Baby books: *12 months to 18 months*

• Fave Rave: ABC
• Honorable mention: The Weather Baby

THIS MONTH'S FAVE RAVE:
ABC by John Burningham
The stylish artwork in this board book has been put together from material produced over 30 years ago, and there is timeless quality to this illustrator's interpretation of the alphabet. 

The capital and lower case form of each letter is represented in a rough stamp-print style, and presented in a box next to the matching image. For "Jj jungle" there is a far-off view of monkeys and other creatures nestled in the stepped canopies of trees, and for "Kk king" a close-up of a grizzly-bearded, pink-faced king with huge hands. The queen character further into the book is an ideal match! The self-contained short-sporting men for "R r runners" and the moustached xylophone player for "Xx xylophone" also express great character and humour.

Dad of a 15-month-old comments: "I remember having this style of book when I was little. I like the approach ­ it's not garish, and we're just starting to do letters together, making the sounds."

Published by Cape, £4.99

HONOURABLE MENTION
The Weather Baby, by John Cunliffe, illustrated by Joan Hickson and John Lee
This is an unusual story, with lovely country scenes, telling of Phil Showers the weatherman. 

Phil still lives in Ramsdale, the place of his birth, and there's a map showing the places he travels by every day. This includes Dobbin Top, the hill where his mother used to take him for picnics when he was a baby. 

Phil tells his friends Lottie and Jack the story of one picnic he and his mother had when a great storm blew up and he and his mother rushed home to escape the bucketing rain. Phil tells how, as the Weather Baby, he was fascinated to see the rain "swilling down the windows". 

At the end of the story Phil joins Lottie and her children in another picnic on Dobbin Top.

Published by Scholastic, £4.99

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