Book Themed Baby Showers

Know someone in your life you need to throw a baby shower for?  Board books and children's picture books make great baby shower gifts...I gift those at baby showers all the time!  Can't think of a party theme to go with?  Check out this list of 17 book-themed baby shower ideas from HarperCollins Children's Books.  Of course all of the books have been published by HarperCollins, and that's OK because they publish great children's books!  Have fun and congratulations to the parents-to-be!

And, don't forget the library also offers Book Babies for ages 0-12 on Monday mornings at 10:15 a.m.  (However, we will be on a story time and program break staring August 22 and will resume on September 6.) PLUS, all new babies to the library (ages 0-12) can stop by the children's desk and pick up a Board Book Bundle courtesy of the Friends of the Library. It comes with a brand new board book, an early literacy book, and a rhyme booklet!

Yusuke Yonezu Board Books

While working on my last order of Board Books for the library collection, I came across an author who I was unfamiliar with.  After looking more into his works, I was very impressed with what I saw. Yusuke Yonezu from Japan is a very talented book illustrator for babies through two-year-olds.  His book illustrations contain simple thick line drawings with bold color contrasts.  This makes for the prefect combination for infants because their color vision is not well developed at birth.  Books with high-contract pictures are excellent choices for babies because it develops their interests in visual stimuli.

Infants are interested in looking at pictures of things they are familiar with.  Yusuke's books help to meet baby's needs though providing illustrations of familiar objects by pairing them with simple words so they can learn new vocabulary.  These "Concept Books" are perfect little instructional books that help youngsters learn to start labeling and identifying their world, while being entertained at the same time.

Here is a selection of concept books worth checking out. They are all fun books that will engage young children over and over!  They are all interactive and will both educate and entertain. Unfortunately, Tigard Public Library's board books are not available for placing holds, but are available on a first come, first serve basis.  There are some other libraries in the county that will fulfill board book holds and can send them to a library of your choice for pick-up.  And make sure you read to your baby today and everyday!

Fun With Shapes:


Circles
This perfect concept book teaches not only shapes, but also colors, numbers, and words all in one bright and colorful package. All the different sizes of circles in numerous different colors transform into a surprising array of objects when each page is turned.








Moving Blocks
What are you building? What can it be? An irresistible guessing game, this book asks simple questions for identifying objects that move. The vivid pictures can be reinforced through play with building blocks, allowing young imaginations grow.








Squares
Squares and rectangles are everywhere.  Here the shapes and colors found in everyday objects come to life when the pages of the book are turned.

Triangles 
Angles and triangles are everywhere, and the shapes and colors found in everyday objects come to life when the pages of the book are turned.









We Love Each Other
Love is everywhere! And it's not just us humans. From birds to elephants, rabbits to turtles, there is love and togetherness depicted on every page. Very young readers will enjoy the surprises in this cheerfully inventive little book. The bold, colorful illustrations reveal a surprise beneath the flap on every page, with a final delightful surprise on the last page!





Fun With Objects:


5 Little Apples
Here's a lift-the-flap counting book! The flaps reveal the creature that eats an apple in this board book that helps teach little ones about counting backwards. An elephant, a rabbit, and a caterpillar are some of the hungry critters who take apples away. But when there are none left, a surprise awaits!







Bottoms Up!
Name that bottom! We all recognize these creatures, but not from the back. Here's another charming and funny lift-the-flap book. Each flap reveals a new view of the creature whose bottom is featured on each page, with a friendly hello. Duck, monkey, pig, zebra. elephant--each page creates an amusing guessing game for readers young and old.






Guess What?--Flowers
Familiar flowers become surprising creatures with the help of lively lift-the-flaps. Blossoms turn into animals with the lift of a flap. Young readers are encouraged to use their imaginations to guess what animal will be revealed. A tulip becomes a yellow cat; a white daisy turns into a sheep. What will become of a cherry blossom, a dandelion, and a pansy? This book makes for a good conversation starter too!




Guess What?--Food
Carrots, chestnuts, and cheese turn into animals with the lift of a flap. Young readers are encouraged to use their imaginations to guess what animal will be revealed.  Here's another book that will make for good conversation too!








Guess What?--Fruit
Images of different fruits transform into animals with lift-the-flaps. The irresistible guessing game encourages children to imagine the possibilities.









Guess What?--Sweets and Treats
Familiar sweets become surprising creatures with the help of lively lift-the-flaps.  Sweet treats turn into animals with each lift of a flat.  Here's another book where young readers are encouraged to use their imaginations to guess what animal will be revealed. A sweet bun becomes a squirrel's tail, while a chocolate bar transforms into a tortoise's shell. What will the lollipop turn into? 

Favorite Book Fridays: Transportation Board Books We Love

At my house, we read a lot of board books. We've gone through Good Night Gorilla, Goodnight Moon, & The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Lately, it's been all about cars and trucks and things that go. Richard Scarry comes in handy in times like these. We can read the compact, apple shaped Cars and Trucks From A to Z a hundred times, and even us grown-ups are still entertained. Who couldn't love a lemon car or a zippermobile?

When it is time to move on, we like to read Trains Go. Every page offers a new, bright and splashy type of train, and the only words are the whistles and rumbles of the trains themselves. Steve Light has painted the most gorgeous watercolor trains, and the words appear to ebb and flow just like the sounds they describe.

If you are looking for some more good transportation-related board books, you could try Byron Barton's Trains, Trucks, or Machines at Work (yes, he's got the corner on the market), or Freight Train by Donald Crews.

Favorite Book Fridays: I Am a Bunny

I confess that I didn't know about this 1963 Golden Books classic until I received three (yes, three!) copies of the board book edition as baby shower gifts before my daughter was born in 2009. The text by Ole Risom is rhythmic and pleasantly simple, but the illustrations by Richard Scarry are the real star of the show. Working in a much more realistic style than in his Busytown books, Scarry conveys nature through the four seasons in vivid, saturated color. Each two-page spread is gorgeous enough to frame, with lots of details and critters for kids to discover. Repetition is so important for building early literacy skills, and this is a title you might not mind reading (and looking at) again and again! You can find it in our Board Book bins in the Children's Room.

Meet the Collection Mondays: Picture Books & Board Books

Welcome to Meet the Collection Monday.  We're sorry we missed last Monday October 3rd.  We've been so usy her at the library.  Today we will highlight the Picture Book and Board Book collections with blurbs from Molly and Terri.

About the Picture Books from Molly:
This collection lives on the six shelving units that greet you right when you walk into our Children's Room. This large and lovely collection holds over 15,000 books in which the illustrations and text work together to tell a story. It is one of the library's most popular collections, with 98% of titles having been checked out at least once in the past year.


While most picture books are written to be shared with children from birth through six years of age, there are also picture books appropriate for and appealing to children in upper elementary school. If you've already graduated to "chapter books" (Juvenile Fiction) but would like to enjoy an illustrated story every now and then, ask us for some recommendations. Some of the most sophisticated picture books are actually wordless, the story being told completely via the artwork. Picture books can be different heights and widths, but are generally 32 pages in length. At the end of the shelving for the regular Picture Book collection, there is an aisle reserved for Holiday Picture Books. These titles are grouped together by holiday, then by author’s last name. Even though we add new books every year, we can never seem to have enough. For example, as I write this, there is only one Halloween book on the shelf. So stop by and spend some time exploring our colorful, fantastic Picture Book collection, and be sure to check out some holiday books nice and early!

About the Board Books from Terri:
The juvenile board book collection consists of materials to meet the educational and recreational needs of children from birth to three years.  The board book format plays an important function for children who are learning what books are and how to handle them as the develop motor skills and print knowledge.  The sturdy pages are able to stand up to chewing and fingers that are just leaning how to turn pages.

The collection is comprised of multiple copies of individual titles in board book format.  Some books include special features of interest to this age group, such as lift-the-flap, varied textures and shapes, mirrored surfaces and the like.  The board book collection is housed in bins placed on the floor so that they are easily accessible to babies and toddlers.  Because these books are not placed in any particular order and are frequently withdrawn, this is a non-holdable collection. 

The strongest influencing factor in the board book collection is the age group that it is intended for and primarily used by: children from birth through two years and their caregivers.  Children in this age group are most interested in simple stories, repetitive and rhyming text, artwork that is clear, bold and realistic, and books that feature animals, human faces, other babies, and objects and activities familiar to them such as bath time, food and bedtime.