Moo, Baa, La La La!
A teacher’s look at why this book belongs in the Lap Listeners stage.
Why it fits Lap Listeners (for babies in their first year, when books are about your voice, not the plot)
Boynton's silly animal sounds beg to be performed, and performance is exactly what infants need. Every moo and la-la models the mouth shapes of early speech. Short enough to survive the shortest attention span.
What makes it special
Boynton broke the rules by making a baby book that is genuinely funny rather than merely sweet, and babies notice the difference. Her thick-lined, deadpan animals deliver the jokes with perfect economy — three pigs saying la la la needs no further explanation. It takes ninety seconds start to finish, which makes it the rare thing a rushed parent can always do properly.
From the publisher
A variety of animals make their sounds in…
About Sandra Boynton
Sandra Boynton is a cartoonist, songwriter, and one-woman industry of deadpan animal comedy, with over 70 million books sold. Her specialty is respecting a toddler's intelligence while refusing to take anything else seriously.
Boynton began in greeting cards while still a Yale drama student — her hippo birthday card ('Hippo Birdie Two Ewes') sold in the millions — and she carried that perfect-timing card sensibility into board books when her own children were small. She also produces Grammy-nominated children's albums with guests like Meryl Streep and B.B. King.
Also by this author: Barnyard Dance! · Pajama Time! · But Not the Hippopotamus
More from “Sing It, Say It Again”
This book is part of The Best Books for Babies: 30 Teacher Picks (Lap Listeners) in our guide The Best Children’s Books by Age — 120 books chosen by the Montessori-certified teachers at Creative Minds Montessori in Frisco, TX. Come see how we build readers →
Nobody paid for this review — not the author, not the publisher — and the store link above earns us nothing. Our only interest is the reader this book fits.