MOIMOI―LOOK AT ME!

Nonsense words and multicolored forms combine to appeal to babies.

This vibrant board book from the University of Tokyo’s “Baby Lab” purports to use lab-tested designs to help calm infants with a combination of colorful shapes and soothing vocalizations to read aloud. Each page includes two or more basic tadpole-like shapes with contrasting stripes and an “eye” on both the body and tail, offering plenty of visual interest for a baby to focus on as their vision is developing. The simple text reflects the changing figures, with larger lettering on pages on which the forms have grown in size, multiple iterations on the pages where many tiny shapes appear, and a stretched-out “moooooooi” on the pages on which the characters have long tails. Simple onomatopoeic words are interspersed and seem to reflect subtle changes in the shapes as well. While the jury is still out on whether a book of this type can truly console an upset baby, the interesting format combined with adult interaction will certainly appeal to many a tot. A QR code on the back of the book leads readers to a helpful recording of the correct pronunciation of moi moi, which rhymes with koi koi.

Bright and engaging for the tiniest readers.