Board books are great for babies and toddlers. The thick pages are easy for little fingers to turn, and the cardboardlike material of the books makes them great for playing with or even chewing.

Here's a look at some great new board books, all of which work well for infants through age 2:

Babies will love looking at the photographs of other smiling babies in "You and Me, Baby" (Knopf, $6.99). Featuring a lilting text by Lynn Reiser, the book's main attraction is the photographs by Penny Gentieu, who shows a diverse group of babies and parents hugging, splashing, waving and laughing.

"Peekaboo Morning" (Putnam, $7.99) is a gem. Written and illustrated by Rachel Isadora, the book -- first published in picture-book form in 2002 -- riffs on the favorite baby and toddler game of peekaboo as it follows a child through a busy morning at home. Isadora's color-saturated images burst with cheer, while her simple text allows young readers to play peekaboo along with the young protagonist.

Author-illustrator David Diehl uses bright, stylized artwork to illustrate basic concepts in two board books, "A Circle Here, A Square There: My Shapes Book" and "Boom Boom Beep Beep Roar!: My Sounds Book" (Lark/Sterling, $4.95 each). Some of the concepts, such as "crescent," are pretty advanced, but Diehl makes them accessible (showing a crescent moon, for example). Look also for Diehl's other board books, "Sports A-Z" and "1 Baby, 2 Cats, 3 Trucks: My Counting Book."

Babies and toddlers, as well as their parents, will love the humorous way that author-illustrator Leslie Patricelli tackles teaching the concept of opposites in "Baby Happy Baby Sad" and "No No Yes Yes" (Candlewick Press, $6.99 each). Patricelli's cartoonlike baby has instant appeal as he/she moves through a day of feeling happy one minute, then sad the next (holding an ice-cream cone, then dropping it), or showing bad behavior one minute and good behavior the next (coloring on walls, then coloring on paper). As the back of "Baby Happy Baby Sad" puts it: "Happy things. Sad things. They're all in a baby's day." Best of all, the comic scenes help retain the book's entertainment value through repeated readings.

Boxer Books has just released a quartet of cheerful board books, each written by Bernette Ford and focused on a particular concept. "A Black Cat" (illustrated by Britta Teckentrup) cleverly teaches the alphabet, while "A Happy Home" (also illustrated by Teckentrup) is a compilation of household objects, grouped by type (food, toys, etc.). "1 Teddy Bear," meanwhile, is a counting book, while "A Big Dog" teaches opposites. Both of those books are illustrated by Cristiano Sorrentino. (Each book is $6.95.)

Bow-Wow, the appealing star of the picture book "Bow-Wow Bags a Bug," teaches little readers about sounds in "Bow-Wow Hears Things" (Harcourt, $4.95). Written and illustrated by Mark Newgarden and Megan Montague Cash, this book is the latest in a series of "Bow-Wow" board books. "Bow-Wow Hears Things" is a one-joke story; in each of the two-page spreads, Bow-Wow waits for a little yellow bird to make a sound and each time it's the wrong sound. First, the bird honks, then says "splash," then says "tick tock" and so on. When the bird finally gets his sound right, however, he nearly blows Bow-Wow off the page. It's just the kind of comedy that tickles the fancy of little ones, while adults will enjoy the simple but expressive illustrations.

If you've got a vehicle lover in your house, don't miss "My Big Machine Book" and "My Train Book" (Smithsonian/HarperCollins, $5.99 each). The simple text gives the specific names for various vehicles (such as "covered hopper car" and "front-end loader") while also describing what each vehicle does. Illustrated with photographs of the vehicles, these books are sure to be favorites of any young vehicle fanatic.

Two new board books take little ones to new places. In "Island Counting 1 2 3" (Candlewick Press, $6.99), author-illustrator Frane Lessac uses a tropical background to teach a simple counting lesson. In "Subway" (Viking, $6.99), meanwhile, author Anastasia Suen and illustrator Karen Katz take readers on an entertaining underground ride.

The farmer has his hands full as he gets everyone ready for bed in "Rock-A-Bye Farm" (Little Simon/Simon & Schuster, $7.99). Written by Diane Johnston Hamm and illustrated by Alexi Natchev, "Rock-A-Bye Farm" will add a bit of silliness to bedtime as the farmer dispatches first his baby and then each animal to sleep before finally rocking himself off to dreamland, courtesy of a porch rocking chair.