Recommendations

For more variety in your collection of board books, try those that feature mixed-media illustration. The best mixed-media board books combine texture and whimsy with child-friendly simplicity. Here are three selections we think will delight and stimulate your child's imagination.

There's a Cow in the Cabbage Patch
Clare Beaton's embroidered illustrations are perfectly pitched for babies and toddlers. With a variety of felt, fabrics and buttons, she creates a plush and whimsical universe in her books. The energetic, rhyming text chronicles a mix-up of animals at the farm ("There's a cow in the cabbage patch, moo, moo, moo!/ She should be in the dairy, what shall we do?") Beaton adds sly, humorous touches throughout, such as the donkey stampeding through the barn and the dog hiding behind the hay. In the final tableau, toddlers will enjoy finding all of the "naughty animals back where they belong."

Hola Jalapeño
& Yum Yum Dim Sum
In these multicultural board books, Amy Wilson Sanger's innovative illustration features a variety of media-textiles, paper, and real objects. Hola Jalapeño is a rollicking ode to the pleasures of Mexican cuisine ("Roll on, enchiladas, in your bed of cheese and sauce!"). In Yum Yum Dim Sum, vivid Chinese textiles and dumplings made of fabric help to narrate this unique dining experience for a child. After reading, children might be encouraged to create "food" out of different found materials, or serve up their own feast in a play kitchen.

Reviewed by Jenny Gillespie, Associate Editor, Babybug