Baby Preschool Books

I didn't get this book until my daughter turned 14 months old. I wish I had it earlier then she would be introduced to more than just "Rock-a-Bye, Baby" for her first 14 months. Now, every night, I sing three of four different songs to her from this book. My favorites so far are "All the Pretty Little Horses," : All Through the Night," and "Huna Blentyn (Sleep, My Baby)." The music notation is great for me, a musician, to practice sight singing when trying to learn a new tune. I think this is a great book and I am looking forward to buy more song books from the First Steps series.

I can't read music and was just hoping for a book of simple songs to sing to my baby. This has a lot of lullabies from other countries and that I have never heard before the book. Since I can't read music, they don't do me a lot of good. If you can read music, this would be a beautiful book.

An almost comprehensive collection of lullabies from around most of the world. None from Native America or the Pacific Islands. Both music (the melody line) and lyrics are provided. This is a great book for those who wish to sing to their child Those interested in the lullaby as a music form, perhaps the earliest songs of humanity, will find this collection very useful, but information about the sources is lacking. I read music and can play most of these on Native American flutes, and I am sure the player of any instrument could play them as well. The chording is not indicated, but any musician can figure out what chords to play to accompany a singer or someone playing these simple tunes.

I love this collection of lullabys. It contained all the lullabys that I knew but didn't know the words to. It also contained several that I had never heard before but have since become part of our bedtime routine. It is beautifully notated and easy to read, however you should be able to read music to make use of this book.

iza trapani is the best. she's got wonderful imagination. every page is beautifully painted to take little minds and hearts out of this world. my son loves and remembers all her rhyme books since he was 3.

My 2 1/2-year-old daughter really likes this book. We've read it numerous times, and she doesn't get tired of it. All of the pages are written to the song "Shoo, Fly! Don't Bother Me." A fly is bothering the mouse, who tries everything from telling it to go away, to hiding from it, to spraying it with water. In the end, the mouse goes to bed exhausted. The pictures are funny and cute. My 6-year-old has fun "singing" the words to the book.

My daughter is 5 and autistic. She has major bug phobias and panics when a fly is around. As you can imagine, that is often and there is no peace until the fly/bug is gone. After reading this book over and over, she is still afraid of bugs, but tells them to "shoo fly" and you can see she feels stronger with these words. There's no more panic or screaming. I am so glad to have found this book for her and what a relief for me too. She also laughs and thinks its funny. Love it!

As an Early Childhood Education major at Clemson University, I was given the task to review this book for my Children's Literature class. This picture book, written and illustrated by Iza Trapani, is a playful account of a song that everyone is familiar with, Shoo Fly. By the use of many characteristics such as language, illustrations, and overall appeal to young readers, Trapani has written a book that is very marketable for success. First of all, the language in Shoo Fly! is developed throughout the book as being like that of a "sing song" tone. The words are simple and can be easily comprehended. They also flow together being that they are written in a form of meter. An example of this is, "I think the coast is clear - no more buzzing in my ear." It is very important for a young reader to be able to easily grasp what is being presented in any book. North quotes Dorothy Butler in her article as saying, "If children are to love poetry later, they need to discover early the satisfaction, which comes from experiencing form in language." This holds true with Trapani's work because she captures the attention of the readers with her use of fluid language and the form in which she writes. Another facet of the book that allows for comprehension and peaked interest is the illustrations. Trapani uses very vivid colors to depict background scenes where the main character, a mouse, is bothered by a pesky fly that is plaguing him. The images have very soft color schemes and are rounded. These round images allow the reader to have a better grasp of the playful tone of the book. North states in her article that it has been proven that children who are introduced to books in their preschool years, the assumed audience for Shoo Fly!, have a greater advantage than those children who do not have such a literary background. In order to capture the attention of an age group such as that a book must be pleasing and of interest. Trapani succeeds in this manner with the way in which she presents her work. Most importantly, Shoo Fly! does indeed appeal to young readers. This book was taken to a community center and read to children of a preschool age. They enjoyed it and seemed to comprehend what was being said. As North cited, children need to be introduced to these literary works at a young age so that they can further their intellectual base as they get older. Books such as Trapani's help in this quest because in order to introduce the literature to children, such as preschoolers, you must first capture their attention. Through language, illustrations, and overall appeal, Iza Trapani has written a very successful book. She has picked out what appeals to children and elaborated on those areas throughout her work. Attention can be easily given to book that provides humor and effect to adults, but many things have to go into the process of gaining the interest of a child. Shoo Fly! Exemplifies Sue North's principles of introducing books at an early age will benefit the children later.

My son loves the Happy Baby series! I can't say enough good things about these books. It's hard to find a book that will have my toddler sitting down for a few minutes and sitting quietly reading, but these books do it.

We bought Happy Words to help with his vocabulary, and it didn't take long to see his interest grow in wanting to know the names for things around the house. I know he enjoys the book because he pulls it out nearly every day for me to read it, even more, he's starting pointing to certain pictures asking me to repeat the names, so I know he's learning and taking it in. This book has about 13 full spread pages each with a familiar scene for a toddler- getting dressed, eating a meal, going on a walk, taking a bath, facial expressions etc. What I like most is that these scenes and words included are pertinent to a toddler, they're not just about whatever, but things a toddler needs to know the names of. Last but not least, did I mention my son loves this book??

So, if you're a mom of an infant/toddler or buying these as a gift for one, these are a SURE BET. They are also reasonably priced in my opinion. Other books in this series we own and enjoy are the Colors and ABC's. We'll definitely be buying more too as time goes on. Way to go Roger Priddy!!

I've been on a mission to find a book that meets the following criteria for my 9 month old son:
- Must be a board book (because he chews everything!)
- Mustn't be too long (32 pages maximum because we're dealing with a short attention span here)
- Mustn't be too big (so my son can easily pick up and play with the book)
- Must contain photographs of familiar objects and other babies (because all of his other books only have illustrated pictures of animals for some reason!)

"Happy Baby: Words" fit all of the above criteria perfectly and my son loves it to death. He can actually turn the pages himself and he gets so excited seeing all the baby photographs inside.

Great book!

perfect for identifying objects. bright and cheery, so babies and toddlers love to look at the pages.

I read this to my little one and it has helped increase her vocabulary. She loves pointing to the pictures and saying the words. She is also able to associate the pictures to what she sees in her day to day activities.

Our copy has been through two children. Both of my kids love the bright and clear pictures. We are teaching my son sign language and this book is great for teaching simple words and signs! A well loved book!

As the parent of my now 18-month-old daughter, I find this book to be a valuable resource in understanding infant development. Even though it is designed to help teachers build a curriculum for infants from birth to 18 months, I found the activities, the theoretical discussions and the assessment tools to be also very useful in a parent-child environment. Each chapter is content-based (me, Mommies and Daddies, Big and Little, Cars, Trucks and Trains. etc.) and provides various ideas to promote movement, literacy, music, sensory/art and curiosity. My daughter, my husband and I had tremendous fun implementing these ideas indoors and outdoors. Looking forward to the next book in the series.

My Grandson realy likes this book, I saw him sleeping on it one night. He likes to touch the tags and feel the softness of the book.

My newborn was immediately attracted to the book. Every other page is fleece. He also likes Fuzzy Bee and friends but you can't throw that in the wash.

I purchased this for my under 1 year old nephew at the time that needed a bit of help with his "pinchers". I was told it was a cute book but certainly not worth the original list price because it seems as if it could be made at home. I am pleased with the purchase, but would have loved more quality being put into it.

My son has liked this book since he was about 4-5 months old. Back then, he liked to touch and snuggle and manipulate and chew on it while in the swing or bouncy chair. Now as a toddler, he likes to look at the pictures. Because it is soft, it makes a good book to read in bed/keep by the bed.

My daughter prefers the board book to the soft one, but this one travels well and has plenty of tags on it. Of course, she plays with the manufacturer's tag anyway. Nice for a gift.

I got this book for my daughter over a year ago and it is still a favorite. The flaps are fun, the touchy-feely parts are very well done, and there are a lot of little details -- like spiders and worms in the farmyard -- that give you a lot more mileage for learning than a book with just a story. It's also very sturdy. I recommend it to friends over and over.

This book is the best touchy feely one I've seen and my son has loved it for 6 months. He especially loves finding the animals behind the flaps and the wide variety of textures.

I ordered this for a baby shower gift and found that it covers all the bases for little ones' enjoyment - flaps to open, fuzzies to touch, colorful pictures to discuss. I will enjoy reading it to my grandsons.

This is a fabulous book for babies 8 to 9 months and up. I would even buy it for a 6 month old. It's a great talk about book. They learn about the names of animals, textures, colors, shapes. Adlib anything you want to add. It's a flap book and a touchy feely book that is beautifully illustrated, colorful to look at, and holds up to their handling over and over. Older children love reading it to younger siblings.

My 10-month old girl never tires of this book, so we usually read it twice in a row. The first time through, she goes straight for the flaps. The second time through, we stop and feel the "touchy" parts of the book, talk about the animals, and find the duck. (It is the same duck from the "Find the Duck" book.)

My only complaint is that the flaps are positioned in a way that makes it very easy to shut them in the book incorrectly. I have to hold the flap down to turn the page safely. However, when I finally let my daughter do things all on her own, I found that it is easy enough to re-bend the flaps. They probably won't last as long as I want them too, but they are sturdier than they look.

This is a fun interactive book for my toddler. He loves to fill in the blanks w/ his cheerios, and it helps to keep him busy/distracted for a long time!

The Cheerios play books are favorites of mine, as gifts for toddlers. Their purpose, as my daughter pointed out, is to encourage children to eat more Cheerios, which they do! However, they also have fun and do a little learning along the way. How often is a child allowed to play with food, after all? There are simple illustrations on durable pages, with opportunities for matching, counting, and learning shapes. Small motor dexterity can be practiced, to place the Cheerios into the shallow recesses of the pages to create buttons on costumes, glasses on a cat, etc. This book is a good take-along size to fit into a tote bag (with some Cheerios, of course) for entertainment. Friends I've given this to say that their children really enjoy it!

I can't believe my first Amazon review is about a kids' book that touts a product! For the most part, I try to keep my kid away from all-too rampant marketing.

Anyway, the grandparents gave my now 20-month-old daughter this little book for Halloween and since then we've had it out a few times when she eats Cheerios (or the generic variety of same). Today as I was getting ready for work, my little one was sitting on the counter, noticed the Cheerios box and wanted some. I poured a few on the counter, after which she immediately said "down" and "book". I figured she was just being her fickle toddler self, so I let her down off the counter. She went running off to her room and emerged a few minutes, and thud noises, later with this book! I was pretty impressed that she made the association and riffled through all her other books to retrieve this one.

She does stick the Os in the little holes, but not perfectly. She seems to like the book okay, it is not a favorite, but obviously she has a fun little contextual association between it and O-shaped cereal!

This is a great book for kids and I highly reccomend it for a gift for kids ages 1 - 6. Kids love the touch and feel and love the Halloween theme.

My daughter loves this! We took it to her school and they are all loving it.

We have several of the touch and feel books in our home and our two year old has always enjoyed them. Kids love touching different things and the touch and feel books give them several different textures to work on. My two year old just loves Halloween. He'll ask to read Halloween books all year round.

As with the other touch and feel books, this one has vivid and color photography to accompany the various textures your child gets to touch including a pumpkin, Pirates Beard, the fur of a black cat, and a wizards robe. One can, I suppose question the educational value of these books but why must all books be educational? Bottom line is that all of these books are fun for kids to read and touch.

My 16 mo. old daughter has at least 10 of these books, and this one is her favorite. The texture parts are large, unlike the nfl book, and she loves the kitty page! There are also pages of a wizard, a scarecrow, a pumpkin, and a pirate.

Our 10 month-old daughter just LOVES this book. She reads it every night & especially enjoys touching the pirate's ROUGH beard...(it probably reminds her of her daddy!) She has several others from this series and really takes notice of the crisp, clear, true-to-life pictures. It's a sure thing! We already got the Christmas one for her! Buy it. Today.