I Can

by Helen Oxenbury

Helen Oxenbury's brilliant board books have delighted a generation of babies. Now from the most widely loved of artists comes a reissue of a board book to help very young children explore their worlds. In I Can, a baby creates his own wonders as he jumps and stretches and dances. Full of character and humor, this charming book forms a winsome introduction to creativity and movement.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Kids

10 pages, Board Book

First published March 12, 1986

About the author

Married to John Burningham

Born in 1938 and growing up in Ipswich, England, Helen Oxenbury loved nothing more than drawing. As a teenager, she entered art school and basked in the pleasure of drawing, and nothing but drawing, all day. During vacations she helped out at the Ipswich Repertory Theatre workshop, mixing paints for set designers. It was there that she decided her future lay in theater design.

While studying costume design, however, Helen Oxenbury was told by a teacher, "This is hopeless, you know. You ought to go and do illustrations--you're much more interested in the character, and we don't know who's going to play the part!"


But sets and scenery, not books, remained Helen Oxenbury's preoccupation for several more years as she embarked on careers in theater, film, and TV. After marrying John Burningham, another of the world's most eminent children's book illustrators, and giving birth to their first child, at last she turned to illustrating children's books. "When I had babies," Helen Oxenbury says, "I wanted to be home with them and look for something to do there."


Today, Helen Oxenbury is among the most popular and critically acclaimed illustrators of her time. Her numerous books for children include the Greenaway Medal-winning ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND and its companion, ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS, both by Lewis Carroll; Smarties Book Prize-winning FARMER DUCK by Martin Waddell; SO MUCH by Trish Cooke; as well as her classic board books for babies. More recently, she collaborated with author Phyllis Root on the jubilant, no-nonsense tall tale BIG MOMMA MAKES THE WORLD. "As I read Phyllis's text, I imagined Big Momma as part Buddha, part housewife," she says. "It was intimidating to create a whole world, but very enjoyable."


And what does she love most about her work? Thinking up new ideas? Seeing the finished book? Not at all. For Helen, "The best part is when I think I know what I'm doing and I've completed a few drawings. In fact, when I get about a third of the way through, and I feel I'm on my way, then I'm happy. It's like reading a good book--you don't want it to end."


Helen Oxenbury and her husband make their home in London, where the illustrator works in a nearby studio. She is also an avid tennis player.

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the first books I read to my daughter as a very small baby .. way back in the eighties .. very special little board book

[SBC · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely little book. We got it from the library at the same time as Oxenbury's "I hear". My 11 month old didn't really like this one, although I thought it was cute. I think he found this one a bit harder to comprehend.

[kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

super simple but effective. but the choice of stamp over stomp is stumping my vocab background, I never use stamp anymore in conjunction with feet!

[Miss Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute and simple baby and up movement book about all the things a baby can do

[Allison Ster · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book consists of one word on each page about all the things you can do. The pictures, in my opinion, are very bland and the book doesn't have much of a storyline to it.

[Tara Dryml]

This is another one of Helen Oxenbury's books which tells children different things they can do like crawl or wave. (Easy to Read).

[Audric the Illiterate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can, but may I?

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Simple and cute.

[Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this early vocabulary book a toddler learns to sit, crawl, jump stamp, dance, fall, run, slide, stretch, kick, bend, and wave.

[Savannah Spaulding]

This story is another board book created for infants and small children. The book itself is easy for kids with smaller hands to hold and turn pages so the design is perfect for them. The story itself is focused around some of the activities that small children will be able to physically do as they grow. These activities consist of sitting, crawling, jumping, stomping, dancing, falling, running, sliding, stretching, kicking, bending, and waving. All of these actions were put into this book in order to teach small children not only how to do the action, but how to identify what the action is. Because it is limited in words, it gives the child a chance to focus more on the picture and they are able to identify more with what is going on as they see the child in the book demonstrating the actions. This is my favorite of the Helen Oxenbury books because almost all of the movements that are portrayed are things that are actually done by small children.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simple pictures and one word per page descriptions (black word on white background), make this a cute and appropriate book for babies. I liked that a baby was depicted in each picture, but would have liked to see more colorful drawings.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely illustrations.

[Marilyn]

Not any words here that she can read.

[Jessica Thurlow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helen Oxenbury never disappoints. This is a wonderful action word book. It has words like 'Smile', 'Crawl', 'Jump', and 'Sit'. The illustrations are bright and cheery and relatable for my daughter.