Book Review: "Baby Dolphin's Busy Day" by Laura Gates Galvin

   Our baby has recently begun enjoying board books, and so I have been on the look out for new ones to add to her new tiny collection.  Today I was chaperoning a field trip for my son's class, at The Orlando Science Center.  In the gift shop I saw that they had several books for babies, but the one that first caught my eye was "Baby Dolphin's Busy Day".

   What first caught my eye was the cheerful bright blue cover.  The title of the series, "Baby Animals", is written in bubbly rainbow letters across the front cover, just above the title.  Written by Laura Gates Galvin, this is a Smithsonian Institution book, in cooperation with Soundprints.  A notice on the back of the book states that a portion of the proceeds from the sales of the book will go back into the Smithsonian's work.

   But on to the story!  Baby dolphin is out for a day of fun and learning with his Mommy.  Every time your baby turns the page, he or she will find a large color photograph of the baby dolphin, or the baby with its mother.  There will also be a colorfully bordered sentence or two about what is happening in the picture.  The photo shots are engaging and arouse curiousity.  The text is short and simple, and can act as a springboard for parents or other caregivers to talk about the pictures to the little learning readers!

   Baby dolphin is going to learn to swim on his back first, and then Mommy teaches him how to find food in the coral reef.  Next he practices jumping out of the water, before heading home for a rest.  My daughter really enjoyed when I was pointing to the pictures and labelling them for her, "Baby . . . Mama", "Baby . . . Mama" and then pointed to her and me.  I could tell she was thinking about the connection.

   The book cost $6.95 and was well worth every penny of that.  This made the perfect bedtime story to help the baby settle down after a bit of fussy time.