Babies | Daddy Mojo

Are You Small?, illustrated book genius or fun, whatever you like

I’m currently teaching a high school English class and they won’t tell you that they want order, structure and something to do. Left to their own devices most of them would be content spinning their energy and creative juices wasting time on their handheld computers that can also make phone calls. Students crave order and boundaries, but they won’t tell you that. Illustrated books have their own unwritten set of rules, mores and means that they’re presented to their key audience to maximize the book’s attention. Are You Small? is the sibling to Are You Big? and hits the same great high notes, in the same manner, albeit in a key that’s smaller in stature.

Are You Small? is an illustrated book that posits to young children how small is small and a basic lesson in relativity, or it’s all just for fun.

If fun is relative, then this book is relatively

The Mango Tree (La Mata De Mango) is a wordless joy of a book

How can a wordless book be bilingual? The beauty of a great wordless book is that it belongs to everyone anywhere. Sure, the story might be one that readers from another area have no chance of actively doing themselves, but it’s an entertaining one that offers something that they can take away. The Mango Tree or La Mata De Mango is a wordless book whose only language difference is evident by its two titles and the fact that the author’s note is in Spanish and English. The story in The Mango Tree is a simple one of friendship, childhood discovery, change, adventure, and adaptation.

The Mango Tree uses big colors, strong lines and the timeless theme of adventure and friendship to fuel imagination in this wordless book.

A bilingual wordless book? Polyglots unite.

EidTale, an Eid as-Fitr Adventure, a board book, gatefold journey to smile at

How much fun could a board book have if a board book’s intention were to not make audiences bored? That question is answered in the book’s design and layout. When you make the book innovative and combine that with bright colors and sharp graphics its potential audience is limitless. Thus, EidTale, An Eid as-Fitr Adventure is an Abrams Trail Tale board book that follows its predecessors in being an interactive board book. These thick pages fold out, up and down with the purpose of introducing or allowing pre-k through first graders the chance to share or enjoy a time of the year that they really enjoy.

EidTale: An Eid al-Fitr Adventure continues the approachable excellence of the Abrams Trail Tale book series in a non-secular manner.

An Abrams Trail Tale book strikes gold again

This Little Engineer: A Think-and-do-Primer, board book to cerebral action

There is an entire world of board books out there. Some board books teach the very basics. The common denominator is that they all feature soft, pleasing illustrations that crawlers and pre-k students enjoy. This Little Engineer: A Think-and-do-Primer is a board book that ages three through six will identify with. It’s part of the board books that spotlight certain professions or characteristics in the This Little book series from Little Simon. The book also does a great job of identifying a very challenging aspect of something that most children question, but rarely get a great answer to.

This Little Engineer: A Think-and-do-Primer is a board book that makes crawlers through 2nd grade think, but also clears up the vague definition of “what is an engineer?”

come on in you smart crawlers

Tell Me About Space is proof that a board book can extend where you think it is

One of my favorite family photos is of our oldest son, who was approximately 18 months old at the time, lying on his stomach while reading a board book. In that case it was one of the classic Eric Carle books in board book form, but it was the format of the book and not necessarily its content that captivated our child. The only constant about board books are their thick pages, which is just a defense mechanism against teething small creatures. Tell Me About Space is a board book, but it has more in common with the STEM-based books that we’ve previously talked about than the Carle book that our child was gnawing on.

Tell Me About Space is the smart, STEM board book that wanted read to you when you were two-years old.

Smart board books are great for us all

Footsteps on the Map, young child-illustrated book utopia from Nat Geo Kids

When is a National Geographic Kids book not a National Geographic Kids Book? Footsteps on the Map has the National Geographic Kids logo in the upper left-hand corner like others in their lineup, but something is different here. It’s obvious when you look inside, it’s a simpler book, with far fewer words than usual and mixed media illustrations that combine all manner of mediums.

Footsteps on the Map is a dreamy illustrated book about nature and exploring, done only the way that Nat Geo Kids can do it.

A nature book on exploring for those kids 3 and up

O is for Ossicone, a fun alphabet board book to plant smart STEM seeds

Treat kids as intelligent as you want them to be. I have that belief when I teach and it’s how we’ve raised our two children so far. You might’ve heard the tale about the baby who had a toy piano in their crib since they were born and they grew up to be a world-renowned concert pianist. I have no idea if that’s true, it sounds like the sort of information that lives in fables, but it could also breed familiarity with something that might psyche kids out as they get older. Was the child already a prodigy and the fact that they were given that toy just a happy coincidence? O is for Ossicone is a board book. Board books are meant for babies. I didn’t know most of the content in O is for Ossicone. I am not a baby. The proceeding four sentences are 100% true.

O is for Ossicone: A Surprising Animal Alphabet is the smartest, most enjoyable A, B, C board book that your kids have seen in a long time.

Don’t be alarmed if this board book is smarter than you

10 Cats, a counting book that uses logic, simplicity, humor….and cats

10 Cats is such a logical counting book, that’s also utterly original that you’ll want to slap yourself for not thinking of it first. It’s a counting book that combines the seek-and-find aspect that young ages have seen in some books but adds kittens. Oh, it is a counting book where pre-k and kindergarten ages learn to count, but instead of counting up, 10 Cats asks readers to find kittens with certain color patterns or other distinguishing marks.

10 Cats is a counting book that asks pre-k or K kids to use logic, observation, humor, a cat and nine kittens to add up to something fun.

Learning to count is not the cat’s fault