So, I've been reading with my son, talking to friends and reading book lists. I've decided to keep track of my favorites.
Poke-a-dot! Old MacDonald's Farm- My son's a little young for counting, but he likes this book when I sing along. I like it because it has these plastic things that you push and they snap, to count the animals in the pages. Another plus, if you don't skip a page, you won't have to reset the snaps to read it again.
Little Blue Truck- a fun little book my son loves. It has a nice rhythm and rhymes. It has some farm animals. On top of being fun it has a nice message about helping others and being nice.
Peek-a-who?- a cute little book. Peek-a-... and then different things that rhyme with boo! like who- with an owl and zoo, etc. The last page is peek-a- You! and has a little mirror. The format is peek-a... and then on the opposite page is a cut out with a peek at the next page. Very cute.
Down By The Bay- (associated with the song by Raffi and illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott). I saw a list with Raffi's Baby Beluga song, but this one I think is better. Both coordinate with the songs and both have beautiful pictures, but if I were to own one I would go with this one. The song is goofy with things like a whale with a polka dot tail- and I like the coordinating pictures that go along with the weird things (and llamas eating their pajamas and a fly wearing a tie... etc). The Baby Beluga book has beautiful illustrations, but the song is straightforward and about beluga whales. Maybe I also don't feel I need the Baby Beluga book because we have a stuffed animal Beluga whale and we like singing the song while playing with the stuffed animal.
Best Alphabet books:
ABC ZooBorns!- A cute animal for each letter with a sentence with them. The sentences don't rhyme, but it's still cute. (Just don't expect the rhymes). V is for vicuna, x is for x-ray tetra. The only disappointment I had was Z is for zooborns... but they do have a picture of a zebra with pictures of all the other animals in the book.
A comment on Sandra Boynton's A-Z- I really like it but I was disappointed in her 'x'. It says "xylo xylophoning". As far as I could tell with a quick google search, there doesn't seem to be such a thing as a xylo. But it's still cute I guess and each animal is an animal doing something that starts with the same letter. I would recommend some of her other books but for an alphabet book I think there are better ones.
A is for Apple- by Tiger Tales. I like this because it shows you how to trace each uppercase letter. It's a cut-out so you can feel the indent of where to trace. Then there's a flap with two objects for each letter. So "A is for apple [lift flap] and ant"... and so it continues for each letter.
Tails- A great book which has tails of various animals. You can feel some of the tails, you can move some of them. It's a great interactive book.
Rumble in the Jungle- I like this book because of the various mini poems in the book. The first and last poems are a little longer and my son didn't like those pages at first, but I like the fact that they have different rhyming patterns throughout the book. Each poem is about a different animal. (Another side note: Commotion in the Ocean is by the same people. I like this one too and it has some three line rhyming patterns and a two line poem, which Rumble in the Jungle does not have, but my son doesn't seem to like it.)
National Geographics Little Kids First BIG Book of Animals- The downside is this is a normal book. Hardcover, paper pages (not a board book). This isn't a huge downfall, and if it were a board book it wouldn't be able to have as many pages and animals. This is above my son's level but he loves it! I just have to watch him with the pages. He loves the pictures. There are small captions when he doesn't have the attention span for me to read the rest. It has cool facts about each animal. We read one or two animals a day and then watch a youtube video (1-5 minutes) of that animal in action. SO you know the animals it is divided up into Grasslands, Ocean, Desert, Forest, and Polar climes and includes Zebras, Giraffes, a spider, Lions (my son's favorite), dolphin, sea turtle, seahorse, otter, octopus, whale, snake, meerkat, lizard, camel, wolf, monkey, koala, gorilla, beaver, seal, polar bear, penguin and a few more.
Poke-a-dot! Old MacDonald's Farm- My son's a little young for counting, but he likes this book when I sing along. I like it because it has these plastic things that you push and they snap, to count the animals in the pages. Another plus, if you don't skip a page, you won't have to reset the snaps to read it again.
Little Blue Truck- a fun little book my son loves. It has a nice rhythm and rhymes. It has some farm animals. On top of being fun it has a nice message about helping others and being nice.
Peek-a-who?- a cute little book. Peek-a-... and then different things that rhyme with boo! like who- with an owl and zoo, etc. The last page is peek-a- You! and has a little mirror. The format is peek-a... and then on the opposite page is a cut out with a peek at the next page. Very cute.
Down By The Bay- (associated with the song by Raffi and illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott). I saw a list with Raffi's Baby Beluga song, but this one I think is better. Both coordinate with the songs and both have beautiful pictures, but if I were to own one I would go with this one. The song is goofy with things like a whale with a polka dot tail- and I like the coordinating pictures that go along with the weird things (and llamas eating their pajamas and a fly wearing a tie... etc). The Baby Beluga book has beautiful illustrations, but the song is straightforward and about beluga whales. Maybe I also don't feel I need the Baby Beluga book because we have a stuffed animal Beluga whale and we like singing the song while playing with the stuffed animal.
Best Alphabet books:
ABC ZooBorns!- A cute animal for each letter with a sentence with them. The sentences don't rhyme, but it's still cute. (Just don't expect the rhymes). V is for vicuna, x is for x-ray tetra. The only disappointment I had was Z is for zooborns... but they do have a picture of a zebra with pictures of all the other animals in the book.
A comment on Sandra Boynton's A-Z- I really like it but I was disappointed in her 'x'. It says "xylo xylophoning". As far as I could tell with a quick google search, there doesn't seem to be such a thing as a xylo. But it's still cute I guess and each animal is an animal doing something that starts with the same letter. I would recommend some of her other books but for an alphabet book I think there are better ones.
A is for Apple- by Tiger Tales. I like this because it shows you how to trace each uppercase letter. It's a cut-out so you can feel the indent of where to trace. Then there's a flap with two objects for each letter. So "A is for apple [lift flap] and ant"... and so it continues for each letter.
Tails- A great book which has tails of various animals. You can feel some of the tails, you can move some of them. It's a great interactive book.
Rumble in the Jungle- I like this book because of the various mini poems in the book. The first and last poems are a little longer and my son didn't like those pages at first, but I like the fact that they have different rhyming patterns throughout the book. Each poem is about a different animal. (Another side note: Commotion in the Ocean is by the same people. I like this one too and it has some three line rhyming patterns and a two line poem, which Rumble in the Jungle does not have, but my son doesn't seem to like it.)
National Geographics Little Kids First BIG Book of Animals- The downside is this is a normal book. Hardcover, paper pages (not a board book). This isn't a huge downfall, and if it were a board book it wouldn't be able to have as many pages and animals. This is above my son's level but he loves it! I just have to watch him with the pages. He loves the pictures. There are small captions when he doesn't have the attention span for me to read the rest. It has cool facts about each animal. We read one or two animals a day and then watch a youtube video (1-5 minutes) of that animal in action. SO you know the animals it is divided up into Grasslands, Ocean, Desert, Forest, and Polar climes and includes Zebras, Giraffes, a spider, Lions (my son's favorite), dolphin, sea turtle, seahorse, otter, octopus, whale, snake, meerkat, lizard, camel, wolf, monkey, koala, gorilla, beaver, seal, polar bear, penguin and a few more.
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