Maisy's Train
(by Lucy Cousins, Candlewick $5.99 Score:)

All Aboard! Maisy is driving a train in this small adventure. Built into the fun are concepts of up hill and down, into tunnels and out, all with the sights and opportunities to add the sounds of a train ride. One of a new series of sturdy shaped board books that are short but colorful and right on the mark for little lap sitters. 6 months & up.

Age: Infants, Toddlers. Award Year: 2009. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Maisy's Fire Engine
(by Lucy Cousins, Candlewick $5.99 Score:)

Maisy and her pal Cyril are driving a fire engine. Along the way they frighten a small black cat who needs to be rescued. No fires in this little adventure that has a beginning middle and happy ending…and is just right for lap sitters. Toddlers are often fascinated by the noisy big fire engine that comes down the street. One of a series of shape books that gives tots a view of the behind the scenes  world inside the firehouse and on the big truck.

 

Age: Infants, Toddlers. Award Year: 2009. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

In My Nest
(by Sara Gillingham and Lorena Siminovich, Chronicle $8.99 Score:)

A charming board book with an attached felt finger puppet bird that sits above the die-cut cardboard pages. With each turn of a page we see a new layer of the nest until we reach the end where the little bird is cozy with its family. A companion book, In My Pond ($8.99 4.5) uses the same concept with a felt fish, a pond and a happy family. Adorable little books for lap sitters.

Age: Infants, Toddlers. Award Year: 2009. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Maisy's Food / Los alimentos de Maisy
(by Lucy Cousins, Candlewick $5.99 Score:)

Raising a bilingual baby? This and several companion books, such as, Maisy's Animals/Los animales de Maisy are perfect "knowing and naming" books with familiar objects to know, name, and talk about. Each object introduced is labeled in English and Spanish and serves as a good starting point for thinking and speaking in dual languages. Also available, Maisy's Toys and Maisy's Clothes. These are sturdy board books with Cousins zippy signature art work. 18 months & up.

Age: Infants, Toddlers. Award Year: 2009. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Princess Baby Night-Night
(by Karen Katz, Schwartz & Wade/Random House $14.99 Score:)

It’s bedtime but “Princess Baby” has a lot of important ways to delay the inevitable. A cute little story that reluctant bedtime goers will relate to. We could have done without the scene when she takes a tub without any adult in view. That said, this is another winner from Karen Katz! 2 & up.

 

Age: Infants, Toddlers. Award Year: 2009. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Going Places
(by Todd Parr, Little Brown $4.95 Score:) Most of the vehicles (except for the fire engine) are easy to recognize and name, which is the whole purpose of this kind of book. If the images are too hard to recognize then the knowing and naming possibilities are lost. Bright and colorful, this one makes more sense than the zany faces in the companion, Funny Faces book.

Age: Infants,Toddlers. Award Year: 2002.

My First Baby Signs
(by Linda Acredolo, Ph.D, & Susan Goodwyn, Ph.D./ p, HarperCollins $6.95 Score:) One of several books that show how to teach baby to sign even before she can speak. Using charming photos of babies and familiar objects, the pictures capture the baby signing a word as the text tells you how to sign that word. Also, Baby Signs for Mealtime ($6.95) The authors claim that babies have fewer tantrums and talk sooner when they are empowered to communicate through simple gestures. Makes sense. When do you start? When baby starts to wave good-bye. SNAP: This series may be of interest to parents with children with delayed speech

Age: Infants,Toddlers. Award Year: 2002.

Michael Forman's Playtime Rhymes
(by Michael Forman, Candlewick $18.99 Score:) A companion to Foreman's Mother Goose, this is a collection of beautifully illustrated classics that you will use as baby grows into a toddler and preschooler. From "Patty Cake" to "Old MacDonald," action songs have simple directions.

Age: Infants,Toddlers,Preschool. Award Year: 2003.

Daddy Loves His Baby
(by Tara Jaye Morrow/ illus by Tiphanie Beeke, HarperCollins $15.99 Score:) How much to Mommy and Daddy love their baby? Read this flip book one way for Mommy and the other way for Daddy. Either way the rhymes are charming, the illustrations lively and the message clear-both Mommy & Daddy Love baby as much as bunnies love to bounce or birdie's love to sing. A perfect choice for a first Mother's or Father's Day gift to share with baby. 1-3.

Age: Infants,Toddlers,Preschool. Award Year: .

Where is Caterpillar?
(LaMaze, RC2 Learning Curve $8.99 Score:) A green caterpillar eats his way through the fabric pages of this early science book. It eats, green leaves, a red tomato and takes a snooze only to wake up on the last page as a beautiful butterfly. Fun for together lap time. 9 months & up.

Age: Infants,Toddlers. Award Year: 2003.