An "ahh..." book

This book, "On the Night You Were Born" is one of those “ahh…” books. It gave me shivers the first time I read it to Baby Joe. I bought it for his first birthday, and really, every single baby should be given this book, by Nancy Tillman, in their first year.

Read this aloud to yourself now –

On the night you were born,
the moon smiled with such wonder
that the stars peeked in to see you
and the night wind whispered,
‘Life will never be the same.’

Because there had never been anyone like you …
ever in the world.

Every single baby deserves to have this passage read to them lovingly.
Every single child needs to feel that the world welcomes them for their individuality.
Every adult needs to be reminded that

…never before in story or rhyme
(not even once upon a time)
has the world ever known a you, my friend,
And it never will, not ever again …

Painting fruit

We have some new watercolour paints, and looking around for a few models, I found this book, “Orange Pear Apple Bear” by Emily Gravett. After all, if fruit has been the subject for many a fine artist, it is surely good enough for us!

The simplicity of this book makes it perfect for toddlers. Easy to read, easy to understand and beautiful to look at. And once you look at the pictures in order to recreate them, you start to realise that the simplicity is actually very clever. A bear that looks like a pear? How unusual! But how apt!

My kids have enjoyed this book as babies, toddlers, early readers, and now, we're using it as an example for art. Excellent value.

Out of bed

As I write this at a late hour, there is one little one out of bed. Not well. Needs cuddles. Needs a drink. Fingers crossed for a peaceful, sleep-filled night!

However, Penny Dale’s book has not one but ten mischievous little ones out of bed. It follows the classic rhyme but with a difference –

There were ten out of bed… and the little one said, “Let’s play!”
And Hedgehog said, “Let’s play trains!” So they all played trains until Hedgehog fell asleep.

This is a fantastic book for toddlers because the rhyme is fun to say aloud, and there is plenty to look at in the pictures. It’s a great book to point at, because there is the little one and his friends to find on every page. The detailed illustrations offer lots to discuss, especially as there are different 'themes' on each page - the little one and his friends play at camping, flying, dancing, pirates and so on. It also works indirectly as a counting book, as you need to count backwards from ten.

This is also a performance book – we needed to rope in the famous ones to help – Teddy, Monkey Magoo, a couple of elephants and a few other friends. The couch is a perfect stage, and there are many small hands to help with all the rolling over (for the traditional version).

Perhaps I need to put on a show now for my little one out of bed –

There was one out of bed and the little one said, “I’m sleepy now!”

Thank you!

Thank you to everyone who has looked at this blog and especially to those who have left comments over the past month – they have been very encouraging!

It takes this Bear a while to find someone who will give him an encouraging comment. Greg Foley’s “Thank you Bear” tells the story, with minimal text and illustrations, of Bear who finds a box which he thinks will be perfect for his friend Mouse. But other friends are a little critical of his find.

Owl said, “I’ve seen those before.”

Elephant said, “I think it’s too small.”

Bunny said, “I don’t have time to look right now.”

(Every time I read Bunny’s comment, I wonder how many times I’ve said that to my own kids when they have something important to show me!)

Luckily for Bear, Mouse is very grateful.

“It’s the greatest thing ever! Thank you, Bear!”

Greg has a website with more information about other Bear books, plus some great online games.

A dragon lives forever ...

Everyone knows this one – “Puff the Magic Dragon”. It began as a poem written by Lenny Lipton, who passed it on to Peter Yarrow from the folk group Peter, Paul and Mary. They made it into a hit song in the sixties. Now it is a beautiful book, with illustrations by French artist Eric Puybaret and a CD sung by Peter with his daughter Bethany and accompanied by Rufus Cappadocia with his cello.

Peter describes Puff as – both childlike and wise, a king but also a willing follower of just about any bright spirit that inspired him. Puff gives his whole heart and soul to one special friend, Jackie Paper. And though it is terribly painful when Jackie grows up and has to leave, Puff has given Jackie the strength and courage he needs to believe in himself when he goes back to the real world.

You can really sense this through both the illustrations and the music. The pictures are gorgeous – acrylic paint on linen - Puff’s expression is so eloquent. The CD is lovely and gentle, and there are three other tracks, including “Froggie went a-courting”.

Tom’s interest in knights and therefore dragons led me to Puff. And then I found a great magical dragon felt kit from The Craft Circle. And then I found Puff’s cave at The Friendship Tree (which can also double as a mermaid cave!).

There is just something so whimsical about the combination of a frolicking dragon, an autumn mist, a billowed sail, painted wings and a cherry lane. Jackie Paper, why did you choose to grow up? You were on to such a good thing!

Monkey Magoo and Annalise

Grandma gave Annalise a book when she was eighteen months old which quickly became her favourite. “Monkey and Me” by Emily Gravett tells the story of a little girl and her toy monkey visiting the zoo. The language is simple, rhythmic – I find myself almost singing it to the kids –

Monkey and me,

Monkey and me,

Monkey and me,

We went to see,

We went to see some ….

Bats!

It’s lovely and repetitive for toddlers to say. The little girl leaps from the page with enthusiasm, as there’s no background to distract the eye.

Annalise loved this book so much that I decided she needed a monkey of her own. I used the pattern Monkey Magoo from Melly and Me – Magoo looked so much like Emily Gravett’s monkey! It was my first attempt at sewing a softie, but the instructions were so clear that it was easy to follow. The only change I made was to leave out the boxer shorts and add a tail to make Magoo match the monkey in the story. Magoo has been much loved by Annalise.

There's a lovely door plate on Emily's website featuring the little girl and her monkey which you can print out, colour in, cut out and stick to a bedroom door.

One of the best baby books

‘Owl Babies’ by Martin Waddell would have to be one of my favourite baby books. I bought our first copy for Tom when he was only four months old, and this board book has been replaced only once, despite being chewed by all three of our babies.

‘Owl Babies’ tells the story of three baby owls who wake up one night to an absent mother. I love the repetitive discussion between the three owl siblings, as they try to reassure each other. The repetitive dialogue makes it perfect for toddlers.

“She’ll be back,” said Sarah.
“Back soon!” said Percy.
“I want my mummy!” said Bill.

I looked after my one year-old niece once when she was a little concerned about the absence of her Mum. Whenever she asked, “Mummy?” I found myself saying, “She’ll be back!” “Back soon!” Annalise would say to her younger cousin. “Just like Owl Babies,” Tom added.

This snippet of dialogue has become firmly entrenched in our family conversations, and I think it could be used to comfort a little one. Because, of course, their Owl Mother does come back!

As this book has been loved so well, I decided to use Kristen Doran’s gorgeous owl panel to make up our own owl babies. It was fairly simple to cut around the owls, cut out the backing material, sew them together, turn them inside out, and help the kids to stuff them. The owls definitely needed a home, and there was definitely more gorgeous owl material left over, so I made a bag to keep them in. Annalise has loved acting out the Owl Babies story with our own owls, and it’s great for really little ones to have something to hold while reading the story.