Back in August, Rachel Smalter Hall of BookRiot offered a list of titles for the very newest readers – “A Bookish Parent’s Guide to Baby’s First Library.”  With titles like Moby Dick: an Ocean Primer and The Game of Let’s Go, the list inspired me to do my own exploration of the board book and Early Reader shelves.

Jennifer Adams’ and Alison Oliver’s BabyLit series, as Hall notes, uses classic literature to teach simple concepts like words, colors, numbers, and more.  The Sherlock Holmes primer, for instance, focuses on spooky sounds:

Of course, they baby-proof any tragic and/or disturbing elements.

LOL, guys, you got me!  Ha ha, now you’re all wet!

The books do include some quotes from the original story for parents to read aloud, so babies and toddlers can experience the beauty of language even if they can’t understand it yet.

Ok, guys, exposing babies to advanced vocabulary is awesome,
but this is really stretching it.

Someone in the comments section of Hall’s post mentioned Les Petits Fairytales, so of course I sought out The Little Mermaid next.

Like the BabyLit books, Les Petit Fairytales generally stick to the cheerful parts of the story.

Then I found a few of the Gnome books by Rien Poortvliet.  They’re sweet stories that focus on daily/life rituals like morning greetings, school lessons, playtime and music.
 

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