Spring Lamb: Furry Lamb by Annie Auerbach

BABY LAMB WANTS TO PLAY.

BUT WITH OTHER LAMBS IS THE VERY BEST WAY.

What do baby lambs do in spring? They follow their mothers, staying close, as they visit the grassy hillside for the first time. They get their first taste of new green grass. And when their tummies are full, it's time to look around.

What do they see? They meet the other lambs--and a few baby goats. It's time to play! Birds are flying and bunnies are hopping, too. The lambs look down the hill to see baby pigs playing in their muddy pens, too. Everyone has something to do.

And after the busy baby lambs play, it's time to curl up in the warm grass beside their mothers for a little nap.

MAMA KNOWS BEST.

Annie Auerbach's soft touch-and-feel tiny board book, Furry Lamb (Mini Friends Touch And Feel) (Barrons, 2018) is a sweet way to learn about baby animals in spring. Little ones can experience the sensation of touching a lamb's soft baby wool and follow the baby lambs on their first day out of the barn. This mini-book makes a good Easter basket stuffer or a first introduction to baby farm animals.

What's Up, Little Nutbrown Hare? Guess How Much I Love You? HERE I AM! (Finger Puppet Book) by Sam McBratney

Little Nutbrown Hare and Big Nutbrown Hare were playing hide and seek.

It was Little Nutbrown Hare's turn to hide, and he knew the best place to hide--in a hole in the tree. Big Nutbrown Hare pretends to search everywhere, until...

... Suddenly Little Nutbrown Hare pops his long ears and little pink nose out of the hole.

"HERE I AM!"

Little Nutbrown Hare giggles.

It's SO much fun to surprise his papa when he pops out. And it's still his turn!

Little Nutbrown Hare squeezes between some big rocks. He hides in a bunch of tall flowers, in some bushy weeds, and among the new green ferns. Papa never seems to see him until he pops out of his hiding place.

Finally he scrunches his long ears down behind a big log. Papa's search seems hopeless.

All this hiding and seeking had Big Nutbrown Hare exhausted!

It's about time for the final Big Reveal in Sam McBratney's latest father-and-son adventure, Here I Am!: A Finger Puppet Book: A Guess How Much I Love You Book (Candlewick Books, 2018). With its perennially charming soft illustrations by artist Anita Jeram, this latest  in the beloved best-selling Guess How Much I Love You? series, there's a furry long-eared little hare here who pops up to surprise his patient papa every time in this new toy-and-movable board book--the perfect Easter basket filler, sweet, but with zero grams of sugar, to delight youngsters, one that may inspire an Easter hide and hunt of its own.

For the youngest, there is also McBratney and Geram's companion interaction finger puppet book, Guess How Much I Love You: One More Tickle!: A Puppet Book.

More than the Moon? I Love You, Little One by Clare Lloyd

HOW MUCH DO YOU LOVE ME?

A little bunny asks the big question, cuddling with a parent under the big full moon.

Is he loved more than the moonglow in the night?

A series of baby animals ask a parent the big question. Is his love for the little one more than Father Wolf's love of running? Is it taller than Papa Monkey's love for tall tree-climbing? Does Mama Penguin love her baby more than the snow?

Is it deeper than the whales' beautiful blue sea? Is it more soft than the owls' fluffy feathers?

And of course the answer is I love you so much, as much as I can love, in Clare Lloyd's I Love You Little One (Dorling Kindersley, 2018). Author Lloyd and artist Claire Petane set each pair on their own two-page spread within their own two-color palette. The monkeys share a green and black landscape, the big and little wolf are shown in a gray-blue and black setting, while big and little elephant are shown against an orange and black world. This is a little book about love that offers its own built-in read-aloud storyteller and lights up the big moon that begins the story. It's a book about love and a toy-and-movable book for Valentine's Day or any day, because love is an everyday thing.

Adopt-A-Dragon: Baby Dragon Finger Puppet Book by Victoria Ying

IN A COZY CAVE,

BABY DRAGON WAKES UP.

This little dragon is ready to sally forth from his nursery lair to learn what a young dragon needs to know in the world.

Dragons must protect their lairs and their hoard inside. To do that Baby Dragon must learn to exhale flames without setting the wrong things on fire! OOPS!

That's going to take some practice!

Next, he has to master flying! With his new little wings, he takes his first flights. His first trial flights are more like hops, but finally he is soaring way up in the sky. Congratulations on your launch, little dragon!

It's "Mission accomplished," in Victoria Ying's brand-new Baby Dragon: Finger Puppet Book (Little Finger Puppet Board Books) (Chronicle Books, 2018), the latest in the publisher's series of tiny finger puppet books which each have a plushy figure with just enough room for one big finger, or two toddler fingers, peeking out of the die-cut cover and on every page, to power Baby Dragon's moves--looking up and down and in all directions and flapping his baby wings.

Good for practice in fine-motor coordination and great for making up your own Baby Dragon tales, Baby Dragon joins many other finger puppet books in Chronicle's series, and follows the publication of his fellow mythological beast, Baby Unicorn: Finger Puppet Book.

Spot On! All about Spot (Shaped Book) by Eric Hill

THIS IS SPOT.

That iconic puppy, Eric Hill's Spot, is everyone's favorite pooch.

In fact, he's the perfect pup for little ones just learning what to do with a pet. Spot is ready to romp and play all day. He chases his ball and drinks from a bowl with his name on the side. He is always ready for a run, for rain or shine fun, and loves to frisk out in the sun.

Part toy, part picture book, Eric Hill's little shaped board book, All About Spot (Frederick Warne/Random, 2017), gives the youngest among us a preliminary experience with what it is like to have a pet, particularly a peppy little puppy.  From crib toy to beginning reader, Hill's little doggy-shaped book is the pet to get!

BIG & S-H-I-N-Y! Alphaprint Colors by Roger Priddy

YELLOW SLINKY SNAKES SLITHER THROUGH THE YELLOW DIRT.

Most little ones won't see slinky snakes slithering often, but they will remember seeing such a sight, in Roger Priddy's certainly unusual book of colors for tiny tots. With a rainbow caterpillar on the cover, this color concept board book is sturdy enough to teach colors to a sequence of several toddlers.

With a RED fox running, ORANGE apes swinging, and GREEN crocodiles crawling, there are animals and colors to learn to recognize, along with plenty of alliteration to tantalize the ears of kids up to Kindergarten age, in Roger Priddy's Alphaprints: Colors (Priddy Books/St. Martin's Press, 2015),

For a little more whimsy, there are also BLACK whales, purple beetles, PINK pigs, and tactile fingerprint faces to touch and feel, with bright-colored foil thumb tabs to take little ones back to peruse their favorite color pages, too. A super-sturdy board book for every toddler's concept book library!

Sums of Sheep? Lots of Lambs by Laura Numeroff

LAMBS IN A COAT...
LAMBS ON A BOAT.

Author Laura Numeroff and artist Lynn Munsinger are up to their old tricks, producing succinct but inviting text and tres charmant illustrations of appealing little animals inviting us in for a jolly time.

In this prolific pair's latest Lots of Lambs (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012), youngsters are enticed to enter for a “touchy-feely, flap and fun” experience as they search for little lambs everywhere. Numeroff and Munsinger also offer wheels to turn to alter the landscape, as when the seagoing lambs get to see a changing variety of fish–flying fish in the air and long, finny fish in the water--or assorted fold-outs as when the “coat” in question opens down the line of buttons in front to reveal four lambs, arranged pyramid-style giggling with glee under that overcoat.

There are lambs behind big beach umbrellas at the seashore, and a single lamb all alone behind a bush. There are lots of lamb thespians ready to perform when the stage curtains open, and as a timely nighty-night treat on the last page, three sleepy lambs concealed underneath their quilted coverlet, ready for a snooze. Numeroff and Munsinger, co-creators of the ever-popular If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (If You Give...) and companion books, are quality collaborators and this little board book looks to be one of their best joint ventures for the very young.