0 Books for the first 24 months : Momma Child Books

Part of the #Write31Days series in October.
This is a series of book categories for picture books in the first 24 months.
Our next category is Momma-Child book.

Well, if we talking about babies, they bond most instantly with the mum. Mum's kiss, hug, cuddle - well yes, mum's the word at that age. So can a picture book featuring momma and baby go wrong.

One momma-child book is a must own in your child's first library and there are so many beautiful books out there - written and illustration just as beautiful as the mother's love for the baby.

Our picks for the first 24 months in this category

1. The Runaway Bunny - Margaret Wise Brown : The story line is about a baby bunny which wants to run away from the momma and how the momma answers back on the forms she will take to be with the bunny, to protect the bunny - come what may. Doesn't it say it all? Till the baby reaches the stage to really get the story line and be touched by it, this book serves as a beautifully illustrated one to just watch the pictures - with alternate black and white illustrations - It is an treat to the eye. Later on, a game of identify the baby bunny who disguises himself among plants in the garden, snow in the mountain and a fish in the pond is a sheer pleasure with a young child. When you a growing reader, the re-read will guarantee touchy, cuddly and may be even teary eyed moments.
Our detailed review here.

2. A Bit Lost : Chris Haughton : Another beautifully illustrated, simple with repeated text book which is a story of a baby owl who falls off a nest and goes around describing his mother. A squirrel helps find the mother with all the identifications like big, pointy ears and big eyes.
The book can be fully picture read by a child who doesn't even know alphabets. Such is the effect of the subject in the book, repeated text and power of illustrations

 

0 Books for the first 24 months : Books on Animals

Part of the #Write31Days series in October.

This is a series of book categories for picture books in the first 24 months.


Books on Animals

After bright colorful pictures and faces of babies, children of less than 24 months take to animals very well. A book on animals or any one particular animal/pet the child loves is a must-own in your little one's library.

Our Picks:


Dear Zoo : Rod Campbell : A cute classic that doubles as a lift-the-flap is a story of a little boy who writes to the zoo asking for a pet. Zoo sends him an animal one by one in the mail box - the little ones delight by pulling up the mail box to see which animal. The boy then rejects each of them giving a reason - this gives opportunity aplenty to emote with the young ones with the snake being scary and a giraffe too tall and so on. Finally , the boy is happy with a puppy. 

Hippo has a Hat : Julia Donaldson : This is one of the few Julia Donaldson's which isn't a full fleged story book. This book also doubles as a humorous read. The book's illustrations feature a rather modern take on the animals having each animal dress up in clothes since they are on a shopping trip to shop for clothes for a party. One of our first book and loved to bits by the bubbling till today. Our detailed review here.

0 Books for the first 24 months : Lift the Flap/ Pull the tab

Part of the #Write31Days series in October. 

This is a series of book categories for picture books in the first 24 months.

Lift the Flap / Pull the Tab Books:

Roughly over 6 months, lift the flaps are great. Babies of that age love Peek-a-boo as a game and doing it with books makes it all the more fun. For a parent who seems to find difficulty with getting the child to get interested in books, a lift the flap one would do the trick.

While choosing lift the flap ones, there is no best pick. It is best to choose the ones that involve the objects/characters that your child likes. Choose ones which have babies hidden under the flaps, or a park scene with objects found in the park hidden under the flap or a one with animals. Gauge your child's current fascination and choose a lift the flap one in that category.

Our favourites have been 

1.  Peek-a-boo Happy Baby by Busy Baby : This one has been read, flaps lifted a zillion times and has had us giggling, cuddling, laughing and of course playing peek-a-boo for a long time since the first time we bought @4 months. The bubbling was baby crazy then. 

2. I feel Happy : Little Learners: This is a pull the tab book which talks about emotions on each page , also introduces the child to family members and friends . Our detailed review here.

0 Books for the first 24 months : Birthday Books

Part of the #Write31Days series in October. 

This is a series of book categories for picture books in the first 24 months.

Happy Birthday Book

Children around 18 months who start attending birthday parties of friends/family develop a love that is magical for birthday parties. While most babies' first birthdays are those that less involve them and mostly the parents', second birthdays involve the child a bit more.

Personally, at our home, this worked since we attended a few birthday parties after the bubbling was 18 months old and she had a fascination for parties, balloons, cake cutting and the likes. At this age, books that relate to real world incidents which the child identifies with work wonders, as did a birthday book at our home.

At younger than 18 months or so, even if the child doesn't still get the birthday concept, our picks double up as a good options to simply view the illustrations and later on to enjoy the birthday bit.

Our picks:

1. Happy Birthday, Biscuit.

This is part of the Biscuit puppy series and shows the whole day of birthday festivities that a girl plans for her puppy, Biscuit. We have loved this since the bubbling's fascination for birthday and puppies had her immediately take on to the book. We have reviewed this here.

2. Happy Birthday Mouse by Laura Numeroff.

This is by the author of the "If you give a .. "series - Laura Numeroff. Laden with pretty illustrations this book is about what the mouse wants to have for his breakfast on his birthday. Taking on from the most famous book of the If you give a series - which is If you give a mouse a cookie - the mouse wants a cookie for his birthday breakfast, The illustrations are lovely and has most of the breakfast items that a child can easily relate to.

0 Books for the first 24 months : Cloth Books

Part of the #Write31Days series in October. 

This is a series of book categories for picture books in the first 24 months.

Cloth Books:

In the first few months, cloth books are the best bet. The child can see colors, feel textures and also use as a snuggle pillow. With no fear of pages tearing apart or the fear of putting them into the mouth, these are a very good option to introduce to the child.

We have had a few cloth books while the bubbling was young and we still love how colorful and fun they are. There are also cloth books with rattles, teethers, crinkles to additional serve as toys and chewers for the babies.

Our picks:

Where is my Belly Button?: The original book by Karen Katz is a lovely one indeed. The abridged version of this in a cloth book was much adored in our home. The book will grow on the child with the lift the flaps and the body parts learning bits.

LaMaze Cloth Books: We had this black and white crib toy and have loved it.

0 Books for the first 24 months : Hugs and Kisses Book

Part of the #Write31Days series in October. 

This is a series of book categories for picture books in the first 24 months.

I strongly believe that any book that you introduce your child to in the first 24 months will work, if not on the first read, on repeated reads it surely will. But there are some that you just can't go wrong with. It is guarenteed to be a success , sometimes even in the first read. You just get lucky, if you happen to do these books with them. This series is to list such categories that we @ The Bubble Ink household think are sure hits and the ones we have loved in that series.

Hugs and Kisses.

Books with hugs and kisses work from Day 0. Hug is something a baby as young as a few hours will respond to. Hugs and kisses are special always and if they come along with picture books, they sure a win-win combination.

Advantages of books based on Hugs and Kisses are 

1. They feature baby faces - sometimes mumma-papa-baby characters which a child loves seeing.
2. They offer a lot of opportunity to  hug and kiss your little ones.

Our picks in this category

1. Huggy Kissy : Leslie Particelli - Featuring the one-haired baby of Particelli fame, this book has pictures of the baby hugging and kissing all members of the family , even the dog and the fishie.
This is one of the first books bought at the Bubble Ink house hold and the bubbling took to it immediately. 
It is a bubbling full five . Check our review here.

2. Counting Kisses - Karen Katz - Aptly called "Kiss and Read" book, a perfect book for read before sleep time. The book has each member of the family taking turns to kiss the baby on each body part by couting from 10 to 1 last kiss on the baby's sleepy , dreamy head.

0 Write 31 days : Our favourites in the first 24 months

Bubble Ink, being a book blog hasn't featured a book list yet. I have personally bookmarked, pinned , checked off items in booklists across the internet to build my home library of picture books for the child and using that excuse built a library  for myself.  But, somehow never felt I could do justice to a book list. I kept shrugging off the idea thinking "It's going to contain only our favourites", "Am never going to able to get the right number, 10 must read, no 20, no 50" . However, having come to know so many kid-lit websites, FB pages and benefitted by them, it is only fair to pay back by making my own list.

This is a book list of a different sort for the reasons that I find it extremely difficult to list "X" must-have books for "x" year old - So I decided to list a category of books that you might want to introduce your child to in the first 24 months – suggest one or two in that category.

As a new parent aspiring to introduce the best books to your child , or worried about not being so-well-read yourself, or groping around websites or bookshops  without being sure of what to pick, there is just one thing I have to say :  if you read and enjoy children's literature yourself, you will soon sense your child's pulse and develop a knack yourself for the books that your child will love , or better than that your child will just take the lead soon to choose on his/her own. Either way, it works, it just works!

Now such a book list has been on my mind for quite a long time –When I started drafting the blog for the last couple of weeks, it was intended to be “12 Picture book categories for the first 24 months”  - but as I listed it grew to be more than 12. So jumped on Write31Days opportunity to take the plunge, revive the blog and do this long pending book list.

I know, I know, the 30 authors’ one is left at the letter “N” – that is coming soon too!

What you can expect on the Bubble Ink blog for the next 31 days of October is a book category per day – books that we have loved in that category – only books read to/enjoyed by the bubbling will be featured here. I am going to call call it “Our favourites in the first 24 months”. The review of the books under the category might be short unlike a full length Bubble Ink review. If the book has already been reviewed, I will link to the post.  If I fall short of 31 categories, then I will continue to review books for the rest of the days.