Sherlock Holmes in the Hound of the Baskervilles: A BabyLit® Sounds Primer

BabyLit® Primers

by Jennifer Adams, Alison Oliver (Illustrator)

Delight your little one with the sounds and sights of a mysterious night in Sherlock Holmes in the Hound of Baskervilles: A BabyLit Sounds Primer. Alison Oliver’s bold illustrations correspond with Jennifer Adams’ clever, simple text to create pairings little bibliophiles will love to have read to them, such as “hounds howl,” “gates screech,” and “stairs creak.”

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Classics, Mystery, Animals, Halloween

22 pages, Board book

First published September 1, 2013

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Jennifer Adams is the author of more than forty books. Her bestselling BabyLit board books (published by Gibbs Smith) introduce small children to the world of classic literature and have sold 1.5 million copies. She is the author of another series of board books, My Little Cities.

Jennifer’s picture books for children, Edgar Gets Ready for Bed, Edgar and the Tattle-Tale Heart and Edgar and the Tree House of Usher are inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Raven.” She also has two new picture books forthcoming from HarperCollins.

Her titles also include books for adults, including Y is for Yorick, a slightly irreverent look at Shakespeare, and Remarkably Jane, notable quotations on Jane Austen.

Jennifer graduated from the University of Washington. She has 20 years’ experience as a book editor, including at Gibbs Smith and Quirk Books. She currently works as a consulting editor for Sounds True, developing their children’s line. Jennifer works some evenings at her local independent bookstore, The King’s English, to feed her book habit. She lives in Salt Lake City with her husband, Bill Dunford, who is also a writer.

(bio from author's website)

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this - the classics for babies through sounds!

[Jeimy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fabulous! I loved the verbs the authors chose.

[Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

colorful and fun illustrations, marvelous sound words following Sherlock Holmes plots. if you're a fan of SH and your kid likes hearing you make sound effects, this is the book for you.

[Alanna Gardner · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just not as good as the og (which isn’t even that good this is just mayhem)

[Emily McFarlan Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

The entire BabyLit series is adorable, and I love introducing my child to some of my favorite works of literature, like Sherlock Holmes.

[Chrisanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the way it ties into the books. But the colors aren't as bright and, therefore, E was bored.

[Michelle (FabBookReviews) · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have ever wondered how an adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles might look if adapted adorably and cleverly in board book form, then look to this title from the popular BabyLit series!

Focusing on a slew of sounds, as imagined from Arthur Conan Doyle's famous work, this BabyLit Sounds Primer features ten objects and their respective sounds. For example: we have wheels that 'clatter', leaves that 'rustle', and fire that 'crackles'. Each page of the board book features one object and the facing page features the sound of the object. What I especially like about this particular BabyLit addition is how it takes something as iconic as this Sherlock Holmes case and cheekily formats and restyles it into something so enjoyable and so exactly RIGHT. Alison Oliver's illustrations are, as ever, cuter than cute- but in this book they are little bit spookier and darker in colour palette to match the adapted work. Oliver's imagining of Holmes and Watson is so great in this book! This is a board book title that while, of course, will be enjoyed by babies and toddlers (my daughter loves trying the sounds with me!), adults (and Sherlock fans!) might also get a big kick out of this and want to add it to their own library collection for the pure joy and fun of it. If you end up enjoying this BabyLit entry, you might also want to check out the Dracula and/or Frankenstein adaptations!

[Ruth Dahl · Rating 4 out of 5]

2020: it’s been five (!!!) years since I first got this book, and I have a whole new generation of young people to read this to, and they love it! There has been many a long babysitting day when this was the only book I had to read to kiddos, and they’ve never seemed to mind :) it’s a great book to read to toddlers.

2015: I read this to my 11 mo niece, and she loved it. She even tried to imitate some of the sounds I made.
She seemed interested in a second read, but then she noticed a "bird-bird" and then grandma was eating something and she wanted it...
But aside from the distractions this looks like it's gonna be a favourite :)

2016: Update a year later: Still a favourite, and now my niece can "read" this out loud to me, and it's the cutest thing!

[Drew Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a detective named Sherlock Holmes and a Hound of the Baskervilles, and when the two meets there are a great many sound effects to be heard.

This is a unique entry in the BabyLit series, focusing on sounds. It was fun reading through and making all the sounds that go along with the illustrations, but it didn't really tell much of a story like the other BabyLit books manage to do. I liked the art as usual, and it was nice to have something so different from the others, especially something so relatively interactive, but I would have liked a little more story incorporated. Still, another fun read-aloud BabyLit book.

[Zina · Rating 4 out of 5]

So cute! The character on the cover looks like a minion from Despicable Me! I simply adore all the classic books for toddlers! I've seen a War and Peace , toddler-version. It. Was. Perfect.

[Jocelin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great one in the Baby Lit series. This one is about sounds. With the right storyteller the story will really pop. These books are so great because they expose the little ones to classic literature in a colorful and fun way.

[Carynpayzant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love Jennifer Adam's Baby Lit series. Every book in the series is a gem!!

I gave this book to my 18 month old grandson for Christmas. He loved the big pictures and words. Very clever and very fun.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was really fun. My daughter really like the sounds, and I enjoyed reading it to her.

[Mindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Any Sherlock lover who has kids or is expecting will love this simple Sherlock tale.

[Amanda [Novel Addiction] · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, once again. Babylit makes some interesting reads. This one would definitely be more fun for adults.

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really not that good at making sound effects but I just faked it. Fun illustrations and noises.

[Crystal Farner-prestwich · Rating 5 out of 5]

very cute. we love Sherlock Holmes

[Cara Byrne · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the better adaptations with a comic book flair

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The original is close to my heart, but this is a fun baby reimagining. The sounds & art were fun.

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Visualizing" the sound is easy to do, given the graphics and item-sound relation!

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good for small children being read to.

[Orion Kopf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adorable! Lots of great sound effects, fun to read with Mom

[Joanne Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this "Sounds Primer" from the team that brought the other Little Masters board books (bay-sized classic literature). The novel idea (pun intended) of theming the book with sounds instead of the requisite colors or abc's was not only a unique spin, but fun to read aloud. It starts out beginning to tell the tale of the Hound of the Baskervilles, but ends up closer to a generic Holmes baby book. Nevertheless, it is charming and along with the fun graphic illustrations and gorgeous dark, primary color scheme, this is one of the best in the BabyLit series.

[María Eugenia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Esta colección me requeteencanta. 😍
En este "primer" de sonidos inspirado en The Hound of the Baskervilles una página trae el sujeto que hace el ruido (hounds, gates, etc.) y la página enfrentada, el verbo (howl, screech, etc.). Las ilustraciones preciosas, como siempre.

[Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

These Baby Lit primers are a great idea, teaching kids basic concepts while introducing them to classic literature. They're all filled with characters and plot points from the books along with some fun art. My only complaint is these won't give you much of an idea what the real book is about unless you've already read it.

[Sean Harding · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adams Adventures #13
Baby Lit #9
An interesting book of sounds, which could be used in great ways.
It is a long way from the book to Sherlock Holmes, and I get what the aim and objective was but I think there was a misfire with that.
It was still a reasonable look at sounds, but it was a step too far in pushing the Holmes connection.

[Liselotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really cute, atmospheric baby book! I love the baby lit primers, they are incredibly sturdy books and the illustrations are adorable! The sounds are "creepy" sounds, such as creaking, screeching etc. A perfect baby edition based on Sherlock Holmes!

[Mort's Kids · Rating 3 out of 5]

Baby literature, but this time: sounds!

Can you do the rustle of leaves? The creak of a door? The clatter of wagon wheels?

Neither can I. But it's fun to try, and the art nicely matches the theme.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are more words on the cover of the book then there are in the pages. It’s okay and I can see the flow from the original. It’s a primer that looks at sound. And as that it works. As a representation of the classic, it’s a little lacking.
#Wintergames #teamreadnosereindeer +16

[Guillermo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I enjoyed making the sounds featured in the book more than the children enjoyed hearing me do so. It doesn't have a story to it, which I think had the children disinterested in it. Tough crowd, I know.