A recent report said that children in this country – post-pandemic, post austerity – are facing a “happiness recession”. I don’t think books are the answer but I do think that encountering books early in life, through the attention of someone who loves you, makes a huge difference. Frank Cottrell Boyce

As grandma to a two year old boy I am rediscovering the joy of sharing books with a very young child. Quite literally since his first week I have been scouring bookshelves, old favourites, newly recommended titles and libraries and bookshops for the type of book that will be enjoyed by the little chap. As our much respected Children’s Laureate, Frank Cottrell Boyce, says in the quote above from author Berlie Doherty’s website, books shared can make a huge difference. However it helps to know a little about which books are available. In the last few months I have discovered Priddy Books and cannot imagine how I had not been aware of them before. Grandson and I are now putting that right together! I would like to highlight a selection of their recent publications and explain why we are such fans.

Priddy Books was founded in 2000 by Roger Priddy with one simple aim: to publish innovative, early-learning books for babies, toddlers and young children. Over the last couple of months we have been exploring some titles in their baby and toddler range. First up was See, Touch, Feel Quack! complete with its fluffy squeaker. This is the latest title in a series and incorporates the bright artwork of the previous books together with photos of happy babies. This chunky board book has instant appeal to little ones and is a good size for toddlers themselves to hold too. The text and images introduce shapes, colours, sounds and animals and encourage early learning along with the fun of pressing the fluffy squeaker available on each double page spread. Older children will enjoy pressing this themselves and my assistant reviewer quickly realising that his finger wasn’t quite strong enough improvised by banging it with the flat of his hand. The sturdy format allows for this! We enjoyed tracing the shapes with our fingers, copying animals sounds and plenty of squeaking so this is very much an interactive experience. See, Touch, Feel Quack! is a board book suitable for 0-3 and was an instant hit in our house.

Having tried one of Priddy Books’ long standing series we decided to try the first title in a new series of board books for the same age group. Teddy’s ABC launches the new Learn with Bear series, featuring charming felt characters and engaging touch-and-feels on every spread. The whole family approves of this one! Teddy himself has clear appeal to little ones and on first sight his friendly face produced a smile on the face of my grandson too. The design team at Priddy Books clearly know how to reach their audience because Teddy’s ABC has quickly become a favourite and one of the first books picked out of the book basket by my discerning reviewer.

Cheerful Teddy features throughout this bright and colourful alphabet book that uses rhyming text to teach toddlers their ABCs alongside a range of other friendly looking felt characters. Each double page spread features one touch-and-feel element with each one being slightly different in texture. My grandson enjoyed comparing these and I was fascinated to see how he recognised some as being similar to familiar household objects. For example he instantly went to stroke a sofa cushion after exploring Teddy’s “warm woolly pair of mittens”. This sensory exploration is a great learning experience for little ones and my grandson discovered that varying touch-and-feel elements could be stroked, patted, scratched or even cuddled up to. This slightly larger board book format would, I think, make a lovely present for a baby or toddler and would be valuable in Early Years settings as well as for families.

Last but not least we moved on to Ten Little Dinosaur Eggs, a colour and matching book aimed at children aged 2-5 years. In this humorous board board young children join ten dinosaur mummies as they try to find their missing eggs on each double page spread. The squishy silicone eggs have different colourful patterns and children are encouraged through the text to match the patterned egg with the appropriate patterned dinosaur mummy. Following the page turn we can then see the mummy happily playing with her newly hatched offspring. The matching requires concentration and will encourage conversation about colours and shape as the eggs are designed with curves, wavy lines, dots, triangles and more.

The text features both rhyme and repetition making this fun to read aloud and children will over time start to predict the task required as each scene ends with, “Can you find an egg and mummy that match?” The squishy eggs lend themselves to counting games too adding another learning element. The busy illustrations in a range of pastel colours feature a variety of settings including a jungle and ones that may be familiar to young children such as a playground and a swimming pool. There is also a roaring competition to encourage noisy participation! The mummy dinosaurs enjoy a visit to the spa and a yoga class adding yet more variety. Ten Little Dinosaur Eggs is great fun and is already being enjoyed by my grandson and I am looking forward to continuing to share this with him as develops a greater understanding of the matching element. Another great combination of fun and learning I would recommend this for both families and Early Years settings.

As I have already mentioned I am impressed with the design quality of these books which have a clear appeal to very young children. The books are great fun to share and yet also provide a learning experience for the baby or toddler. The sharing of these lovely books provides a bonding and enjoyable experience for both the adult and the young child. Thank you very much to Eleanor Coombes and Priddy Books for providing our review copies, we are greatly enjoying reading them.