Kids Story Books

Posts Tagged ‘Board Books’

Toddlers are usually fascinated by big machines such as trucks or cars so colorful books about trucks are usually very popular. This board book for infants makes a great gift for little boys. This book is called First Picture Trucks. It is part of the Usborne Books' First Picture Board Books series by Emma Helbrough, illustrated with Jo Litchfield's characterful handmade models. The book has 16 pages and measures 9 1/4 x 10 7/8 inches. This book is recommended for children ages 9 and up.

See a big red fire truck zoom through the town and a rescue truck in the desert. There are over a dozen trucks in action inside this busy book. This is a sturdy board showing all kinds of trucks in action. Each double page shows a scene with a different truck, including:

• dump trucks,
• desert rescue trucks and
• fire engines with simple explanations of how they work.

Buy First Picture Trucks

First Picture Trucks

Dig Dig Digging is a colorful board book for infants by Margaret Mayo and Alex Ayliffe. The book is small and measures 5.8 x 5.7 x 0.6 inches with 22 pages. Learn about different engines that dig and do other things. Meet the:

• Diggers
• Fire engines
• Tractors
• Garbage trucks
• Cranes
• Transporters
• Dump trucks
• Road rollers
• Bulldozers, and
• Trucks

Cataloguing the world of heavy equipment, this vibrant square volume explores the unique capabilities of 11 vehicles, from construction trucks to rescue helicopters. On each spread, Mayo (Wiggle Waggle Fun) offers plenty of colorful adjectives and terse verbs: "Bulldozers are good at push, push, pushing, over rough, bumpy ground, scraping, and shoving."

Ayliffe, who explored some of this territory before in The Busy Building Book, pictures two bulldozers, one yellow and the other red, attacking clods of dirt and showing trees no mercy as they maneuver around a hill at precarious angles.

The artist works in brightly colored cut paper, adding just enough detail to the people and landscapes (the bumpy texture of caterpillar tracks, the grid work of a crane tower) to satisfy young enthusiasts. A refrain on each spread reminds readers that these distinctive vehicles share at least one similarity: "They can work all day." A final spread of a darkened town full of stilled vehicles demonstrates that even giant trucks and earthmovers need to turn off their engines: "Shhh! They can rest all night." Ages 3-5.

School-K-Bold, bright spreads present visual word poems about large trucks, tractors, and cranes and the work they do. Often the shape of the rhyme reflects the action performed by the machine. For example, the bold, black print describing fire engines arcs and curves like the water splashing from the fireman's hose.

Text about the bulldozer bumps across the page. "Bulldozers are good at push, push, pushing, over rough, bumpy ground, scraping and shoving." The verse on every page ends with the refrain, "They can work all day." Although not all of the rhymes are equally satisfying, they successfully move readers from page to page, truck to truck. The large, simple images in vivid colors and wide, uncluttered spreads will appeal to young children. Stylized skyscrapers dot the horizon in contrasting colors of purple and pink or blue and white, against very blue, sunny skies. The people are all Lego-like in appearance. The last spread, at the end of a very busy book, quiets its colors, with motors off and machines at rest. This book will rev the engines of those youngsters who love vehicles.  Alice Casey Smith, Sayreville Public Schools, Parlin, NJ

Dig Dig Digging (On the Go)

Dig Dig Digging

This book is more of a foam book for infants than a board book. It is a small book measuring only 5.1 x 4.8 x 1.2 inches and has only 9 pages. It is a board book with compact form between each page. It is called Hi! Bye! by Begin Smart. On one side of each page, there is a cutely drawn animal such as a cat or a dog and on the other side of the same page, you have the rear end of that animal. The face side is the Hi! side and the rear end side is the Bye! side. There are only five animals featured in this board/foam book. it is a book for brainy babies from 6 to 12 months.

Begin Smart: Hi! Bye!

Begin Smart Hi Bye

All Fall Down is a big board book with only 8 pages by Helen Oxenbury. The book measures 8.6 x 8.4 x 0.3 inches. There are lots of pictures in this board book for infants and very few words on each page. Helen Oxenbury's delightful board books, featuring her sweet and cuddly babies at play, are back with a whole new look.

What is All Fall Down about?

All Fall Down is about a mother and four babies. The babies are playing, bouncing on the bed, singing and running around. Eventually they all fell down.

There are four board books in this same series. Each of these board books consists of four double-page illustrations with a brief rhyming action verse. Chubby little toddlers engaged in a variety of activities spill off the pages in lively arrangements. Close-up views show multi-ethnic babies playing, bathing, eating, swinging, sleeping, etc. The watercolors, in bright pastels with pencil outline, are clear and appealing on a white background. The primary disadvantage of this set is the oversize format (8 square). Tots will find these books hard to hold in their hands, and turning the pages will be frustrating. Older preschoolers who could manipulate the pages will find little story or plot to hold their interest. However, with an adult or older child turning the pages, these books will be enjoyed by the intended audience. Nancy Kewish, Cuyahoga County Public Library, Cleveland.

All Fall Down

All Fall Down

My Very First Book of Animal Sounds is a special book by Eric Carle. It was originally published by HarperCollins Publishers but copyrighted in 1986 by Eric Carle Corp. This board book is the First Board Book edition published in 2006 by Philomel Books. Each page of this board book is cut in the middle of the page.

How to use this book?

The way to use this book is to pick an animal on the top page and match the animal with a sound on the bottom page. So, this is like a game book rather than just a book. There are 10 animals in this board book. The pictures are not of real animals but paintings. The book measures 5X7x0.6 inches.

Book description

Here are two new split-page board books in the popular series from Eric Carle. In the brilliantly colorful My Very First Book of Animal Homes, children can match each animal with the home it lives in. Where do the bees live? Where does the bird live? In My Very First Book of Animal Sounds, children can match each animal with the sound it makes. Which animal barks? Which animal roars? Only you can match them. Full of vibrant animals, these books are loads of fun for young children.

My Very First Book of Animal Sounds

My Very First Book of Animal Sounds pages

My Very First Book of Animal Sounds

My Very First Book of Animal Sounds