I skipped town last Thursday and headed off to Missouri, so that Gareth and I could pay a long-overdue visit to my best friend, her husband, and their two year-old son (Silas). The down side of taking off when I did is that I missed meeting two reportedly delightful authors, who did events at our store on Thursday and Friday. (Stay tuned for my events post later this week.) The up side is that I got to spend a few low-key days with some of my favorite people and I can now recite Wong Herbert Yee‘s Fireman Small: Fire Down Below! from memory.

In recent months Silas has adopted a firefighting alter-ego who goes by "Captain Jack," a name Silas appears to have pulled from the pages of At the Firehouse by Anne Rockwell. On our Saturday trip to the wonderful Columbia Public Library I decided I it was high time I introduced Silas (and Captain Jack) to a fellow firefighting little guy, Fireman Small. Alas, the library did not have the Yee’s original book (simply titled Fireman Small) but no matter — Fireman Small: Fire Down Below! was an immediate hit. And a repeat hit. And a repeat hit. And a repeat hit. By the time we departed Monday morning, I think that book might have gone platinum on the Silas chart.

I’d thought I might be able to observe what types of books Silas did and didn’t like and make some profound statement based on these observations, but the fact is that Silas liked every picture book we put in front of him — even the ones that seemed either "beneath" or "beyond" his (two) years. What does this mean? 1.) That Silas is already a genuine book lover, and 2.) That illustrations speak volumes even to those with very limited vocabularies.

As evidence, see Silas grinning as Gareth reads him Baby Loves Peekaboo (a DK board book), then see the two of them surrounded by books we brought back from the library and read in rapid succession. What books appear in the second photo? I’ll list them below.

On the couch:
Waiting for Gregory by Kimberly Willis Holt, illustrated by Gabi Swiatkowska
Silas is expecting a new cousin, so I thought this beautiful book (about a girl wondering when and how her own cousin will arrive) would be a fitting choice.

Red, Red, Red by Valeri Gorbachev
A fun story about a turtle rushing (in relative turtle terms) to see something red. As friends fall in line behind him, they wonder what it could be, until they reach the end of their journey just in time to catch the sunset.

Beside Silas:
New York’s Bravest by Mary Pope Osborne, illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher
The subtext and timing of this story are tied to 9/11, making it a rather somber one for older readers. To Silas, though, it was just a cool firefighting story.

Bebop Express by H.L. Panahi, illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher
Elizabeth (Silas’s mom) picked this one, because Silas loves anything having to do with music. She had no idea she was choosing a jazzy book by a Wellesley author!  H.L. Panahi is a teacher at the Dana Hall School, alma mater of Margaret Wise Brown and Cynthia Voigt, to name two.

Actual Size by Steve Jenkins
Okay, so maybe the concept of relative size is over the head of any two-year-old. Steve Jenkins’s remarkable cut-paper illustrations can’t help but impress, nevertheless.

Beside Gareth:
Hello, Fire Truck by Marjorie Blain Parker, illustrated by Bob Kolar
Short and sweet with fire trucks aplenty, this Level 1 Scholastic Reader contains just enough text (and just enough trucks) to please a toddler.

Fireman Small: Fire Down Below! by Wong Herbert Yee
Leaks in the fire station roof force Fireman Small to seek shelter at the Pink Hotel, where his night is anything but restful. An action-packed fire-fighting adventure with a smaller-than-average hero, this book is pretty much a two year-old’s dream come true. (Just ask Silas.)