My big touch-and-feel colors by Marion Billet

This fabric book, part of the Baby Basics collection, offers a cute tactile adventure for infants and toddlers.

The book is two large, lightly padded fabric rectangles, measuring about 12x20 inches. They are stacked on top of each other and sewn down the middle in two seams to create a four-paged "book." The front and back feature a four-colored rainbow, each stripe made of a different fabric from satin to velvet. Printed clouds and bugs decorate the fabric as well. There are six pages featuring orange/yellow, blue, green, red/brown, purple/pink, and black/white/gray. Each page has a lighter background of the color with simple images of flowers, bugs, and a few other natural items like raindrops printed in darker colors. The only words are the colors. Each page also includes a different sensory fabric. A satin sun, tufted/minky cloud, textured suede frog belly, smooth and glittery heart, and velvety wings.

The book comes in a plastic bag with a cardboard backing and retails for $22, although Baker and Taylor discounts it to $15. Except for one thing I would happily add this to my library toys, specifically for the infants. However, it is hand wash only, no bleach, no dry clean, no dryer, etc. That's just not realistic for a baby toy, especially in a public library. The first thing any baby is going to do with this is put it in their mouth and the second thing will probably be to spit up on it. Now, as a gift, especially if you get it discounted, I'd go ahead and risk tossing it in the wash on cold and hanging it to dry - I suspect it will be fine, except possibly a little fraying or some damage to the special fabrics. But I wouldn't risk something this costly and delicate in a public library.

Verdict: Cute as a gift, but if you want something along this line to circulate look at Indistructibles or washable books - you could even make something yourself, if you've got some basic sewing skills.

ISBN: 9791036353109; Published April 2023 by Twirl/Chronicle; Review copy provided by publisher; Given as a gift to a new baby (we'll see if it washes!)