It’s been awhile since I featured any books here and my only excuse is that we’ve been busy. But you know what they say about excuses – THEY ALL STINK – so I guess it’s time to just move on and start talking libros again!
Lately, Charlotte has been obsessed with books about babies. ‘Obsessed’ is not actually a strong enough term. A few days ago, we were at the arboretum and when I told her it was time for us to go home, she lied down on the pathway and refused to budge and gave me this look that was part LOOK WHO IS ALL-POWERFUL NOW and part YOUR MOVE, SUCKER. Without skipping a beat, I explained to her that we had books! in the car! books! ABOUT BABIES!, but alas, if she just wanted to lay here all night long then I suppose we could do without.
By the time I got to the end of that sentence, her little cutie patootie was halfway to the parking lot, no joke.
Of all the various books we have that feature babies, there are four that are currently in our book rotation so I thought that a nice way to come back to featuring books would be with a bit more bang. Here are the four books (about babies, babies, and more babies) that we’ve had our noses in lately and here’s why I like them, too.
Baby Born, written by Anastasia Suen and illustrated by Chih-Wei Chang – My top pick. I love this book. Chang’s illustrations are fun and Suen’s rhyme is cute and simple. I love following the babies from birth through their first year and one of Charlotte’s favorite ways to read it is to flip through photos of her own life at the same time (for example, when we see the page with a baby crawling after a ladybug, Charlotte hunts down images of her holding ladybugs for comparison). It’s pretty stinking cute.
Everywhere Babies, written by Susan Meyers and illustrated by Marla Frazee – Charlotte’s top pick. She carries this book with her everywhere (EVERYWHERE) and can flip through the images in quiet independence for twenty or thirty minutes, easy. There are so many illustrations of babies that she is always finding something new to absorb. I like it too because of the diversity of family situations (i.e. there is an illustration of two women asleep together in a bed, and although that could totally be sisters or friends or whatever, I always point it out and explain that some families have two mommas and then list off a few examples in our lives). It’s also an easy rhyme to memorize, which is good because I recite it at naptime with alarming frequency.
“More More More,” Said the Baby, written and illustrated by Vera B. Williams – We saw this one at a library story-time recently and have been truly enjoying it ever since. The book naturally lends to body words and vocabulary (another of Charlotte’s current obsessions), shows three different babies engaged in common baby activities like napping and playing, uses vibrant colors, and shows both a father and a grandmother caring for babies with the same devotion and love that the mother illustrated does. I wish we read this one more often; it’s a nice book. My only complaint is that it’s a little difficult to find fun story-stretchers.
Because of You, written by B.G. Hennessy and illustrated by Hiroe Nakata – This one is a little more introspective and features one of my favorite illustrators of all time. It is very brief, definitely has an ulterior motive of encouraging peace and community (which I don’t mind), and has illustrations that are easy to imagine stories about. It is also the only book that we have that lends itself to telling Charlotte about the day of her birth. I don’t know why I never told her that story before this book popped up on our shelves, but she loves to hear it all the time now.
What to do: You can enter this giveaway by leaving a comment below or sending me an e-mail answering this: when is the last time you visited your local library? All you need is an e-mail address. The giveaway ends next Tuesday evening at 9 P.M. Pacific Time. You can leave one entry every day. There will be four winners.
To purchase this book: You can buy any of these books through Amazon.com (that link uses my affiliate code) or locate a local retailer through Indie Bound.org.
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We were there last Tuesday and will be going again tomorrow.
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Oh, I love Everywhere Babies! Such a cute book!
It’s been a few weeks since we’ve been to the library. I can name every excuse in the book as to why we haven’t gone, but who cares, right? The fact is, we haven’t been there and we need to. Harper loves to go and I have some books to return. Motivation is the key. I wish our little library was still open. It was about 5 minutes from here. Now all we have is the main library and it’s more like 15-20 minutes away.
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I also want to point out that “more more baby,“ as it’s called in our house,features 2 gender neutral babies. They might be boys, or they might be girls. Only the final baby is gendered. And the babies/caregivers aren’t all white. IDK if that matters to you/your readers but it’s something I’ve been looking for in books.
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Wow - it’s been absolutely YEARS but I am honestly thinking of going.
Question - are your kiddo’s ripping books? What do you do with Library books? Just supervise non stop?I’m scared Nolan will ruin them
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We were at our local library just yesterday for story time. Cam loves the library. He chooses book after book after book to sit and read with me. Just the sight of all those books lined up on the shelves seems to make him excited!
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I was at the library on Monday. I love our library! I walk over on my lunch and pick up books and dvd’s for the whole family. I just finished Water for Elephants, Joanna is reading Word Bird and the hubs is reading The Lost City of Z.
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We went last Friday. I try to take the kids once a month. I work full time so the day time hours are out but we have started going on Friday’s after work for an hour. The kids have loved it and I get a chance to grab some new reads too.
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Last visit to local library: About 18 hours ago to return overdue books. Fine: $12.
A new book would cheer me up!
I LOVE Baby Born. Someone gave it to me years ago and it’s the book I most associate with my winter babies…I have it memorized and even have been known to quote it aloud.
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I was just at the library on Tuesday for Toddler time. :)
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Our local library has had to so shorten its hours that it has gotten impossible to get there with toddlers (maybe it’s having two!!) and I miss it more than I imagined I would when the City Council talked of closings due to budget woes. So it has been waaaay too long since I have been to the library. That said, we are PBS junkies and a bit, to borrow a word from Charlotte, “obsessed” with Bob the Builder and the construction and gymnastic-y toys in our yard.
We would love to win a book about Babies of any flavor. May I suggest two more that I think you will love (or maybe have already done, tho I think not):
Welcome with Love by Jenni Overend with the loveliest illustrations by Julie Vivas; and
On the Day You Were Born by Debra Frasier. -
we were just at the library last week, and are going back on saturday to return the puzzles and books we borrowed. our inner city library has just been remodeled and we have a wall of aquariums, a train table, and of course, lots and lots of books. our daughter loves it there - both to read and to watch all the other kids playing.
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I went to the library by myself last Sunday; the last time I went with my son was a couple of Fridays ago. He loves how at libraries there are always miniature little benches and chairs to sit on.
By the way, while we’re talking about diversity, I want to thank you for linking to that blog about talking to kids about race. We have plenty of books showing diversity, and I used to ignore that aspect of the illustrations, thinking my son would just get it by osmosis. Now I realize that’s not the case!
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We were just at the library this past Tuesday for storytime.
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I have not been since February…and that was my first time to our down town library which has an AWESOME children’s area! I can’t wait to be able to take my baby there (not due until end of August). We also have this incredible used book store/exchange in town that I tend to end up at WAY too often and now have a pile and a half to get through for me not to even mention what has been acquired for the wee one! And the grandmothers have also gone crazy with purchasing books for this coming little one! Book suggestions are gold!
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Last trip to the library was last week (Thursday maybe?).
Just a note: your Amazon link is not working (incase there’s anyone who’s trying to give you credit!)
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Thanks for the great list!
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i love libraries, but i’ve been traveling, so i haven’t been in a couple of months…
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I went 3 days ago to return some cookbooks. :)
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Too long. Over a year for sure. I need to get back.
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I was at the library just this morning!
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I was at the library last Saturday.
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We were just at the library today. Getting videos (for me) and looking at board books (for 13 month Eleanor).
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We go to the library every Monday! They have a lovely story group complete with puppets, fun songs, a great guitarist, and props (toys, parachutes, etc). We love it and it’s perfect for my 8 month old.
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“More, More, More” is one of my son’s favorites! It’s a regular in our book rotation as well. :)
We visit our library every Monday to get fresh books for the Five A Day Book Challenge at the Imagination Tree. It’s been a ton of fun, and a great excuse to get to the library once a week!
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Since college, sadly. I found my old library card yesterday while we were moving, and promised myself that next week (once we’re settled in the new place), I’d take my seven month old son to the library to get his own card!
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books have been a great friend to my toddler these past few days, as she’s had a nasty tummy bug and is listless, sleepy, and nauseous. only her favourite books have been able to distract her…i love that about books.
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We went last Tuesday for storytime. :) Mollly is currently obsessed with babies…
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We were just at the library last Monday. We were actually getting books about babies and big sisters to start preparing for the new baby coming to our house in August.
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My 2 yr old Sarah is also OBSESSED with books about babies. She’s in that tricky place between wanting to be big like her sister but craving to be treated like her baby brother. We would be so thrilled to win these beautiful books, thanks so much for the opportunity to enter.
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It’s been too long! School library last week. Local library for “fun books” - it’s been a few months
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I went with my grandmother about a year ago. I need to follow in her lead more often.
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Great books, thanks.
By Alicia Stucky on May 12, 2011
We’re heading there in just a few minutes, actually. And the last time we went was last Tuesday. More, More, More reminds me of my childhood. I don’t remember what’s actually inside of that book (apart from a couple of illustrations that stand out)—I just remember having it read to me over and over and over again—and then reading it myself to the children in my mom’s daycare when I got older… over and over and over again lol