also a two-time Caldecott Honor winner) holds back on sentiment, for the most part, and maximizes the laughs. After an evening spent reading sweet bedtime books to sleepy children, “The Boss Baby” might be the tired parent’s perfect nightcap.