I am a fan of Roger Priddy books, primarily because they use real photographs to illustrate their books. When you have a young child and you are working on vocabulary development, these books are a bullseye on the target. Fabulous, fabulous books for young readers.
I thought it would be fun to check out some of their Christmas offerings. They, too, use photographs and appeal to children (of all ages, really!) who enjoy fun loving puppies and cute, cuddly kittens.
12 Cats for Christmas is a perfect gift for any sized cat-lover in your home. It is a touch and feel book and my son had fun finding the things that were texturized on each page. He found soft paws, tufts of fur, shiny sleighs and sparkling Christmas ornaments. Each page spread features a little “letter” from a kitten, each of whom are also named. For example, on one page spread we meet Snowy the kitten. Snowy says, “It’s almost time for lunch, I hope I get my Christmas wish — My favorite Christmas meal of a big and tasty fish!” Each letter also has images along with a few of the words, acting almost like a rebus. In case you are unfamiliar with rebus, it generally offers a way to enable children to help read a story before they can decipher print. For example, in place of the word “time” there is a picture of a clock. (In the case of this book, the word “time” is in smaller print under the clock so the children can see the picture and see the word.) This was of great delight to my toddler, who was able “read along” with me.
The same is true for Twelve Dogs for Christmas, except for the dogs (whom I prefer over cats, I admit!) are portrayed as getting into a little more mischief than the cats! In this book, Brandy the dog (with the glittery reindeer ears on her head!) is “Santa’s little yelper!” and Sam offers a floppy ear and a variation on Hard the Herald Angels Sing! (Instead of Hark, it’s Bark.) Booker is is our little humbug. If you like dogs and Christmas and your children find these animals infectious good fun, this is a book worth looking at.
Lastly, for little babies, Roger Priddy offers Merry Christmas touch and feel through their Bright Baby series (that I love). This book has cutouts that peer into Christmas ornaments and page spreads with only two items per spread. Like the above books, there are also plenty of textures to explore from glittery snowmen to a cotton-y Santa’s hat. It’s very cute and simplistic featuring one word and one item per page. If you are working on building a Christmas vocabulary and want a cute little book to throw in the stocking, definitely check this book out! For ages 1 and up, it’s a perfect introduction to the delights of the season.
Carrie comes by her book obsession honestly, having descended from a long line of bibliophiles. She blogs about books regularly at Reading to Know and Reading My Library.
Dawn says
Oh Carrie, these look just great! We have an assortment of Priddy books in our collection (after three babies, that’s pretty inevitable, right??) and they are all beloved. 🙂