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Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Reading Our Library- Janet & Allan Ahlberg

I'm going backwards a bit with this one-- but Janet & Allan Ahlberg are British authors/illustrators whose books one just shouldn't miss! Janet's illustrations have been awarded the Kate Greenaway medal.

The Ahlbergs partnered to create a number of popular children's books together until Janet's death in 1994. Allan Ahlberg has gone on to write several more books. Their books routinely appear on recommended book lists. Some of the most popular for preschoolers are Each Peach, Pear, Plum and The Jolly Postman. We've enjoyed each of those books. In this post, however, I want to focus on some of the books they wrote for babies and toddlers. These books were new to me, so I thought I would share:


Peek a Boo!  (titled Peepo! in the UK)

This is a delightful board book with die-cut holes. It shows scenes from a baby's point of view as a family goes about its day. The little refrain "Here's a little baby 1-2-3...what does he see?" is catchy and fun.. The old-fashioned illustrations are beautifully detailed with lots of things to point out to your little one in each scene. Both Grace and Jonathan have enjoyed this sweet book. Don't overlook this one!

Another series of board books written by the Ahlbergs is The Baby's Catalogue. This board book series is written to introduce familiar objects to babies, in a similar fashion to a first word book. The first two books feature two words of text to introduce different items to babies. The last two books are more of a guessing game with the baby finding a named object in the picture. It took Jonathan a few tries to enjoy this series, he's enjoyed more of the guessing game books (Blue Buggy, See the Rabbit). Grace has enjoyed sitting on my lap and looking at these books particularly the former two (Doll and Teddy, Baby Sleeps). The series contains four books, each are well worth checking out from your local library. Snuggle up with your little one and enjoy pointing out different objects on each page!







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