The Baby Book Nook

Several of Eric Carle's board books are available in Spanish, including La oruga muy hambrienta (2002), the Spanish edition of The Very Hungry Caterpillar , and La oruga muy hambrienta/The Very Hungry Caterpillar (2011), a bilingual edition released in May of this year. The latter is available at the publisher's website . Are you raising a bilingual baby? In her recent post "Bilingual Babies: The Sooner, The Better," Ana Flores,  co-creater of the online resource SpanglishBaby , writes, "... the earlier we start exposing babies to a second language, the more flexible their bilingual brains will be and the more they can identify and separate the sounds of the different languages they are exposed to." La oruga muy hambrienta/The Very Hungry Caterpillar puts two languages on baby's plate. Yum!

1, 2, 3 Si ! (August, 2011) is an 18-page bilingual board book for toddlers, twos, and preschoolers that introduces the numbers 1 through 10 in English and Spanish. Each spread teaches number shapes and words and includes an array of countable items. The latter are BEAUTIFULLY photographed objects of art from the San Antonio Museum of Art. Each page asks a question, sparking book talk. Read-aloud play with a toddler might go something like this (Portions of text are in bold italics .): 1 una guitarra one guitar   Trace the large, colorful numeral 1 that sits in the upper left hand corner. Your toddler might imitate the downward stroke. "This is one. I see one guitar." Hold up your tracing finger. "One!" 2 two eyes Can you play peek-a-boo? You might say, "Mira!" "I see two eyes!" Cover the face collage on the page with your hand or a colorful napkin. "Donde estan?" "Where are they?" Your toddler will likely peek. Take ...

Count down to bedtime with Caldecott Honor Book Ten, Nine, Eight by Molly Bang. Read and play on and off the page... 10 small toes all washed and warm . Count your baby's toes. 9 soft friends in a quiet room. A cat is among them. Point him out. Cat is often one of baby's first words. 8 square windowpanes with falling snow . Ask, 'Who is looking out the window?' The answer? Cat! 7 empty shoes in a short straight row .  There are three pairs of shoes and a single blue sneaker. Point to each pair and count out loud, 'One, two black shoes. One, two white shoes. One, two red shoes. One... Oh-oh! One blue shoe. One! Where is the other one?' 6 pale seashells hanging down . Ask baby, 'Where is the cat?' She might point to the answer. 5 round buttons on a yellow gown .  1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Eyes spy the missing sneaker.  4 sleepy eyes which open and close . Count the eyes on the page. Point to baby's eyes and yours. One, two. One, two. 3 loving kisses on c...

Ten topsy turvy toddlers star in Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes... , a 10-page board book by Annie Kubler based on the nursery song of the same name. When baby starts pointing (at about 9 months of age) it's time to start asking, "Where's Baby's nose?" and introduce this whimsical action book.

A cow says MOO. A sheep says BAA. Three singing pigs say La La La! "No, no!" you say, "That isn't right. The pigs say OINK all day and night." Sandra Boynton's rhythmic, rhyming, RIOTOUS writing is music to young babies' ears. Read about the author/illustrator turned lyricist and her latest projects here . Day four brings more!