Baby Preschool Books

This is one of my two year old's favorite Curious George books. It is not a traditional lift the flap book -- the flaps unfold progressively. So, when the page is discussing size, you first see George who is labeled small. Then you see Betsy, who is labeled big. Then you unfold again and see Bill, labeled bigger. Finally you unfold to the Man with the Yellow Hat, labeled biggest. It is fun for kids both to learn how to unfold and refold the flap on each page, and to see the progressions. One of our flaps pulled off after awhile, but was easily taped back on. Definitely recommend this book.

My daughter is 11 months old, and this book has been a lifesaver. She loves books, and will shop all day if she has something to "read." I tried regular books, but she kept dropping them, and she had trouble holding the bigger ones up enough to look at them. This is a perfect size, she can't lose it over the edge. She loves the babies' faces and the cartoon animals. I also take it into the grocery store with us and clip it to the cart.

When she gets bored with it, I take a few seconds and say "Where's the baby's nose?" "Where's mommy's nose?" and so on, and she gets interested enough again for another 15 minutes.

Reviewed by Cayden (age 3-1/2) & Max (age 19 months) Aures & Mom for Reader Views (3/08)

"Ears, Nose & Toes!: Discovering Me & My Friends!" is a smaller-sized board book that has pictures identifying the different body parts of rainforest animals and human babies. For instance, the first page says "Two eyes" and there is a picture of a frog with two big eyes. On the opposite page there is the same text but this time a picture of the baby's eyes.

Cayden sat for the book but determined that at age 3-1/2 he was "too old for the book and that it was for babies like Max." I definitely agree with him on that one. I think the book is most appropriate for newborns up until approximately the age of two. It would be a great tool to use to help teach and reinforce first words and body parts to a child.

Max enjoyed the pictures of the animals and the babies and as soon as I read the text he was able to point to the appropriate parts on the pictures. He enjoyed repeating the words as I was reading them to him and by the second time through he was "reading" the book to me.

A great feature of the book is that it has a stroller strap so that you can take it with you on the go. This is very handy so you can have entertainment when you are out and not have to worry about the child dropping or losing the book somewhere.

"Ears, Nose & Toes!: Discovering Me & My Friends!" is also part of Fisher-Price's "Animals of the Rainforest" line, so if you have any of the other rainforest toys or items your child may enjoy seeing those same familiar animals in the book as Max does.

I only bought this because it coordinates with the whole Fisher Price Rainforest Collection, But it doesn't teach my lil one anything, she likes it because she can either chew on the attached ring or just go after the cardboard pages itself, she uses it and thats what counts to me.

Fun in and out of the bath. My six month old loves the bright pictures and easy-to-grab texture. I'm very happy with this purchase.

I bought this book when my son was 6 months old. From the first reading, it's been one of his favorites. We started just pointing and naming objects: flowers, ball, house, etc. More than a year later, we're still reading it, but now we're counting the flowers, describing the ball's shape or the house's color, etc. It's proved to be versatile. The simple, yet pleasing, pictures of Spot splashing in the garden, in rain puddles, at the beach and in the bathtub are perfect for babies and toddlers. One caution: once my son learned to splash in the tub, we had to start explaining that we don't splash water all over the bathroom! I'd definitely buy it again.

I had this book when I was a child, and although we lost our copy a few years back, I still remember both the words and the pictures in almost perfect detail- it's that amazing. "Listen to the Rain" is evocative and beautiful. Captivating paintings interweave with words which are utterly beautiful in their rhythms and their fanciful, yet dead-on descriptions of the rain. This is an absolutely wonderful book, for both children and adults. When I was young, it was one of my favourites; I would read it with my sister, over and over, and it was one of the books which our parents actually enjoyed reading to us. It's one of the best children's books out there; not silly, not serious, just real.

My son recently got this book as a gift and he has a good time with it. We like it because he recognizes many of the animals and has learned many new ones. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to introduce animals to their kids or is planning a trip to the zoo.

I love all the curious George books. Who Doesn't?

author of "Hobo Finds A Home"

Bought this for the two year old. he loved it with the rocket ship/George set together.we pretend after reading the book.

My 5- and 3-year old sons enjoy this book. They received it at the same time they received a Curious George play rocket, so the storybook was very complementary to the toy. The story is simply told and wonderfully paced, and that monkey sure wins you over.

In this particular story, the Bear family tackles the subject of the environment, including littering, pollution, ecology, conservation and recycling.

Father Bear reads an article by Professor Actual Factual in the local newspaper, warning that Bear Country is in serious trouble because of pollution. Papa Bear responds "piffle". After all, he tells the cubs, look how beautiful it is outside our door!

Brother Bear points out that the beautiful colors of the sunset they're seeing is actually a result of harmful chemicals.

"Piffle", Father Bear again replies.

Brother Bear must do a report on endangered species, but the library books aren't much help. He decides to visit Prof. Actual Factual at the museum. While all looked well outside the Bear family stoop, other parts of Bear Country weren't so lovely: a fish is caught in a plastic soda can holder, Grizzly Gus--the local mechanic--dumps oil in the stream (causing the deaths of fish), and black smoke poured out of the chimney's at the old box factory.

The siblings ask Prof. Factual to come speak at their school. Inspired by the Professor's talk about the environment, the kids brainstorm ideas for recycling and cleaning up pollution--finally deciding to create the Earthsavers Club.

This is a great book for Earth Day or for teaching children about the consequences of pollution and using resources without replacing them. (For example, Papa Bear cuts down trees--but doesn't replace them by planting new ones.) He eventually joins the community environmental bandwagon--but only AFTER a bad dream. (This isn't the first time that a bad dream is the sole catalyst for change in a Berenstain Bear book: The Berenstain Bears and the Green-Eyed Monster is yet another example.

So Papa Bear doesn't get reformed by considering the ramifications of his actions--only because he has a dream that trees are chasing him!

Personally, I'd have liked to see Papa Bear change his mind because he realizes the error of his ways--not because he's being pressured to kowtow to popular opinion or, worse, just because he had a bad dream!

Still, it's an excellent book about personal responsibility and exercising stewardship over this beautiful earth by protecting its resources and advocating change wherever you're at.

This is a great little book to get young children thinking about the environment and ways we can protect the earth. We used it as a starting point for discussion at my daughter's preschool on Earth Day and it really got them thinking about ways to reduce, reuse and recycle. My kids love the Berenstain Bears and enjoy repeated readings of the books.

This book shows kids of all ages how important it is to take care of the earth. Not only does it give examples of how pollution can affect our society, but it also explains what children can do to help. It gets them intrested in nature and the environment surrounding them. The authors cleverly added a special twist to the story, about right and wrong. When my three year old cousin comes over, she enjoys reading the Berenstain Bears. I've noticed that she favors this one and I highly suggeat that you at least check this book out at the library.

Perhaps not the very best of the B. Bears books, but still really good (more of the book is dedicated to actually dealing with environmentalism than to the typical B. B. family plot--Sister and Brother spot polluters in their community and give advice on how to take care of the earth). This is a practical, readable, enjoyable book on the environment. Stan and Jan Berenstain have covered practically every other subject, and do justice to this one. It's simple, but it will stick with kids (and yes, I think it reads aloud just fine). As usual, the illustrations are great--and kids will find the story of how Papa Bear comes around to helping the environment quite funny.

I saw this book at our library. It came in along with many other Berenstain Bear books, all dolled up in new covers and I thought: `Yeah. Maybe they have updated the stories or better yet, maybe these are books based on the television series', which we like very much. But, alas, it is the same old claptrap.

First, the text is exceedingly wordy. Second, the word choice is awkward so that this book not a good read-aloud. Third, the wordiness and awkwardness combined mean that the book is not one that is easy for younger children to read. (Amazon has the age range as from 4 to 8 years of age.)

In this regard, I don't know what 'First Time Books' is supposed to refer to, but it certainly isn't a reference to being a primer of any sort. Nearly half of some of the pages are words. Some of these words include: wanna, professor, cooperate, earthsavers. So you can see that the book is not for beginning readers.

Then there is the plot. Well developed at first, it totally fails to deliver at the end. I mean, I'm an environmentalist, and I highly applaud bringing up the topic of pollution. But, please, how lackadaisical can you get with a plot. Father Bear comes around to supporting protection of the environment not because of the destruction of the earth's beauty, or because the destruction will eliminate resources and species, or even because it might drive up the cost of goods at the store. No Papa bear comes around because he has a nightmare! [Angry trees were chasing him.]

Arggh. Not the sort of reasoning I want to teach my children: take a stance and act because of irrational dreams.

One Star. Too wordy. Not good primer material. Not a good read-aloud. And, not so good because character development hinges on a nightmare, rather than reason.

Love this bedtime book, and it's hard and sturdy too! The photos are great, and babies love looking at 'real babies' so it's a goodie!

This is a pretty weak book, I bought it in search of more Black books for my baby, but there are better options out there, like "Who's Toes Are These"

This is the perfect book for my son's bedtime routine. It's short enough, so that he doesn't loose interest and reminds him that it's time for bed.

Used this for my first child, and will be using it again soon for #2. Baby can understand what it means to go to bed, and that it is not bad. Easy and quick read, and your child starts to understand the most simple routines like going to bed