Catie reads to Zach

When I asked how the last G’ma-Catie book went over, I was told that Catie had read it aloud to her new brother Zach on his first day home from the hospital. Today I’m putting in the mail two more books to encourage this.

The first is Day and Night’s Peekaboo Farm (Candlewick). “Cock-a-doodle-doo” says the first page of this board book and on the opposing page is a barn with a door that opens to reveal a picture of a rooster, labeled with its name. Goat, kitten, horse, dog, and chickens are all introduced in the same way. The pattern continues until the last two pages. “It’s everybody!” cries the penultimate page and shows all the previously introduced animals present and wide-eyed. The last page opens to all of them sleeping, “Shhh, they’re sleeping, goodnight.” There’s an app attached to this book, but Catie’s daddy will have to help her with that.

There are more hidden animals in Sebastien Baun’s Can You Say It, Too? Growl! Growl! (Candlewick) “Who’s behind the rock?” asks the first page and a sturdy flap shows an animated bear and cries, “It’s a hungry bear! Growl! Growl!” Board book pages and flaps also show a wiggly hissing snake beside a tree stump, a playful monkey hanging on branches and a roaring tiger in the grass. There’s continuity in the presentation and sentence patterns, huge variety in habitats, lots of opportunity for dramatic reading and animal sounds and naming.

These books are patterned enough for Catie to “read” to her brother and in less than a year, Zach will be making the noises and maybe even naming some of the animals. Hard to imagine all that growing in one year!