The Choosier Snoozer

Book Review, Snoozers

I have been reading to my son since he was first born. At first, he didn't have the where-with-all to even notice pictures, so I just read to him from whatever I was reading. I read The American Plague, a non-fiction about Yellow Fever while he was mere weeks old. He didn't mind the subject, he just liked the sound of my voice. As he got older, I started reading to him from The Chronicles of Narnia, just in case he understood the flavor of the book. He loved it, or at least I imagined he did. Now that he is almost 9 months old, I read to him from board books. Interesting trend, right?

He is actually getting to the age where he has preferences, so he chooses the books we read. We have a great little library of board books, the books for infants that are the right size and texture for little hands... and mouths. He has a few favorites that I have read to him so many times I can recite them without looking. The best are those that rhyme. I’m sure that a child psychologist can confirm this: The rhythms of rhyme attract the baby’s attention and keep him interested.

Sandra Boynton’s Snoozers: 7 Short Short Stories for Lively Little Kids is a wonderful book for a baby. My son will pull this book out of a pile of others. The pictures are entertaining and the “stories” are delightful. They are just short, silly little poems for bedtime. The style of the book is perfect for a curious little one: each one page story is marked by an illustrated tab for turning.

I like all of Boynton’s board books for the pictures. She has such a great drawing style. Some of her titles, particularly The Belly Button Book, are even hilarious to read. Unfortunately, it seems to me that sometimes she just “mails it in” when it comes to the text. Opposites, Oh My, Oh My, Oh Dinosaurs, and Blue Hat, Green Hat are examples of her books that are fun to look at once, but because they have no substance, lose their place on the shelf.

Maybe I am just choosing books to read based on my own preference. Maybe I make it up in my mind that my infant is choosing his own books. But even if that’s the case, since I have to read it 5 times a day, shouldn’t it be at least a little bit interesting to me?