Annie Kubler

Possibly the favorite book in our house, mostly because of the excellent opportunity it affords to make interesting sounds. It's memorized, and it's not gotten annoying yet -- adults even quote it to each other. It pictures a diverse set of kids, not just racially but also a kid with a hearing aid and another with an eye patch. All the noise makers are reasonable to attain at home as well, if there are any that spur a particular interest.

We got several books out at the library for our son to prepare for the new baby and this was the best one. It's wordless, so it encourages plenty of talking. Big brother was 21 months old when baby sister was born and the elder sibling in the book appears about the same age. Some pluses:

-Elder sibling is pretty androgynous (and so is baby) so it works for whatever sex your children are.

-Mom breastfeeds. It's amazing how few of these types of books show a breastfeeding mother. The only other show more one I've seen of the 6 or 7 we read was a Mr. Rogers one and (gasp!) it has a photo of a breastfeeding mom.

-Plus, the illustrations are nice.

Strongly recommended! show less

I guess this board book is the size of a picture book because otherwise the pictures would be too small? There are a *lot* of verbs demonstrated by the toddlers depicted here. But toddlers are unlikely to be able to carry this around... I guess it's best for day care homes, or families who don't mind reading the same non-story over and over.

The parent or other educator could certainly create a lot of activities and 'lessons' from the inspiration of the book. Save your empty spools and yarn show more scraps so you can teach the verb 'thread,' for example!

In a more generous mood I'd give it four stars. My library copy appears to be well-loved, anyway. show less

Used for Baby Storytime 11/11/2011. Sang the song and had parents do the motions with their babies. We went really slow the first time through so that the illustrations could be appreciated at least a little and then sang it twice more speeding up each time. I didn't even attempt to use the book on the last time through. The book was received fairly well although Kubler's illustrations are definitely worth more attention than it was possible for the parents and babies to give them. Kubler show more uses a multicultural cast of babies (with big round faces and minimal details) and their stuffed animals as performers of the classic song. I found myself smiling at the silliness of the stuffed animals in particular. The characters are all on plain white backgrounds with just enough extraneous objects to keep things interesting and their clothes are done in bright, saturated colors. The combination makes this particularly developmentally appropriate for toddlers and babies. The notation for the song is also included on the back for those who aren't familiar with the tune. show less