A House is a House for Me by Mary Ann Hoberman, illustrated by Betty Fraser

A House Is a House for Me is one of those books that because its out a few years, the price has gone right down. This paperback was under six euros. Its one of those books that should be bought in bulk and stockpiled for birthdays. Its great for both boys and girls and a good read aloud from age two. I'd say five is the upper limit for it to give as a present but really, if you are reading it to a four year old, its a guarantee that six and seven year olds will listen too.

Written as one big rhyme - an excellent one, it has these wonderful illustrations that just ask to be examined and reexamined. I first saw it on Pen Pals and Picture Books.

This was our favourite page.

The Little Duck by Phoebe Dunn and Judy Dunn

Last week, I was browsing through Vintage Kids Books my Kid Loves and as usual, found something I had never seen before. This little series of books first printed in the 70's, photographed by Phoebe Dunn with words by her daughter, Judy.

Just look at The Little Duck.

When a little boy is fishing in the pond at his farm, he finds an egg.

and brings it home;

There's much more, all lovely. And it costs €3.15. 

And there's also The Little Lamb, The Little Rabbit, The Little Puppy and The Little Kitten.

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.

The Berenstain Bears' Big Book Of Science And Nature by Stan and Jan Berenstain

As my kids get older, I'm looking more and more for books they can read themselves and for the youngest, books he can "read" himself. I may as well be honest, I don't always want to sit with him and his books, sometimes I want him to sit by himself and leave me alone for a while. And this books fits that bill perfectly.

I think  The Berenstain Bears' Big Book Of Sciene And Nature is a great one for Busytown fans. Actually I think I prefer the bears to Busytown. Probably because by boy number four I had so many hours of Huckle and Goldenbug and top-loaders under my belt that it was time for a change.

 The details in this are great. And correct. There are interesting explanations about levers and wedges and stalagmites and wind and lightening and loads more. There are sporty pages and the months of the year and planets and mammals and really, a multitude of things to pore over. At 190 pages, its a great deal for €10.91.

 My little fella's favourite page is the Halloween one below. (And now that I think of it, the "holidays" page in Busytown was a popular one too.) Whatever, this book has meant that I have been able to drink my tea while it was still hot quite a few times. All in all, a great buy.

 I'd recommend it for ages two to five, making it an excellent birthday present for any Junior Infant.

I

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. 

Duck in the Truck by Jez Alborough

 I got home yesterday evening at about eight and was greeted in the kitchen by my youngest, who I was really, really hoping would be in bed. I don't know why, he never is. He was on his scooter and tied to its wheel was a shoe lace which in turn was tied to his trike. "Your turn to be the duck." he said. So as I am an Irish mother and therefore a mayrtr; coat still on and really wanting my dinner, I got on the trike and he "pulled me out of the muck."

I think a lot of us know this one off by heart. Duck in the Truck is hard not to remember. Ingeniously written, its a rhyming story about the Duck in the truck who gets stuck in the muck and those who help him; a Sheep in a jeep, a Goat on a boat and a frog, who we see first in a bush, but who ends up in the bog.

Its great mainly because the characters are quite unlikeable. The Duck is selfish and silly and couldn't care less what happens to his rescuers. The Sheep is the type of obnoxious driver who beeps loudly when he sees a car stuck on the road in front of him and the Goat..well actually, the Goat isn't so bad. He wakes from his nap and finds a rope to help.

Kids really love this book and because it is so cleverly written, its a pleasure to read aloud.

Here they all think about what to do. Hmmmnn.

And here's the goat, relaxing on his motor boat. The others are in the background, faffing about.

They get the Duck out and off he goes(without saying thank you.) 

"Leaving the Frog, the Sheep and the Goat...STUCK IN THE MUCK! "

An excellent book for ages two to five.

Are You My Mother? By P.D. Eastman

I have lots of favourite books, but this one is at the top of the pile. Its the earliest book I remember being read to me, and the one I spent the longest searching for when I had my own children. In the dark days pre-Google, I asked in various bookshops for Are You My Mother? but I thought it was written by Dr. Seuss. I could clearly remember the cat in the hat logo on the cover and didn't know that Theodor Geisel(Dr. Seuss) was also an editor and that his friend P.D. Eastman wrote books for the same imprint. So for my first three kids, my search was fruitless. My fourth came along and as soon I had the energy and time to search online I found it.Within a few days this came through the letter box. 

 

 Since  he was old enough to focus on a page, I've read this to my youngest. And he loves the baby bird who falls out of his nest and goes on a brave quest to find his mother.

Because "I did have a mother," said the baby bird. "I know I did. I have to find her. I will. I WILL!"

There she is! Getting some food for him. Look around baby bird! But on he goes, asking everyone he meets "Are you my mother?"

It was not the cow.

 It was not the cat.

It was not the dog or the hen or the boat or the plane. It was not even the Steam Shovel, who only said "Snort!".

I know this book was written as an early reader, and it would certainly work as that. But for me it is a perfect toddler story. The innocence of the baby bird, the deadpan answers from the animals ("No" said the hen....or...."How could I be your mother?" said the cow. "I am a cow.") are genius. As are the actions of the Steam Shovel who is the hero of the day.

It is a perfect book.

Kumon activity books

My eldest is twelve so I have a few years of art supply shopping under my belt. And more than a few once-used sticker albums, colouring books and activity workbooks in a box in the kitchen. So I know what not to buy. Also its worth mentioning, my first three kids were all born within two years of each other, so there was rarely undisturbed one-on-one time, which is really essential for a lot of these activities. At least for my boys it was.

And now, here I am home alone in the mornings with a three year old. We can't sort socks (well we could, but we don't) and read stories all morning. About a year ago I saw Kumon books recommended for toddlers on a mommy blog. They  cost about three euros each, so I got two, Let's Sticker & Paste! and Let's Fold!, feeling that I knew in my heart of hearts they would rarely be used. Well, I am proud to say we are coming to the end of both of them. (I can't believe it actually - using something up? It feels very virtuous - which says a lot about the amount of waste I normally accept.)

They are nicely produced - good paper, nice colours and designs and the principal of both is simple. Practice cutting and practice folding. Great for both pincer grip and concentration. He loves them and for short periods of time, with a little starting off from me, can work alone. Which means the dishwasher sometimes gets emptied before lunch!

See? That's my cup of coffee and laptop! Sometimes I get to use them while he does something educational that does not involve Cbeebies. Awesome!

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.

Little Owl and the Star A Christmas Story by Mary Murphy

This is our favourite Christmas book. It came down from the attic on Saturday, along with the decorations and never used candles and chipped crib figures. All the Christmas paraphenalia that I love to look at now, but will be itching to pack up and not see for another year by January 2nd. But not this. The only reason I put this book away is to make it all the more treaty to discover it again next December.

It seems that sadly, Little Owl and the Star is currently out of print, but it is available second hand from Amazon and AbeBooks. Written by Mary Murphy (whose board books I Like it When ... and How Kind! are the perfect new baby present), this is a sweet and gentle story.

"It was a silent night. I sat in my tree, with a waiting feeling." Isn't that a lovely beginning?

"A star sparkled along. "Follow me, Little Owl!" said the star. And I did."

And the star led Little Owl, the three kings on their camels ("plodding softly through sand." This is SO beautifully written.) and the shepherds to the stable, where they saw who was sleeping inside. 

This is a night time book, and the beautiful colours stand out all the more as a result.

I know its a bit late in the day to try to source this online but I'm sure most libraries will have it. Really, it's worth the trip.

P.s. Two interesting interviews with Mary; Here and here.