The Big Book of Words and Pictures

Dear Annie,

I love thinking of toddlers as pointers -- I've used that a few times already at work.
Here's another for your list of pointable books:

The Big Book of Words and Pictures by Ole Konnecke, a Swedish-born artist living in Germany.  It's definitely Big: a board book that measures 13 by 10 inches.  And it's packed with delightful stuff to point at.  It's a sort of toddler version of In the Town All Year 'Round: it feels European in its sweet sensibility, but also in some of its objects.  There are more berets in this one than you'd find in an average board book.

A group of charming animals stands in for people in this one, and they're always interacting with each other, sometimes across illustrations. I'm particularly fond of a picture on the first page, which juxtaposes various noise-making objects (wooden spoon, pot, toy trumpet) with a parent trying to sleep (double bed, bedside table).

Two pages later the reader in the single bed above has shed the pajamas and is working on articles of clothing:

A page with many flying objects, from satellite to paper airplane, includes a group on the grass watching a kite.  Along the edge of the scene are other fliers: wasp, mosquito, grasshopper.

And any book which includes croquet and bocce (well, they call it lawn bowling) in playground activities has got to be a favorite of mine:

The bottom of this page has mini golf, with a lion carefully marking a scorecard while the croquet-playing stork putts.

Here's to almost-summertime, mini golf, and lots of books.

Love,

Deborah