Begin Smart

Somehow, I completely missed seeing this series of boardbooks, so I was very pleased when a stack showed up for review! I passed them on to our adult services librarian to test on her just-turned-two-year-old and the verdict was thumbs up! His favorite was the bear one, Where's Your Nose? Librarian Mom was a bit worried about the large flaps and how easy they are to open - possibility of easy ripping there? I agree they seem a big fragile and I'm going to ask our long-suffering processor about putting some extra tape along the seams.

One of the things I especially like about this series is the little note to parents at the beginning of each book. It encourages reading aloud and gives excellent tips on how to read to babies and toddlers. The back of the book lists different skills encouraged by the particular theme.

The first title, My Little Baby is labeled as "newborn to six months." The chunky pages each feature a parent animal saying, for example "My pup says woof!" then the baby animal responds with their sound. The baby animals have small touchy-feely sections, little bits of fur, shiny paper, etc. There are lots of different textures shown in the illustrations as well in the touchy feely bits. Very nice book for little ones to enjoy looking at and listening to sounds and for some fun cuddling with mom or dad.

Kids loooove interactive books, as I mentioned earlier in my toddler storytime post yesterday. Where's Your Nose? is listed for "six to twelve months," but babies and toddlers will enjoy following the directions to find the bear's body parts and their own. The bear has some nice touchy feely bits too, although I wonder if the sweater bit will pull out easily. Younger kids will enjoy learning their body parts while older ones will enjoy having a tickle fest with this story!

Round Balls, Round Balls is labelled "twelve to eighteen months." The only touchy feely part is the felt on the cover, the inside illustrations are slightly raised and you can feel the edges. It has a nice rhythm; "Round balls, round balls pile them over there/Round bunny, round bunny toss you in the air!" and if you have soft toys you can play along, but don't read this one right before bed!

Counting Duckies is a version of "Ten in the Bed" and they've done a good job of keeping the rhythm of the original rhyme. I like the cheerful yellow duckies and the leader makes a nice contrast in blue. The text and illustrations play together well here, with the numbers standing out in bold red and some little speech bubbles to introduce kids to dialogue. This one is for eighteen months to two years.

These last two are for two to three years and these are the lift the flap books I mentioned earlier. They're different than most lift the flaps, as the flap is an entire page. Each flap has a cut shape in the middle; in the first, it's the shape of different fruits and vegetables and you lift the flap to see photographs of the fruit or vegetable in a garden, orchard, or field. In the second, the cut out shape is the shape being talked about and you lift the flap to see the object in context (a triangle turns out to be the sail of a boat, etc.). They both have lots of interaction - the text is almost all questions about shapes and colors with lots of room for guessing. I like the photographs here - it's interesting that most baby boardbooks have photography with older boardbooks using illustration, while the opposite is true here.

Verdict: This is an excellent series of board books. Like any series, there are some that are better than others, but ultimately an excellent choice for the board book section of your library!

My little baby
ISBN: 978-1609060008; Published May 2010 by Begin Smart; Review copy provided by publisher through Raab Associates

Where's your nose?
ISBN: 978-1934618936; Published May 2010 by Begin Smart; Review copy provided by publisher through Raab Associates

Round Balls, Round Balls
ISBN: 978-1934618943; Published May 2010 by Begin Smart; Review copy provided by publisher through Raab Associates

Counting Duckies
ISBN: 978-1934618950; Published May 2010 by Begin Smart; Review copy provided by publisher through Raab Associates… (plus d'informations)

Somehow, I completely missed seeing this series of boardbooks, so I was very pleased when a stack showed up for review! I passed them on to our adult services librarian to test on her just-turned-two-year-old and the verdict was thumbs up! His favorite was the bear one, Where's Your Nose? Librarian Mom was a bit worried about the large flaps and how easy they are to open - possibility of easy ripping there? I agree they seem a big fragile and I'm going to ask our long-suffering processor about putting some extra tape along the seams.

One of the things I especially like about this series is the little note to parents at the beginning of each book. It encourages reading aloud and gives excellent tips on how to read to babies and toddlers. The back of the book lists different skills encouraged by the particular theme.

The first title, My Little Baby is labeled as "newborn to six months." The chunky pages each feature a parent animal saying, for example "My pup says woof!" then the baby animal responds with their sound. The baby animals have small touchy-feely sections, little bits of fur, shiny paper, etc. There are lots of different textures shown in the illustrations as well in the touchy feely bits. Very nice book for little ones to enjoy looking at and listening to sounds and for some fun cuddling with mom or dad.

Kids loooove interactive books, as I mentioned earlier in my toddler storytime post yesterday. Where's Your Nose? is listed for "six to twelve months," but babies and toddlers will enjoy following the directions to find the bear's body parts and their own. The bear has some nice touchy feely bits too, although I wonder if the sweater bit will pull out easily. Younger kids will enjoy learning their body parts while older ones will enjoy having a tickle fest with this story!

Round Balls, Round Balls is labelled "twelve to eighteen months." The only touchy feely part is the felt on the cover, the inside illustrations are slightly raised and you can feel the edges. It has a nice rhythm; "Round balls, round balls pile them over there/Round bunny, round bunny toss you in the air!" and if you have soft toys you can play along, but don't read this one right before bed!

Counting Duckies is a version of "Ten in the Bed" and they've done a good job of keeping the rhythm of the original rhyme. I like the cheerful yellow duckies and the leader makes a nice contrast in blue. The text and illustrations play together well here, with the numbers standing out in bold red and some little speech bubbles to introduce kids to dialogue. This one is for eighteen months to two years.

These last two are for two to three years and these are the lift the flap books I mentioned earlier. They're different than most lift the flaps, as the flap is an entire page. Each flap has a cut shape in the middle; in the first, it's the shape of different fruits and vegetables and you lift the flap to see photographs of the fruit or vegetable in a garden, orchard, or field. In the second, the cut out shape is the shape being talked about and you lift the flap to see the object in context (a triangle turns out to be the sail of a boat, etc.). They both have lots of interaction - the text is almost all questions about shapes and colors with lots of room for guessing. I like the photographs here - it's interesting that most baby boardbooks have photography with older boardbooks using illustration, while the opposite is true here.

Verdict: This is an excellent series of board books. Like any series, there are some that are better than others, but ultimately an excellent choice for the board book section of your library!

My little baby
ISBN: 978-1609060008; Published May 2010 by Begin Smart; Review copy provided by publisher through Raab Associates

Where's your nose?
ISBN: 978-1934618936; Published May 2010 by Begin Smart; Review copy provided by publisher through Raab Associates

Round Balls, Round Balls
ISBN: 978-1934618943; Published May 2010 by Begin Smart; Review copy provided by publisher through Raab Associates

Counting Duckies
ISBN: 978-1934618950; Published May 2010 by Begin Smart; Review copy provided by publisher through Raab Associates… (plus d'informations)