From A to ZZZZZ

Here's an addition to the bedtime routine for toddlers that might help them learn their letters. What? You sing the alphabet song for that? Why not both?

THE SLEEPY LITTLE ALPHABET by Judy Sierra, illustrated by Melissa Sweet.

Each little alphabet letter has personality plus and like every child at bedtime, not one of the 26 clamors to climb into a bed or crib. F is full of fidgety wiggles and G has got the googly giggles. Rhyming and racing, each lively letter has boggeley eyes and a jaggedy smile. How long before sleep time? Awhile.

The action starts to slow, hugs and yawns and what do you know? Each letter cuddles and a dreaming they go–except naughty N. There’s always one!

Illustrator Sweet won a 2009 Caldecott honor for A RIVER OF WORDS: THE STORY OF WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS by Jen Bryant. Author Sierra has won awards, too. If there’s a book shelf in your nursery, this should be on it.

One Baby, One Rocking Chair, One Book

Winter nights are great for moms and dads who like to read to their babies. Parents build memories and babies build vocabulary. All might decide that learning through books is a good way to spend a cold night or a rainy night--or any other kind of night. I don't believe watching TV together accomplishes the same thing, but that's my personal bias.

It's surely warm in the jungle while we in the US are shivering, so here's a picture book to take you there.

BEDTIME IN THE JUNGLE by John Butler.

As the title promises, this is a bedtime book. It's also a counting book. And a rhyming book. And more. The author introduces animals one doesn't often tell a baby about: One rhino, three leopards, six peahens. There are familiar animals, too, like monkeys, ducks, and elephants. Number ten is a gatefold page, a visual surprise. The author is also the illustrator. His fine art creates a jungle setting both lush and soothing. By the time the elephants lumber into view and join the mass slumber party, the entire jungle is asleep --and perhaps the baby on the lap as well.

Shh...