September 26, 2007

Review: Adventures of WonderBaby

We've reviewed a couple of books by Oliver Chin but the Adventures of Wonderbaby is probably the first that we could actually read to Anderson. The Adventures of Wonderbaby is an inventive take on an A-B-C book. There is a four page preamble that sets up the story of your wonderous baby who turns out to be a WonderBaby in disguise.

Each letter of the alphabet describes how your WonderBaby is just like an animal (drools like a dog, lounges like a lion). My favorite is "flops like a flounder" where the illustration shows a wildly flopping flounder on top of a changing table. This is a problem we are having currently and one we know lots about. There's only 2 letters which are handled a little awkwardly (U and X), but given the constraints of the story I find that totally excusable. Plus, your infant can grow up knowing exactly what a xenopus is.

The book is beautifully illustrated. The colors are bright and vivid, and the pictures are simple and straight forward. Each illustration has a small ladybug somewhere, which will keep searching toddlers entertained.

I think this book succeeds on many levels. While teach the alphabet, each letter can teach a new animal, as well as a new verb. And most importantly the text and illustrations are interesting enough that you won't go out of your mind the 8th time you read the book in a 30 minute span! So if you're looking for a great A-B-C book be sure to check out Adventures of Wonderbaby.