My First Baby Signs

Pull tabs animate the hands of eight babies as they demonstrate American Sign Language words, in this charming how-to guide from Conigliaro (Colossal Paper Machines) and newcomer Yu. The first child, shown in profile, moves her hand toward her mouth (“When baby wants food, baby signs eat”), and the subsequent children face readers directly as they make the signs for milk, more, all done, help, thank you, bath, and bed. The clean, bright graphics are eye-catching and welcoming, and the use of paper-engineered movements is an ingenious way to explore sign language. A closing recap of each hand sign rounds out this smartly conceived and well-executed resource for preverbal children and their parents. Up to age 2. (Feb.)

This review has been corrected. An earlier version misspelled the author's name.