Every month is a good month for chicken soup with rice. That is the whole happy idea behind Maurice Sendak's Book of Months: the year goes by from January to December, a bowl of soup keeps turning up, and the rhymes bounce so well that little ones start saying them with you after a read or two.

Sendak, the author and artist behind Where the Wild Things Are, first published this story in 1962 as one of the four tiny books in his Nutshell Library, alongside Alligators All Around, One Was Johnny and Pierre. This is the first board book edition of that original work, printed large on sturdy board pages so a baby can hold it, turn it and share it with a grown-up. The cover alone is a keeper: a beaming boy with his bowl and spoon, set inside an ornate oval frame on a soft pink ground.

It makes a sweet baby shower or first birthday gift, a classic to start a home library with, and the perfect book for a sick day on the couch with a real bowl of soup.