5 of the Most Beautiful Board Books

I own and love each of the following books (in fact, I purchased the first one before Luke was born, before I was even married, because it was just so deliciously beautiful). The texts in the following three books are simple and not story/narrative-heavy, but paired with the illustrations, each book is stunning.

1. Who Sang the First Song, by singer-song writer Ellie Holcomb and illustrated by Kayla Harren combines lush, color-saturated illustrations with a poetic, thought-provoking text. Both illustrations and text provide a unique perspective on the Creation narrative: the text is inspired, in part, by a sermon that Tim Keller gave (one of my spiritual dads/heroes) and centers on the idea of God singing the world into existence and placing his song within all of creation, including us! (For more on the creation of Who Sang the First Song, see this interview by BH Publishing with Ellie Holcomb: B&H Publishing) the interview includes discussion questions for parents and little ones, as well!). The illustrations display the breathtaking beauty and diversity of nature, depicting multiple different biome and animal species. The illustrator, Kayla Harren, uses unique perspectives to do so (for example, she shows the reflection of elephants in a pool rather than the elephants themselves, and gives us a bird’s eye view of a girl stand-up paddleboarding as she watches cranes slice through the sky above her). The illustrations depict beautiful diversity in the natural world as well as in people. I have the sequel, Don’t Forget to Remember, on Luke’s Christmas list and hopefully it will become part of our collection at some point!
2. You Are Loved, written and illustrated by Laura Kunkle. This is one of the best, most insightful, truest children’s books on love I’ve ever read. It’s so simple, and yet so deep—we will never grow beyond practicing love in the ways the book outlines: “I see you. I hear you. I accept you.” It finishes, “You are enough, and I love you.” The black and white illustrations (each with a pop of red) are done with such obvious care and are frame-worthy (in fact, the author sells the illustrations as greeting cards from her website, Willow Branch Books).
3. Big Bug, written and illustrated by Henry Cole. Gorgeous. Full-page, richly-colored water-color illustrations fill each page. The colors are brilliant. The text is simple, but includes some easy “first words” for little ones to practice, such as “lady bug”, “barn,” “dog,” etc. It’s a great book to help little ones develop their understanding of perspective as well as comparative sizes: a “big bug” on the first spread is a “small bug” when compared to a “big leaf” on the second spread; a “big leaf” is small when compared to a “big flower,” and so on.
4. Adventures with Barefoot Critters, by Teagan White. The art in this book is beautifully whimsical—the colors are rich and brilliant yet somewhat muted. The illustrations are done in watercolor and gouache (apparently a more opaque version of watercolor ;). Since Luke’s nursery has a forest-theme (loosely), I had this book on display on his bookshelf for a while…until I ran out of space for storing them! I also love the feel of the pages—almost a work of art themselves—extra thick and soft (kind of like a chip-board book). Anything you find illustrated by Teagan White will be beautiful and whimsical, including another cute book titled Peek-A-Boo Haiku, where you get to expose your little one to Haiku! #EnglishLitMajorGoals
5. The Biggest Story ABC, by Kevin DeYoung and illustrated by Dan Clark. This one is a top pick because of its mix of unique with beauty. It’s hard for me to describe the style—very bold colors and lines, kind of block-y. The illustrator has apparently worked for some very big companies, including Nike, Apple, Target, Disney, and more! The text traces the story of God’s redemption plan through his chosen people, Israel. (This rather than highlighting the “big names”/most popular kids Bible stories like Jonah and the whale, Noah and the ark, etc.). I enjoy the creativity the author used in the words he picked for each letter. For example, several letters represent the Egyptian plagues sent by God to change Pharoah’s heart and precipitate the freeing of the Israelites, including “g” which stands for “gnats”. The full alphabet is printed on the inside of the front and back covers, and Luke loves to point at the letters after we read the story.

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