A sincere thank you to Hatchette Book Group and Chronicle Kids for sending me a copy of these board books! Full list below.
1. Drive the Fire Truck illustrated by Dave Mottram
Interactive board books keep getting more and more creative but Drive the Fire Truck really strikes gold as the book becomes a child's steering wheel. As the fire truck has a job to do, children will be able to feel apart of the action as they pretend to drive the fire truck right to the scene. "The people are safe and the building's okay. Good work! Your fire truck saved the day." I would image that when children see the illustration of the horn button in the book they'll wish for an actual horn button to push but an imagination is a wonderful part of childhood and who doesn't love making siren sounds?
2. Drive the Race Car Illustrated by Dave Mottram
Similar to Drive the Fire Truck, Drive the Race Car also becomes a steering wheel as children can pretend to whizz around the track. Here'a sample of one of the pages: "Pit stop! Your team is super fast. Your engine's fine, now hit the gas!"
3. Hide-and-Seek by Shasha Lv
Bear is looking for his friends. Bear finds Mouse, Turtle, Cat, Duck, and Pig...but where's Little Snail? Children will have to look closely as Little Snail blends in with Bear's pocket. Little Snail is found!
4. Papasaurus by Stephan Lomp
Inspired by P.D. Eastman's Are You My Mother?, Papasaurus starts off with Babysaurus playing hide and seek with Papasaurus. When it's time for Babysaurus to look for Papasaurus he can't find him. Babysaurus proceeds to ask those around him: "Have you seen my papa?" A creative adaptation of Are You My Mother? and will be very popular with children who love dinosaurs!
5. Mamasarus by Stephan Lomp
Also inspired by P.D. Eastman's Are You My Mother?, Babysaurus was playing with Mamasaurus one day when he slid off Mamasaurus and couldn't find her! As Babysaurus goes looking for his mother he sees Ornito, Tritopa, Ptero, Hespero...and then finally Mamasaurus! I particularly like the facial expression of Mamasaurus on the cover of the book and the vibrant colors throughout.
6. Mix it Up! by Herve Tullet
For the days when you don't feel like cleaning up paint (or the child covered in it) Mix it Up! offers an exciting alternative. A book that invites children to put their fingers on each page as if mixing colors together little ones will quickly see the result of their work as the next page takes the colors they "mixed" on the previous page and provides children with an entirely new pallet. That blue and red that was mixed together makes purple. And that yellow and blue makes green!
A really fun way for children to learn about color mixing without the mess.
7. Baby Otter Illustrated by You-Hsuan Huang
I've actually never purchased a finger puppet board book before -- I always figured that children would be too distracted by the puppet to actually listen to the story but I changed my opinion on that after my daughter asked me to read Baby Otter at least three times all while moving the puppet around. The Baby Otter set is also great for a diaper bag, car ride, or just having near by if you need to calm or distract your little one for a few minutes.
8. Baby Narwhal Illustrated by You-Hsuan Huang
Baby Narwhal is another one in the series that is very sweet. Those eyes! With little bits of information about Narwhals children will learn that Mama helps Narwhal look for food. If Narwhal sees friends he makes a clicking sound. Narwhal also likes to leap and splash.
Enjoy!