31 Days, 31 Books: 2021 Board Book Reprints and Adaptations
So, let’s say you wanted to create 31 days of list of children’s books. Ideally, you would want to kick the month off with a big bang, yes? Something relatively showy. One option would be to go all out with board books. In the course of 365 publishing days, there are a lot of board books to consider and to praise. All well and good, except that by Day 2 you’re already going to be exhausted, yes? You’re going to need a shorter list that lets you recoup a little.
Introducing Board Book Reprints and Adaptations! I’ve always enjoyed seeing which picture books find new life in a board book format and successfully make the transition.
Except . . . I didn’t see that many that I liked this year. As such, this is going to be an amusingly short list this time around. That’s okay! Gives me time to prep for the weekend….
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2021 Board Book Reprints and Adaptations
B Is for Baby by Atinuke, ill. Angela Brooksbank
Brilliant! Why didn’t I think from the first minute that I saw this book that it would make a beautiful board book? Unlike some of her other works, this Atinuke book is on the younger side. So much younger, in fact, that one almost wonders if she planned for it to become a board book from the start. After all, it’s all about the letter “B” with a simple plot (and it does have a plot) and the sweetest little baby you ever did see. Count this as the board book reprint that will make your heart soar.
Ganesha’s Sweet Tooth by Sanjay Patel and Emily Haynes
It’s funny to think of it now, but back when this book first came out in picture book form in 2012 I wasn’t at all sure what to think of it. I worried about turning a religion into something quite this simple. Time has passed and I think the book has more than proved its worth. Now it’s in a board book form, which may be better for a toddler storytime than anything else. Obviously the little little kids will love the colors but won’t quite understand the storyline. Still, this one’s pretty hard to resist in the end. An eye-popper and a beaut to boot.
Mix It Up! by Hervé Tullet
It was Tullet that potty trained my first child. I mean that truly. You know when you’re training the kid and they’re sitting there on the pot for long minutes at a time, desperately bored? With my first, we found that if we handed her Tullet’s “The Book Of” board book series, she’d read them like they were Proust, tracing one, exploring another, coming up with theories for a third. Those books made a deep impression on her psyche. Now I can only hope that since Mix It Up has been adapted into a board book form, perhaps it too will drive a deep groove into the gray matter of another child. As with Press Here, the book adapts to the board book format with singular aplomb. You cannot fault it the change. It was born to change. And a format change that doesn’t touch the tone.
Would you like to see other lists of Board Book Reprints and Adaptations? Then check out my previous years’ lists:
And here’s what else is on the docket this month:
December 1 – Great Board Books
December 2 – Board Book Reprints & Adaptations
December 3 – Transcendent Holiday Picture Books
December 4 – Picture Book Readalouds
December 5 – Rhyming Picture Books
December 6 – Funny Picture Books
December 7 – CaldeNotts
December 8 – Picture Book Reprints
December 9 – Math Books for Kids
December 10 – Books with a Message
December 11 – Fabulous Photography
December 12 – Wordless Picture Books
December 13 – Translated Titles
December 14 – Fairy Tales / Folktales / Religious Tales
December 15 – Unconventional Children’s Books
December 16 – Middle Grade Novels
December 17 – Poetry Books
December 18 – Easy Books & Early Chapter Books
December 19 – Older Funny Books
December 20 – Science Fiction Books
December 21 – Fantasy Books
December 22 – Informational Fiction
December 23 – American History
December 24 – Science & Nature Books
December 25 – Autobiographies *NEW TOPIC!*
December 26 – Biographies
December 27 – Nonfiction Books for Older Readers
December 28 – Nonfiction Picture Books
December 29 – Best Audiobooks for Kids
December 30 – Comics & Graphic Novels
December 31 – Picture Books
Filed under: 31 Days 31 Lists, Best Books, Best Books of 2021, Booklists
About Betsy Bird
Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.
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