IN MY POND

Taking “interactive” to the next level, Gillingham has designed a board book that incorporates both die-cuts and a fabric fish finger-puppet to engage baby listeners. “In my pond there are shiny stones, / tall, waving grass, / lily pads floating,” and so on, as each page turn takes readers through increasingly smaller irregular die-cuts while a parental finger wiggles a happy goldfish from behind the book. Siminovich supplies collaged backgrounds of harmoniously colored printed and painted cut paper that contrast cheerily with the orange fish. In My Nest (ISBN: 978-0-8118-6555-5) does a similar service with a little blue bird; each ends with its protagonist happily joined “with my family!” It’s a beguiling gimmick, one that should please both adults and babies again and again. (6-18 mos.)