My First ABC (My First Board Books) Board book – January 19, 2015

I am in love with DK’s My First books. This is the first of the set of books that I purchased which led to us having a small library of these books. These books are perfect for 9 month olds and up! My 16 month old has always been very vocal but I strongly believe that these books have been a huge help for her growing vocabulary!!! She loves to sit and point at the pictures and name them and when she gets them right she is so proud of herself. Thes books are perfect for about 9 months to 2 years old as this is the age where kids love looking at beautiful images of things in their world and love to point out items they recognize. What I love most about this book is:- it has real pictures of objects rather than cartoon versions so she can recognize items she sees in her daily life- it is the perfect size for small hands! My daughter loves to get this book off the shelf and flip through it on her own- it is the perfect size to fit in a diaper bag! These books have been a lifesaver and the best way to keep an active toddler happy and still at church.- it is very inexpensive for the quality of book you are getting (sturdy board book) and for the number of pages (30)The only thing I would change about this book is to put an emphasis on pictures of items/animals whose names start with not just the correct letter but the correct sound. For example, otter for “o” is great while “orange” doesn’t make the “aah” sound at the beginning. I wouldn’t expect every image to be that way but at least the majority of the words on the page so kids can really hear each sound. This is a nit picky thing though. Overall, I have found this book to be great at teaching my daughter to talk and recognize names of things.

BUY IT. Trust me. I have a library of over 200 children's books for my son, age 2. I was stunned at what an excellent item this is when we received it! He is only two but he knows his letters, so I thought the ABC board book would be a good fit for him. I had no idea! It was neat that he'd learned his letters already, but now I can ask him, "James, what letter does "airplane" start with?" and get the right answer. He knows DOZENS of these, thanks to this book!We love a great read and that is how we enjoy one another's company much of the day. This isn't a "Mommy, read it!" book. It's an "I'll let you sit on my lap and I'll hold the book so you can build your brain while I rest book." I love a book that I DON'T have to read just as much as one I do have to read. :) My son sits calmly on my lap, picking through the pages and pointing to realistic pictures of items, while telling me what each one is called. It's excellent for vocabulary building. It helps him build confidence in his ability to "read." And it has shown him that letters(shown on the pages for the words shown that begin with them,) MEAN something.This is one of those books that I think everyone should have. It will be part of my future baby gifts from here on out. (I like to give books because no one else does and they are the single best building block to education that I can provide to the child, as someone outside the home. Plus, they last forever compared to baby clothes!)I really encourage you to add this item to your home library. Your child will benefit from it immensely and you will both enjoy "reading" it. ;)

My son loves this book. I enjoy watching his face light up when he learns what the different letters are. My favorite is to hear him try to pronounce "abacus". I believe this book has helped him learn several words.

Love this little DK board book! Oodles of vibrant and colorful photos of things that start with letters of the alphabet, a bunch of pics on each page (eclectic mix of objects and animals) which show up well on the white background. Nice small size for toddlers to hold and thick board pages. Only thing I didn’t like was the photo of a long, stark, black ink blot as one of the examples for ‘i’ - odd choice of a subject (and made me think too much of a crime scene!). Anyway, I glued a picture of an ice skate over it, and that took care of it. I quiz my 2-year-old granddaughter by asking, “Where is the Tiger?” Or, I let her work out some toddler-fun negatives by pointing to the wrong pictures and asking “Is this a Tiger? Noooo.” And finally at the correct picture “Is THIS a Tiger? Yes!”

I love this book because it made learning the alphabet very fun for my daughter, for whom this book was an obsession for several months. If she saw it, she would stop whatever she was doing to look at it. By 13 months, she could tell me the names of all of the letters. The size is perfect - large enough for a baby to easily manipulate but small enough to fit in a baby's lap. The pages are very sturdy, and have held up very well. The pictures are very bright and colorful, making it very interesting for little ones.I don't give the book 5 stars because I feel that some improvements could be made. First of all, some of the photos are a little grainy. Also, in many instances pictures of toys are used instead of the real thing - for instance, the photo of an ambulance is a toy, and for that matter, it's an old-fashioned ambulance, the likes of which I have never seen in real life. Other pictures are ambiguous - like the "ink" that is in a jar. For a small child who does not understand the concept of ink, if I show her that photo of the jar of ink, she might think that I was referring to the container. Perhaps they could replace the ink with an igloo. Igloo seems a little more straight-forward. Also, the angle from which the plate is photographed...every time my daughter sees it she says, "O". It just looks like two concentric blue circles on the page.Overall, however, it's a very beautiful book, and despite some minor flaws, it has seen more action than any toy in our toy box.