Playing and Learning with Board Books

Little Bear Where Are You?
Little Dog Where Are You?

Ekaterina Trukhan
Nosy Crow

It’s true to say that babies enjoy playing with mirrors and this new Where Are You? series has a mirror on every spread.
Taking inspiration from the hugely popular Family Finger rhyme, Little Bear introduces in turn little frog, little deer, little rabbit and little bear by means of a text with a repeat pattern: ‘Little —— , / Little —— , / where are you? // On the opposite page, comes the reply, ‘Here I am! Here I am! / Where are you?’ When the animal’s face is flipped down we see the words, “There you are!’, and a mirror is revealed for little humans to see their faces.
The final spread shows all four animals and beneath the fold, the titular character addresses the baby whose face is reflected in the mirror.
The large card flaps are easy to manipulate and sufficiently sturdy to stand up to the frequent use the books are likely to have.
Using the same structure, in Little Dog, illustrator Ekaterina Trukhan portrays first little hamster, followed by little bird, little cat and lastly, little dog (sporting a bobble hat).

Peekaboo Lion
Camilla Reid and Ingela P Arrhenius
Nosy Crow

This latest in the novelty series with sliders and a final mirror, features wild animals, although they look deceptively friendly in Ingela’s vibrant, patterned illustrations. The playful rhyming text comprises two words per page and introduces animals large and small; and there are opportunities to meet both adult animals and their young on some spreads.
A fun way to develop tinies’ language and manipulative skills together with a surprise finale.

Don’t Mix Up My Puppy
Rosamund Lloyd and Spencer Wilson
Little Tiger

Little humans will enjoy getting their paws on this mix-and-match doggie delight, with its five different puppies depicted, one per spread, in Spencer Wilson’s bold illustrations.

First we meet a Dalmatian with a spotty, dotty tail, then a velvety tailed dachshund, next comes a sly terrier whose tail is fancy and flowy; the white poodle’s tail matches his cute, curly self and finally there’s an Irish setter with a fluffy, furry tail.

Toddlers can have fun turning the wheel, finding each pup’s tail and feeling the respective tactile rear end appendages. Just right for developing hand-eye coordination too.

We Are Love / Don’t Mix Up My Dinosaur

These are two new titles from Little Tiger – thanks to the publisher for sending them for review

We Are Love
Patricia Hegarty and Thomas Elliott

Animal parents furry, wrinkly, scaly and feathery invite little humans to watch their demonstrations of love for their offspring. Whether it’s leaping squirrels, plodding pachyderms, diving dolphins, waddling penguins or whatever, we can find loving care in a multitude of places. Young children will be reassured to see that the final pages show a mother and her small child showing their heartfelt love for one another.

A clever cutaway design feature enables the second of the two spreads allocated to each loving parent and little one, to show them coming together to form a heart shape. 

A simple rhyming text that flows nicely and Elliott’s textured illustrations of the featured creatures make for a reassuring lap book or bedtime book to share with the very youngest, some of whom may notice that there are other unnamed animal pairs in the background also forming heart shapes and even some minibeasts forming hearts with their wings.

Don’t Mix Up My Dinosaur
Rosamund Lloyd and Spencer Wilson

Five dinosaurs provide tactile fun in this matching game of a book. By turning the wheel little ones can help Triceratops find her missing horn; enable Ankylosaurus to get back his lumpy, bumpy club, make sure Velociraptor and her fluffy tail are reunited, 

put Parasaurolophus’s crest where it should be and put Spinosaurus and her scaly tail together again.

The wheel is easily moved by little hands and young children will enjoy meeting the various brightly coloured dinosaurs – in their correct or mixed-up forms. They’ll also enjoy learning (and trying to get their tongues around) their correct names; these are provided on the back cover though not in the simple repetitive text. Interactive, inventive and appealing.