The Baby Book Nook

Dear Dad, Do you like my hat? This phrase brings back very vivid memories of morning and evening greetings in the Allentown house. Waking up to Go, Dog. Go! quotes and eating cinnamon toast with my knees tucked into my over-sized, worn-out, Eagles t-shirt. That pretty much encapsulates ages five through nine. I know that when you said it you were basically guaranteed a comment and an eye roll about your clearly hatless head, but I hope you know that as an adult, it has become one of my favorite memories of my Dad. I love you and I'm so happy that I got a Dad who quoted talking dogs. Otherwise life could have been boring and who knows if I could be as proud about anybody else. Love, Molly Found note. True story. True dat! True dad. Go, Dads. Read! Happy Father's Day.

Is your baby learning English and Spanish? Here are 5 bilingual picture books for bab ies 0 to 5 months of age. Each bathes ba by's ears in lyrical language sounds. Each is eye-catching. T uck away books when baby starts reaching. Take them out again when they turn... five?      

I've been on the road . I stopped by The Strand, a large independent bookstore in NYC, to look at their board book offerings . The 18 miles of a isles were packed with grown-ups and kids a nd me, plump with batting to fight the cold and windy streets. I barely fit! I shopped with haste . H ere is what I found.   The Noisy Book (2012) by Soledad Bravi is a near-perfect word learning book for ones and twos. Why near? Research suggests young 1-year-olds learn best from photographs. Bravi's page design --one object per 2-page spread-- holds constant, assuring a single point of view for book talk.  A colorful patchwork of thumbnail prints, drawn from The Noisy Book 's interior, blankets the inside front and back pages, creating a wonderful opportunity for point-and-label play and word review. I spied a board edition of The House in the Night (2011) by Susan Marie Swanson  and Caldecott Medal winner Beth Krommes. The book's gentle cadence and warm glow make ...

These three hardcover picture books recently got board. The younger format makes great reading for almost-threes. Bob Shea's dinosaur conq u ers the day in Dinosaur vs. Bedtime (2011). He writes, ROAR! I 'M A DIN OSAUR! ROAR! NOTHING CAN STOP ME! Playtime, mealtime, and b athtime are KO'd by this likable Roarosaurus. Brilliant pictures add punch. Do you live with a dinosaur? He will love this book! P.S. Read red. Did you know that 2- and 3-year-olds rarely look at book print? They eye the pictures. Reading researchers point to a relationship between preschoolers' print awareness and early elementary reading ability. What can parents do? P oint o ut p rint as you read:  POP! Playfully. Sparingly. Once per book for 1-year-olds; twice for 2-year-olds; thrice for 3's. Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type (2010) by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin makes it easy. Words embedded in pictures beg for attention. Play off the page. W rite, illustrate, and post crayon...

Super Chicken! (2013) by Rebecca Purcell has holes for poking, bold patterns for gazing, and pretend play aplenty. Take the cover : Super Chicken's goggles are die-cut. Baby pokes . Mom labels,  Eyes! Turn the page. Super Chicken's cape has a star cut-out. Baby pokes . Dad labels, C ape! Poke and point. Point and label. Perfect! Holes vary in size and s hape throughout , accommodating baby's first finger or fist, depending. The book is bigger than most boards, a full 8 1/4 by 8 1/4 inches . Pictures are bright and eye-catching.   P airs of 2-page spread s tell three s imple stor ies about Chicken's day. For example, Purcell writes, Chicken builds a castle out of blocks. Chicken plays . Very basic . Turn the page. Super Chicken rescues a baby dragon!   Chicken's super imagination takes her high above the castle turned me dieval mansion to rescue a dragon in distress, a small stuffed animal plucked from the previous page...

Here's a peek at January '13 releases. Is there one you'd like to hear about?

Comment Number 3 was chosen at random from a set of numbers 1 through 11. Congratulations , Donna ! Please email  me for shipping details. Thanks, everyone, for entering! Stay tuned for more baby book news!!!

Out with the old , i n with the new ! To make room for 2013 review books , this year's stack must go . I need your help to find these wonderful new old books a home . Please nominate a group or agency in need of baby books in the comments section below--your child's day care center or a nursery school or a local literacy organization, for example . I'll choose a winner at random then po st two packages--one to you as a thank you , packed with the 5 books pictured in my December 22 blog post, and on e to your nominee , packe d with the books below : All Gone! , I Went Walking , Kiki's Blanket , No More Blanket for Lambkin! , What Can I Hear? , Giddy Up, Li'l Buckaroos! and  Ahoy, Li'l Buccaneers! , four Noodle books , Peek-a-boo! , Pat the Bunny , Peek-a Who? , Baby Play , I Kissed the Baby! , Kiss Good Night , Chicky Chicky Chook Chook , Chicka Chicka Boom Boom , Meeow and the Pots and Pans , Mother Goose , One Moose, Twenty Mice , Th e Apple Pie T...

Holiday bows. Rudolph's nose. Ho! Ho! Ho!   Babies like the color red. Perhaps because it is one o f the first colors they see. Babies are born with limite d c olor vision. Researchers Adams, Courage, and Mercer (1994) report in their article, "Systemic Measurement of Human Neonatal Color Vision," that 74% of newborns in their study sample were able to see a patch of red set against a neutral hue, 36% were ab le to see green, 25% yellow, and a scant 14% a patch of blue. "At 1 mont h, performance improve d s omewhat although infants still showed clear evidence of discriminating only the red patch." In the 2010 article, "Infants' Preferences for Toys, Colors, and Shapes: Sex Differences and Similarities," researchers Jadva, Hines  and Golombok found that 12-, 18-, and 24-month-olds "preferred reddish colors to blue." Similarly, researchers Anna Franklin, Laura Bevis, Yazhu Ling, and Anya Hurlbert found that 4- and 5-month-olds looked ...