Debby Slier's Loving Me is a delightful board book! Published in 2013 by Star Bright Books, it is definitely one I'll be recommending!
Here's the cover:
The very last page in the book tells us the woman and baby on the cover are Shoshone Bannock. Indeed, with that page we learn that the other photographs in the book are of children and family members who are Lakota Sioux, Navajo, Iroquois, and Potawatomi.
On the first page, we see a mom and baby. The text is "My mother loves me." That pattern is repeated over the rest of the book. A dad, a brother, a sister, an aunt, an uncle, a grandma, a grandpa, and a great grandma... embracing a child. They're clad in a range of clothing, from jeans and t-shirts to traditional clothing, but all of it in the day-to-day life of the individuals being shown. Slier's photo essay is a terrific mirror for Native kids, and, it'll help children and adults who aren't Native see us as in the fullness of our lives as Native people.
I heartily recommend Slier's
Loving Me, published by Star Bright Books.
Cradle Me, written by Debby Slier celebrates Native American families and shows how they carry their babies. It also encourages caregivers to teach children to say the words in their own languages.
“It is impossible for me not to have positive feelings when I look at the faces of babies. Debby Slier's Cradle Me had me happily gazing at the faces of babies from eleven different tribal nations in their cradle boards.” – Debbie Reese (American Indians in Children Literature)
In Loving Me, also written by Debby Slier, babies and toddlers will discover the importance of family relationships through the charming photographs of Native American families.
Cradle Me and Loving Me are available in Navajo English
I’ve become a bit of a board book connoisseur in my old age. While my cohorts are reading speculative YA fiction and high end narrative nonfiction I’ve been getting up close and personal with books that have pages that can double as coasters. Aside from realizing just how difficult the darn things are to write (darn hard, she said cleanly) I’ve noticed that board books just don’t get a lot of credit on the interwebs. There are no board book blogs. No board book Goodreads Groups. No hashtags for #boardbooklove or #boardbookwarrior (there are hashtags for #bbforever but they have nothing to do with titles for tots). With all this in mind, I think there’s room enough in the universe for a post about some of the board books we’ve seen this year so far and what they have in their favor. Cause when you read something 500 times, you’re either going to go insane or you’ll internalize it to the point where it’s the most fascinating thing you’ve ever read. In the latter (or is it former?) category:
Bizzy Bear: Off We Go by Benji Davies – So here’s the deal with Bizzy Bear. On the outset, I wasn’t impressed. I got some of these books sent to me by Candlewick and give them this sort of cursory glance. They star a bear. He’s British (a fact you’ll notice in a couple of the driving scenes). The most striking thing seemed to be that you could move things or lift things with these strangely sturdy little circle cut outs in various pictures. So I brought some home for the small fry and didn’t think much of it. Fast forward three months and I’m part of the unofficial Yanks for Bizzy Bear Fan Club. I can even pinpoint where the change of heart occurred. It all comes down to Bizzy Bear: Off We Go. The plot, such as it is, concerns our titular bear as he hops a cab to a train to a plane to a vacation where he rounds out the story with a lovely lass he must have picked up mere moments after arriving (well played, bear). I read this book quite a few times, impressed with its ability to stand up to a baby’s beating. There must be some superior form of cardboard at work on this puppy since Bizzy take a licking and keeps on ticking. But it really wasn’t until we got to an image of a roundabout that my mind was blown.
The set-up shows a little roundabout with traffic moving. There are trees on the left and right sides of the roundabout and the traffic sort of disappears under them. Turn a little wheel on the right and the traffic circles around the roundabout. Simple, no? I’m ashamed to say that it probably took me thirty-some readings of this book before I realized something strange. Normally when a baby book contains wheels that turn n’ such the characters appear rightside up and then upside down. It’s a circle, after all. Not so with Bizzy Bear. By some miracle of modern construction there must be two separate wheels at work that make it so that the characters never appear upside down. It has been all I could do to keep from tearing my child’s beloved book into shreds in order to figure out what the internal logistics where of something that many parents won’t even notice. All the books in the series work (and, thanks to their poundability, are perfect for library collections) but this is the one that truly has my heart. Head over to There’s a Book and you can see a video of some kids putting Bizzy Bear through his paces.
14 Comments on Board Books 2012: What Works. What Doesn’t., last added: 4/23/2012
Happy birthday, Fuse!
The fascination with board books is a sure sign you are getting older and younger at the same time–a most curious condition. I hope you are happy with that, especially today. Happy birthday! I am sure that our neglect of board books is related somehow to the general tendency to undervalue those who work with preschool children? Cheers to you today.
Agreed. And thank you for the birthday wishes!
Hey! Cool to see CRADLE ME here! Thanks, Betsy. And if your readers are interested in more books like CRADLE ME, I’ve got a list at my site. Here’s the link:
http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2011/04/top-board-books-for-youngest-readers.html
You’re so right. More people should blog about board books. I’ve thought about it myself but our board books are so shabby, they are the most borrowed books in our library. Our central library can’t send us enough!
When standard PBs get made into board books it’s interesting to see how they get pared down. We had the board book version of Dr. Seuss’s ABC book first and would argues that the rhythm/cadence of the board book’s text is superior to the original PB.
Fine…..you couldn’t have written this 4 weeks ago before I sent off a batch of books* to my brand new great niece? I’ll try to bookmark it for future babies.
*I did use the previous 100 Favorite Picture Book Poll to select the titles I sent: Goodnight Moon (in boardbook); Miss Rumphius; and The Library.
This is excellent. I need to order new board books, so this gives me some great titles. One of my favorite board book series is the Busy —- series by John Schindel. Busy bear cubs, busy pandas, busy birds, busy elephants, busy dogs, etc. Simple board books depicting animals at play (using photography). Our copies are constantly circulating.
PS I hope you add these titles to your review links.
Thank you for your great review of “Cradle Me!” “Cradle Me” is flying off the shelves, our first printing of 8500 are almost gone! Reprinting now, expect delivery July. Look for “Cradle Me” soon at the Smithsonian gift stores in DC.
Sticky parts, wheels with bears that never come up upside down…you make me curious! I wish you a very happy birthday!
Our library system doesn’t even try to alphabetize board books, and you can’t put them on hold. This might be construed as a lack of respect for them, but it’s probably just that it’s easier to put them in a basket than a shelf, because of all the different sizes. Besides, with all the mouthing that goes on, I think board books are one type of book I prefer to purchase for a baby. And even though my own son is almost heading off to college, my little sister is now expecting a baby! So I will use this post for purchasing ideas! Thanks, Betsy! And Happy Birthday!
Oh a post on board books that are more successful in BB form than their original picture book format is a post in and of itself! I’d add Orange Bear Apple Pear to such a list.
Chris, is it weird that I’ve never read a board book of Goodnight Moon to my own offspring? I suspect this will need to be remedied. I thought about linking to this post on my wiki but I dunno. They’re not technically reviews though, so I may hold off.
And Sondy, I can understand not wanting to be able to place holds on board books since they’re a devil to locate when they appear on the holds lists. But since I don’t really want to buy ‘em all and since I love the convenience of getting to take loads of them home, I’m awfully glad we can. Are they gross? Sure, but my baby’s essentially a walking pile of goo. C’est la vie, non?
As I love a good board book, I want to add two favorites. “Hippos Go Berserk” by Boynton is a hall of famer for us. It may be the number 1. It accompanied my son to parks, restaurants, across state lines, you name it. It has been close to 4 years since I’ve regularly read “Hippos” and I am confident that I can still recite most of it by heart. “One hippo, all alone, calls two hippos on the phone.” I still LOVE it’s rollicking rhythm. The other board book my son and I adored is a shortened version of a successful picture book: “One Hungry Monster” by Heyboer O’Keefe. Lynn Munsinger’s illustrations are fabulous and the rhyme and pace are wonderful. Both are counting books, but that’s not the only reason why we love them. When your daughter is older, don’t miss “Harry the Dirty Dog” by Zion in board book format. A very happy birthday, Betsy!