ROW, ROW, ROW YOUR BOAT

Frost contributes another eye-catching and extraordinarily durable volume to this series for the very youngest of readers.

The aptly named Indestructibles series is the perfect marriage of form and function: books that are colorful enough to engage a baby and tough enough to withstand all the drooling, chewing, grabbing, tearing, and spilling a child can throw at them. The paperlike miracle substance on which these books are printed is nontoxic, won’t tear, and has a grain that makes the colors on the pages really pop. The minimal text offers the lyrics to the familiar round (the companion volumes in this release are The Itsy Bitsy Spider and Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star). The illustrations are peopled with appealing animals and insects enjoying summer scenes; the simple, clean images are surprisingly rich in detail, affording ample opportunity for conversation beyond the rhymes in question. Family scenes abound—a parent dog and puppy go rowing in the park, both clad in their requisite floatation vests, as two adult squirrels, their child, a frog, and a family of ducks and ducklings enjoy the day. Roller-skating bears, bicycling foxes, a raccoon on a scooter, kite-flying cats, and bunnies painting en plein-air are also on hand. The dogs row into the sunset, arriving home beneath a moonlit, starry sky, ready for bed.

Read, sing, discuss, and even spill milk on it.