Cumber-Baby-Book-Batch:
Suggested Baby Books to Celebrate Benedict and Sophie’s New Addition

We’ve been eagerly awaiting news from the Hunter-Cumberbatch camp about the arrival of their new baby and while we were pacing the floor, we composed this special list of suggested titles for raising a well-versed Cumberbatch-fanbaby (Cumberbaby?).

Spy Games
BC’s supporting role as a scalp-hunter in the movie adaptation of John le Carré’s “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” and his Oscar-nominated turn as Alan Turing’s WWII codebreaker in “The Imitation Game,” remind us to start honing powers of observation and attention to detail immediately. I SPY Little Letters is the perfect fit for codebreakers in training.

Pour Les Enfants
Mother-to-be Sophie Hunter is known for her avant-garde theater directing and spent two years studying at the famed L’École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq, so bringing in a few classics en francaise might be a bonne idée. Most of us know Goodnight Moon by heart, so Bonsoir Lune is a great way to experience this classic in a new way. For something more lyrical (and with English subtitles), Un Deux Trois: First French Rhymes will be a fun one for reading and singing aloud, with or without a perfect accent.

A Tale of Two Khans
BC’s appearance as the infamous tiger Shere Khan in the upcoming adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book is sure to be a memorable one, so get ahead of the film and check out the adorable animal primer version of The Jungle Book from BabyLit. The entire BabyLit series is charming and whimsically illustrated — a smart and modern introduction to many classics.

To celebrate BC’s other fearsome Khan role, as the famed Star Trek villain, there’s an enjoyable photo-filled board book that uses Captain Kirk and other U.S.S. Enterprise crew and ship stills from the ’70s TV series to teach little ones opposites. How better to show ‘disappear’ than with the sparkly outlines of recently transported crew members?

Baby Universes and Black Holes
Before Charlie Redmayne’s Oscar-winning turn as famed theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, BC played him to much acclaim in a BBC series. Thinking of cultivating a future physicist? Well, before tackling calculus, learning numbers is imperative, so get that baby started with any of these first early counting and books of numbers.

And for any young star-gazing, future cosmologists: National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of Space.

Elementary, My Dear
Playing the brilliant, enigmatic, and bristly Sherlock Holmes in the well known BBC-created television series may be one of BC’s most favorite roles for fans. The show’s attention to detail and inclusion of well-placed canonical references to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original work make it irresistible for even the most skeptical Sherlockian. The BabyLit version of The Hound of the Baskervilles is the perfect starter for any tiny new detective.

And while the pipe isn’t included, there are some great outfits to help get your Baker Street Baby dressed for the case:

Cheers and welcome to Baby Cumberbatch!