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This past week, my 14 month old nephew and his mama and daddy stayed with us, getting a taste of the New Mexico weather before we head on to Virginia at the end of the month. The little man is a huge fan of books (just like his Aunt Amanda) and I thought we could feature HIS choices this evening. I had every single board book I own out in the living room for him to "read" and play with, probably close to 50, and the books he always seemed to be looking at, touching, or wanting read to him were as follows:

Baby Nose to Baby Toes, written by Vicky Ceelen, which features absolutely BRILLIANT photographs of both babies and baby animals. A lovely, lovely book that my nephew enjoyed and I would recommend for a fantastic shower gift.


Biscuit Visits the Petting Zoo by Alyssa Satin Capucilli, is a wonderful touch-and-feel book that he kept going back to again and again. He LOVED the last page where you could rub Biscuit's belly! Apparently it was just hilarious to him! There are lots and lots of Biscuit touch-and-feel books out there, Biscuit being as popular as he is.


In My Nest by Sara Gillingham and Lorena Siminovich, is pretty brand-new on the market, I had just gotten a package with that and In My Pond the day before the family left, but once the baby saw this book, he didn't let it go. Featuring an awesome interactive finger puppet and cool circle-within-a-circle design, another great one for toddlers. I can see why he enjoyed it so much.

And finally, Who Lives in the Pond, a Baby Einstein bath book, written by Julie Aigner-Clark and illustrated by Nadeem Zaidi. Drool proof, baby teeth proof, water proof, the child just couldn't get over the fact that he was actually ALLOWED to bring this one into the bathtub with him. Very cute!

Those are the nephew's reviews! To learn more or to purchase, click on any of the book covers to link to Amazon. Board books are relatively inexpensive, so they make great gifts.

Author: Vicky Ceelen
Illustrator: Vicky Ceelen
Published: 2008 Random House (on JOMB)
ISBN: 0375842071 Chapters.ca Amazon.com

Facial expression and body language steal the show in this wordless photo gallery starring human infants and their astonishing animal lookalikes.

For more of her incredible animal-baby lookalike photography, pop over to Vicky’s website or flickr pages.

Thanks to Luci McKean (of This is My Bloomington blog and podcast) for a great suggestion that we restate the book title, and author’s and illustrator’s names at the end of each review episode. We begin with this episode and we’re sorry we haven’t been doing this all along.

Warren Adler, author of Funny Boys, will be joined by comedians David Goldman and Tom McCaffrey for "An Evening of Funny Men" at the Telephone Bar & Grill on Monday, February 25, at 8pm. Funny Boys, Adler's 30th novel, re-creates the color, humor, excitement and authenticity of the Catskill Mountain resort era, and is a marvelous salute to the Jewish humor of the Borscht Belt. The event will be held in The Library Lounge at the Telephone Bar, 149 2nd Avenue @ 9th Street in Manhattan. There's no cover charge, and copies of Funny Boys will be available for purchase.

Warren Adler, author of The War of the Roses, Random Hearts, The Sunset Gang, and many other bestselling novels, takes on the New York of his childhood in Funny Boys, coming next month from Overlook. In this darkly funny comedy of errors about success, the mob, and finding true love, Warren Adler's memorable story of a young comedian (tumler) in the Borscht Belt era is a sweeping American tale. For a sneak preview of Funny Boys, pick up a copy of Adler's short story collection New York Echoes, or visit the author's website.

Yep, it's true. The Pride of Jackson, Wyoming William Adler will be publishing a new novel with The Overlook Press next year: FUNNY BOYS. The legendary author of THE WAR OF THE ROSES brings the Catskills to life with not just laughs but also mafia bullets. Plus: no two drink minimum. We're all thrilled and eagerly looking forward to seeing this book to press. To whet your appetites, check out an early version of the cover above. Stay tuned for more. And take my wife, please.