A look at two fun and very stylish perfect-for-baby-and-toddler items courtesy of the kind folks at Raincoast Books!

First up is House: First Words Board Books, illustrated by award-winning artist Michael Slack. This box set, designed so sleekly and smartly to look like the front-face of a house, contains five small board books inside, each book representing a particular room of an imagined house. Readers get to look inside a: garage, bedroom, bathroom, living room, and kitchen. Each of the small, sturdy board books offers a look at items typically housed within each room, with a bright illustration and item description per page. Clean, simple text and vibrant artwork is featured in all five books, with the added bonus in the fun and play of getting to put the books back to their proper “rooms”. This is a title from Chronicle Books, a publisher who typically nails in it terms of winning design and great substance in their children’s offerings; in this instance, House: First Words Board Books is a set that looks pretty fabulous, is educational, excels with its cool, interactive design, and will likely be adored by kids and their caregivers. Not to mention, this is a set you may just want to hang on to and display for its visual appeal!

Second up is Baby Art Gallery: Turn Your Baby into an Art Critic, illustrated by graphic artist Damien Poulain. Cheekily noting that “these cards cannot guarantee your child will grow up to be a creative genius”, this is a set of eight double-sided flash cards, all in black-and-white, featuring art that has been inspired by the “world’s greatest artists” (as per the item description)- from Pablo Picasso to Jackson Pollack, Henri Matisse to Yayoi Kusama. This is a very streamlined, stylish and altogether innovative approach to the concept of high-contrast art/books aimed at babies. The flash cards are a generous size (perfect for smaller hands to easily hold and play with), nicely thick and durable, with rounded edges. The “inside box” in which the cards are housed in contains information on which artists inspired which cards. For wee babies and their caregivers, the appeal of the flash cards is in the bold visuals, the holding and exploring of the cards, and in simply playing together. Additionally, the cards and their real-life inspirations are subjects that can be revisited, enjoyed and explored or even serve as art project inspiration as a child gets older!

I received copies of these titles courtesy of Raincoast Books in exchange for honest reviews. All opinions and comments are my own. Both titles have been published and are currently available.