Undercover: The Christmas Pop-Up Peekaboo! by Dawn SiretteDaw

AT CHRISTMAS TIME THE BUSY ELVES

HAVE LOTS OF WORK TO DO.

A REINDEER SHOULD BE HELPING,

BUT HE'S PLAYING PEEKABOO!

And Reindeer is not the only one!

In Dawn Sirett's Pop-Up Peekaboo: Christmas! (DK Books, 2013), Mr. Snowman hides behind a  big snowball, a Christmas fairy hides at the top of the tree, a robin hides with a sprig of mistletoe, and Santa comes through with a bulging stocking that opens to reveal a plush dog, a top, and a big candy cane.

Lift the flaps and these Christmas favorites pop right up. Tots love surprises and there are plenty of well-designed popups to delight, and the artful script of this toy book provides plenty of opportunity for little ones to practice their predicting skills as they are urged to guess what may be hiding inside the scenes.  Artist Susan Culver's illustrations are full of holiday spirit, and DK's book design is well-paced to keep little eyes and hands engaged in the seasonal discoveries inside this entry in Dorling Kindersley's excellent Peekaboo series. For toddler stocking stuffers, pair this one with Usborne's That's Not My Santa....

Animagicals: Presto Chang-O, or A Book of Animal Magic by Edouard Manceau

Here you'll find a magic book

Where all's not what it seems.

PRESTO CHANGE-O

For when you turn each object round,

The unexpected will be seen.

Can YOU change a bowl of green salad into a turtle?

Or how about a little legerdemain to convert a hot air balloon into a rabbit?

In his hard-to-resist toy-and-movable-book, illustrator and designer Edouard Manceau offers some sturdy moving parts and a lot of artistry in a bit of bibliographic transforming. By moving a few jointed parts, a black cauldron becomes the perky raccoon on the cover. On another page, a rocket becomes a penguin "flying" through his underwater habitat. A fancy teapot transforms itself into elephant and back again, and a clock slips into the shape of an owl on its perch.

It's fun for young fingers and a treat for the eyes in Manceau's latest, Presto Change-O: A Book of Animal Magic (Chronicle Books, 2014), giving preschoolers a chance to work a little magic with their own fingertips.

For an absorbing lesson in shapes and their manipulation into basic graphic forms, try Edouard Manceau's delightful Windblown (Owlkids Books, 2013) with a little help from his invisible friend the wind (with downloadable, printable shapes for kids to experiment with)  here.

Best Friends Know Best: A Birthday for Cow by Jan Thomas

October 17 is circled on the calendar.  It's Cow's birthday, and Duck, Pig, and Mouse are set to celebrate. Pig and Mouse obviously know the drill, and set to work right way preparing a lavish birthday cake for the occasion.

Duck seems surprised. "CAKE?"

Wielding their implements of mixing, Pig and Mouse get ready to whip sugar and eggs to a frenzy in a big bowl. In goes the two cups of flour and then Duck proposes his own special ingredient.

"A TURNIP?"

Pig and Mouse nix the turnip.

Next they're read to mix it all together. Duck has just a unique suggestion for a mixing tool.

You guessed it!

Pig says nope, and Mouse suggests a spoon might serve them better than a root vegetable.

At every step in the mixing, Duck tries to include his turnip, green tops and all, but the two chefs persist in sticking to their recipe. When it's time to decorate the cake, Duck suggests a turnip for the top. Mouse and Pig proffer six striped candles.

At last they see Cow coming and Mouse proudly holds up his cake, candles aglow. Duck still has his turnip in hand. They all sport big grins at the chance to surprise their friend Cow.

Cow IS surprised.

"IS THAT WHAT I THINK IT IS?

OH, BOY!

A TURNIP!

It seems Mouse and Pig have a whole birthday cake, guttering candles and all, on their hands--which isn't all that bad, really!

Meanwhile Cow chomps down the birthday turnip with gusto. Yummm!

As Pig and Mouse, almost foundered on birthday cake, lie around digesting, Duck and Cow walk away, sharing another tidbit about their mutual affection for turnips. Says Duck...

"SOMETIMES I BRUSH MY TEETH USING A TURNIP."

"REALLY? ME, TOO!"

Jan Thomas' A Birthday for Cow! (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt,) is not what you expect in a birthday party book among friends. Festively unwrapped in its fresh board book edition, her critter characters are funny but friendly, with a lot of giggle bait in the horrified looks on Pig's and Mouse's faces as Duck tries to introduce a freshly pulled turnip into every step of the cake baking. And Jan Thomas' story and illustrations keep the fun coming to the very last page in a birthday story that surprises but doesn't disappoint.

Tea for Three: Bunnies for Tea by Kate Stone

1, 2, 3!

BUNNIES FOR TEA.

Three ship-shape bunnies, dressed to the nines, arrive for afternoon tea in this delicate teacup-shaped board book.

In their festive best, with bows and chapeaus, they arrive at a house where the tea table is a bit super-sized for these pint-sized little bunnies.

It's a lovely spread, but there's also some heavy lifting for these miniature rabbits, hefting huge sugar cubes and  hoisting the cream pitcher to pour a polite dribble into each of their giant teacups.

Oops!  One bunny has a spill, and now there's one soggy  bunny, from ears to toes, at the table.

But  all pitch in for the wipe-up, and soon scones and other sweets sooth their feelings, in Kate Stone's charming little teacup-shaped board book for tots, Bunnies For Tea (McMeel, 2013).  The artwork is appealing, with its pastel palette and clever touches (see the cover with part of the title rendered as a tag on the tea bag).  For parents, grandparents and others interested in reducing the sugar content of Easter morning for small children, this sturdy little shaped book, with a die-cut handle just the right size for little fingers to hold, is a sweet, neat, and lasting treat for the Easter basket (with no spills).

What's Up? Picture My World by Severine Cordier

TOMORROW IS THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!

SCHOOL IS OUT!

UH, OH. MOMMY FORGOT THE KEYS.

TOMORROW WE'LL MAKE IT EVEN BIGGER!

Every day there is something new. In everyone's world there are good days and bad days, things that don't go well and things that go your way.

Swing high day and sit and cry day. First days and last days. Happy Birthday party day and big-wave-washes-the-castle-away day. Splash-go-rocks-in-the-river day. Push-the-bowl-of-spinach away day. Singing-in-the-rain day and bury-the-dead-bird day. Two-scoop-ice-cream-cone day, or, Oops! It-melted-all-over-my-shirt day!

The world of the preschooler is filled with new experiences, and Severine Cordier and Cynthia Lacroix portray many of them in their new Picture My World (Owl Kids Press, 2012). Illustrated with cheery drawings a bit reminiscent of Charles Schulz, this book pictures the world as seen in the daily lives of many preschoolers. Open-ended pictures give youngsters and adults much to discuss. "What do you think is happening here?" is a good leading question to spark discussion, about a picture of three kids huddling in a pretend boat (or tent, or cave) or one lone girl pouting in a corner. A sturdy picture book read-aloud or a fine sit and "read" alone book for the preschool set. 

A What? It's a Little Book by Lane Smith

"WHAT IS THAT?"

It's a rematch, this time done up in diapers back in their baby days, between Lane Smith's determined bookophile monkey and his quizzical technophile friend the donkey.

As this early reader sits on his padded bottom, lost in the little volume in his hands, his skeptical friend wants to know what to do with such an absorbing object. Could it be a teething biscuit? he wonders as he tries a nibble. Wearing? (open, on his head) Flying? (a sturdy paper airplane Building? (a ready-made roof for his block building. How about a not-so-soft pillow? A saddle blanket? A laptop? A really flat smart phone?

Nope, Nope. Nope, and nope again!

His patient companion never misses a beat as he maintains his concentration on the intriguing object:

"IT'S FOR READING.
IT'S A BOOK, SILLY!"

Lane Smith has reconfigured his current New York Times best-selling hit, It's a Book as a board book for the youngest readers in his just published It's a Little Book (Roaring Brook, 2011), which retains the sly humor and skillful characterizations established in the title for slightly older readers in this delightful spin-off.

See the (admittedly adorable) trailer for this little book about a little book here.