Baby Preschool Books

I have received and reviewed the book "The Very Busy Spider".
It is a very good book and nicely illustrated.

My husband bought this book for our 9month old daughter, Hayley. She absolutely loves us to read it to her. She loves to feel the spiders web and will mimic the animal noises. What a great book!

My two-year-old enjoys reading this book. While the book is repetitive, it enables a toddler to "read" along with you and complete the sentences. The book is replete with farm animals, a common feature in children's books, and the web that the spider is building is raised, so children can trace it with their fingers.

I love Eric Carle's art and several of his other stories, but this one is really boring and repetitive. There's not enough variety to the images, the spider comes across as a real pill who has no interest in other creatures, and the story line is dull. Skip this and go for the chameleon or caterpillar or polar bear.

Review by Sherry North, Author, Because You Are My Baby

Eric Carle is a favorite in our house, but this is one of his weaker titles. The illustration of the spider spinning her web barely changes from one page to the next, and there's no clever twist that "makes" the book, like in A Very Hungry Caterpillar. After reading it to our son once, he never seemed interested in looking at it again - but he does ask for Carle's other books often.

My 22 month old daughter wants me to read this book to her every night! If your child is a Sesame Street fan then this little book will be a big hit.

My 17 month old usually has a hard time settling down at bedtime. She adores the Sesame Street characters, especially Elmo, and we read this book just before tucking her in and turning out the light. Elmo and Big Bird and their friends are getting ready for bed, and showing them all sleeping helps my little girl to accept bedtime a little more readily, since anything Elmo does is automatically cool!

My daughter and I have read this book over 100 times, at naptime and bedtime. She seems to never get tired of it, and is now reading it to me! It's a great book that seems to be perfect for a 2 to 2-1/2 year old attention span.

My 22 month old son loves this book. It very sweetly winds him down by saying good night all of his favorite friends as they go to sleep. It starts with Elmo at the park playing and ends with him being tucked in for bed. Therefore the child is able to relate to being awake and playing and is then brought down to falling asleep with all his Sesame Street friends. This is a wonderful book to lull your child to sleep with.

Our 21 month old son loves reading this book, both at bedtime and anytime we are reading together. It starts with Elmo at the park with his Dad, and they head home to get ready for bed. Along the way, Elmo sees different Sesame Street Monsters getting ready for bed by brushing their teeth, jumping on the bed, reading to their teddy bears, etc. Everyone is getting ready for bed, and at the end, it's Elmo who is fast asleep in his bed. This is a wonderful bed time storybook, but note it's paper pages not a boardbook so be careful with toddlers who like to grab pages.

Our son's 20 year old copy is still in his "things to save box". His father was a professional Firefighter during his baby hood so, naturally, we had lot's of "Firefighter/Firehouse" things for our son. This book he loved the most. So, we kept it for him. Now, his daughter has her own copy to enjoy! I was especially pleased to see that this was still available!!! Thank GOD for Golden Books! They're timeless!

This is a great book! My son (16 months) has been interested in books for just a short time, & it started with this one! The pictures are very colorful & rich, it's a quick read, and it has a couple of puppies in it--a plus for my little guy who only says a few words but can say puppy. I've purchased it for a friend's 2 year old son, & he reads it at least twice a day.

This is my son's FAVORITE book by far! Great illustrations...short sentences...he laughs every time we mention the title! Great first book for your little one!

My son's favorite book. Every page has so much detail, he is enthralled and loves to read/look over and over again. A nice change of pace from today's children's books which are much more simple in their design. P.S.--Note that the fire chief looks like Tom Dewey (as in "Dewey defeats Truman")!

What a darling book this is! It's really realistic, shows the firemen actually fighting a fire. It's nice to see that because quite frankly, you don't really see that is most fireman books. I keep saying fireman instead of firefighter, because this book was written before there were women on the force and thus, show all men in the story. It's great though, seeing the old firetrucks and the dalmation. The book was written in 1950 and just has the most beautiful illustrations of the firemen and all that red! It shows the fire chief's truck, the hose car (truck) and the hook-and-ladder truck with the firemen hanging on for dear life alongside. The driver steers in the back as well which makes for tons of conversation with my little one. It actually shows the firemen hooking the hoses up to the fire hydrant, eliminating the confusion that all the water comes from the truck. I've had to explain that sometimes when there isn't a hookup, they bring a tanker truck with water. The firemen are actually using their axes to put out the fire in the antique store and are rescuing items as well with the net. However, our favorite part of the book is the very last page which says, "Hurray for the brave firemen!" I think that says it all.

This was the first favorite book of both my son and daughter, and it doesn't get annoying for parents even after countless readings. We regularly give the board book edition as a shower/baby gift. Highest recommendation!

What a beautiful book! This will certainly become one of our new favorites! Flowing, rhythmic text matches the adorable pictures of babies everywhere.

Of all of the books that my son owns, this one is my favorite. The pictures are so cute and detailed. We notice something new everytime we read it. For the first few months of reading this book, I couldn't read the last 3 pages without choking up because it is so sweet. I find it interesting that people are offended by the same-sex couples. I didn't even notice them until we had owned the book for a year, and even then, it just made me like the book even more. My son is growing up in a diverse world, and I think it's good for him to be exposed to this diversity from the start. That way, when he encounters such diversity, it might not seem different to him at all. Besides, babies are born completely open-minded; it's their parents who close their minds for them!

We love this book and we especially like the way all kinds of families are portrayed in it. Loving families come in all configurations and the beautiful illustrations show that so well. We like to give this book to new adoptive parents but it is a nice choice for any family with a toddler! Charming!

I discovered this book when a friend of mine had a new baby. Since that time, I have given this book as a baby shower gift and/or a new baby gift. It's great to also read to a toddler who might have become a big sister or big brother.

Reviewed by Christina Wantz Fixemer
on 09/21/2008

This picture book is full of sweet sentiment and darling illustrations. It isn't a story so much as a promise of things to come between sisters. The excitement of having a new baby in the house is a big deal to older siblings, and this shines through.

As a read-aloud book, however, it is difficult to get into a decent rhythm. The prose is laid out to look as though it is rhythmic, so, while reading to my own daughter, I kept feeling off kilter. This may seem like a nitpicky thing to say, but try reading it aloud, and the difficulty will make sense. Brooke Shields is, without a doubt, an intelligent and soulful person, but that doesn't always translate into a gift for writing. The big sister's lines are full of heart but awkwardly written. Sometimes it rhymes, then it doesn't. This contributes to the stumbling I feel when I read this one aloud.

Awkward rhythm aside, this is a sweet book that would be nice for girls who are soon-to-be big sisters (or who already are!).

Note: My daughter became a big sister to a little brother last fall, but she still found this book delightful and relevant. But don't ask her what "relevant" means. ;-)

I bought this book after reading great reviews. I was a little disappointed because I did not read carefully enough about the book and it is strictly about "Sisterhood". I bought it for my niece who is going to be a big sister and we do not know the gender of the baby! Still a really cute book!

Reviewed by Cayden (age 4) and Max (age 2) Aures and Mom for Reader Views (7/08)

"Welcome to Your World, Baby" is a story about being a big sister. From helping decorate the new baby's room, to helping at bath time, to having secret sleepovers, the job of a being a big sister is a very important one!

Cayden: "The baby is coming home from the hospital, like you did when you were a baby Max! Except this baby is a girl and you are a boy."
Max: "Baby come home."

Cayden: "There is a lot of pink in that room!"

Cayden: "Why does she say feet smell good and she wants to eat them? Feet don't smell good!"
Max: "No, no!"

Cayden: "I teach Max ABC's too, just like she is doing!"
Max: "ABC!"

Cayden: "We play dress-up too, but not like princesses!"

Cayden: "Is a drip castle like a sand castle?"

Cayden: "I liked the pictures and my favorite part was when the baby came home from the hospital."

Parent's comments:

"Welcome to Your World, Baby" by Brooke Shields would be the perfect book to get for a girl who is going to have a new baby sister. It shows all of the fun things that the two girls could do together and what she is going to have to look forward to. The illustrations in the book are very colorful, eye-catching, and fun! The book is definitely geared towards girls, but still my two sons enjoyed it, and could relate to a lot of the things that the two sisters did together.

I bought this book for my 2 girls, 4 and 7, who are also about to have a new sister join them in a few months. My four-yr old just loves this book! It highlights all of the best things about being an older and younger sister- in a very sweet and simple way.

I was expecting a little more from this book, my granddaughter just have a little sister and I send it to her, and my son said she was not very interested

Love this book as do my kids. Boys love diggers, but my daughter loves this book too. Simple to understand and the big brother wants to teach his little brother to be a Digger Man too! I gave this as a gift in conjunction with a "digger" toy and everytime my son plays with it, he also wants to read this book.

My 2 year old son is fascinated with this book. He finishes the sentences on each page as we read it to him. It was one of his first non-board books. We place it on a shelf along with other "fragile" books and the "place of honor" makes it seem extra special to him - so he is very careful with it.

My older son loved this book and now it has become the favorite of my younger son who is now 3. We have it memorized because for awhile there we were reading it every night. It is sweet. It is imaginative. It is all boy! It's wonderful!

We got this book at the library and my 3 year old boy loved it nearly to pieces. I am looking into getting one he can keep, or maybe giving the library the new one and having him keep the torn and taped one! He has it memorized and "reads" it over and over to himself and his little sister. This book not only fascinates the little "digger men" that like to read it, but also teaches values such as hard work, good maintenance,productivity, and taking care of little brother. Your own little "digger man" will be sure to love it.

My boys love this one! My 3 yr old and 20 month old have me read this to them EVERY night! Such a great little book about diggers!! We love it!

A wonderful gift for Grandma to give a two-year-old. It's too difficult right now, but he'll grow into it. I love that it came with a monkey toy that he can relate to better than just cardboard! His parents love it too, the BrainQuest, not the monkey.

I got this for my 15 month old daughter. We take out a lot of books from the library and read together and often while reading I ask her questions - what is X doing? where are his shoes? can you see flowers in the picture etc etc? So, this particular brainquest has words that she already knows and the questions themselves are relatively easy for her (we have done only the first, there are three).
I try to keep up her enthusiasm for the brainquest by doing this as a special activity and only a few pages at a time.

The Brain Quest series for children is an interesting and creative way to learn! The size is great for travel or waiting and is handy to just keep in one's purse for use when needed.

The premise of the game is, it asks questions regarding the pictures on the cards and the child tries to answer them according to the illustrations. (The answers are provided as a cheat guide for parents.) One of the great things about it is that it encourages parent/child interaction. All of the cards are printed front and back and typically a card has 3 scenes in it for the kid to name the scene, the action the character Max the Monkey is doing, and objects in the scene. So things like they'll show Max the Monkey putting socks on and it asks, "what is Max doing?" You can also have the child name the colors.

I do agree with another reviewer in that the rivet that binds it is too tight. It'd easily get torn or destroyed by your average 2 year old trying to figure it out. I would love to see a thicker, board book type version of this so it's sturdier for toddlers. I would pay extra for that to have it last longer.

I wouldn't wait till 2 yrs old to get this for a child though. I only learned about it when my child was 2.5 yrs old and most of it is already too easy for her. I would think a 1.5 yr old would be a good age to start with this one.

I do absolutely LOVE the fact that it is bound together and there's no more 52 card pick up with flash cards! I cannot even begin to express how thrilled I am about that alone! It's a perfect portable size to keep in the car, or bag to take anywhere. I wish I discovered this a long time ago, it would've been perfect for those lengthy waits in the doctor's waiting rooms. I also really love that it's curriculum based so it actually pertains to what my child learns in preschool so she can relate to it.

I share the opinions of most of the favorable reviewers of this product. These BrainQuest decks have really increased my two-year old's vocabulary. I am really impressed with this product. My daughter also loves Max the Monkey. It is made of foam, but it seems to be sturdy enough for her. BrainQuest decks, along with the Leapfrog Learning DVD series have really helped my daughter increase her language and math skills. I would recommend these to anyone who would like to help their child have fun learning.

The elmo's world books are cute but they have flaps on every page that my kids tore off in two seconds. This is a book you can't leave them to enjoy on their own if you don't want it destroyed. I would not recommend this book for that reason.

My 9-month-old son loves lifting the flaps and seeing what's underneath. He's an Elmo lover so he adores this book. I'm an old Sesame Street/Muppet fan myself, so I enjoy the pictures, too.

I bought this book for my 18 mo old. He liked it because it had animals in it, and the lift the flaps,but this isnt one of the books that he grabs to read over and over.

My 20-month old loves all things Elmo- she has this book memorized. Great use of animal sounds and fun flaps to open and close. Get the whole series!

Moooo, cluck cluck....my 18 month old loves this book. She is crazy over Elmo and is learning animal sounds from the book. The flaps are fun for her to open and discover what's underneath!