Mmmm, new books.
When Widget was born, our friend Canape sent us the best possible baby gift … books. One of them was about baby kisses, one was about Mommy’s love, and one was called Feed Matisse’s Fish. Which was kind of funny. Because we didn’t even have any fish. And I’m not exactly the artsy type. But, and I don’t know how she knew this, it was to become a favorite. This simple book, just eight board book pages, was an intriguing introduction to art for my son. While I read to him, he could touch the art, tracing the glasses on the man in American Gothic, tugging the girl’s braids on (what else?) Girl with Braids, and feeling the rough basket in The Flower Carrier. And we would return to them, over and over, until part of the background of his childhood became these paintings, and the Mini Masters board books focusing on single artists. (Quiet Time With Cassatt is another favorite, as is In the Garden With Van Gogh.)
Imagine my surprise when I opened a package last week to find Tickle Tut’s Toes, the latest in — guess what — a series of these art books written and embellished just for toddlers and preschoolers. The book is, just like Feed Matisse’s Fish, an oversize board book, with cut outs, simple embellishments, and textures that emphasize detail in the paintings, statues, sarcophagi, and other art forms in the book. Tickle Tut’s Toes is the latest in the series, and it focuses on — get this — historical art, and artifacts from ancient Egypt. The child-friendly rhymes share the page with Egyptian wall paintings from Luxor, King Tut’s sarcogphagus, a 3500 year old glass bottle fish, a blue sphinx, a 3000-4000 year old mummified crocodile, and more. The last page is my favorite. Across from a classic photo of three pyramids of Giza, the middle one tantalizingly replaced with corregated cardboard, is a simple rhyme.
Have you ever seen a kid
Touch a pyramid?
You just did.
Rock and roll.
Tonight, we read Catch Picasso’s Rooster, from the same series. I can’t wait.
Disclosure: Sterling books sent me these two books to review.
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