New Year, new books

We’ve just had Angus’s first Christmas and it was really lovely. As he's only one year old, he didn’t really understand all the fuss about presents, but he definitely appreciated all the attention! He was lucky enough to get some gorgeous books from family and friends, so it’s been nice having some new stories to liven up his collection – I was getting to the point where I couldn’t face yet another read-through of The Very Hungry Caterpillar…

One of my favourites of his new books is Animal Babies!, which helps teach little ones to count to five. The various baby animals (zebra, crocodile, lion, elephant, giraffe) all have strokable skin for babies to touch and feel, and Angus loves it when I make the noises for each animal (although if anyone can tell me what a giraffe is supposed to sound like I'd appreciate it).

Another good book Angus was given is Never Use a Knife and Fork, by Neil Goddard and Nick Sharratt. It’s the sort of book I would have loved as a child, especially with lines like ‘Bung your thumbs in hard-boiled eggs/Trickle treacle down your legs’. It’s aimed at slightly older children (Angus's three-year-old buddy Zoe is a fan, as pictured) but Angus loves the rhymes and the pictures (although I have to keep the book just out of his reach so he can’t rip the pages).

Having some new books to add in with his old favourites has made me realise how nice it is to have a bit of a change, so one of my New Year’s resolutions is to try and get to the library a bit more often so I can keep finding new books for him and changing them regularly.

Did your child get any great new books for Christmas? If you have a new book that’s been a hit with your little one, we’d love to hear about it.

in single parents | Childrens (under 5) | parents | literacy | Bookstart |