Where Is Baby's Belly Button? (Karen Katz Lift-the-flap Book)

Belly button!! Somehow it is A's favourite body part :). I asked for this book in our library when A was 9 month old. But somehow I could never get my hands on this one till today. Today in the library time, we saw this book. My face gleamed and teeth started shining as soon as I saw the book. Finally :)

This is how it goes:
Where are baby's eyes?
Under her hat!
Where is baby's mouth?
behind the cup!
....

And for all these there is a flap. The baby lifts the flap and sees eyes and other parts. I felt it is quite a good book to use from 8months onwards. But at 15 months A already knows most of the body parts mentioned in the book. Also she already knows almost all the objects. So there wasn't much learning for her but It was fun for her. She made me read her this book around 3-4 times, before we picked another one to read.

One more observation was flaps in the book are not very strong and can come out very easily if not handled properly.


I would say its a fun interactive book for babies age 6months+ till 1.5 years(depends on the kid).

Here is the link on amazon:

Where Is Baby's Belly Button? (Karen Katz Lift-the-Flap Books)

Big Board First 100 Words - Roger Priddy

Its been quite some time since I wrote a post on my blog. A wasn't keeping well. So I was busy taking care of her. I also haven't bought A any new toy or book also for sometime.Decided to take a step back, and use the existing stuff a little more. Her toys and books budget allocated for this month will be used next month or may be the month after that. Interestingly we did play a lot and read a lot of new books too. There were some in which she wasn't interested earlier but now loves reading them.

One of the books which she didn't like earlier is

Big Board First 100 Words

I must say this book can't be the first book. It has way too many pictures on one page. Too big size for very small babies.

For a long time,  A only liked books with just one pic per page. But now, she likes books with multiple pics on each page too.

Now about the book:

1. It can't be a babies/kids first book. Babies first book should be one with one pic per page. Its definitely for 12 month + kids.
2. Excellent quality board book
3. Sturdy pages. Very big in size. Size of each page is 11 inch * 11 inch.
4. Bold and bright colors. Will definitely catch a toddlers eye.
5. Has lot of day to day objects. It talks about colors, animals, vehicles, fruits, toys, bath time, bed time stuff etc
6. Has a lot of words with good pictures. So, really good to build their vocabulary

At 15 months, A can identify around 60 images out of this book.

Amazon has a look inside feature available for this book. So in case you want to order, you can see almost the complete book even before ordering.

I am considering buying this book:

 

My Very First 100 Animals

If you have any feedback on this one, please do let me know either by commenting on the post or by mailing me at learningfrommykid@gmail.com

List of books to be reviewed soon

Here is a list of books which I will be reviewing soon. This is the list of books which we already own, so all the reviews will be based on our first hands experience. If you want any book to be reviewed which is not in this list, add it in the comments section, i will try to procure that and post review.  I will keep adding more entries in this page as and when we buy more books. As and when I am done reviewing a book, i will remove it from this list. So this is just a list of to be reviewed soon items and doesn't include the ones i have reviewed.
Also, i will always try to post a link to where you can get these online
Once i update the list below with all the books i have, i will update the recommended age, and also a buy or don't buy from my side

If anyone wishes some item to be reviewed earlier, please post your request in the comments section. or else i pick any random product from this list to be reviewed.

Barney's Treasure Hunt
Thomas the Tank Engine Counts to Ten
ABC Zoo
Dogs by Emily Gravett
Smelly Nelly (Finger Puppet Books)
Guess How Much I Love You
The Gruffalo
My Charming Board Books: ABC
My Charming Board Books: Fruits 

From Head to Toe Board Book - Eric Carle
Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes... (Baby Board Books)
Phonics (My First Board Book)
Room on the Broom: Activity Book
100 Shapes and Colours (First Picture Word Book)
Little Mermaid (Fancy Story Board-Books)
Step By Step ABC.123.Colours
Peter Pan (Pop-Up Fairy Tale Books)
Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?: Dr. Seuss's Book of Wonderful Noises (Bright & Early Board Books(TM) 

365 Animal Stories and Rhymes (365 Stories)
Barbie: Learn Your Numbers 1 to 20
Baby Touch and Feel Puppy Love

Dr. Seuss's ABC (Big Bright & Early Board Book)
The Shape of Me and Other Stuff : A very nice book to introduce shadow play

Remember the Magic Word  : A nice book to get your kid to say please
Remember your Manners
Mary had a little lambWinnie the Pooh: Weather
Duck got stuck
Peter pan pop up book
Spot the difference book
Let's Read!: What the Ladybird Heard
Dora the Explorer Alphabet Adventure (Nickelodeon Learning)

Sleep Tight! (Sesame Street)
Double Magic Animals

Dear Zoo

Classic!! Must buy!! A great story. Again goes to A++ category for animal lovers. 'A' loves this book. Its a classic lift the flap book. The story begins with a child's letter to the zoo to send him a pet. And then comes a series of animals sent by the zoo. All under flaps. The child keeps returning them all until a perfect puppy is sent by the zoo. In the series of animals, some was too heavy or too fierce or too naughty. A great story for kids and they learn to associate words like heavy with elephant, naughty with monkey etc.
 
Dear Zoo Noisy Book

I bought the noisy book. And the noisy part of it adds a lot of fun to reading.  When I received it, I was a little concerned as the book has hardcover but papers are not hard. That means by little one can tear them. Thankfully 'A' handles it carefully and hasn't torn any page yet. She loves to press the animal sounds as we read the story. The illustrations are big but simple and nice. Kids get interested in animals after reading such books which has animal sounds too. You can talk a lot while reading this book which will in turn help their speech skills.

If you already own some noisy book or are concerned that little one will tear the pages you can instead buy board book from the following link:

Dear Zoo: A Lift-the-Flap Book

I Love Sounds Book

First i want to tell what is there in this book. If you are looking for a book which makes sound, then this book isn't the right one. Its a simple left the flap book. There are different things like animals, vehicles etc printed in the book on each flap. If you lift the flap, the name of the 'thing' and the sound it makes are printed. For example: On lifting the flap on which picture of cow is there, left side its written "cow" and on right side its written "moo".
No real sound. So, buy it if you want to expose your kid to the flaps concept and if you are ready to read it out to him/her what each of those pic is and what sound do they make.

A started loving this book once she turned 9 months old. and she still loves it. Now, i don't need to lift any of the flaps. She lifts them herself now. We love reading it.

Here is the link:
I Love Sounds Book

You can check the preview of this book on amazon.

Verdict: Not a must buy. Buy it if you want to expose your kid to lift the flap concept. We  love it.

But if you are just starting to build a book collection for your little one and have budget constraints then you can give this one a pass.

Little Crab: Finger Puppet Book

When i was pregnant with A, i watched a stop animation movie with my husband. The whole movie was filmed by manually moving the puppets. The first scene of the movie had a finger puppet book. I fail to recall the name of the movie. But it was pretty impressive. That movie introduced me to the concept of  finger puppet books. I immediately started looking for those but found none in India. Then searched on amazon.com, saw a lot of them available there. I thought i will ask one of my friends in US to get those for me. Luckily, after a while i saw few finger puppet books were available on amazon india. As soon as my eyes saw that, my fingers automatically pressed the keys to order those :) and this book was the first finger puppet book i landed up with :)

This book has a nice crab finger puppet. A loves the crab. Rhyming words and a moving adorable puppet makes it super interesting to be read. A very nice story.
There are few images (like of a fish, boat), which got cut while they inserted the puppet. Its a very small book, perfect for the little hands. But a little bigger version to preserve the necessary images would have been better.

Here is the link:
Little Crab: Finger Puppet Book

At the point when i got this book, there were hardly any other puppet books available in India. Now there are few. You can checkout the following:

Mary Had a Little Lamb (Little Learners Finger Puppet Book) : I own this one too. I prefer crab book over this one as i felt the lamb is a little too small. Also, crab book has a very nice story. This one has the rhyme.

Very Hungry Caterpillar Finger Puppet Book (The Very Hungry Caterpillar): Don't buy this one. Check my review of this book for details.

I plan to buy A more finger puppet books soon.


Verdict: Buy at least one finger puppet book for your little one. Its a super fun way to play and learn. Crab book is good too but could have been better.

365 Pancharantra Stories

I thought of reading A a different story every night. By the title and the reviews i saw, this book looked promising. Also, Seemed like we could use it for many years to come. Waited patiently to get it.  As soon as it was delivered, i unpacked it. I was happy to see the good quality pages and a good size font. I started reading. Read one story after other trying to find one story which i could read to A.
Sadly, after reading around 20-30 stories i gave up. Every single story is filled with revenge, anger and lessons which i don't want to teach A.
I don't recommend this book to any age group.

Link: 365 Pancharantra Stories

Verdict: Don't buy

Very Hungry Caterpillar Finger Puppet Book

A already owns the very hungry caterpillar board book. She has a puppet book too which we love but is small in size. So, we bought this finger puppet version of the book for a friends kid, hoping that it will be even better than the board book. But it was very very disappointing.
It has one tiny puppet(shame to call it a puppet) and picture of a caterpillar, some fruits and edibles. No real story.

For the story buy the board book without the puppet.
and if you are looking for a puppet book, there are many better ones out there. I will be reviewing some soon.

Verdict:  Do not buy

Very Hungry Caterpillar Finger Puppet Book

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

A classic book. Got it for A along with Brown bear book i reviewed last. She started enjoying this one at the age of around 9 months. She notices all the colors and listens to the story. Now a days she is more interested in putting her fingers in the holes from where caterpillar passes through to eat all the fruits and other stuff :)
I loved the concept. Its a great story and your kid has an opportunity to learn so much.. colors, fruits, numbers, life of a caterpillar. A still doesn't understand that caterpillar turns to butterfly but i loved the illustration. She enjoys only the part till food items are shown :)
If your kid is less than 3year old, please buy board book only.

Link:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Verdict: Must buy

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

A's favorite book. We started reading this when she was 3.5 months old. Now she is 12 months plus. Every day, without fail this book is read. She goes to the books shelf, picks it and forces us to read it. Sometimes our head hurts by reading it again and again, but A won't stop :)

Highly recommended book.(must have)

We bought the board book. Good quality, sturdy pages.

Pros:

1. Only one pic on each page --> very important for the very young readers

2. each page has a different color animal --> kids get to see and learn colors

3. The words are repetitive except for the color and animal's name. As they say, repetition is the key to learn

Cons:

1. Chances of your kid become an addict to this book are very high. You may get head aches like us after reading the same book like 20th time in a day

Tip:
Please buy board book only as this will hopefully be the book read most number of times for you too.

link on amazon:
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Verdict: Must buy