Customer Reviews

Clap Hands (Oxenbury Board Books Oxenbury Board Books)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

My little 16 month old daughter loves this book. We have to read it every night before bedtime so she can "wave to daddy, wave to mom". I also read this book (along with tickle tickle and all fall down) to my 11 year old son when he was a baby/toddler. This book has lasting power over many years and I highly recommend it

Our toddler had us read this so many times that we memorized it quickly. It's rhythm and rhyme are so catchy that we could repeat the words YEARS after we returned it to the library. Now we're buying it as a baby gift for someone else to enjoy. Like "All Fall Down" (also by Oxenbury) the pictures are adorable multi-cultural children having fun together. It's a nice size and length for a board book.

We received this book as a gift when my son was 6 months old. We now have all of these books. My son is intrigued by the pictures and wants us to read it over and over! He's 15 months now and still loves it! A great book!

I can't say I understand all of the great reviews on this book. Out of all the books my son has, and he has a ton, this is my least favorite. It almost seems like the author wanted 4 lines that rhymed and it didn't matter if they went together, just rhymed. Well if that is what you want, this is the book for you. With so many other great baby books out there, I would recommend looking at some others over this one. Maybe some people liked it because it really is only 8 pages (4 double sided pages) and doesn't have much text. In fact the first two pages only say: Clap hands, stomp feet. My son is 1 and he won't sit through a long book but this is too short and not interesting enough.

I would recommend these books: Brown Bear and the rest of the series (my husband reads them to my son with different voices for all the animals and he loves it!), I love you through and through (my absolute favorite), Dr. Seuss' books (a few are short and are aimed at a younger audience)

The talented and prolific Helen Oxen bury ("We're Going on a Bear Hunt," the "Tom and Pippa" series) is a master at board books as well as picture books aimed at a slightly older audience. Clap Hands is a large format board book (there should be more of these!) showing four adorably dressed youngsters at play and snack time. For once, we see kids as they really look: Wearing oversized hand-me-downs that show evidence of the kids' pulling and tugging at them, and generally flopping around.

"Clap Hands" has a joyful feeling, and somehow Oxenbury captures the spontaneity of baby and toddler play, and the conflicting demands of seemingly unlimited energy and inevitable fatigue. Our four kids dance, eat snacks play cardboard "horns" and pots-and- pans percussion, and give big hand waving smiles to Daddy and Mom.

Board books are so brief--eight pages here--that they're like short stories, the best ones pay attention to every word and detail. Oxenbury uncannily gets it all right, from the above-mentioned clothing, to the off-kilter movement, the mix of solo and cooperative play, and even the utensils and slices of fruit at snack. The uncluttered, large format pictures have a nice color balance, and the playful text reads easily ("Clap hands, dance and spin, open wide and pop it in...") One of several in Ms. Oxenbury's baby book series, this is just right for reading to either one listener or a group.

All 3 of my girls enjoyed this book (a series of 4). I even bought the set of 4 books for my nephew and niece. They are quick, catchy reads. Kids love the big pictures of the babies.

Helen Oxenbury's board books are simply amazing! Babies of all races will recognize little ones like themselves between the pages. Oxenbury's warm artistic style as well as her use of rhythm and rhyme is enchanting. I first discovered Oxenbury's books when my children were young. I recently bought a set of her baby board books for my newborn granddaughter. Did you know Helen Oxenbury pioneered baby board books? Watch several videos in which this author/illustrator discusses her work in children's literature by going to readingrockets.org and searching for "Helen Oxenbury."

Very cute book with a good rhythm to it and sweet looking babies. It has a good cadence to it, and it's probably in our one year old's top five books. But it's very very short! Another couple of pages would have been good!

Clap Hands, together with Tickle, Tickle, Say Goodnight, and All Fall Down, is a lovely set of books showing babies having fun together. Sweet, simple illustrations are just right for little ones. Oxenbury's babies look like they could toddle right off the pages!

In my grad school children's literature classes, Helen Oxenbury was held up as the model for good books for babies. Unlike so many board books that are abridged versions of picture books written for older children, Oxenbury's books are created for babies. The illustrations, length, and text of each book are perfectly age-appropriate and great fun for little ones.

I tell library visitors all the time that it's never too early to begin reading to a child. Books like these are the ones I recommend again and again for the youngest listeners.

I love this set of books by Helen Oxenbury because of the different ethnicities of babies. There is a little for everyone...which is something I have been looking for in books for my biracial son. He identifies with more then one of the babies and loves doing what the babies do in the pictures. This book, in particular, is fun because the babies dance and spin and eat and wave...all things that he knows how to do too. I highly recommend getting all 4 books in this set. My son cannot go to sleep until we have read the bedtime book and he has patted each baby.