Tag Dawn Sirett

A Handful of Animal Board Books

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The Safari Set
The Jungle Crew
The Polar Pack
Madeleine Rogers
Button Books
Here we have the first three board books to be added to the Mibo series and they’re some of the best board books I’ve seen in a long while. Each one features a different natural location and all have rhyming texts and some brief, attractively presented snippets of information inside the back cover.
The Safari Set takes us to the dusty, sun-scorched African plains where lions laze, giraffes graze

on high-up leaves, elephants roam, zebras flash past and hippos wallow for hours in the cool water.
In the dappled, leafy jungle we encounter members of The Jungle Crew: a troop of lively monkeys, screeching macaws with their dazzling plumage,

a fearsome-looking tiger stalks, toucans chomp on tasty fruits and tree frogs hop, and drop (when it’s time to lay eggs).
Members of The Polar Pack live in either the far north or far south; many are under threat and need protection. The South Pole is home to Emperor penguins: mighty-tusked walruses, polar bears,

huge-hooved reindeer and snowy owls reside in the North Pole.
Superb, beautifully patterned illustrations and rhyming texts that are a pleasure to read aloud make these top quality little books for the very youngest.

Really Feely Baby Animals
Really Feely Farm
Polly Appleton and Dawn Sirett
DK
A host of animals (5 per book) introduce themselves and invite toddlers to participate in a variety of sensory experiences such as ‘Rub my tufty fur. Then choose a shiny red apple for me to eat.’ or …

Feel my fuzzy feathers. And touch my smooth, pointy beak.

A kitten, a playful puppy and a baby rabbit also want to be similarly explored in Baby Animals.
In Farm Animals we meet first a chicken, and go on to encounter a sheep, a piglet, a duckling …

Feel my soft, fluffy tummy. And touch my smooth, shiny beak.

and a calf.
In both books the photographic images on each recto really seem to leap out from the page, heightening the whole visual experience. On the baby rabbit page for instance, its whiskers glisten as the light catches them. However it isn’t only the animals that are tactile; every item on the page provides a lovely feely experience and a whole lot of language learning possibilities.

100 First Words / Animal Sounds & Things That Go / My First Wildlife Sticker Activity Book

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100 First Words
Dawn Sirett and Charlotte Milner
DK
This large format book is definitely a lap style board book not a ‘clutch in the pram’ kind. It encompasses fourteen topics, one per page; and those on opposite pages are related, so we have for instance: My body and My clothes; My toys and Colours, Pets and Wild animals and …

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Naming is an important element of a very young child’s language learning but essentially the language learning potential in this book is far greater than that: focussing on a single image could furnish so much language learning, and that is where it comes down to the skill of the person sharing the book with a baby or young infant, (or equally, a person just starting to learn English as an additional language).

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The labelled photographic images are clear, uncluttered, and pattern is very much part of the whole look of the book.
Definitely a worthwhile investment if you have dealings with tinies

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Animal Sounds
Things That Go
Jane Foster
Templar Publishing
Rich in pattern and colour, and rich in language potential, are the two new board books from fabric designer, Jane Foster. Animal sounds include the ‘meow meow’ of a ginger cat and the ‘woof woof’ of an endearing spotty dog, the gentle ‘flitter flutter’ of a butterfly’s wonderful wings and the contrasting ‘ROAR’ of a lion; and these two delectable creatures …

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The final spread comprises 22 named portraits of all the animals, taking a break from sound-making.
The layout of Things That Go is slightly different. We have eleven items represented: some that move through the air, some through water and others across land. I love the inclusion of this …

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Each ‘mover’ has a double spread, its name is given against a subtly patterned page opposite which is the object and an associated sound, I can’t imagine any toddler not enjoying sharing these beauties with an enthusiastic parent or carer.

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I foresee hours of fun and language learning where the three (or four) come together. Both books are a clever, winning mix of simplicity and sophistication.
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My First Wildlife Sticker Activity Book
illustrated by Gina Maldonado
Bloomsbury Activity Books
Published in conjunction with the rspb, this attractively illustrated book asks young children to look closely at what is on the printed page: to search for particular fauna and flora, to find matching pairs, to locate minibeasts, add stickers to scenes, find the odd one out and so on. There’s no substitute for seeing the real thing, but one hopes having done the activities herein, youngsters will be inspired to go out and look at the natural world for real.

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When an Elephant Falls in Love / I Love You

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When an Elephant Falls in Love
Davide Cali and Alice Lotti
Chronicle Books
Davide Cali of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to School and The Truth About My Unbelievable Summer fame brings his sardonic wit to an exploration of falling in love, elephant style.
In his straightforward text, he offers, one by one, eight symptoms of this state of being. Alice Lotti portrays each of these ‘foolish things’ with equal wit in her stark, mixed media illustrations. Elephant is the perfect purveyor of the condition as his huge bulk serves to emphasise the daftness of each action …

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He hides whenever he sees her.

And, there’s a tiny yellow bird that pops up as an observer of each scene, further adding to the overall impact of the whole crazy scenario …

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Look by the bowl …

Both young readers and adults will find plenty to make them smile in this, whether or not they recognise the symptoms from personal experience or observations of others, for it’s plain to see that when an elephant falls in love …

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his actions are pretty much those of a besotted human.

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I Love You
Clemency Pearce and Rosalind Beardshaw
Nosy Crow
The all important title message is delivered through Clemency Pearce’s warm-hearted, rhyming text and super-cute, patterned illustrations. With its textual pattern that begins, ‘ When you feel so very small, / when no one seems to care at all, / what can make you ten feet tall? // Three little words …
(turn over) … ‘I love you!’ …

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this cries out to the very young to join in with those three words after each verse is read aloud.
But those recipients of love can also help make others feel better …

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Ideal to share with your toddler, this board book is a delight.
Another board book with the same title is

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I Love You
Dawn Sirett
DK
This is the latest addition to DK’s Baby Touch and Feel series.
Colour photographs of animals, toys and humans …

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each with a finger-sized tactile feature are the ingredients of this chunky little book. Just right for the very youngest to explore.

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