Last week’s highlight included a visit from our friends Allie and Patrick, plus their little girl Maisie. Their visit reminded me of walking through a bookstore in Maine with Patrick a few years ago: I was newly pregnant with Foster, and Maisie was barely a month old (maybe not even). I was exclaiming over this children’s book and that children’s book, telling Patrick (too many) plot details about each one. He gave me a sideways glance – hopefully a positive one, Patrick? – and said, “How do you know so much about this?”
A lifelong obsession, my friend. Y’all think I’m picking these books for Foster’s enjoyment? No way. This is for me. And so I bring you the second installment in what is likely a never-ending series. Read Vol. 1 here.
Editor’s note: Because of overeager fandom and cockiness, the first post in this series used the incorrect name for a Sandra Boynton book. It is “Blue Hat, Green Hat,” not “Blue Hat, Red Hat.” We regret the error and hope it tarnishes neither our credibility nor our future friendship with Sandy B.
Ding Dong! Gorilla! by Michelle Robinson
I left you with a cliffhanger in a photo caption last time, promising to report back on whether this story was up to snuff. I’m happy to tell you that it did capture our attention for a few weeks’ worth of pre-nap and bedtime reads. A young boy narrates the tale to his mom, telling her that he answered the door expecting the pizza they ordered but found a gorilla instead. The gorilla reorganized the boy’s film collection, colored on the walls, picked too many flowers from the garden, broke a vase with a soccer ball … the list goes on. A silly story with nicely detailed illustrations.
Little Owl Lost by Chris Haughton
If you’ve ever been personally victimized by the emotional terrorism that is Owl Babies, rest easy: in Little Owl Lost, Little Owl finds Mommy Owl quickly, and the journey to get there isn’t traumatizing. (Listen, you think I’m joking, but read Owl Babies. Those little worried owl eyes? Bill’s plaintive “I want my mommy” on every page? When Percy suggests that a FOX got their mother? I wanted my own mommy by the time that book was over.) Foster liked calling out “uh OHHH” when Little Owl fell out of the tree, and we easily made this interactive by asking whether the animal presented as Little Owl’s mommy was, in fact, actually an owl.
Wow! City! by Robert Neubecker
We read this before our trip to DC and were charmed by the little girl’s trip to the big city. This book is almost all illustration, with just one exclamation (wow! bridge!; wow! buildings!; wow! people!) on each set of pages. We discovered, after a few reads, that there is a yellow dog featured in every illustration, and we ended up treating the book as a Where’s Waldo-esque story, looking for that dog each time we read it. That “game” was the perfect difficulty level for Foster, who is almost two.
20 Big Trucks in the Middle of the Street by Mark Lee
The impetus for this book’s traffic jam is a broken-down ice cream truck. A street turned into a truck parking lot is Foster’s dream – and an ice cream truck stuck in one spot is mine. (Wouldn’t they just have to start giving the ice cream away at some point?) Foster is now asking for this book by clicking his tongue repeatedly, his “code” for ice cream and chocolate chips. Actually, come to think of it, maybe he’s just asking for actual ice cream …
I Love Trains! by Philemon Sturges
Self-explanatory title here, a perfect fit for our little train lover. Foster will tell you that a train says choo CHOO and you have to yell ALL ABOARD when you get on a train and that a train conductor wears a hat and that trains go FAST FAST! This book has a simple rhyme with lots of fun details in the illustrations – farm animals, other vehicles on the road, even a poorly concealed “secret” airplane – and includes descriptions of the different kinds of train cars in the front and end papers.