Louise writes:
‘Baby Lit’ is a series of board books for babies and toddlers from Gibbs Smith Publishing based on classic works of literature. They are essentially educational board books but with this interesting twist, and with a range that includes works from Austen, Bronte, Dickens, Carroll, Shakespeare and more, I was rather intrigued by the concept!
I looked at Little Miss Austen – Sense & Sensibility (a counting primer) and Little Miss Austen – Pride & Prejudice (an opposites primer). Now firstly, I should point out that I am one of the few women out there who loathes Austen, in particular Pride and Prejudice, so of all the great titles, these were not the best I could have got! Saying that though, I was really impressed. The books are of an excellent standard – sturdy and colourful with lovely illustrations, and a little humour too.
The Pride and Prejudice Book is a basic counting book that follows the story of the novel in numbers. So it begins with 1 English Village, 2 Rich Gentlemen, 3 Houses… with illustrations that represent places and people from the book and are often quite amusing. Sense and Sensibility focuses on opposites, such as: Big – Norland Park, Little – Barton Cottage and Happy – Willoughby, Sad – Colonel Brandon but has the same charm and humour. Despite not being a lover of the novels themselves I really enjoyed the books. Oh, and my children did too!
I’m sure that fans of the novels would absolutely love these as a way of sharing some of their favourite stories with their young children, and I fully intend to purchase some of the other editions. I can’t wait for BabyLit 1984!
The BabyLit range retails at £5.99. The full range is available on Amazon
