We are huge fans of the Ahlbergs & Each Peach Pear Plum was one of the first books we bought for Bryn, so it only seemed right that Freya have s copy of Peepo, the 30th anniversary edition
It’s a joy to read with the rhyming text & wonderful detail which enhance the joyous illustrations. The illustrations evoke a busy loving household and I am reassured to see clutter & mess in the rooms.
Each alternate page has a cut out circle giving a glimpse of a scene, when you turn the page you get the full picture all based on family scenes which the little baby encounters. The small scenes are perfectly framed for maximum impact when unveiling the full picture. They remind me of beautifully shot photos.
Other favourites include Cops & Robbers and Burglar Bill which we’ve been reading to our son for the last 3 years & I imagine a few more years to come. There is always something new to spot in the pictures & great humour in the stories.
We love Peepo too though it made me sad when I first realised the dad was probably heading off to war. My girls have loved it though and we have read it more recently as it’s about baby boy with 2 older sisters (and a tired mum in a messy house!)
Will have to try the other Ahlberg books you mention too, we only have Each Peach.
That’s the nice thing about the books they pack so much into the pictures there’s plenty to explore as they get older, I was sad about the dad too.
It also makes me appreciate mod cons like a dryer 🙂
I’d also recommend ‘The Pencil’, a more recent picture book & a very different style but clever too
Wait until you get to Jolly Postman and Funnybones, they are favourites in our house.
Oh I’d forgotten about them, the jolly postman is a firm favourite especially as Bryn played Humpty in the Xmas play at nursery so we read the Xmas version many, many, many times (I actually hid it for a while so we could have a break) 😉