Hi everyone! I am back with a rundown of some wonderful board book titles I’ve had the pleasure of reading lately. Thanks to the kind friends at DK (Dorling Kindersley) and Penguin Random House Canada, I will first be talking about an Eco Baby title called Where Are You Elephant?, illustrated and designed by Rachael Hare. Second on the review docket today docket is a look at some of the recent and fantastic board books I have checked out from my library, including a gorgeous West Coast alphabet book, an alphabet book featuring cats, William Bee’s Stanley titles, some puppies, and more. Happy reading to you all!

Over the winter months, I remember checking out an adorable board book called Eco Baby: Where Are You Polar Bear? from my library. My (at the time) two year old became very enamoured of it, and we read it countless times before bed. When the opportunity came up to review a title from DK called Eco Baby: Where Are You Elephant?, I was delighted- I had not known that there were more! Part of an Eco Baby series of titles that looks at animals in different environments, these board books are “plastic free touch and feel” and “fully recyclable”. A sturdy, mid-size board book with a fluid and streamlined presentation, Eco Baby: Where Are You Elephant? makes use of simple cutouts (typically of landscape shapes) and corrugated cardboard acting as the tactile component of the board book. Eco Baby: Where Are You Elephant? takes readers on a safari ourney. “Where are you, Elephant? Are you hiding nearby? Let’s explore and see if we can find you.” After the book’s opening, readers are shown different animals doing activities in each spread (e.g. a giraffe eating “leaves from the tops of tree”), and are asked if this is something Elephant would do. While learning about wild animals along the way (and their respective habits), readers are eventually led to the featured animal and a happy surprise. Easy to read black text, durable pages, simple tactile components, and easy-to-identify animals make Eco Baby: Where Are You Elephant? sweet and gently educational reading- and just perfect for young readers who love board books about animals. Interested readers will be happy to know that there are even more in the Eco Baby series to explore including koalas and penguins!

Now let us take a look at some other board books I have read and would recommend: let’s start with A Is for Anemone: A First West Coast Alphabet by Indigenous artist Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd, a splendid alphabet exploration featuring quintessentially West Coast images (mountain peaks, orcas, urchins, valley trails, etc.) in a sturdy, glossy compact board book with gorgeous embossments; ABC Cats: An Alpha-Cat Book by Lesléa Newman, illustrated by Isabella Kung is a darling feline alphabet book, with witty text by Newman and sublime artwork by No Fuzzball! artist Kung; titles by William Bee make it to the list twice here with the beloved (both of my kids truly cannot get enough!) character Stanley in Stanley’s Opposites and Stanley’s Shapes; Ruth Spiro and illustrator Irene Chan’s educational and adorable Baby Loves The Five Senses… series makes an appearance here with Touch!, an introductory look at the science behind how our skin helps us feel things; photographer Andrew Knapp returns with more doggy adventures in the tremendously winsome Let’s Find Momo Outdoors!: A Hide-and-Seek Adventure with Momo and Boo; Sophie Beer’s Rainbow Pups! is a fantastically bright adventure through a multitude of colours starring adorable dogs; and last but not least, Wombat Big, Puggle Small by Renée Treml is an extremely endearing look at opposites and word pairs starring a young wombat and a baby echidna- called a puggle!- (two animals we do not get to see much in books for little ones!). I have already placed a few more board books by Renée Treml on hold, I was so delighted by this title!

I received a copy of Where Are You Elephant? Courtesy of Dorling Kindersley/Penguin Random House Canada in exchange for an honest review. All opinions and comments are my own. Titles featured here have been published and are currently available.