books for little ones

 for babies, this book is a delight.  it has no words, but the pictures tell a story of a gorilla who borrows a zookeeper's keys and lets the animals out.  they follow him home, and sleep in his house.  it's adorable, comforting, and you can adapt the words to the child's age.  for instance, as children get older you can identify the animals.  there is also a balloon that gets loose at the start of the book, and floats slowly up into the sky, getting smaller and smaller through the pages.  very sweet, and the illustrations are lovely.

 when my daughter was a baby we would lie next to each other on the floor (she liked to look at the ceiling fan), and i would hold this up and read to her.  she loved this book.  it's a lesser known dr. suess, silly and perfect.  

ooh, this book is fun!  it has movable parts - the door of the bus opens, the windshield wipers go back and forth.  i had to buy a second one for our second child because it got so well loved.  highly recommended.

reading to your child (or grandchild) is one of the delights of the world (not to mention all the good it does for his/her receptive vocabulary).  these are also go-to baby shower gifts.

pictures were taken at our favorite independent bookstore, joseph-beth.  do you have a go-to bookstore?