By Sandra Boynton
Boynton at her coziest: little Pookie the pig wakes up long before Mama on birthday morning, too excited to sleep, and gets a whole warm day of being loved.
It's Pookie's birthday and Pookie is up before the sun, wide awake and buzzing, gently pestering a sleepy Mama to get the day going. Mama, of course, is ready — there's a special breakfast, a walk, a song, and a birthday full of small delicious things, all in Sandra Boynton's soft rhyme and round, huggable pictures. It's the whole feeling of a toddler's birthday morning shrunk down into a board book you can chew on.
It gives a one-year-old exactly their own life on the page: the wild morning excitement, a grown-up who says yes, a day that's all about them. Boynton keeps it tiny and warm with a rhyme that practically bounces, so there's nothing to brace for and everything to snuggle into. It's a perfect birthday-morning book to leave by the crib.