Foodie Babies Wear Bibs

15 January 2009 by · Leave a Comment

Whether or not you approve of the rise of the ‘babyccino’ in cafes around the globe,  I think urban babies are here to stay.

Urban Babies Wear Black series

Michelle Sinclair Colman started a lovely series of books chronicling new age babies, when she wrote Urban Babies Wear Black in 2005. With stylish and stylised illustrations by Nathalie Dion, the books were a success, and a series was born. I love the concept: as board books, these are meant to be read to babies, and it’s the babies who are the focus of the illustrations (the adults’ faces are never visible). But the text and illustrations are pitched firmly at the adult reader, poking fun at us parents of the ‘noughties’ and cleverly playing with double-meanings.

Eco Babies Wear Green

When you’re the parent of a baby, a book that provides a bit of entertainment for you is much appreciated.

Beach babies dig their daddies

The next two books in the series were released in 2007, Winter Babies Wear Layers and Beach Babies Wear Shades. And hot off the press are two more, Eco Babies Wear Green and Foodie Babies Wear Bibs.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster Australia, we have a copy of each of the Urban Babies books to giveaway. To enter, jump to our Win! page.

||Urban Babies Wear Black series available from Readings||

||Urban Babies Wear Black series website||

Filed Under: Age 0+, Board Books

An international flavour…

13 January 2009 by · Leave a Comment

my-village

A little spotlight on our store, as we start to get some lovely new stock in for the new year.

In the box I opened today was one of the books that quickly and quietly ran off our shelves before Christmas. Before we even had a chance to promote it, this book sold out!

My Village is a collection of twenty-two rhymes from around the world, each one presented in its original language (and script where applicable) accompanied by an English translation. A colourful double-page spread illustration accompanies each rhyme, fashioned from beautiful collages by Mique Moriuchi. As in all good picture books, Moriuchi’s illustrations compliment and build on the text, and help to bring further meaning to the rhyme with the inclusion of culturally appropriate details. 

My Village

It’s never too early to help kids to learn that other people have a different way of communicating than they do, and that a language can convey much about a culture. At the same time, this book serves as a lovely introduction to poetry – the short rhymes and colourful illustrations will hold even a small child’s attention. The rhyme chosen for France is one of my favourites, Que fait ma main? and I’m sure all the others have been selected with fondness and love.

Danielle Wright, who collected the rhymes, has a great website, with information about her journey working on the book, and lots more, including a collection of great tips on ‘raising a reader’. 

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I’m also thrilled that another of our favourite books with an international flavour is now in stock. A while ago I reviewed Laura Ljungkvist’s Follow the Line, and we love her follow-up, Follow the Line Around the World just as much. Using one single continuous line, on bold graphic backgrounds, Ljungkvist cleverly traces a whole world of animals, plants, people and planets. It includes interesting facts about individual countries. The funky design in this hardback makes it a book that grownups will cherish too.

||My Village available at the We Heart Books store||

||Follow the Line Around the World available at the We Heart Books store||

Filed Under: Age 2+, Picture books, We Heart Books Store, World

When We Were Little…

11 January 2009 by · 1 Comment

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I went to a very special little girl’s party today. Evie turned 3; she loves fairies and had her dream birthday cake, a princess fairy cake. It got me thinking about the fairies I imagined as a little girl.

For my part, I was convinced fairies lived at the bottom of my grandfather’s garden. Papa would take us grandchildren on walks down a damp and shady path that ran the length of his garden, telling us about the fairies who lived there. They had mossy stones for seats, toadstools for meeting places and lichen for staircases; completely believable and utterly magical. My grandparents also had several of Peg Maltby’s books in their bookshelves, and perhaps her artwork influenced our fairy walks.

Peg Maltby’s Fairy Book was first published in 1944. Peg moved to Australia from the UK when she was in her twenties, soon after she was married. Her Fairy Book became a huge success on publication, selling over 100,000 copies, mainly in Australia. My copy is of an edition that was republished in 1975, and was given to me by my auntie Ali in 1977. According to the dust jacket text, the original artwork for the book was lost, and so, aged in her seventies, Peg re-illustrated the entire book – no mean feat!

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The book is comprised of several short stories, each accompanied by a full-page colour illustration and a set of black and white marginal illustrations. The narrative of each story is self-contained, and describes a particular vignette involving ‘little folk’ of goblins, elves and fairies, as well as insects and other small creatures. In each case, the reader is immediately immersed in the detail of the scene and of the particular characters involved. The stories are the perfect length for bedtime reading.

Peg’s illustrations depict rosy and expressive faces of goblins and the beauty of fairies with gowns made of rose petals and veils of spider woven lace. Flowers and berries abound, and Australian flora and fauna are often included.

It’s a lucky child who has adults in her life to help bring the world of fairies alive, like my grandfather for me did on walks in his garden. Books like Peg Maltby’s do this too, making the make-believe world more real.

Filed Under: Age 2+, When we were little...

Blue Kangaroo

8 January 2009 by · 3 Comments

When Kirsten at Assemblage blogged about the blue kangaroo soft toy she crafted for her little girl, she reminded me of the lovely series of books by Emma Chichester Clark. So I re-acquainted myself and borrowed all the volumes held in our local library.

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Blue Kangaroo is a beautifully understated character, who never says anything, but is very thoughtful. Through him, Emma Chichester Clark has made the make-believe world of childhood magical: a place where favourite soft toys really do things – under the cover of darkness, of course. She also very gently and subtly conveys some important messages for toddlers, through the actions of Blue Kangaroo’s owner, Lily, and those around her. For this reason, I like these books now even more than I did before I became a mum.

In It Was You, Blue Kangaroo!, we follow Lily on a particularly naughty day, and each time she is confronted about the spills, Lily blames poor Blue Kangaroo. It’s impossible not to identify simultaneously with both Lily – who does all the things that any toddler would do – and with blue kangaroo, who watches on silently, and says nothing when Lily dobs on him. Not many books can successfully help toddlers see how telling tales affects others, and can come back to bite you, but this book does it effortlessly.

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What Shall We Do, Blue Kangaroo? resonates particularly with me at the moment, as we are going through a stage when Rowan wants a lot of my attention while he’s playing. Like Rowan, Lily finds the adults in her life busy doing other things, but discovers that, when she tries, she can do many things all by herself. But she forgets one thing: Tiny Teddy left out in the rain, but Blue Kangaroo remembers and helps save the day.

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In Happy Birthday to You, Blue Kangaroo!, it’s Lily’s (and Blue Kangaroo’s) birthday. Like many little girls, she wants everything to be PINK! There are pink party clothes and pink presents, pink party games and pink food. Understandably, Blue Kangaroo starts to feel a little outnumbered, and miserably leaves the party. Lily notices of course, and helps make Blue Kangaroo feel loved and included again.

There is also a lovely Christmas book in the series, Just For You, Blue Kangaroo! which shows that Christmas isn’t about big fancy gifts, but about thoughtful gestures, made from the heart.

These books convey such a lovely warmth in Lily’s life, without ever seeming to be didactic or sappy. Through simple situations that children will relate to, the stories show that there are ways to be thoughtful and giving, even when you are small.

Filed Under: Age 2+, Picture books

Happy ’09!

7 January 2009 by · 1 Comment

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We’re a little belated with the new years wishes… Have been taking a break, enjoying some sun (and inducing some giggles). I love the calm of this time of year, seems like the time on the clock is less important, days are longer and anything is possible.

Lou and I have lots of ideas for 2009, for new things for the blog, and for our little store. We love doing what we are doing, so we look forward to lots more blogging fun in ’09.

Just had to share with you a beautiful book-related joy I had this week. I’m still glowing from my delight when I picked up a surprise parcel from the post office yesterday.

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It arrived from my good friend in France, Anne-Laure. She found and sent me the most beautiful French book on children’s books, Le livre des livres pour enfants by François Rivière. I know I’ll be pouring over this one for many hours – giving the French part of my brain a workout and adding to my mental list of vintage books to look out for…

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Many old and universal classics in here, as well as some French ones I’m not familiar with. And lots and lots of beautiful full page spreads – just the way we like them!

Janvier

Some lovely food for thought in the text too. The introduction is perfect:

On apprend à lire comme on apprend la vie, la main dans la main d’un guide qui vous ouvre, l’une après l’autre, les portes de la connaissance. Très tôt, les livres frappent à l’une de ces portes, mais le très jeune enfant doit à la complicité d’un adulte de répondre à cet appel. Une mère attentive, une grand- mère plus disponible encore, ouvre un livre dont vous scrutez avec attention la couverture fascinante, pose sa voix et commence à lire…

Please excuse my rough translation:

You learn to read as you learn about life, in the hands of a guide who opens the doors of knowledge for you, one after another. Very early, books knock at one of these doors, but a very young child relies on an adult’s assistance to answer this call. An attentive mother – or perhaps a grandmother who has even more time – opens a book: you examine carefully the fascinating cover, she prepares her voice and begins to read…

Beautifully said. Bravo et encore!

Filed Under: book related cool stuff
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