From: Ellen E. Moore <emoore>
Date: Sat, 20 Sep 2008 14:45:50 -0400 (EDT)

I started working in youth services when I was eight months pregnant. Now my daughter is 2 1/2. We love board books! The best book for babies
(IMO) is Ba Ba Ha Ha by Zimm. It was the first she engaged with and remains a favorite. In library school the Tana Hoban black and whites were presented to us as good for babies who couldn't distinguish colors, but the faces in the Zimm books are so much more engaging and relevant. And they're fun! If you're aware of them you may also be aware that they are out of print and have been selling for over $100 used on amazon and ABE. I checked this morning and was happy to see that Ba Ba Ha Ha is in the process of being reissued as a self-published title. Details can be found on http://zimm.net/babahaha.html.

Other favorites are Byron Barton books, Here Come Trainmice by Wong Herbert Yee, and Zoom City by Thatcher Hurd. I avoided the David Diaper books by David Shannon as the illustrations seemed so demented to me until my daughter pulled one out of the bin herself and handed it to me, demanding that I read it to her. I loved it, she loved it. Not demented, just silly and surprisingly warm-hearted too.

In defense of board book verisions of regular picture books, it wasn't until this year that I would check out anything but board books. Nice to have multiple formats of a good book, Jamberry comes to mind, that is fun for young toddlers in a boardbook form and preschoolers as a large picture book.
Received on Sat 20 Sep 2008 01:45:50 PM CDT