Naptime with Theo and Beau

Real life never offers opportunities to sing with birds perched on one’s shoulder à la Snow White or have a talking bear for a mentor like Mowgli. But Shyba’s photos of co-napping between her toddler son, Beau, and the family’s mixed-breed rescue puppy, Theo, do a fine job of tapping into our primal fantasies of deep communion with animals. Shyba photographs the sleeping pair from a variety of loving, close-up angles, showing them back to back, in frontal embraces, and in several variations that involve Theo cuddled into some endearing crook formed by Beau’s body (one photo has the puppy snuggled into the space between Beau’s shoulder and neck). The book is based on Shyba’s popular blog and Instagram feed and has zero literary pretensions: the text consists of brief, literal captions like “Cheek to cheek and bottom to bottom.” Lover of cute dogs and cuter kids will find plenty to smile and sigh over in these ultra-sweet images. Ages 2–5. (Feb.)