What is Basbusa reading?

We absolutely loved Cheep! Cheep! by Julie Stiegemeyer. Short and cute, this is the story of three chicks watching a new sibling emerge from his egg. There is only one word on each page, always rhyming with "cheep," describing the chicks' reactions to the widening crack in the egg. This is one of the first books that Basbusa started "reading" back to me, pointing to the pictures and mimicking that the chicks were asleep, or tiptoe-ing (creep!), or landing on top of each other (heap!). Plus the big hug at the end when the chicks meet their new brother. You can't beat a book that inspires your tot to give you lots of hugs :)

Llama Llama Mad at Mama was a recommendation from Chronicles of an Infant Bibliophile, and it was a huge success! So much so that we bought our own copy. All the text rhymes (for example, "Llama llama out with Mama, shopping at the Shop-O-Rama!"), and after a read or two, Basbusa was chanting along, saying something along the lines of, "Mama llama llama mama rama rama" :) The page where Llama Llama throws a giant tantrum in the store made a big impression, as did the following page where he and Mama Llama kiss and make up. Plus, we've been quoting the book ever since. The other day, when I told her that Baba was going shopping, she said "Shopping! Llama!", and when I asked her to help me push the shopping cart with me - something which Llama Llama also does in the book - she said, "Basbusa. Cart. Llama. Cart."

Since llamas were such a hit, I picked up Is Your Mama a Llama when I spotted it in the library. It's another one we're going to have to buy a copy of! The text rhymes beautifully, and yet uses language that isn't the ultra-simplistic vocabulary of most baby books. (For example: "Is your mama a llama?" I asked my friend Jane. "No, she is not," Jane politely explained. "She grazes on grass and she likes to say 'Moo!' I do not think that's what a llama would do.") There's lots to look at in the pictures in addition to the baby-mommy pair in each couplet, and Basbusa (for reasons best known to herself) absolutely adored the illustration of a mama seal eating a fish. Oh, and all kinds of interesting animals are included, like bats and kangaroos, rather than the usual dog-cat-sheep of many baby books.

And lastly, one we've gotten from the library several times: Mommy Hugs. This book just shows pairs of animals, with each page showing what the mommy does in order to hug her baby, but it's very sweet with lovely illustrations. And it provides you with endless excuses to snuggle your tot as you demonstrate each kind of hug.

To see what books other mamas recommend, go browse through this week's links at Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns.