Spring brings baby animals, blossoms, bugs, and many types of weather. I have gathered some perfect picture and board books on all subjects. The picture books are good for ages three through eight unless otherwise noted. The board books are geared toward babies and toddlers.
Seven Little Duckings, by Annette LeBlanc Cate, is an adorable book with gorgeous full open-page illustrations in watercolor and ink. When the mother duck wakes up, she finds that the seven ducklings have hatched and gone on an adventure. She must find them. But there is a fun surprise waiting. This delightful rhyming tale cleverly displays love and counting.
The ABC’s of Spring, by Jill Howarth, is a board book with bright colors on every page. By turning each page, you go through the alphabet and see items that begin with that that letter. There is no text except for the capital letter featured. “S is for swan. T is for turtle. U is for umbrella.”
A Home Like This, by Laura Purdie Salas perfectly painted by Miriam Nerlove, is a board book with a simple rhyming text but rich in detail of both word and picture. A picture of a mother bird on one side of the page, has her sitting in a nest of baby chicks eager for food. The text reads: “A home can be open to cloud and sky…or be sheltered snug, and dry.”
Animals on Parade, by Jane Yolen and magnificently painted by Anne Yvonne Gilbert, is a very unique book as it folds out with an accordion style. The pages seem to glide together as the animals begin small and with few in sight. But as the pages progress, more appear with a variety of sizes and types. The end of this cleverly styled book has the most important conservators on earth: children! The rhyming text seems to slide off the tongue as these animals parade.
Meena and the Microbiome, by Dr. Mandi Osman brightly illustrated digitally by Teresa Osman, is an exploration of the world outside and nature. After it rains, Meena and her scientist mom go outside. Meena’s mom expresses how the fresh air after a rainfall smells earthy. From there, a whole discussion begins when mom explains about living microbes living in the soil. Her mom explains, “They keep our environment clean and turn old fruit into soil.” You find more information in the back of the book.
Birding for Babies: An Opposite Book, by Chloe Goodhart and vividly illustrated by Gareth Lucas, is a wonderful board book to help youngsters become aware of their outside world and the birds that surround us. This book is formatted with the opposite concept such as the first opened page. There’s an ostrich on one side and a hummingbird on the other teaching large and small. Each page has an interesting simple fact.
Willow Takes on the Weather, by Rachel Nobel, and the wonderful illustrations done digitally and full of expression by Annabel Tempest is all about how an adorable young girl, Willow, deals with unexpected weather. She is all set for a sunny day to enjoy outside. But the weather has other plans. She attempts to blow the wind back, push the clouds away, and throw the rain back. But all three continue to disrupt her day. How Willow ends up dealing with the weather will surely help you deal with unpredictable weather. Check out the clever end pages.
When a Butterfly Goes to School, by Laura Purdue Salas and beautifully illustrated with rich open-page color by Chloe Niclas, is a smallish board book that captures and captivates springtime novelty in butterflies. There is much to learn about and with this extraordinary creature, you witness colors galore from wings and a garden full of color for lunch. Here is a treat waiting to be learned just like school.
The First Day of May, illustrated digitally by Henrique Coser Moreira, is a smallish size wordless book rich in the telling of spring through pictures. This brilliant book celebrates the beginning of spring which brings warmer weather and also brings outside adventures for children. Wordless books bring about many dialogues for youngsters as they tell their own tale.
Papilio, is a story told in three stages about Papilio Polyxenes, the Black Swallowtail Butterfly. The Caterpillar stage starts the story about Papilio by Ben Clanton who illustrated using led and flower pressings, hand de stamps, crayons, pencils, ink, watercolor, halftone patterns, old found etchings, and digital collage. The second stage, the Chrysalis stage, is by Corey R. Tabor and he used pencil and watercolor and assembled digitally. The final stage, the Butterfly stage, was done by Andy Chou Musser and he used gouache and colored pencil on watercolor paper and combined digitally. Here is a brilliant source of learning about this amazing insect with three genius illustrators/authors.
