Binky (Leslie Patricelli board books)

Leslie Patricelli's books are sheer genius. They are a delight for parent and child alike. She has raised the sketch to an art form, somehow managing to convey perfectly through her squiggles and stick legs the stance, comportment, and moods of a toddler. Her drawings remind me of Charles Schulz's Peanuts cartoons when he was at the height of his powers. We first borrowed this book from the library. Patricelli's premise is so simple but so vital to the consciousness of a toddler-the search for the Almighty Binky-that we realized we had it basically memorized after a few weeks of reading it to our boy. Which was very helpful, considering that the book had our son enthralled to such an extent that he sat perfectly still and listened to our recitations over and over, without any pictures to help capture his attention. And always, at the end, his laugh of satisfaction at the final denoument. We used this story whenever our boy was anxious or irritated and it never failed to calm him down. Later, we bought our own copy, first chance we got. Is it necessary for me to say that I heartily recommend this book? If you have a child under the age of two, Binky is a must.

We started reading board books to our son when he was just a few months old. Binky was one of his first books and quickly became his favorite. We now own all of the books in the series, (Quiet Loud is our favorite next to Binky). We've bought Binky for other children and it's quickly become their favorite as well. Our son now knows the Binky story by heart, talks back to the main character and lights up whenever you mention a passage, whether or not the book itself is near. Can't recommend this book enough.

My 2-year old is really into Leslie Patricelli's books right now. He loves this one and almost has it memorized word for word. The character is so cute and so much like my son. He really relates to this one and still laughs everytime we read it. I can't wait for more from this author.

My son loves this baby character from Leslie Patricelli's other books. In this one, the baby can't find his binky (a common scenario around our house!). He proceeds to look for his binky in all sorts of places, like his cereal (which he dumps out) and his potty. It makes my son laugh. He loves when the baby finally finds his binky in the end.