CRIB READY! Baby Animals (Indestructibles) by Stephen Lomp

THERE ARE ALL KINDS OF BABIES.

LIKE YOU, THEY LOVE TO PLAY.

Appealing puppies, kittens, elephant calves, ducklings, koala joeys, and turtle hatchlings--what little one could resist? With lively baby animals, portrayed in bright colors and playing under the watchful eyes of their parents, this little book comes with instant appeal for infants and toddlers.

But Steven Lomp's Indestructibles: Baby Animals (Workman Press, 2017) also represents one of the biggest advances in book publishing since Gutenberg first cranked up his printing press--a "crib ready" book that proclaims itself as rip-proof, chewable, non-toxic, and 100% washable. Book-loving parents who have cringed at what happens to the best-made of baby board books--used as chewing rings, tossed and ripped and dipped in the potty, and otherwise beaten up by babies who love them to pieces--will rejoice at the new Indestructibles series, even advertised as "dishwasher safe!"

With quite a variety of topics in this new series, such as Amy Pixton's Indestructibles: Baby Night-Night Kate Merritt's Indestructibles: Love You, Baby and Lomps' Indestructibles: Things That Go!,, these very inexpensive and indestructible books for the very youngest are a great choice for new parents and a boon to daycare centers where daily sanitizing for playthings is a major issue. Baby books that are the best thing since sliced bread? Maybe!

Feel the Fun! Halloween (Baby Touch and Feel) by Dawn Sirott

PEEK A BOO!

Who's that looking back at you?

It's a small black kitty with a welcoming MEOW, peeping out from behind that smiling Jack O' Lantern! How does he feel?

Soft and furry!

And then there's a little witchy doll with long yarn hair, stirring her green brew in her black cauldron. How does it feel?

Sticky and lumpy!

Bats fly through the silvery moonlight. How do they feel?

Fuzzy and velvety!

Here are some holiday treats. Bright candy corn kernels! How do they feel?

Smooth and sparkly!

How about this cute little wizard in his cape? How does his beard feel?

Slippery and silky!

Dawn Sirott's little baby board book, Baby Touch & Feel: Halloween (Dorling Kindersley, 2017), treats baby spooks with a soft and padded cover for little hands and features a jolly Jack O' Lantern with a grin, welcoming little ones to some of the fun symbols of Halloween. With bright-colored photos set spot-art style on bright white pages and question-and-answer design by Elle Ward with each page turn, this little touch-and-feel book offers the sights of the spooky season and tactile and coordination experience for the little Halloween fan. Make the gift of this one baby's first treat!

'Sno Way! That's Not My Snowman! by Fiona Watt

THAT'S NOT MY SNOWMAN.

HIS SCARF IS TOO FLUFFY.

Fiona Watts' newest Touchy-Feely book, That's Not My Snowman (Usborne Touchy Feely) (Usborne, 2010) is an appealing little addition to this most popular of board books series. As in the others of these top-selling tactile books for the very youngest, the emphasis is on engaging the senses--large, colorful illustrations set spot-art style against bright white backgrounds to focus and delight the eye, and a predictably repetitive text, enlivened by a bit of alliteration to catch the ear of the young listener.

But the main fun lies in the tactile inserts on each page, each of which entice little fingers to feel, scratch, and rub. The cover snowman sports a felt fedora, soft and with just a hint of fuzziness, and his scarf features fluffy red fleece. His big black buttons are bumpy; and his mittens are as fuzzy as only the scrubby side of a dish sponge can be. But the real deal appears on the final page where the right snowman appears with his big, polka-dotted orange nose, appropriately squashy! Now that's a snowman!

That's Not My Snowman (Usborne Touchy Feely) joins such earlier holiday-themed hits by author Watts and illustrator Rachel West as That's Not My Reindeer (Usborne Touchy-Feely Board Books), and That's Not My Santa (Usborne Touchy-Feely) as super seasonal stocking stuffers for the littlest bibliophiles.

It's All in the Ears! That's Not My Bunny.... by Fiona Watt

...ITS TAIL IS TOO FLUFFY!

In the time just before the Easter, it seems that the world of literature is full of rabbits. But finding just the right bunny for the littlest book lover is not that easy. Story book bunnies often bear only the slightest resemblance to the real thing, and the story lines are hard for babies and toddlers, still trying to "get" the idea of this mysterious Easter Bunny thing, to follow.

But not to worry. The wonderful Usborne Touchy Feely Books series has just the right first bunny book for little ones as soon as they are old enough to to respond to visual and tactile stimuli!

Usborne's famous series by author Fiona Watt and illustrator Rachel Wells is, believe it or not, actually an introduction to the mystery genre. What is the narrator really looking for? These bunnies look perfectly rabbity, but they all have an easily detectable defect--something is too rough, too woolly, too shiny-bright--too something! The concept of the adjective is introduced in the text, and the tactile spots are just the right size for small fingers to experience, even if it takes some help from the reader to put them there.

And when the right bunny ears are found, it's so rewarding! With minimal, repetitive text to work with, Fiona Watt knows just how to build suspense and provide the proper AH-HA moment when the right bunny is found. That final YES! is worth the wait!

Watt's That's Not My Bunny: Its Tail Is Too Fluffy (Usborne Touchy Feely) is just the Easter surprise for those little ones too small for even a chocolate bunny!