Suggestions for Valentines Day Board Books

Love is in the air, and in our books for the next few weeks. I thought I'd use our next book selections to recommend some nice Valentine's Day or love-related board books. I had intended to read and review a whole bunch of them, but it got to be too difficult to get him to read what I wanted rather than what interested him, so I'll just list a few here that we've made it through a number of times.

Guess How Much I Love You (Board book), by Anita Jeram. A cute, classic tale about a little nutbrown hare and his dad, competing to say who loves who more. I (mom) like this book, and the conclusion, which always strikes me as clever.

Excerpt:

"'I love you all the way down the lane as far as the river,' cried Little Nutbrown Hare./'I love you across the river and over the hills,' said Big Nutbrown Hare."

Mommy Loves Me (Board book), by Rachael Parfitt. Kind of hokey, but this little book is full of photographs of real baby/mommy pairs, which keeps our bookworm happily turning the pages and saying "buhbuh! buhbuh!"

Excerpt:

"Mommy's hugs, snuggling close/Mommy's lap you love the most"

I Love You Through And Through (Board book), by Bernadette Rossetti Shustak. I expected this, based on the title, to be overly corny, but I was pleasantly surprised. The text is simple, reminding a boy that the (presumably parental) narrator loves all different parts of him and during various activities. Something about the illustrations really appeals to me. They seem quite "clean," for lack of a better word, and large; details like the boy's belly popping out of his shirt on the cover make the little boy endearing (at least to this mother of another little boy). We've only attempted a couple of reads so far, and it wasn't an instant hit, but I would go out on a limb and say he'll really like this one within a few days.

Excerpt:

"I love your happy side,/your sad side,/your silly side,/your mad side."

Snuggle Puppy (Boynton on Board) (Board book), by Sandra Boynton. Well, I'm a pretty big fan of Sandra Boynton's ever since "Moo Moo Bah Lalala" and "The Going to Bed Book" showed up on our doorstep, but this one doesn't really do it for me as much as those. The format is a parent dog singing a little ditty to his baby dog about how she/he loves him. Our bookworm hasn't sat still for it yet, despite his love of dogs, but I'll try a few more times. It's hard to give library books a fair shake because we have them for such a short time , and I tend to just bring a book back if he doesn't instantly like it. I can see a toddler that can sing along liking this more.

Excerpt:

"I love what you are. I love what you do. Fuzzy little Snuggle Puppy I love you."

So, there you have it. Four ideas in a sea of corny love-centric books that would make perfect Valentine's Day gifts for the little men and women in your life. Break out the crackers and enjoy the cheeseball.

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