Jennifer Tarr

Writing picture books for kids and their grown ups.

Category: Babies

  • Toddler Teaches…LITTLE BOO

    Toddler Teaches…LITTLE BOO

    Maddie Frost‘s adorable Little Boo is in heavy rotation in our house right now. While it’s now officially fall, Little Boo‘s popularity is not Halloween related. (Though I did enjoy S pointing at the ghost-shaped chips at Trader Joe’s and telling me that they looked like Little Boo this week.) We’ve been reading Little Boo for at least a month or two at this point, if not longer (what is time, anyway?). Here’s why I think it has staying power:

    Relatable subject matter

    At its core, Little Boo is about sibling relationships. Our narrator — Little Boo’s older sibling — walks us through Little Boo’s transformation from adorable baby ghost that did whatever the narrator wanted to annoying toddler ghost that wreaks havoc on the narrator’s toys/life/ability to eat cereal in peace.

    S is particularly interested in sibling stories right now on account of expecting one soon. But none of the other sibling stories we’ve read have garnered anywhere near this level of interest, which makes me think that the other reasons for S’s interest are as, if not more, important. So let’s discuss those.

    Little Boo quickly introduces its lovable main character

    The story opens by getting the reader to fall for Little Boo:

    That is one cute ghost baby!

    This is accomplished by (1) outright telling us that Little Boo is adorable, (2) backing it up with the illustrations, and (3) picking a relatable character name.

    Calling something “little” is an easy way to get S interested in it. Toddlers aren’t babies, but they’re also not big kids — those are the elementary schoolers that run past them on the playground. S seems to take a particular interest in things when they are “little” — just like S. (See, e.g., Little Blue Truck, five little monkeys, Little Red Hen…).

    So in just 10 words and one introductory spread, we’ve fallen for Little Boo. That gives the story staying power. (Fast introductions to lovable characters are a hallmark of the books we read over and over.)

    And Little Boo is absolutely S’s main reason for reading the book. Little Boo goes “off screen” for a few pages in the middle of the book as part of a sibling swap between the narrator and a friend, and during those pages S consistently asks after her (“Where’s Little Boo?”).

    The swapped sibling, Little Howl, simply does not cut it. We were introduced to Little Boo straightaway, became attached to Little Boo straightaway, and no substitutes will do. (Little Howl’s descent into a hunger-fueled monster-state — see below — may also have something to do with it.) S is always excited when Little Boo returns.

    Fun sounds

    Little Boo is chock full of onomatopoeia and short, repeatable phrases that are fun to say.

    S loves this page, which has our siblings headed to the library while Little Boo says and does ridiculous things. For some reason, repeating “boogah-boogah!” and “hat hat hat” are highlights of the story.

    As is shouting “kitteez!!!” The page and its punctuation just ooze excitement and beg to be repeated over and over.

    As an aside, however, S always wants me to skip this page:

    Apparently the combination of Little Howl’s descent into monster madness and the way I read “Snaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa[ck]” is less than desirable.

    Colorful, active illustrations and short, punchy sentences

    As you can see from the pictures above, Frost’s illustrations have tons of movement, lots of color, and lots of variety. They also have a lot of panels, which keep S’s interest since there are often 2 to 3 to 4 things happening on a given page.

    The book’s sentences are also very short, averaging just over 4 words per sentence (and even shorter if you add all in the onomatopoeia sentences). That makes Little Boo a fast read, which is great for a toddler attention span and which invites (numerous) subsequent re-read requests.

    And from an adult perspective, there’s a ton of value to the illustrations and short sentences too. Every time I open the book, I spot something new (the hill being a candy corn and the sun being a jack-o-lantern, the impressive way that the ghosts are somewhat transparent, etc., etc.). That doesn’t impact S’s interest in the book, but the cleverness of the illustrations combined with the fact that it’s a quick read do make me far more willing to read it back to back to back.

    Little Boo By the Numbers

    Pages: 31 pages of what I would consider the “main” book

    Word Count: 285 (including onomatopoeia), 258 (not including onomatopoeia)

    Words Per Illustration: 7.125

    Words Per Sentence: 4.16 (excluding onomatopoeia)

  • Toddler Teaches…Toddler-Approved Book Subjects

    Toddler Teaches…Toddler-Approved Book Subjects

    I’ve written a bunch about the ways that subject matter influences S’s willingness to read books over and over again, and about the fact that even having a favorite subject in the background of an illustration can be enough to get a repeat reading request. To that end, I thought it might be interesting to create a list of the (sometimes idiosyncratic) subjects that seem to be toddler gold:

    • Animals – bonus points for foxes, penguins, dogs, bunnies, and cats
    • Transportation – bonus points for airplanes, helicopters, and buses
    • Construction vehicles – bonus points for excavators and bulldozers
    • Birthdays – parties, candles, balloons, cake, characters saying “Happy Birthday!”
    • The moon
    • Letters of the alphabet
    • Counting
    • Babies
    • Challah bread
    • Pizza
    • Characters wearing bows (bowties, hairbows — you name it)
    • Being upside down
    • Camping – bonus points for marshmallows and campfires
    • Bubbles
    • Popsicles
    • Legos
    • Hanukkah
    • Playgrounds
    • Clocks – S loves to point out wall clocks in the background of things

    If you really want an A+ on S’s picture book report card, combine one or more toddler-approved book subjects into your story. This can be in the main plot or in the illustrations.

    Nikki Shannon Smith and Tamisha Anthony‘s In the Neighborhood was an immediate favorite in the board book category because of its sweet refrain and because it seems to deliberately (and brilliantly) hit on just about every topic a toddler might like. Baby goes on a walk (with “laces in a bow”), blows bubbles, gets flowers, meets a horse and a puppy, gets berries, sees cars, gets car stickers, watches friends learning how to throw a ball, sees a friend reading, and has a picnic.

    As noted above, even putting toddler-approved book subjects into the background of illustrations is often enough to get a re-read request. We’ve been getting a ton of mileage recently from books like Goodnight Bubbala where a favorite object (there, a toy schoolbus) can be spotted in the background in different places on different pages.

    I you happen to know of (or write) a book that fits these categories, let me know in a comment. We’ll be first in line to grab it!

  • Toddler Teaches…CHALLAH DAY!

    Toddler Teaches…CHALLAH DAY!

    Last fall, S and I began baking challah together on Friday afternoons. S loves it, and has been asking for books about challah every time we go to the library for months. S was agnostic about whether these books were actually about challah or just had a picture of challah in them — as mentioned in earlier posts, including images of favorite topics in the background of a story is often enough to capture S’s interest. (Interestingly, however, S was very particular about what the illustrations should look like. Some books were rejected at the outset for having insufficiently “challah-y” challah.)

    We recently took out Charlotte Offsay and Jason Kirschner‘s adorable Challah Day! from the library because it is not just a book with pictures of very challah-y challah, but a book about making challah as a family.

    S LOVED it. We read it 9 times on the day we took it home. That love has not abated. On an average day, S requests it between 1 and 5 times, often back-to-back-to-back. (“Read it again!”) It’s the kind of book that is such a runaway hit (and so well-written/illustrated) that we will wind up buying it as soon as we have to return our library copy.

    Let’s look at what makes Challah Day! an early contender for favorite book of the year:

    1. Challah Day! celebrates Shabbat from a toddler POV

    Challah Day! shows the importance of not just representation generally, but of representing the cultural traditions that mean the most to kids. The book is a simple, joyful ode to a specific Shabbat tradition — making challah together as a family.

    The whole family is working together to make the dough, with a special focus on the little girl and her baby brother, who have starring roles in the bread-making production.

    While the story references other Shabbat traditions obliquely, they are not the focus of the story. They are also the exact other traditions that would be meaningful to a young child — lighting candles, drinking grape juice, and spending time with grandparents.

    The book is cozy and warm and absolutely spot on for the way S experiences Shabbat — it is the day we make and eat challah (and light candles, drink grape juice, and spend time with grandparents).

    I believe that this sort of representation — meeting young kids where they are — is exactly why the book has resonated so much with S.

    2. It has short, punchy sentences and colorful, active illustrations

    Challah Day! is a joy to read out loud. The sentences are short; the rhyme is bouncy and joyful; and the way the rhyme, punctuation, and page layout breaks things up leads to natural pauses that make it easy for S to focus on what is going on.

    At an average of 4.78 words per sentence, it fits squarely into the sweet spot sentence length for S’s attention span.

    Charlotte Offsay’s text is complemented perfectly by Jason Kirschner’s illustrations, which have just enough going on to hold S’s interest at all times. This spread is a particular favorite, with the whole family actively eating challah (including the dog!) and bright background colors that S loves to point out.

    3. It has multiple toddler hooks

    Combining S’s interests is a surefire way to make a book a repeat player. In addition to the carbohydrates discussed at length above, we have at least five more toddler hooks:

    Family baking together, with dad cracking eggs, baby dropping them on the floor, and mom and sister working on the starter.
    1. A baby — S loves pointing out the baby on every page
    2. A dog — any addition of animals to a story is a plus, particularly when they are actively involved (here, helping braid challah, etc.)
    3. Simple counting — S likes to count along and point out each of the eggs when I get to “Crack the eggs – one, two, three, four”
    4. Bubbles — always a favorite; doesn’t matter that these are yeast bubbles and not soap bubbles
    5. Family time / a “knock” at the door bringing grandparents over — the knock is a fun change of pace, and the grandparents are additional people for S to point out

    I hope you love Challah Day! as much as we do — I have a feeling we will be reading it for a long time!

    Challah Day! By the Numbers

    Pages: 28 pages plus back matter

    Word Count: 244

    Words Per Illustration: 6.26

    Words Per Sentence: 4.78