2021 Board Books

If you’re looking for a new board book (or 20) to give to a new parent or to read to your own baby or toddler, 2021 offers us a range of board book goodies about trucks and animals, farmers and aliens.

You really can’t go wrong with any book that you read aloud to a young child!

2021 Board Books

Rhyme with Me! by Carolina Buzio Indestructibles

Darling, colorful, and you guessed it, full of rhymes! This simple book gives kids a chance to see pictures and words that rhyme. It asks questions like, “Do you know what rhymes with SKY?” and shows pie, fly, and tie-in illustrations as well as written words. A must-own!

Deep in the Sea by Susan B. Katz, illustrated by David A. Carter

Kids will adore this clever rhyming book with pop-ups that shows similarly-named creatures, a non-ocean creature or thing, and an ocean creature…Cats and catfish. Cows and sea cows. Parrots and parrotfish. Lions and sea lions. What a delightful word adventure!

Jungle Night by Sandra Boynton

Listen to the animal’s sleepy noises. Can you hear the crocodile? “Snorkle-ooo, snorkle-ooo.” Or how about the river-hogs who say, “Whee-grunt. Wheee-grunt.” But the jungle animals are rudely awoken by a new sound — elephant snoring! Now no one is sleeping anymore. Fun and funny and a good example of onomatopoeia.

Snap! Chomp Your Jaws by Bob Barner
Help the animals move their mouths by pulling the springy tab down. The crocodile carries her babies in her jaws! The hippo has long teeth and a huge jaw. Gorillas slurp ants off of leaves and twigs. With five animal jaws to pull and snap, this is sure to be a read aloud favorite.

Oakley the Squirrel The Search for Z A Nutty Alphabet Book by Nancy Rose
Cutie Oakley the Squirrel searches his house for Z and leads us from A to Z in alliteration and playfulness. “Foraging in the Fireplace is Fruitless. // A Glance at the Globe does no Good.” All this searching makes Oakley so sleepy. Maybe he’ll try again tomorrow. “Zzzzzz.” Photographs of a real squirrel in all the scenarios with texts in bright fonts are sure to delight readers.

There’s an Alien in Your Book by Tom Fletcher, illustrated by Greg Abbot
At first, you think the alien is yucky but when you make him cry, you feel bad and pat his head so he feels better. Now you need to get him to space. You’ll have to jiggle the book, turn it upside down, but wait — maybe you should let the alien stay here? Because there’s plenty of room for all sorts of weird and wonderful creatures on this planet! Draw Alien a home and make him feel welcome. An interactive gem that promotes inclusivity and kindness.

The Wonky Donkey Sound Book by Craig Smith, Illustrated by Katz Cowley
Kids (and adults) will laugh so much at this silly cumulative story that tells about a person who meets a smelly donkey with three legs, one eye, and a love of country music (just to name a few descriptors) who is a “hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky, lanky, honky-tonky, winky wonky donkey“. Press the button and hear his hee-haws! (I apologize in advance for how annoying this sound will be.)

Book of Animals by Oliver Jeffers
I love the darling illustrations of animals on white backgrounds with their name and a huge letter. This cool layout helps this board book not be completely useless in the already overly saturated market of animal alphabet books.

Green Tractor by Kersten Hamilton, illustrated by Valeria Petrone
A female farmer drives the Green Tractor, lifting and scooping to get ready for a school trip to the farm. The tractor is the STRONGEST helper on the farm!

Trees: A Count and Find Primer by Greg Paprocki

Count the beautiful trees – 1 Mangrove Tree, 2 Banyan Trees, 3 Live Oak Trees, 4 Juniper Trees, all the way to 10 Ponderosa Pine Trees. Detailed, colorful illustrations show people and animals enjoying life amidst the trees — whether camping or fishing, bird watching or exploring. Back matter contains fun facts about the trees and a page of hidden objects to find when you reread the story. Absolutely wonderful.

B is for Bison: A National Parks Alphabet by Greg Paprocki
Learn about National Parks like Everglades and Mesa Verde as well as what’s in them such as fossils, lava, trails, and redwood trees. Large letters on each page will help readers learn the alphabet letters and the content (text and pictures) will show readers the beauty of these natural areas. A perfect alphabet book for young naturalists who are ready to explore with their grown-ups.

Rest & Relax / Descansa Y Relajate by Whitney Stewart, illustrated by Rocio Alejandro
A guided bilingual Spanish English journey through the body to help you relax your entire body from your toes (los dedos de tus pies) to your shoulders (tus hombros). Relax and rest. Read this book just before bedtime!

Where Do You Poop? by Agnese Baruzzi

Pooping — everybody does it — and this is probably my NEW FAVORITE GIFT BOOK to give to babies. In this rhyming and pull-the-tab book, you’ll read all about where and when kitties, birds, hippos, wolves, and mice poop, just to name a few. I LOVE how fun and playful it is, too. The mouse says, “When inside my tummy starts to feel not so good it’s time for a poop on these chips made of wood!” Pull the tab and see the poop pellets in the wood chips. The last page shows a human on the toilet happily pooping, too. (So, give this to your potty training toddlers, too.)

F is for Fairy Tale by Greg Paprocki

Starting with A for adventurous, this beautiful board book captures castles, dragons, jewels, a unicorn, and more with an alphabet of fairy tale scenes featuring kids and animals for each letter all the way to ZZZZZzzzzz.

Teeny Tiny Farmer by Rachel Matson, illustrated by Joey Chou

“In a teeny tiny truck / Full of vegetables and hay // A teeny tiny farmer // Drove along to market day.” So begins this darling rhyming story of a female farmer driving to town with a load of vegetables. But, oh, no! Her truck won’t make it up the hill! And then it gets stuck She. needs help and who should help her — the tiny pig and cow and sheep and chickens — the farm friends work together to save the day and get the truck unstuck!

Little Sunny Sunshine / Sol Solecito by Canticos and Susie Jaramillo
Learn the days of the week in English and Spanish with this darling lyrical book asking the sun to warm you up– every day of the week — illustrated with the adorable Canticos chicks.

Love in the Wild by Katy Tanis
Gentle rhymes, colorful illustrations, and loving behaviors show children animals in the wild caring for each other including some same-sex pairings. “…lasting bonds, a playful chase, a friendly pod’s gentle pace,…” Sea otters, penguins, Rhesus Macaques, and Asian elephants are just some of the animals represented in this animal book.

Unicorn’s School Day by Lucy Golden, illustrated by Sophie Beer
In this fun and colorful back-to-school book, kids turn a wheel on each page which changes a word and an illustration. Unicorn goes to school and he plays with either dominoes, toothbrushes, celery sticks, lollipops, or doughnuts. Isn’t that clever? Unicorn has a wonderful day at school and can’t wait to return the next day.

Ten Little Birds Diez Pajaritos by 123 Andres, illustrated by Sara Palacios
I really love the Spanish version of this dual language book (song) as it’s super lyrical and fun to read out loud. Starting with ten birds on a roof, subtract two each time a cat tries to get them and figure out how many are left afterward. When all the birds have flown away, they’ll come back for you to count starting with one until you count to ten. “Ocho pajaritos sobre un tejado. Dos see marcharon. Cuantos quedaron?“

Whose Big Rig? by Toni Buzzeo and Ramon Olivera
Learn about six different big rigs! Read what the rig does, see if you can guess it, then open the page to learn the answer.

Everyone Shares (Except Cat) by Jamie Michalak, illustrated by Katie Mazeika
A darling simple rhyming story shows that Dog shares, Bear shares, but Cat doesn’t share. Until Cat realizes that seesaws aren’t fun with one person and she starts to share with the other animals. A sweet with a valuable lesson in manners and sharing.

Everyone Says Please (Except Cat) by Jamie Michalak, illustrated by Katie Mazeika

You’ll crack up at this book showing animals with good manners and a cat who stops and fumes and demands CHEESE. It’s a full-on meltdown until he realizes that mouse got cheese simply by saying please. So the cat says please, too…and he finally gets what he wants. I love this darling book about manners.

Shabbat Shalom! by Douglas Florian, illustrated by Hannah Tolson
Rhyming text shows a family’s Shabbat traditions including lighting candles, praying, and sharing a meal together. It’s a simple glimpse into this weekly Jewish celebration.

We Go to Shul by Douglas Florian, illustrated by Hannah Tolson
When a Jewish family attends shul (temple) on Saturday, the Torah is read, there is singing and prayers. Illustrations show men sitting separately from women and the family walking to and from shul.

Open the Witch’s Door by Jannie Ho
It’s Halloween! Lift the flaps to see who’s in the house, find out what the witch is reading, what’s hidden in her cupboards, and even how she sees at night…Early readers will like this playful, not-scary Halloween story about a little witch.

Tiny Travelers Haiti Treasure Quest by Steven Wolfe Pereira and Susie Jaramillo
Not meant for babies but readers ages 4 to 8, this is a sturdy board book that introduces children to the country of Haiti’s culture, language, food, and more. Read about Port-au-Prince and find the Neg Mawon statue. Learn about Independence Day and Soup Jaoumou — see if you can find the soup on the page, too. Each page gives children information about Haiti and a colorful illustration they can use to find the hidden treasures.

Tiny Travelers France Treasure Quest by Steven Wolfe Pereira and Susie Jaramillo
Welcome to France. Learn all about Paris, French food, festivals, famous places, activities, animals, and more. After you read each tw0-page spread’s information, search for the hidden treasures and read the “Did you know” facts. You might learn that The Louvre is home to the Mona Lisa and get to search for the Louvre Pyramids. Fun!

United States Treasure Quest by Steven Wolfe Pereira and Susie Jaramillo
In this search and find book, kids will learn fun facts about the United States. From the Grand Canyon to Times Square, football to rodeos, this book shares highlights of the country and asks kids to search for things in each illustration.