Barefoot Books Baby and Tot Book Review

Your bookseller for this Sunday’s Boobie-Palooza is Oakland’s Barefoot Books. Being one of the event producers I could have chosen anything to review but having a small child at home and being a teacher of mother-infant world-language exposure classes, I had the most use for some really awesome books. Truth be told I had been waiting to get my hands on some Barefoot Books for quite a while: My recommendations:

Mama Panya’s Pancakes. A really sweet story from Kenya about a mama who promised to make her child some special pancakes and on their way to market, her child manages to invite the entire village, much to mama’s anxiety about making the ingredients feed all of those people. What happens next is nothing but sweet, spiritual lesson in community, trust and abundance.

The best part? the tutorial on some key words including kenyan flora and fauna that show up in the book, greetings in Kenyan Swahili (Kswahili). Tip: pair this book with the song, Jambo Bwana. Oso en un Cuadrado . aka Bear in a Square. I love this board book version perfect for babies. This is a great way toel oso

introduce shapes, colors- and my secret is that I’ve used the French version of this book for years and the babies all really to Ga-Ga over it, so to speak. I love it just as much as I do in French. Find the owl and the cat, I mean el búho y el gato. They are particularly adorable. The best part? The unique blend of black and white stripes and zig zags with bold colors. I think it might inspire some of my outfits.

Vivamos La Granja (or We Live on A Farm). What can I say, it comes with the sheet music for my guitar, a CD in the back- and an adorable explanation of all the work there is to be done on the farm until you are so tired in a good way- it’s a winner.

But the best part? I do really appreciate the pig suckling her piglets.

Get Yours at Boobie-Palooza’s Book Nook among many other titles by Barefoot Books Oakland. Or buy online. – Moorea Malatt is a parent-infant classes teacher, a former preschool teacher and director, parent educator, coach and cheerleader at Savvy Parenting Support.com and Boobie-Palooza co-producer.