Read, Read, Read, said the Baby: Stanley's paint box and Stanley's toolbox by William Bee

I and my colleagues (and our storytime audience) love the Stanley books. Although, of course, I still regret that he isn't a guinea pig instead of a hamster... still, they remind me of my childhood favorites, the Teddy Bear books by Phoebe and Sally Worthington. Stanley is more up to date of course, and not quite so obviously British.

While each Stanley picture book tackles a different occupation or community helper, the board books focus on different concepts. The two newest ones involve paint and tools. Stanley's Toolbox introduces basic tools and what they do. The first page shows all the tools against a pale blue background on the left and introduces Stanley with his toolbox on the right, all set to help Little Woo (a shrew) repair his tree house. On each page, Stanley and Little Woo use a different tool, shown in action. They use a drill and a mallet, saw, hammer and nails, sander, screwdriver, glue gun, wrench, nut, and bolt. The simple story ends with all the friends enjoying the like-new treehouse and Stanley's special addition - a swing! A yellow teddy bear peeks out from the illustrations on each page, giving young readers an additional item to search for.

In Stanley's Paint Box, a similar format is followed as Stanley's tools and paints are laid out and he once more sets out to help Little Woo with a project. This time they are joined by two mice as well, Sophie and Benjamin. The project starts out as stacks of random boxes which they are preparing to paint. They get started with their rollers, sponges, and brushes, but Little Woo, Sophie, and Benjamin want more than the basic colors Stanley has brought. So they learn how to mix new colors, creating orange, green, purple, and pink. Each box gets a different pattern of stripes, spots, or zigzags. They finish up with a colorful castle - and a colorful group of painters! The teddy bear is back in this one, but it changes colors, sometimes matching the book.

The simple explanatory text and bright, friendly illustrations make these perfect for little hands - and eyes. The text is divided from the pictures, laid out on a layer of color below the artwork, making this a great book to start teaching little ones about print awareness as well. The vocabulary is in bolder type, so this would be an easy one to make word lists to match as well. They are a comfortable size, about 7x7 inches, and made of sturdy cardboard with a flexible binding.

Verdict: The Stanley board books are a little pricier than the average board book, but in my opinion they are well worth the money and should be staples of your board book collection. I highly recommend these latest additions and they are sure to appeal to your tool and paint-loving babies and toddlers.

Stanley's paint box

ISBN: 9781682631867

Stanley's toolbox

ISBN: 9781682631874

Published March 2020 by Peachtree; Purchased for the library; Review copy provided by the publisher and donated to the library (so we have two! or, rather, four!)