baby book

Board Book Reviews: Maisy’s Animals, and Maisy Explores

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Maisy's Animals by Lucy Cousins    Maisy Explores by Lucy Cousins
Maisy’s Animals: A First Words Book
Maisy Explores: A First Words Book

   by Lucy Cousins

5 out of 5 stars


In Maisy Explores, Maisy explores a variety of different ideas, like the weather, types of plants, insects that change from caterpillar to butterfly, body parts, textures from rough to smooth, sounds, colors, and everyday items. The only text is labels for each type of item, but the drawings show Maisy playing the drums, planting a seed, flying a kite, and painting a picture.


In Maisy’s Animals, Maisy travels all over the world and interacts with animals in different places. The only text is labels for each type of animal, but the drawings show Maisy riding a camel in the desert, dog-sledding with a husky in the Arctic, swimming with fish in the ocean, and feeding chickens on the farm, and putting out cat-food for her kitty at home. Continue reading →

Board Book Series Review: All Around Bustletown

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All Around Bustletown by Rotraut Susanne BernerAll Around Bustletown: SummerAll Around Bustletown by Rotraut Susanne BernerAll Around Bustletown by Rotraut Susanne Berner
5 out of 5 stars
Everywhere in Bustletown people are getting things done, going to a museum, doing their shopping, finding lost objects, playing ball with their friends, getting their car repaired, and tending to the animals. Everywhere you look there is something interesting happening and a story line to follow!

I love the colorful and detailed illustrations! Each page is beautifully drawn with fun little details to draw the reader in. I’m 37 years old, and I was fascinated with each beautiful scene! Continue reading →

Board Book Review: Hey Diddle Diddle!

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Hey Diddle Diddle! by Emma Schmid
Hey Diddle Diddle!
by Emma Schmid (Illustrator)

5 out of 5 stars


This board book takes the rhyme of “hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle” to a whole new level, with new verses, new characters, and beautiful die-cut openings for the moon as it goes from a crescent moon to a full moon. After the cat and the fiddle, comes the rat and the rattle, the toad and the trumpet, the pig and the piano, and the chimp and cello, until a full band of animals are playing music as the cow jumps over the moon.

The silly illustrations add to the charm of the text with funny characters, colorful scenes, and a crazy dish and spoon dancing around. On each page the characters do something different as the new animal plays on their instrument. They skateboard, hula hoop, eat watermelon and icecream, iceskate, and hop aboard a train at the end. Continue reading →

Board Book Review: Wheels at Work: City

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Wheels at Work by Child's Play
Wheels at Work: City
by Child’s Play, Cocoretto (Illustrations)

5 out of 5 stars

The delivery truck is ready to deliver some groceries. The school bus picks up the children. The city park truck delivers some trees to be planted. The train stops to pick up passengers. And the recycling truck picks up the recycling.

Each page begins with an illustration of the closed truck or bus, then when the reader lifts the flap it reveals the truck opened up making a delivery or picking up. This is an excellent way to get children guessing what comes next, and to test their memory. The flaps make this a really special book! Continue reading →

Board Book Review: Wake Up, Let’s Play!

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Wake Up, Let's Play! by Marit Törnqvist
Wake Up, Let’s Play!
by Marit Törnqvist

5 out of 5 stars

Two children wake up and decide to play a whole bunch of imaginative games. They play birthday party, sand castles, stormy seas in the bathtub, chefs and restaurant, busy towns with cars and trains, snowmen, and artists. As the two children pretend and imagine each game, their two trusty stuffed animals, a zebra and a penguin, are by their side in every scene.

It was fun looking for the details in each illustration, watching for the stuffed animals in the background, and delighting in all the special little objects they use to play. There are boats and rubber duckies for the bath, toy trains and cars for the busy town roads, and grass and leaves served on the plates at the imaginary restaurant. Continue reading →

Board Book Review: Little Fingers Ballet

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Little Fingers Ballet by Ashley Marie Mireles
Little Fingers Ballet
by Ashley Marie Mireles, Olga Skomorokhova 

5 out of 5 stars

This board book features finger holes where the reader can make leg movements for the ballerinas in the illustrations. There are even little “finger tights” that you can wear like little ballet slippers to match the costumes of the dancers!

I can’t stop playing with this book! It’s so adorable!
The ballet scenes are taken from famous ballets and includes characters like Romeo and Juliet, the Snow Queen, Coppelia, and Cinderella. The text also includes ballet terminology like “plies, grande battements, grand jete, pirouettes, chasse steps”, and more that I didn’t understand but would be fun to learn about! Continue reading →

Board Book Review: Let’s Make Yoga Magic

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Let's Make Yoga Magic by Heather Leah
Let’s Make Yoga Magic
by Heather Leah, Sandie Sonke (Illustrator)

5 out of 5 stars

This board book has interactive levers, wheels, and pop ups that help to teach children about different yoga poses. The text explains the pose in very simple terms, along with something for the child to imagine while they do the pose.

For example, in bridge pose you can imagine that a river is flowing underneath you and your legs and arms are the bridge across the water. Children can pretend to be a snake, a dog, a mountain, a butterfly, a dancer, a tree, a plane, a pretzel, a boat, a warrior, and a dragon! All of these correspond with the traditional yoga pose, and add an element of fun and awareness to the practice of yoga.

The text is told in rhyme and beautifully written!

Continue reading →

Board Book Review: A Day at the Zoo

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My Big Wimmelbook—A Day at the Zoo by Carolin Gortler
My Big Wimmelbook—A Day at the Zoo
by Carolin Gortler

5 out of 5 stars


This is an entertaining search-and-find book with a beautiful chaos of different people and animals at the zoo. Everywhere you look there is something interesting happening and a story line to follow!

I love the colorful and detailed illustrations! Each page is beautifully drawn with fun little details to draw the reader in. I’m 38 years old, and I was fascinated with each intricate scene!

It’s so fun to search for people in the hustle and bustle of the scenery and follow them from page to page as their little story unfolds. Suzy is looking for her teddy bear, and Hamid is having trouble with his camera as a bee bothers him. Animals everywhere are eating and playing. People all over the zoo are acting out their own dramas and the animals are a focal point of the entire book. Continue reading →

Non-Fiction Review: 50 Things To Do In Baby’s First Year

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50 Things to Do in Baby's First Year by Amanda Rodriguez
50 Things to Do in Baby’s First Year: The First-Time Mom’s Guide for Your Baby, Yourself, and Your Sanity
by Amanda Rodriguez

4 out of 5 stars

This book has advice and tips for coping from baby’s birth right up to celebrating their first birthday. It includes things like dealing with inlaws and grandparents, sharing on social media, getting enough sleep, breastfeeding, teething, postpartum depression, getting support from friends and family, sleep and nap routines, keeping up with the photo book or memory journal, starting baby on solid foods, working out after birth, baby’s motor skills, weaning, nutrition for mom and child, and of course, how to throw the perfect first birthday party! Continue reading →

Non-Fiction Review: Lactivate!

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LACTIVATE! by Jill Krause
LACTIVATE!: A User’s Guide To Breastfeeding
by Jill Krause, Chrisie Rosenthal IBCLC

5 out of 5 stars

This book has worlds of information about every conceivable situation that might come up while breastfeeding a baby. Whether to use formula, how to encourage baby to latch on, bonding with baby right after birth, breast milk storage guidelines, how to use a breast pump, even what to do if baby is in NICU. There are charts for tracking feeding times, tracking baby’s weight, instructions on burping baby, changing diapers, and how to know if something is wrong with baby’s digestion.

One of the things I really loved about this book are the inspirational quotes reassuring a new mom that she is doing great, she has the right to choose whatever she wants to do for herself and her child, and that each baby will be different. There is no guilt and no shame in doing what is best for your own well-being and for the health of your child! Continue reading →