I am a Bunny by Ole Risom, illustrated by Richard Scarry and Paul Thurlby's Alphabet(board book version)

One of the many great things about giving books as a new baby present is that size doesn't matter. It's not like when you buy a beautiful 0-3 month babygro and hear that the baby is ten pounds and the mother is too exhausted for visitors. By the time you drop it off it'll be way too small. Or the baby is six half pounds and the cute Summer outfit you bought won't fit until next Christmas.

I think this present would be perfect whether its received Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter, any time up until the baby is two or even three. My son will be four in August and we still read his board books regularly. Although as one of them is a bunny book, around now is especially apt.

These two board books are slightly oversized. (I have artfully placed them beside a Playmobil figure below.) My point is that they are not tiny and a lovely size to look at with a cuddly baby on your knee.

They came to just over twelve euros, which the price of a fancy sunhat that will lie at the bottom of a baby bag forever, or a pair of useless booties that will never stay on.
I've raved about Paul Thurlby's Alphabet here, so I won't repeat myself. Heres a few pictures to remind you how cool it is.

I first saw I Am A Bunny on Dinner A Love Story. I'm working my way through all the books mentioned there and love each and every one.

But this was still a bit of a revelation. I mean, I knew it would be nice and cute but I didn't expect it to be so beautiful.

This is how it begins.

  I am a bunny. My name is Nicholas. I live in a hollow tree.

Just lovely. Each page follows him through his year, rain and shine, Summer and Winter. It's pretty perfect.

Pantone Colours

I got Pantone Colours first because I saw it on Design Mom and liked the look of it. I hadn't realised it had just nine pages and that the names of the colours are not the Pantone names nor do they match the Pantone charts. Not that this made any difference to my infant son, but still, it did seem a bit of a cod.

Howandsoever two years later, we still take it out regularly. Its lovely looking, for a start. Whatever colours they are, they certainly are easy on the eye. There isn't an author acknowledged on  the cover but the jacket tells me its designed by Meagan Bennett and the illustrations are by Helen Dardik. One thing I noticed first was that it taught that there is more than one yellow or red or green. But in fairness, I think my kids would have discovered that fact anyway. I suppose its really the pleasure and the interestingness of colour that it introduces.

But the best part is the names. They're so right! And evocative; daffodil yellow, lemon yellow, ribbon yellow, sticky note yellow and pineapple yellow. Ladybird red, fire engine red, beetroot red, stop sign red, ketchup red and pepperoni red. They remind me a bit of the names at the end of the paper covers on crayola crayons. They make the colours so much nicer, somehow.

I'd recommend this board book as a great baby gift that can be enjoyed by older siblings too. We all really like it. 

Arthur Quinn and Hell's Keeper by Alan Early

We were at the library last night, killing time while one of my boys did his Tae Kwon Do, when my twelve year old borrowed this one. I was very pleased.

You see, he started off at six, loving reading. Moving rapidly from the "I Can Reads", he was onto Harry Potter by eight and The Lord of the Rings trilogy by nine. Yes, I was one of those painful mothers at the school gates who tried to shoehorn these facts into every conversation. Anyway, no sooner had I bored everyone to death about it, he got an Xbox, and I got my comeuppance.

For the past two years he has read minimally, using all available time poring over cheat books, Xbox magazines and all that other console related crap. Nothing could tempt him and I gave up leaving books on his bedside table. He did often pick up his younger brothers choices; Louis Sachers' Wayside School books, maybe the odd graphic novel, so I suppose he was still reading a bit, but my boasting days were over. Although that's probably not a bad thing. I wondered though, did I now have a reluctant reader?

But things are looking up. He read Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes the other day and when we got home last night, climbed into bed with this one. Its the third in the Arthur Quinn series and an absorbing, addictive read. When I peeped in at 6.45 this morning, he was awake and reading it again.