the baby recommends...

Ari is becoming quite the book connoisseur. He has been enjoying us reading to him for awhile now, but I am starting to find him in this corner all my himself, flipping though books without encouragement. As I mentioned before, I am a bit of a book-o-holic and so we have a good sized collection of baby books, but Ari has clear favorites. I though now and then I would review some of the books that have been baby tested in our home.
We sing a lot at our house. I was raised in a household that was always full of music and it is just natural for me to sing through the day, we've got our "going-on-a-walk" song and our "changing clothes and diapers" song and our "getting into the car for an adventure" song. So I enjoy books that we can sing too. They also have the added bonus of holding a baby's attention longer than spoken stories do. Hush Little Baby by Sylvia Long is the traditional song we all know, but Long has changed the rather materialistic words (mama's going to buy you all sorts of things to make you stop crying!) to images from nature (a hummingbird, a sunset) or simple household objects (a homemade quilt, a storybook.) The characters are as anthropomorphic as they come, bunnies in PJ's and rocking chairs, but I have decided I don't mind the talking animal phenomenon- humans around the world have been using animal characters in their stories for a very long time. And these bunnies are cute and loving and the mama sews and plays the banjo. What's not to love?
Winter is part of a series (Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn surprisingly,) by Gerda Muller that is in every Waldorf classroom and on every Waldorf reading list. These are wordless board books with simple illustrations of regular seasonal activities, skating and building snowmen and reading books by the fire are some pictured in the Winter book. I liked the idea of having books that change with the seasons and that reflect what is going on outside, but the appeal for Ari seems greater than this somehow. He LOVES this book. We "read" it nearly every day and have since he was bout 7 months old. I'm not entirely sure what it is is about it, but it is certainly a hit. The best part for Perry and I is looking for the odd pencil-lined ghost images that Gerda apparently forgot to erase before going to print. I'm looking forward to pulling out the Spring book, but am trying to resist the urge until there is at least a hint of green out there. And finally, this funny little book is the most recent favorite of our little book lover. The cartoonish line drawings in Barnyard Dance are pretty basic (can you tell that Ari's favorites are not necessarily mine?) but they are pretty cute and the rhythmic text is fun to read. Sandra Boynton is a lover of anthropomorphic animals as well, these ones are taking part in a square dance called by a cow with a fiddle. Having grown up attending family square dances (they are more fun then they sound, really,) I like the call-dance feel. "With a BAA and a MOO and a COCKADOODLEDOO/ everybody promenade two by two!" My baby finds it jolly fun.

Other books that are a big hit these days are ones with real pictures of babies and animals (as you can see here.) I've not found any that stand out particularly, although Ari clearly finds this one pretty tasty.