WATER

The newest title in the Baby Unplugged series by pediatrician Hutton (Book, 2012, etc.) takes a toddler-friendly approach to its examination of the properties and virtues of water.

In keeping with the author’s basic philosophy of encouraging active play and avoiding screen time before the age of 3, this title celebrates the rhythms of language while encouraging little ones to examine and explore the simple wonders of their world. Brief, rhyming verses, most of which scan well and read smoothly, convey a lot of information without coming across as too teacher-y or tedious: “Drop from clouds. Drip from sink. / Water to play. Water to drink. // Water is noisy. Water is quiet. / Water swirls and sprinkles—try it!” The computer-generated art creates a cheery, cartoon world filled with patterns, textures and children whose facial features are rendered with only black lines and circles. While the whimsical illustrations aren’t a perfect match for the text’s celebration of water—calling to mind as they do the plugged-in world of computers and television more than the wild world of nature—their joyful spirit is right on target.

A sweet encouragement to play.