If you’re looking for a super fun book, this little board book by David LaRochelle, about a literally freewheeling cow, is genius!

If you’re looking for a super fun book, this little board book by David LaRochelle, about a literally freewheeling cow, is genius!
A charming old English cumulative song about a farmboy feeding the barnyard animals is given a fresh treatment with the lively and animated ink-and-watercolour illustrations of Paul Galdone.
Most bedtime-themed books have a lulling effect — for good reason, assuming that they are actually functioning as bedtime reads, since parents usually hope that their children will fall asleep quickly. That said, you might want to make an exception for this book.
There’s something particularly endearing about farm animals that lend themselves well to starring in children’s books — although, I suppose a big part of it is stems from the fact that they are mostly non-threatening herbivores who have no desire to eat people!
In Where’s Tim’s Ted? It’s Time for Bed!, the eponymous young protagonist’s bedtime routine hits a snag when neither he nor his grandparents can find his teddy bear, Ted, anywhere in the house. As a result, Tim — like most children who are reliant on a comfort object during bedtime — is unable to fall asleep.
In Whose Hat Is That?, a mysterious hat is sent on a merry adventure when a playful gust of wind sends it flying onto the head of one animal after another. And while each time the hat-wearing animal is pleased about the way it looks, the hat doesn’t seem to fit quite like it ought to… that is, until it finds its way back to its rightful owner.
At some point in life, one comes to the realisation that sometimes, it’s not just about what you know, but also who you know. Thus, nurturing good relationships with the people you meet is always a good idea, especially since you never know when you’ll need their help.
Case in point: the eponymous protagonist in Little Blue Truck, who takes time to exchange friendly greetings — “Beep!” — with all the various animals he meets along the way.
Every kid and parent out there probably knows this by heart: cows say ‘Moo’; sheep say ‘Baa’; three singing pigs say ‘La la la’. *Yawn* Oh wait, that’s from Sandra Boynton’s Moo, Baa, La La La. But you get the gist: everyone seems to have gotten their animal sounds down pat — of course pigs say ‘oink’! Don’t they?
Reading Sounds of the Wild: Ocean is quite possibly the next best thing to bringing your kids to the ocean, or better yet, deep-sea diving.
Since the latter is not feasible and it’s unlikely that most kids will be lucky enough to get a chance to get up close to marine animals, this book does an amazing job of bringing the sights and sounds of the ocean right to them.
For kids who have mastered the alphabet and know some basic facts about the common animals, the usual alphabet and animal books can be a tad too simple and boring. For them, Q Is for Duck will be a wonderful book that aims to get them to think out of the box and make connections between words.
As the title suggests, the dogs in this book make different barking sounds that you will have to follow as you count them. The kids love it, but you’ll probably need some time to catch your breath by the end!