Board books often include features that entice little fingers to pull, twist, and lift, sometimes blurring the line between book and toy. This is fine by me; little ones should play with their books! Although such board books are often called “novelty books” and derided as gimmicky, they don’t have...
This column is part of a series of recommended board book roundups, published seasonally. You can find the previous installments here. Don’t miss Viki Ash’s primer “What Makes a Good Board Book?” from the March/April 2010 Horn Book Magazine. Familiar songs, finger puppets and holes, counting, and flaps galore make...
The conventional wisdom is that board books are for birth to three years, and I’m a firm believer that board books need to be developmentally appropriate for their audience (see my November/December 2019 column “Board Books Build Brains”). Board books are, at their core, for babies and toddlers. But is...
They rarely win awards. Few make it to the annual “best of” lists. They get stepped on, chewed, drooled on, and thrown. Their core audiences may not remember a word of them in a few scant years. Their pages are frequently viewed out of order. But board books are some...
The parents, caregivers, and babies who visit the main branch of my public library love board books. They eat them up — sometimes literally. We keep the books jumbled in a long wooden bin that sits low to the floor on a cozy rug. Pre-walkers use the bin’s edge to...
This column is part of a series of recommended board book roundups, published seasonally. You can find the previous installments here. Don’t miss Viki Ash’s primer “What Makes a Good Board Book?” from the March/April 2010 Horn Book Magazine."What do birds say on Halloween?" "Trick or TWEET!" Here are some...
This column is part of a series of recommended board book roundups, formerly published twice a year, now published every season. You can find the previous installments here. Don’t miss Viki Ash’s primer “What Makes a Good Board Book?” from the March/April 2010 Horn Book Magazine.Alphabet Family Bandby Sarah JonesBlue...
This column is part of a series of recommended board book roundups, formerly published twice a year, now published every season. You can find the previous installments here. Don’t miss Viki Ash’s primer “What Makes a Good Board Book?” from the March/April 2010 Horn Book Magazine.Tinyville Town: I’m a Librarian...
This column is part of a series of recommended board book roundups, formerly published twice a year, now published every season. You can find the previous installments here. Don’t miss Viki Ash’s primer “What Makes a Good Board Book?” from the March/April 2010 Horn Book Magazine.Good Night, My Darling Babyby...