Image: amazon.co.uk
Thomas has quite an extensive library. My brother went around a lot of charity shops when Thomas was born and bought basically whatever he could find. My mother loves nothing more than buying books for children and I have a few favourites that I have picked up as well.
Most of the books we have are in English because the books in Portuguese just don’t seem to be as good. They are usually translations and so they don’t seem to be able to play with the sounds and the rhythm to the same extent. Most of the books we have found that have been written originally in Portugese are too serious, with long stories and lots of text. Maybe we are missing something, if so I would love to hear some suggestions because both my wife and mother-in-law would love to read more in Portuguese to him.
Until recently we have only been able to use the very basic books for young children. They are usually made of cardboard and have one word at most on each page. The problem with the bigger books was that he didn’t have the concentration span to sit through one and was more interested in ripping the pages apart. In the last 6 weeks, though, this has all changed.
Image: amazon.co.uk
One book that he has really taken to is ‘Father Christmas Needs a Wee‘ by Nicholas Allen. He hasn’t really interacted with any of the wonderful pictures yet, but he often points to it to get me to read it to him.
A book that I picked up the other day for the first time is ‘Little Lost Cowboy‘ by Simon Puttock and Caroline Jayne Church. The story is about a young Coyote that gets lost in the desert. He gets advice from different characters that he encounters about how to find his way home. Each time, of course, something goes wrong and he ends up howling ‘AROOOOO!’. The first time I read it I really howled out loud trying to do a passabe impression of a wolf, and T was enthralled. Every time I did it he would copy me, so that it sounded like to wolves howling together. My wife came home and we ended up howling as a pack.
Since then Thomas has been pointing to the book all the time and howls along with me with a huge grin on his face.
If anybody has any recommendations for books to use with infants I would love to hear them in the comments section. They can be books in either English or Portuguese.
The Head of the Heard 
Sounds as though there is a gap in the market in Brasil, perhaps you s
hould try your hand at writing books for infants but I suspect it isn’t as easy as you might think
There is a huge gap, but maybe not that much of a market. And it is far more difficult than you might think.
Maisy books are a huge hit!! Lots of pop ups, very simple and easy, cover lots of topics, brings new vocabulary, excellent for little kids. They have them in English and in Portuguese, except in Portuguese she’s not called Maisy, but Ninoca.
Hi Fernanda. Thanks for your comment. I was going to get some more of these books in English when we go back to the UK for a holiday. I’ll be sure to get some in Portuguese as well now.