Baby Gift

When someone I know has a baby, I sometimes give the gift of books. The new parents usually get enough cute little baby outfits and diapers and toys, so books are an unusual surprise.

Here are four of my favorite books to give to new parents:

Goodnight Moon is a classic baby book by Margaret Wise Brown. I read it so many times to my kids I can still say it by heart. "In the great green room, there was a telephone, a red balloon, and a picture of the cow jumping over the moon." This book just slides off the tip of your tongue. It is a joy to read.

The Going to Bed Book by Sandra Boynton is the cutest little board book about animals getting ready for bed. This book makes settling down for bedtime something to look forward to.

I love Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh because it is the simplest book about mixing colors I've ever come across. One day three white mice find three jars of paint:  red, yellow and blue. They find out how colors are made by accidentally stepping into more than one color at a time.

Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet and Allan Ahlberg was a favorite of Katherine's because it ties in with Mother Goose and Fairy Tale characters. It is also an "I Spy" book.

On the first page (which I remember to this day) it reads, "Each peach, pear plum, I spy Tom Thumb." On that page, she would have to find Tom Thumb hiding up in the tree.

The next page reads, "Tom Thumb in the cupboard, I spy Mother Hubbard."