One of these things is not like the others...

Blue hat, green hat by Sandra Boynton

I do like Sandra Boynton's board books. They manage to introduce simple concepts (colour and clothing in this one), while also engaging in some deeper learning (pattern recognition, and socialization, this time). All this, and humour pitched at just the right level for toddlers.

Watch the elephant, moose and bear each put on a piece of clothing in a different colour. All is well until the silly turkey puts the clothing on the wrong part of his body - Oops!

Yellow pants,
Red pants,
Green pants,
Oops.

Toddlers love to show off their mastery of words (colours and clothes); and growing sense of the 'right' way to do things - pants don't go on your head, you don't go into the swimming pool with all your clothes on. There will be lots of giggles as they recognize the 'oops' moments! The underlying message, that it's OK to laugh at mistakes rather than getting upset by them, is another good reason to choose this book.

It's great to read the words provided for the first couple of times, to get the sense of the story through to the kids; then switch to questions and let them tell you the story.

This is one of those stories where the pictures are much more important than the text. In fact, I've seen kids pick this up and 'get' the humour of the illustrations without an adult there to read to them.

Heavily outlined illustrations, with strong primary colours for the clothes, let the characters stand out clearly on the white pages.

Because of the small board format, this really only works for groups of up to six children. And is best suited for the 1-3 age range - though older children may still enjoy the humour of the out-of-step turkey.

Like most of Sandra Boynton's books, this one has been around for a long time - originally published 1984 - must be good to have lasted all this time.

Sheep Hunting

Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox illustrated by Judy Horacek.

I love this book! And, more importantly, so does every toddler (18 months to 3 years) that I've read it to.

The simple repetition and rhyme scheme:

Here is the blue sheep, and here is the red sheep. Here is the bath sheep, and here is the bed sheep. But where is the green sheep?

and characterful illustrations, have great child appeal. Within a couple of repetitions, Mitchell was 'reading' the story to me.

Favourite pages include the Moon and Star sheep, and the party scene, which is full of detail to be investigated.

It also provides a great introduction to simple vocabulary, colours and comparisons (near and far sheep); helping children to learn without learning.

As the story ends with finding the Green Sheep fast asleep, it makes a great bedtime book; providing a nice segue into going to sleep, 'just like the green sheep'

The board book version is better than the hardback one, as children want to turn the pages themselves to find the green sheep. And the square shape is subtly attractive -- it makes you want to hold it in your hands!

Despite the relatively small size (though large for a board book), the large clear illustrations mean that it works well as a read aloud to a group of up to 10 or so children. It does work best with the under 3 crowd, as there isn't enough plot to retain the interest of older children.

Our copy arrived with a promotional green sheep which is almost as beloved as the book itself. Opening up lots of opportunities for playing 'Where is the green sheep?' all over the house.

It's a Star!

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star illustrated by Tracey Moroney

A simple illustrated board book version of the well known song, featuring a polar bear looking up at the star while he plays and then gets ready for bed, and ending with him dreaming about meeting the star.

This was the very first book that Mitchell actually sat on my lap to listen to! Admittedly it took months to get to that point. Months of singing the song while turning the pages, and pointing to the star, (teddy, sled, windmills, bees, etc.) on the pages while he wriggled to get down, and bounced around the room, racing back to my knee to look at the pages, and off again.

But finally he became intrigued with the detail on the pages, and began to find the teddy on the page, or look for the bees on the lampshade. (It took several months before he'd respond to requests to find the star!)

The illustrations are charming and surprisingly full of detail for such a small board book - only 10 pages, and 12 cm tall. I think that the size is part of it's appeal, as it's easy for very small hands to hold and turn pages, and board pages mean it survives even the roughest handling. Mitchell still asks for it now, and enjoys turning the pages, and telling me what he sees on each page.

I've just found out that Tracey Moroney is a NZ illustrator, I'll have to look out for more of her work.