PLAYTIME

Seven classic finger rhymes and songs form the text of this board book.

Promoted on the back as a “lively collection of 7 favourite” verses, the book is actually an odd mix of rhymes that are so well-known no book is needed (“This Little Piggy” and “The Wheels on the Bus”) and ones that are extremely obscure (“Miss Polly Had a Dolly”). One choice—“Round and round the garden / Like a teddy bear. / One step, two step, / Tickle you under there!”—is actively disturbing, as the picture gives no hint where young viewers should be tickled. In fact, the pictures are largely just cute decorations; they do not give clear hints to the hand motions that would turn the rhymes into fingerplays. Together with its companion, Sleepy Time, published simultaneously, it seems more geared to the needs of adults who may not remember the words to childhood rhymes than to the needs of children who require the board-book format. Although the Rhyme Time series is billed as “essential rhymes for every new parent,” babies, toddlers, and parents would be better served by any comprehensive, illustrated nursery-rhyme collection. Better yet, choose stand-alone titles that enrich the sharing experience with details in the pictures, such as Karen Katz’s The Babies on the Bus (2011) or, for older toddlers, Paul O. Zelinsky's classic, paper-engineered The Wheels on the Bus (1990).

Skip.