The complete original text with pop up illustrations = lovely.

||Available at the We Heart Books store||

We love irreverent picture books in our house because we can all have a laugh together. While at the beach over the weekend we bought a copy of Peek A Poo What’s In Your Nappy? by Guido Van Genechten because while we were in the shop Ned’s dad and I couldn’t stop giggling so we just knew Ned would like it too.

The main character is a mouse who is very inquisitive and decides that he would like to discover what is in each of his friends’ pants. The friends have nappies that are lift the flap so that when Mouse asks if he can have a look, it’s the reader who can reveal what is in the nappy! We see rabbit has seven pellets, dog has a poo with a pointy end, cow has ‘One big fresh cow pat’, etc

Besides the fact that we all find it terribly funny there is actually a message in the madness. When his friends ask Mouse what is in his nappy he proudly shows them that it is empty.

Mouse does his poo in the potty, he shows his friends and then they all want to have a go. Ned has related really well to the story both for its humorous style and also for its practical description of what is in the nappies and about going to the toilet. He doesn’t like going to the potty at all but will sit on the toilet and I think he thinks that they are one in the same anyway.

Like Katie says in her post about potty training books I liked this book because no one used the potty as a hat and although the Mouse likes to look in the nappy of his friends there is no playing with the contents!  The illustrations are great and it is fun to read aloud – a little gem of a book.

Is this not the sweetest thing? Handmade by the very talented Fiona who writes the beautiful blog Hop Skip and Jump from Adelaide. I’m in love. She is currently out of stock unfortunately at the Hop, Skip and Jump store but there are other very lovely toys in stock.

Ned’s favorite bedtime story at the moment, and we have to read it every night, is the pop up edition of Lauren Child’s Beware of the Storybook Wolves. He calls the book ’Big Wolf’ beacuse the main character is being read Little Red Riding Hood however the story gets a little corrupted when Herb’s mum leaves the room and the Big Bad Wolf and the Back Cover Wolf escape the book.

Ned particularly loves it when Herb screeches ‘HELP‘ and always joins in reading that bit. The pop ups are lovely and just make for even more added amusement to Lauren Child’s already spectacular illustrations. The thing is that the book is just so funny also for mummy and daddy – and we do have to read it every night! I love a good fractured fairytale.

I found these in a lovely indie bookshop near me. A collection of 12 of Eric Carle’s most famous and popular images in full colour posters. These would look gorgeous in a classroom or framed in a nursery. Published by Chronicle Books I think they were up around $50 but well worth it for 12 prints.

If they are too big we also think the Eric Carle Flash Cards also published by Chronicle would make a lovely frieze or wall art in a nursery.

Also very much looking forward to seeing the pop-up version of The Very Hungry Caterpillar due be released next month in Aus. You can see some lovely pictures on Eric Carle’s blog. Also see the book used on this great blog as the centre of a Hungry Caterpillar party theme.

I have had many favorites this year as I do every year. In 2008 I have really loved Cheeky Monkey, all of Anna Walker’s books and Lauren Child’s Goldilocks is just divine, but Why Is The Sky Blue? is my favorite for 2008.

Why Is The Sky Blue? is a non-fiction book for the toddler to age 6 age group. It is published by Ladybird Books in Australia and is a real surprise package. It is gorgeously presented on 100% recycled paper, a fantastic initiative by Ladybird for the future and answers all those curly nature questions that fascinate children and adults alike.

Amy Schimler’s illustrations make this book really, really beautiful and interesting. Amy, a talented artist writes a lovely blog called Red Fish Circle on which she shares her illustrative work as well as fabric’s she designs and creative photography.

In Why Is The Sky Blue?, Amy’s illustrations are punctuated with flaps to lift, tabs to pull, and wheels to turn that reveal the answers to the BIG questions. The best question I think is ‘How do penguins keep warm?’ but others include ‘Why do flowers smell?’, ‘What do bird’s say when they sing?’ and ‘Do fish drink?’.

Quirky, fun and educational, this has all the elements of a great book. All these fantastic questions and answers can keep little ones entertained for hours and are sure to lead to bigger questions and queries.

||Why Is The Sky Blue? is available online from the we heart books store||

FOUND - another lovely children’s book post. Orange You Lucky is a funky blog that is one of my favs and this week she mentioned her excitement at finding Lauren Child’s illustrated Pippi Longstocking.

I don’t think there is anyone I would have rather seen illustrate Pippi than Lauren Child. Her penchant for strong girls in her own books really shines through in her interpretation of Pippi. I wrote about my adoration here.

Helen who writes Orange You Lucky also mentions another favorite of mine J. Otto Seibold’s pop up version of Alice in Wonderland. In Ned’s nursery this book has been sitting on display, face out because I just think it’s too gorgeous to put away spine out.

Although the original story has been rather heavily abridged to fit this picture book, the pop ups and fold outs of Seibold’s art are more than enough to make up for it being shortened.

Seibold is also the author/illustrator of Olive the Other Reideer, our favorite Christmas book this year which has it’s own equally impressive pop up. Olive is also on Youtube…

Seibold also has the most awesome website that is definitely worth a visit.

||J. Otto Seibold’s website||

||Pippi Longstocking written by Astrid Lingren and Illustrated by Lauren Child available online from Readings||

||Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and J. Otto Seibold available online from Amazon||

||Olive the Other Reideer available online from the we heart books store||

Once a series like Maisy takes off and becomes a feature in every discount and department store, it’s easy to forget what made you love her in the first place.

And while the monopolisation of series like Maisy in chain store aisles undoubtedly takes shelf space away from the huge variety of other creative and talented authors out there, it is nice to know that there is a quality children’s book available very accessibly.

I love Lucy Cousin’s bold colours in all her books and the clever use of concepts that appeal to babies and toddlers. In the pop-up and lift-the-flap editions of Maisy in particular, the illustrations are always a little bit quirky, and reveal something unexpected.

Rowan knows ‘Maisy’ as ‘Mimi’ ‘cos he has a Maisy DVD where you can select the language, and I’ve only ever played it to him in French. (One day he’ll get me back for doing things like that…) I know some mums who find the character dialogue in the Maisy animated series annoying. But what I only just discovered is that the character voices and sound effects were recorded in London by Australia’s own comedy duo, The Umbilical Brothers. That puts it in a new light!

For Melbourne Maisy lovers, Readings stores have a promotion this month, giving away a mini Maisy plush toy with every hardback Maisy book purchase. (We bought Maisy at the Farm, pictured here.)

And speaking of oldies but goodies, check out this lovely post on Media Macaroni titled Why Charlie and Lola Makes Me Want to Procreate.

A guest post by Trudy, 30-something-year-old first-time mum to Oscar, 15 months.

What is it about animals that kids find so interesting, actually what is it about animals that I find so interesting? Is it their shape, the noises they make, the colour of their skin, fur or feathers? Yes you guessed it, Oscar, Matt & I made a recent trip to the zoo. I am not sure who was more excited, Oscar, his dad pointing out all of the wonderful animals, or me watching the expressions on both of their faces.

Ever since our adventure to the zoo last week, we have had even more fun with our vast array of animal books at home. I actually didn’t realise how many animal books we have got!

Some of the books have already been reviewed by Lou & Katie [Dear Zoo (Rod Campbell), Zoo! (Lori Froeb) and Dog (Matthew Van Fleet)] but I have included another favourite to share with the weheartbooks.com family.

Animal Babies A to Z: A Pop-Up Book by Chuck Murphy

Open the front cover and you are taken aback by the most beautiful bold black and white letters. The anticipation of what’s behind is too much for Oscar as he grabs at a letter. [He needs to be reminded again that it's a special book and we need to be careful! He is learning slowly.]

A = Antelope B = Baboon C = Chameleon. The bright colours of the Chameleon against the black shiny background is truly amazing and the pop-out three-dimensional branch which holds the Chameleon and its five offspring is like the real thing.

As you work your way through the alphabet, you are greeted with wonderful pop-outs or lift the flaps to see who may be behind that wonderful letter. The range of animals is just amazing and it’s always nice to see some Australian classics such as the koala and wallaby (what a clever man to put a wallaby, but I guess when you’re confronted with “k” for kangaroo and koala you have to think a little more laterally).

Most of the classics such as the gorilla, elephant, snakes, tigers and lions are in there. I was disappointed that the giraffe couldn’t squeeze into the book but when you see the family of gorillas you forgive him for the oversight! We then move to some of the more obscure animals including the okapi, numbat, quetzal, urial and vicuna – all very interesting to say the least.

I have shared a couple of our favourite pages below so you can see how wonderful the illustrations and pop-outs are. (Forgive some of my photography skills but it’s a tricky book to capture.)