BookBairn: Gift Guide

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Looking for a gift for a little STEM learner?

Then this collection from MIT Kids Press and Walker Books has so many great titles to choose from! I’ve picked out three I thought looked fascinating.

Ada and the Galaxies by Alan Lightman, Olga Pastichiv and illustrated by Susanna Chapman is a beautiful intergenerational story about a little girl’s trip to stay with her grandparents. She can’t wait for nightfall to see the dazzling array of stars in the sky which are so much clearer on their little island than on the big city. She waits all day until eventually it gets dark but the fog has rolled in. So instead Ada and her Poobah look at some photographs in his books. Will the fog clear? You’ll have to read it to find out.

This is a lovely narrative nonfiction which is littered with facts throughout the story. But it also blends real photographs from the Hubble telescope into the glorious illustrations. It is magical story telling and a perfect gift for little stargazers.

I’m a Neutrino by Dr Eve M Vavagiakis and illustrated by Ilze Lemesis is a dazzling picture book which introduces young readers to the smallest bits of matter known to exist. Despite their small size they matter! (Get it?!)

This is a brilliant read it’s written in rhyme but feels more like poetry than traditional picture book storytelling (that being said the neutrinos are telling your their story but it’s also very scientific. In an accessible way. In fact, this is an arrestingly clever book as well as being visually beautiful.

Become an App Inventor by Karen Lang & Selin Tezel is perfect for the next big budding tech kid! Using free online programming tools, this is The guide to how to design, build and share apps. No experience necessary. Just bring your passion and this book provides a guide to everything else. From how to create a maze game, a translation app, and even a personalised chat app, it’s a stepping stone to designing bigger and brilliant things. Chock-full of colourful graphics and easy-to-follow instructions, readers will also learn about young inventors who have created apps of their own!

Perfect for the stockings of STEM minded kids!

Happy gift giving and book devouring this festive season!

Kim and the bairns x

Many thanks to Walker Books for sending us these books as part of a bundle of STEM related titles!

Disclaimer: If you click on the image of the book below you will be sent to Amazon.co.uk using an affiliate link. This means that if you choose to purchase on Amazon.co.uk, I will receive a small sum (around 20-90p per book) from Amazon at no extra cost to you. I understand that you may not want to use an affiliate link, but if you like reading our blog post please just think of it as a small tip for a tip-off to an awesome book. And know that your support means I can buy more books! For more information check out our For Readers Section.

I adore illustrated non-fiction and think that it makes a wonderful gift for adults and children alike. I love learning new things and always turn to children's illustrated fiction when I am looking for a place to start as it gives you all the information you need in a beautiful format and without being overwhelming. It's also a great way to support your children in their passions - be in nature, vehicles, space, cookery, ballet, the list goes on. There's a non-fiction book for topic and therefore for everyone!

Before I share, I just want to say that there are many many great books out there but these are some of my favourites that I have discovered this year. It would be impossible to compile a fully comprehensive list so this is more of a highlights guide. If you want to see our gift guides from last year, or any of our other gift guides from this year you can find them all linked here. I've tried to include a variety of books so that there is something for everyone.

I am a huge bookworm as you know so of course I think giving books at Christmas is the best gift you can give or receive! So I've compiled a short list of some of my favourite reads from this year but I would say it's worth having a look at the gift guide I collated for readers 7+ because there are some great books for young readers that will also appeal to grown ups.

My bairns are aged 5 and 3 so I tend to focus on books for toddlers and little kids on the blog and on social media, but occasionally I come across books for BookBairn to grow in to or books to save for later. I also really enjoy reading children's book for my own enjoyment and often find I like them more than adult fiction. So every year I compile these into a list of books for 'older readers'. The age range of these varies so I recommend you double-check the recommended ages over on the publisher website or on amazon because you know your young readers best as to what is appropriate for their reading.

Before I share, I just want to say that there are many many great books out there for young readers but these are some of our favourites that we have discovered this year. It would be impossible to compile a fully comprehensive list so this is more of a highlights guide. If you want to see our gift guides from last year, or any of our other gift guides from this year you can find them all linked here. I've tried to include a variety of books so that there is something for everyone.

Books are such great gifts for the very littlest in the family as they tend to hold their interest longer (and have more longevity) than toys. I've gathered a list of books that I think are perfect for babies and little ones to enjoy, not only now, but to grow with them. My bairns are 3 and 5 and they would have loved these books both as babies but they also still enjoy reading them now - making these books the gifts that really keep on giving!

I won't share any festive reads here as personally I prefer to give books that will last all year round but you can find my festive recommendations linked here. So if you do like to give festive books at Christmas time then please go check those out.

Before I share, I just want to say that there are many many great books out there for little readers but these are some of our favourites that we have discovered this year. It would be impossible to compile a fully comprehensive list so this is more of a highlights guide. If you want to see our gift guides from last year, or any of our other gift guides from this year you can find them all linked here. I've tried to include a variety of books so that there is something for everyone.

It's that time of year again where Christmas shopping is mid-flow and I wanted to share with you some of our favourite picture books from this year that would make spectacular gifts for young readers. I'm starting with picture books because they are my favourites and therefore my forte but I will be compiling other lists too so keep an eye out for those. I've also been doing regular 'ask for a gift' on my Instagram stories where people have told me who they are shopping for and I've dug out a recommendation from our collection.

Toddlers just love this time of year when everything is magic don't they? They love the lights and the music and they are just beginning to understand the idea of gift giving and receiving. So I love to give books as these little ones just can't get enough of them. In the past I have done a combined gift guide for toddlers and preschoolers but now that I have a two and four year old I see quite how different their reading tastes are at this age and whilst they do overlap I felt it was unjust to lump them together. So this year I have done two separate guides. This one is aimed at toddlers aged 18 months to about 3 though many of the books are great for four and five year olds too (BookBairn loves them). Before I share, I just want to say that there are many many great books out there for little readers but these are some of our favourites that we have discovered this year. It would be impossible to compile a fully comprehensive list so this is more of a highlights guide. If you want to see our gift guide from last year, or any of our other gift guides from this year you can find them all linked here. I've tried to include a variety of books so that there is something for everyone.

My bairns are aged 4 and 2 so I tend to focus on books for toddlers and preschoolers on the blog and on social media, but occasionally I come across books for BookBairn to grow in to or books to save for later. So every year I compile these into a list of books for 'older readers'. The age range of these varies so I recommend you double-check the recommended ages over on the publisher website or on amazon because you know your young readers best as to what is appropriate for their reading. Some of the book listed here are equally as good for reading aloud as well as independent readers so it's worth bearing that in mind too. If you want more suggestions, my guides from the previous two years are still full of recommendations that we still love and read regularly! You can find them all here: GIFT GUIDES

I think one of the best gifts you can give a baby is books! Because they can grow with them! Books which have high contrast colours and cloth books are best for newborns but as they get older it's great to have a good selection of books. And by a good selection I partly mean ones that you can tolerate reading over and over and over. Because you will have to read them over and over and over! If you want more suggestions, my guides from the previous two years are still full of recommendations that we still love and read regularly! In fact some of the recommendations on this list are new releases from series that we have loves in the past too! You can find all our previous lists here: GIFT GUIDES

I always worry about doing Christmas gift guides or sharing Christmas books in November as it just seems too early. But truth be told, I have already done most of my Christmas shopping already so I am probably late to the game for some people. But it's never too late to add and extra gift to that bundle! Especially if it's a book! Now if you came here looking for festive reads, I should say they will be up next week, because I personally don't usually give a Christmas book as a Christmas gift. My feeling is that by Christmas day it's too late! So I wanted to recommend books that you can enjoy all year round. I also try to pick new (or at least new-to-us) books to recommend as these are more likely to be books that you won't already have. If you want more suggestions, my guides from the previous two years are still full of recommendations that we still love and read regularly! You can find them all here: GIFT GUIDES

I think one of the best presents to give a child is the gift of reading. So it's always my go-to for new baby gifts. It's hard to go wrong with a book. There are so many wonderful ones to choose from! You could go for classics like The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Guess How Much I Love You and Dear Zoo (amongst so many others) or you might want to get some books which are a little off-the-beaten-track to make sure that you don't end up duplicating (having said that duplicates of baby books is no bad thing as they do tend to get a lot of wear and tear, chewing and rough play). One of my very favourite and loveliest friends had a new baby recently so I put together a little bundle of books that I thought would be a great start to his collection so I thought I'd share them here too just in case you have a new baby to buy for too!

Read to Your Baby Every Day by Chloe Giordano & Rachel Williams

Babies are never too young to be read to. In fact Science tells us that babies develop best when and connect with the worlds and people around them when they are spoken to. And this book is the perfect first start. When babies are too little to be able to focus on the world around them (especially when their eyesight is still developing) it's a lovely way to read to them through nursery rhymes and songs. This book makes the perfect gift for that as it has many of the rhymes and songs that we are all familiar with from our own childhood (even if we have actually forgotten the words). A perfect prompt to read aloud. But it makes such a beautiful gift due to the magical way it has been illustrated - with original freehand embroidery. It's completely unique from any other book I have seen and it's utterly charming. Such a lovely collection to introduce little ones to a world of sounds!

I Thought I Saw a... Monkey by Lydia Nichols

I Thought I Saw a... Penguin by Lydia Nichols

This series is one of The Wee Page Turner's favourites and the bear version is one of the books that he loved first and is one of the books that we have read over and over again! So I wanted to include these two new versions (though there is a whole series so you can pick out the animal that you like best) in the new baby gift basket. In the books, each page repeats the phrase “I thought I saw a...” and then using the slider you can reveal the hidden animal. There is also a loose theme to each book to build vocabulary - the monkey is shopping so you can share lots of town vocabulary and the penguin is at the beach so again lots of vocabulary opportunities too. These are very simple, very clever little books that are great for entertaining little readers and perfect for popping in your bag for out and about stories. And they make a great new baby gift!

Tales from Nature Ladybird by Magali Attiogbe

Tales from Nature Bee by Magali Attiogbe

Enchanting non-fiction stories for the littlest readers, this new series of wildlife books are the perfect introduction to nature books for little ones. Packed full of windows and flaps, children will be excited to explore this bright and colourful series of books. Told in a narrative non-fiction means that the facts are blended in with a story-like reading is perfect for little ones who want the lilt of the story but are fascinated by learning more about the world around them. Both books (and you can also find Bird and Rabbit from the same series) give little ones a taste of nature non-fiction at a level they can enjoy and appreciate. I love the soft pastel colour palette!

Baby Touch: Playbook

Baby Touch: Animals

There are lots of great 'primer' books for babies helping them to build their vocabulary that have been designed with little fingers who want to explore in mind. But this series is such a beautiful update as the are full of bright colourful images, baby-friendly text and lots of interesting textures to touch and feel so that little ones can begin to learn all those new skills. But they are also incredibly stylish and with cheerful illustrations that will appeal to grown-ups as well as little ones. I particularly love the 'Animals' version with the tabbed edges of the pages being shaped like the animals - how fun! There are others in this series due out later this month too!

Little White Fish series by Guido van Genechten

These books arrived just after I had given the gift basket to my friend but I will be adding these to his little haul when I next see them. In the first few months of your baby's life their eyesight is still developing and their ability to see subtle contrasts develops later. So you see a lot of black and white books for baby, and whilst these are great - they don't have the same longevity as other books (in my opinion) as babies grow out of them quickly - wanting more story-based books instead. So I was delighted to discover this series of books - Little White Fish - which have high contrast (and often black and white dotted with colour) illustrations that little ones will be able to see clearly. However they also have an adorable main character on some sort of adventure and a fun storyline too! They also have other sea creatures which will help build vocabulary, bright colours which will also help them learn colour words, and a specific vocabulary target for each book (colours, opposites, prepositions) so these books are definitely going to see them past the baby stages.

I hope you found something there for the very littlest readers in your life and perhaps next time you are giving a new baby gift or going to a baby shower you'll think about picking up a book! If you are looking for more recommendations for babies check out my UK Amazon shop or my US Amazon.com shop and click on the section for Books for Babies.

Happy reading with your little ones

Kim and the bairns x

Disclaimer: We were sent some of these books free for review purposes by the publishers. Words and opinions are my own. If you click on the title or image of the book you will be sent to amazon.co.uk using an affiliate link. This means that if you choose to purchase on amazon.co.uk, I will receive a small sum (around 20-70p per book) from amazon at no extra cost to you. I understand that you may not want to use an affiliate link, but if you like reading our blog please just think of it as a small tip for a tip-off to an awesome book. And know that your support means I can buy more books! For more information check out our 'For Our Readers' section.