One of the most classic and important children’s books ever published sung by the author…

Thanks to Youtube and www.henryholtkids.com

A guest post by Nicole, first-time mum to Charlotte, 22 months.
At about 7:30pm every night Charlotte and I (and sometimes her Daddy) sink into her bean bag and read some books before she settles into bed with Dolly. Charlotte heads straight to her book shelf and starts pulling books out for Mummy to read to her that night. She has a couple of favourites that always need a once over before bed.
Continuing the music theme from Trudy’s guest post, one of Charlotte’s favourite books is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. On the front cover you press a section which starts the nursery rhyme and lights up the sky with tiny twinkle stars. The twinkling stars mesmerised her as a baby. (It was always a good book to have on hand when she was unsettled.)
We never seem to get past the front cover of the book, once the song is over and the lights stop flashing, Charlotte says, “MORE, MORE” and we start the nursery rhyme again. Along with flashing lights, Charlotte also performs the actions to the nursery rhyme, very cute…

Once we get pass the front cover, the book is brought to life with some beautifully illustrated drawings. Five little creatures of the night take us on a journey to find out what twinkles in the bright night sky. It is very much a book that can be enjoyed over and over again.

The other book is Rabbit Ears by Amber Stewart, which Charlotte got for Easter from her Granny. Hopscotch is a very determined little rabbit who knows exactly what he likes and what he doesn’t like. Sounds a bit like Charlotte and most other two-year-olds. What Hopscotch knows for absolute certain is that he does not like having his ears washed. Charlotte can relate to Hopscotch, as she knows for absolute certain that she does not like having her hair washed…

Hopscotch’s big cousin Bobtail comes to stay overnight. While eating some extra-chocolaty chocolate cake, Hopscotch inquires as to when he too can go and stay at Bobtails. Daddy replies when you are a big Hopscotch. While Hopscotch and Bobtail are in the bath, Hopscotch notices that bobtail is washing his own ears. This is where Hopscotch realises that maybe if he washes his own ears this would make him a big Hopscotch and he would be able to go and stays at Bobtails house.

Laura Rankin’s illustrations are exquisite and along with the story it makes for an every enjoyable read.

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

Oscar and I go to Nanny’s house every Thursday night as Matt plays tennis and his parents love having us (that is Oscar) for dinner.

I have noticed over the last month or so that within five minutes of arriving, Oscar crawls to the toy box in the back room, and opens the lid. His face just lights up with excitement as he surveys the array of toys that are inside.

Much to our amazement, the first thing he always gets out are three books, all with a musical theme and they keep him (and his cousin Charlie) entertained for ages.  Reader warning: having all three musical books out together can drive you crazy within 5 minutes.

I asked Nanny if we could borrow the books so we could contribute to the weheartbooks.com family.  This post is the first of three guest posts I will make over the next week.

Incy Wincy Spider is bright, it’s fun, it’s interactive and above all else it seems to be entertaining Oscar no end.  The front cover has a hole at the bottom right hand corner, which is also the bottom of the water spout.  When you press the button it plays the tune, Incy Wincy Spider.  Oscar knows exactly where the button is and also knows if he opens the front cover of the book, the music becomes louder.

Once you open the cover of the book there is also another small button with a cartoon spider on it.  You can only press this once the music has finished, Oscar hasn’t quite mastered that element of the book yet!  When you press this button it makes a special sound effect which I just cannot describe in words but is something like “rip-raw”.

As you work your way through the book it tells the story of Incy Wincy Spider and has interactive pull tabs along the way. (Don’t forget the music button can always be pressed again for more singing…)

The “out comes the sunshine” page is one of our favourites.  It’s got the biggest brightest sunshine with a blue bird popping out.  You also get the opportunity to start the Incy journey up the spout again.  There a few other animals along the way too which are as equally bright and happy.  There’s a dog, or as Oscar refers to him, a “woof woof” and there is also a fat pink pig.

The illustrations and pop outs are so clever.  We also like the page (illustrated here) which has Incy climbing across a thin piece of string which represents his web.

By this stage of the book we have hit the song four times and the other rip-raw sound at least twice.  The final page in the book is just too exciting for words and you can see by the photo that Oscar is so intrigued as to how the legs are free and dangly. 

I tell Oscar it’s a special book and we have to take care when reading “Nanny’s special books”.  Nanny says it’s fine (as most Nannys would) but we want poor old Incy to last a few more years yet.  When he saw the books at our house today, his face was one of total surprise and joy.  There may be tears tomorrow night when we take the books back and leave them at Nanny’s house…

My dear friend, Anne-Laure, reminded me of this book in a comment she left for us during our launch competition. Her twin boys, at two-and-a-half, are loving this book, and now Rowan is too. Most nights he is calling out for ‘Truck’ even before he is in his pyjamas…

Duck in the Truck comes from the very talented Jez Alborough, author of our previously reviewed, Hug!. Duck’s truck gets stuck in the muck, so Frog, Sheep and Goat all lend a hand. With the muck and mud involved, you can imagine the mess, but somehow Duck avoids a sticky end.

The combination of a few different vehicles, some mud and expressive animal characters make it a hit for Rowan. And the rhyming text makes it fun to read aloud. There’s nothing worse than a book that tries to rhyme but doesn’t quite hit the mark, but this one is spot-on.

Last week the Victorian government launched a fantastic initiative to improve literacy levels in the state. The Young Readers Program will hand out 70,000 books per year for four years to two year olds visiting their maternal health centre. The first round of books chosen for the project is the wonderful Whose? Series by Australian author/illustrator Jeanette Rowe (published by Allen & Unwin). Each book in the series is a fun guessing game with lift the flaps for finding the answers. In Whose Tail? there is part of a tail poking above the flap; guess whose tail and then reveal the answer underneath the flap.

The program hopes to encourage reading at home rather than just in the classroom. These books seem the perfect choice because they so cleverly combine fun and learning as well as facilitating warm interactions between parent and child.

Rowe’s new book in the series Whose Eggs? would make the perfect Easter present.

I wish I could have a copy of this…

This is one of five copies in existence of a book hand penned by J.K. Rowling called Beedle the Bard. Auctioned at Sotheby’s for £1,950,000 it is now owned by Amazon.com. There are extracts and reviews on their site. It’s an amazing looking book.

Rowling is donating all the proceeds to her charity The Children’s Voice Campaign to help institutionalised children in Europe.

Ned and I spent a lot less today at Alice’s Second Hand Bookshop in Rathdowne Street. It is such a beautiful little shop and probably one of the best second hand bookshops in Melbourne. They only have a little section of Children’s books but it is all in great condition and they have shelf upon shelf on any other subject you can imagine. We bought a copy of The Whistle Stop Party by Nan Hunt (illustrated by Craig Smith) for $5.50 - what a bargain. No longer in print I can remember reading these books to my little brother in the 80’s. There are three in the series; Whistle Up the Chimney, An Eye Full of Soot and Ear Full of Steam and The Whistle Stop Party; all really worth looking out for in Op Shops or Second hand book shops. All three are so much fun especially for train lovers with jaunty rhymes and great train noises throughout - Clicketty Clack Clicketty Clack.

Ned received some beautiful get well presents this week after having a little op in the Children’s Hospital. His gorgeous mate Oscar gave him a copy of this lovely fold out counting book, Zoo!…

The text is rhyming and it has such lovely bright illustrations; the animals fold out of the book essentially making a four page spread and the paper is a heavy card that feels like it has a laminate on it so there won’t be any rips! Each animal has a rhyme and also an accompanying question to count objects on the page which will be fantastic for Ned when he’s a bit older. Is written by Lori C. Froeb and is published by Five Mile Press .

On the afternoon we came home from the hospital there was a parcel in the letterbox from Ned’s cousin Charlotte which was a copy of Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French in the new board book format. Illustrated by Bruce Whatley this is the gentle tale of a wombats observations of the human family she wants to live with. It is a funny, adorable and subtly informative little book, it is pure joy.

And then today mummy had a present in the mail too. A present to myself from this fantastic etsy store, hownowdesign. A gorgeous necklace…

I am also coveting these vintage blocks from the same store..