A Winter Read for Your Little Bear: In My Den (2009) by Sara Gillingham, illustrated by Lorena Siminovich
As with most board books, In My Den's plot is minimal: A bear cub settles down for a long winter’s nap. Six-month-olds do not need nuance.
WHY I LOVE THIS BOOK
The board pages are thick, making it nearly indestructible. The title page and pages that follow have circular cut-outs. Each gets progressively smaller– the last one is about three inches in diameter. It is a book a 5-month-old can sink his mitt into! A brown flannel cub, a finger puppet, pokes up at the reader, staying still till the last page. Movement is a perfect attention getter for very young babies. In My Den is a wonderful hands-on, eyes-on reading experience for babies 3 to 12 months of age. It is literally tailor-made for the youngest reader.
Simple, action sentences include words that relate to baby's day- soft, warm, up, down, outside, look, roll, bed. New words are introduced: earth, leaves, pine cones, twigs. Nature baby!
The pages are pattern rich, yet not so busy as to disorganize baby’s gaze. The illustrator draws beyond the text, picturing several new words for learning- bunny, bird, squirrel, and bug.
Gillingham and Siminovich have collaborated on four books in total: In My Den plus In My Tree (2009), In My Pond (2009), and In My Nest (2009). Visit Sara Gillinghams website here for a preview.
WHY I LOVE THIS BOOK
The board pages are thick, making it nearly indestructible. The title page and pages that follow have circular cut-outs. Each gets progressively smaller– the last one is about three inches in diameter. It is a book a 5-month-old can sink his mitt into! A brown flannel cub, a finger puppet, pokes up at the reader, staying still till the last page. Movement is a perfect attention getter for very young babies. In My Den is a wonderful hands-on, eyes-on reading experience for babies 3 to 12 months of age. It is literally tailor-made for the youngest reader.
Simple, action sentences include words that relate to baby's day- soft, warm, up, down, outside, look, roll, bed. New words are introduced: earth, leaves, pine cones, twigs. Nature baby!
The pages are pattern rich, yet not so busy as to disorganize baby’s gaze. The illustrator draws beyond the text, picturing several new words for learning- bunny, bird, squirrel, and bug.
Gillingham and Siminovich have collaborated on four books in total: In My Den plus In My Tree (2009), In My Pond (2009), and In My Nest (2009). Visit Sara Gillinghams website here for a preview.
Linda -- Thank you so much for the package. The kids all love their books! Ryan is making an eggplant dish for us for dinner, and the chocolate chips cookies this afternoon. Cori is so happy to have books to read (she powers through her chapter books like nobody's business these days) and is looking forward to reading a new series. Kelli LOVES her book. I don't remember either of the other two being so into books at this age (9.5 months), but I'm happy that she is so interested already.
ReplyDeleteThank you again!