Let’s be honest – when you start reading books to your baby, they have little interest in the story.
Yes, they enjoy listening to the words, but that’s because they love the sound of your voice.
What they do like, however, is looking at the pictures. The bolder, the better.
And they don’t come much more eye-catching than Jane Foster’s cheery series of preschool books, published by Templar.
Jane is a funky fabric designer from Devon with a penchant for all things Scandi, Fifties and Sixties, as well as the post-war abstract textile designer Lucienne Day and Miffy creator Dick Bruna.
Her illustrations are distinct in style, with arresting black outlines, filled in with bright colours and patterns.
But what I really like is the humour and sophistication to her books, which are always collections of images around a theme.
Jane doesn’t patronise little readers. So in Things That Go, you’ll find roller skates and a submarine along with the ubiquitous bus and car.
They make a great new baby or first birthday gift as parents will appreciate their style as much as the child.
The range has been growing over the last few years, to include all the seasons, special holidays and more recently, Dinosaurs and Pets.
There is also a stunning Animals soft book for tiny babies in vibrant turquoise, yellow and orange. It comes in a gift box and has a Velcro strap to attach to buggies and cots. Baby Bookworm gave one to his new brother when he was born recently.
But our favourites are probably her city guides, which came out when BB was a newborn. There are four in the series and we have New York and London, both places very close to my heart. I got engaged to Baby Bookworm’s dad while living in the former and our son was born in the latter.
We read them lots at bedtime and still do. In fact, some of BB’s first words were Coney Island and Big Ben, alongside plain old Dada – and nowadays he can read the books for us.
Jane Foster’s board books published by Templar and cost £6.99 each. The Animals cloth book in a gift box costs £8.99. All available from Amazon
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Jane Cabrera’s interactive first concepts books: our review
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Thank you so much for featuring my board books – am so pleased you’ve been enjoying them! x
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