House: First Words Board Books

This set of board books is another favorite of ours published this year.  It’s a mid-century modern take on early vocabulary for babies and toddlers and its five board books contain pictures of  everyday objects found all over the house.  It’s for cool kids — and their parents — and might just be another one going on our gifting list this year. For a preview of one of the books, click here and scroll right.

House: First Words Board Books was illustrated by Michael Slack and published by Chronicle Books.

A Little Book Series from Compendium + Giveaway

Out today is a new series of board books for our littlest readers and their families.  They offer bright, playful illustrations and contain key words that focus on three different areas of vocabulary: feelings, opposites and actions.  The simple layouts help children engage in joint attention as parents read the books aloud.  While reading, there are also opportunities to connect the words in the books with concrete examples from children’s own lives.  And wait — just wait! — until you get turn the pages of these books.  The texture of the covers and pages are sublime and are an experience in and of themselves.  This series was written by Ruth Austin, illustrated by Kanae Sato and published by Compendium.

We’re giving away a set of all three board books:

Happy Grumpy Loved: A Little Book of Feelings

Hide Seek, Stinky Sweet: A Little Book of Opposites

Wiggle Jump Tickle: A Little Book of Actions

This giveaway is open to US residents and ends Tuesday, June 5, at 11:59 PM PDT.  To enter, head over to this Instagram post.  While you're there, scroll right to see a preview of the interior. 

Dont Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus

Would you let the pigeon drive the bus?  “I’ll be your best friend!”  Click here and scroll right for a stop motion video we made today, and an outtake.

Thank you to Yottoy for sending us their Pigeon on the Bus plush.

raising a reader + munchkin giveaway

Kids love any excuse to delay bedtime―even just a few minutes―and are probably more eager to get in a little extra reading time if it means they get to stay up later.  That few extra minutes of reading right before bed becomes a special time for them to bond with their books and stories, which promotes a love of reading and encourages them to become a lifelong reader.

So, this is the idea—move up your kids’ bedtime by twenty minutes and when they ask to stay up just a little longer, tell them they can read for a little bit using a bedside lamp or reading light.  This is part of reading expert Jim Trelease’s tips on how to raise a reader (you can read the rest of his invaluable advice in The Read-Aloud Handbook, a book every family should have in their library).

We’re partnering with Munchkin for a giveaway of 3 of their adorable owl night lights.  This giveaway is open to US residents only and the winners will be drawn at random.  You have until Thursday, August 11, 11:00 PM PDT, to enter.  Head over to this post on Instagram to enter!

goodnight songs

“Baby sail the seven seas

Safely in my arms

When the waves go up and down

You are safe from harm.”

Goodnight Songs is a previously unpublished collection of works by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by twelve artists: Jonathan Bean, Carin Berger, Sophie Blackall, Linda Bleck, Renata Liwska, Christopher Silas Neal, Zachariah OHora, Eric Puybaret, Sean Qualls, Isabel Roxas, Melissa Sweet and Dan Yaccarino.  I'm so taken with the cover by @studioroxas.

Margaret Wise Brown’s works were arranged and performed by singers/songwriters Tom Proutt, Emily Gary and a group of musicians.  Amy Gary talked about the story behind Goodnight Songs in an interview on NPR.  “I was a young publisher and was looking for things that I could reprint of Margaret's. And I was looking through all of these old books at her sister's home. And her sister said oh yes, there's this wonderful manuscript she was working on, but I've got it in the trunk and her barn. She was living in Vermont at the time. I thought, oh my goodness…I wonder if any of these papers are actually still left.”

“And one of the illustrators set this so beautifully. He said, you know, her writing evokes more images than anyone else's writing can do. She was able to write in a way that really spoke to children and that's why the things she's written have remained in print for so many years.”

From “A Note from the Musicians” at the end of Goodnight Songs: “These unpublished words are so rich in imagery that they invite instrumentation and melodies.  Margaret Wise Brown often used simple, spare images that enable a listener to home in on little details—a bell, a bug, a buoy—with an almost meditative focus.  ‘The Mouse’s Prayer’ and ‘Sounds in the Night’ evoke stillness and quiet so effectively that readers may well imagine being able to hear the far away sounds mentioned in the poems.  But her words also invite us into a a surprising world of wildness, wandering, and risk taking, where monkeys throw coconuts at the sky and baboons and bears take an outlandish trip to the moon in a hot air balloon.”

Wooden camera and submarine teether by Little Sapling Toys.