Board Books: ABCs and 123s

In this post, I'll be breaking down four books that are written with intention of educating and, hopefully, entertaining beginning readers. For these, I believe that the criteria needs to be a book that child can interact with while reading but also enjoy looking at. Holding their attention needs to come from bright, simple illustrations that are simple and easy to visually grasp or understand.

 So let's start off with the ABCs....

Ages 2-5. In P. D. Eastman's book, readers will go through the English alphabet with each page dedicated to an individual letter. Eastman's watercolor illustrations feature the person or animal associated with the letter and minimal environment all set up against a bright, white background. For example, the text for W is "Walrus with a wig" and it features a slightly cartoonish walrus wearing a bob-style orange wig sitting on an iceberg. Each page features a large uppercase letter at the top. Along the outer edge of the pages is a vertical list of the alphabet so readers can follow along with where they are in the alphabet. The sentences are rarely over three words and do not feature any punctuation, but are written in a clean font. Overall, for the purposes of learning the alphabet or identifying two things that start with each letter, I would say this book is a classic and one you would find in most home and public library spaces. 

123 Count With Me is an interactive board book by the group Tiger Tales and illustrated by Georgie Birkett. This unassuming and slightly larger than most board books packs a lot into it's twenty-six pages. Each page is dedicated to a number 1 - 20 and features a simple illustrated object like flowers or starfish all set against a bright yellow background. The pages are double-thick because readers can insert their finger or a crayon into the embedded numbers to practice tracing them. So there are not only learning the numbers but also how to draw them. Due to the paper engineering of the book, each page also includes an open flap for readers to play with. The page dedicated to 16 has a large 16 to trace, text that says "sixteen strawberries," drawings of fifteen strawberries, and a flap that reveals a giant sixteenth strawberry.

After the pages for 1 - 20, there is a layout spread featuring all the numbers on a number line for readers to trace. After these pages, there are a few that introduce them to addition problems. One of these is a picture of four socks with the number 4 plus two socks and the number 2. There is a large number 6 on a flap and, once lifted, reveals a drawing of six socks. Overall, this book really does a solid job at teaching kids how to count, write their numbers, and start off with some simple math concepts while also holding their attention with it's interactive qualities and bright color palette.

My First Colors is a part of the DK Tabbed Board Books series that has over ten books dedicated to teaching themed concepts. In this book, there are thirteen colors to go through with last ones featuring multicolored items and things found in the home. Each page has a layout that features photographs of items in the designated color along with the words for them. There is also a rhyme going throughout each page that encourages the reader to look for specific things, almost like an I-spy. On the page for blue, there is everything from a blue tractor to a blue cupcake wrapper. The additional text suggests looking for items that are light blue or items with spots. 

Due to the tabbed engineering of the book, a reader can quickly find a specific color which I think helps a reader remain engaged with it. The majority of items photographed aren't specific to a color, meaning that the red page isn't just full of things that are naturally red like strawberries or almost always red like firetrucks. I think this would help a young learner look for colors that pop up randomly in their day-to-day which helps with the application of knowledge. I personally have a love/hate relationship when standard photographs are used in a book because I'd prefer something a little more dynamic.

I was immediately drawn to this book, Backyard Bugs, by Little Hippo Books because of it's bright cover. There's something so visually appealing about this snail with giant googly eyes and bright pink, spiral shell. There are only ten pages to this book with each layout featuring text on the left page and the touchy, feely bug on the right. The text is a simple rhyming pattern and is used to introduce the butterfly, spider, caterpillar, lightning bug, and bumblebee. Each bug features a different textured piece of inlaid silicone that matches the illustration color. The fonts are a mish-mash of styles and colors that really complement the slightly-vintage feeling digital illustrations. When it comes to engineered books, as a librarian, I'm always concerned about them being damaged when there are flaps or pull tabs, but with this one involving inlaid silicone it should be fairly easy to maintain and sanitize between users.