Bookshop's Favorite Infant Books

One of our Children's Books Department staff's new favorite board books, and a great book to read after Goodnight Moon.

One of our Children's Books Department staff's new favorite board books, and a great book to read after Goodnight Moon.

One of our Children's Books Department staff's new favorite board books, and a great book to read after Goodnight Moon.

As fresh as a toddler’s first experience of rain, Raindrops Roll is our favorite infant book of the year. With stunning photography magnifying beads of water on a leaf, dripping branches, and insects taking cover, it pulls you into the intimate world of a raindrop. The humorous, perfectly crafted rhyme reminds us, playfully, of the web of life. An utterly satisfying lesson in wonder.  —Tera

Stella is a vivacious older sister who leads her little brother Sam through the winter season using their collective curiosity and imagination. Accompanied by the fanciful illustrations seen in all the Stella books, Stella and Sam explore snow and ice and all things winter while furthering their heartfelt relationship and their love of nature in all forms. Reading this book will make you want to grab your nearest sibling and go exploring. —Casey

An utterly irresistible, completely adorable tale of a bear who just wants his hat back, but can't remember where in the forest he could possibly have left it. This is a bear who really, really loves his hat, and will stop at nothing to see its return. Clever, funny, and perfectly illustrated, it is delightful book. —Flannery Fitch

“This clever book combines color recognition, die-cut peek-a-boo holes, animals, and a guessing game into a successful and appealing whole that will have young listeners asking for more…. Each ‘I spy’ page includes visual hints about the upcoming animal’s habitat, alongside the textual clues.” —School Library Journal.

Starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and School Library Journal.
Preschool

One day Hannah wakes in the early hours of the morning. Everyone is fast asleep, so Hannah does a few things she’s never done before. She gives the cat a saucer of milk to lap. She eats cold cherries from the fridge without asking. She borrows her sister’s doll…and her music box…and her colored pencils. In the dim night light, everything is just a little different from before, as if Hannah has stepped into another world. Sakai evokes the hush of night with loose, expressive brushstrokes and muted blues, punctuated by the occasional vibrant cherry or electric pink stripes of pajamas. Perfectly capturing the private world of discovery of a little girl, Hannah’s Night is a quiet treasure that gets better with each rereading. Grades Pre-K–1.

Noi lives with his father and six cats in a cottage by the sea. His father, a fisher, is gone all day, coming home in the evening. Noi, often accompanied by a kitten, is lonely. Until (with a light touch of magical realism) he finds a baby whale in distress on the beach, puts it in his wagon, trundles it home, establishes it in the bath, feeds the whale a pale of fish, and regales his guest with stories of life on the island. Noi’s dad returns from a long day’s work, finds his son with his new friend, comforts Noi with a hug, and then father and son row out in the night sea to return the young whale to its element. In the following pages we see Noi and his father together: painting, cooking, enjoying a beach picnic, and whale watching. The book’s endpapers are of an adult whale and baby whale moving through a depth of blue. The illustrations are rich, round, and reminiscent of Leonard Weisgard’s Caldecott winner Little Island. Grades Pre-K–K.

A young Inuit child tests her mother, something that children do not infrequently whether they live in Alaska or Santa Cruz. What if, she asks her mom, I behaved in a less-than-admirable fashion: Would you still love me? The mother’s answers are wise and, indeed, loving. Striking watercolors and a rhythmic text charm in this new-at-last-in-paperback edition. Ages 2–5.