Monday, January 4, 2010

Books for New Babies and Parents, too! ~ Continued

I knew this would happen! Creating a list of books with a specific theme is never complete. As Christmas came and went, many more books were found that could have been added to our Christmas favorites. As I rotate the books in Emmy's baskets, I came across two more books that would also make wonderful gifts for new babies and their parents, too that I just had to share.

Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes is a delightful book meant to be read aloud over and over again! It was created by two beloved picture book creators - the storyteller Mem Fox and the artist Helen Oxenbury. Fox starts each verse with a rhyming couplet about two babies in different places and ends with a rhythmic refrain:

Both of these babies, as everyone knows, had ten little fingers and ten little toes.

Oxenbury brings each pair of babies to life using watercolor illustrations. To establish distance and difference, she paints the places where the babies are born on separate pages and then brings them together on the next page using a white background. A playgroup emerges as each pair of babies is introduced until a multinational group has grown.

If you'd like to know more about the collaboration between author and artist then click here to watch a video of Mem Fox talking about Helen Oxenbury.

Here are my favorite fingers and toes!

If Kisses Were Colors by Janet Lawler with illustrations by Alison Jay brings wonder to the ear and the eye with its metaphors and oil paintings.

If kisses were snowflakes, your world would be light, sparkling with crystals of silver and white.

Ms. Lawler was inspired to write this story after the adoption of her daughter, Cami, from Vietnam in 1998. "This 'mother's love poem' expresses my boundless love for both my children, to whom it is dedicated."

This is a book of timeless beauty and charm that deserves to be shared with every mother - young or old!

1 comment:

  1. If Kisses Were Colors sounds like a wonderful book! I think my almost 3 year old would love it.

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