Spring Board Book Round-up, Part I
New Original Board Books
McQuinn, Anna. Leo at the Farmers Market. Illus. by Ruth Hearson. Charlesbridge, 05/2025. “Leo Can” series, bk. 11. [18p.] $8.99. 978-1-62354-409-6.
Toddler Leo and his mom, who are both shown as Black, visit the booths at the farmers’ market and greet the workers using various languages. It would have been helpful to have a list at the back identifying the origins of each greeting. Still, this is a nice entry in the series about Leo and his family.
Pierce, Terry. I’m a Baby! Illus. by Volha Kaliaha. Familius, 05/2025. [20p.] $8.99. 978-1-64170-950-7.
A baby describes their day from diaper changing to nighttime bath, using a bouncy rhyming text. The color cartoon artwork depicts mom, dad, and sister as tan but of indistinct ethnicity. A fun book for a new baby in the family.
Spiro, Ruth. Baby Loves Meteorology! Illus. by Kat Uno. Charlesbridge, 03/2025. “Baby Loves Science” series, bk. 24. [20p.] $8.99. 978-1-62354-566-6.
Different aspects of weather are described in this addition to this popular series. A baby jumps out of bed and notices it is raining, so she chooses appropriate clothing. This beginning will be clear to toddlers but the rest of the book is somewhat complex, describing evaporation, condensation, types of clouds, and weather-predicting tools. The adult reader will need to fill in more explanation for this to make sense to the target audience.
Board Book Adaptations of Picture Books
Gustavson, Adam. Froggies Do Not Want to Sleep, The. Charlesbridge, 05/2025. [22p.] $8.99. 978-1-62354-681-6.
Originally published as a picture book in 2021, this smaller board version is great for one-on-one sharing. Various frogs play, travel to space, and do other nonsensical things to avoid bedtime. The colorful illustrations are as zany as the text.
Lunde, Darrin. Whose Egg Is That? Illus. by Kelsey Oseid. Charlesbridge, 06/2025. [22p.] $8.99. 978-1-609-0.
Originally published in 2023 as a picture book, this smaller board version is a great way to introduce facts on eggs to a young child. With a repeated “Whose egg is that?” each entry shows the egg, then when you turn the page you see the animal, with a paragraph of identifying text. Includes several birds, a turtle, and a dinosaur.
Penny Peck, San Jose State University iSchool
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