Moimoi—Look at Me! quickly rose to bestseller status in Japan, finding its way into one in eight homes with a baby. Now, moimoi and friends are making their way to the United States and Canada! Watch our book trailer and read on to learn why they could become your baby’s new favorite.

We may think we know what’s best for our babies, but do we know what they really like?

Moimoi were born of a simple question: how do we know what babies really like? By tracking how long babies looked at a series of images and what happened in their brains, Dr. Kazuo Hiraki and his team at the University of Tokyo “Baby Lab” were able to create the first book designed by babies, for babies. Dr. Hiraki’s tiny test subjects looked at moimoi twice as long as the competition. What’s more, crying babies were soothed by the cute characters with bold stripes and big, bright eyes.

Not only do babies love to look at moimoi, there’s evidence that high-contrast baby books boost brain development.

What makes moimoi so irresistible as they dance and stretch across the page? While babies see color from the time they are born, their developing eyes can’t differentiate the first few months between the soft pinks and blues found in a typical newborn’s nursery. Bold, high-contrast images are easy for babies to see and send strong signals to their brains. By focusing on these images longer, babies improve their attention span and train their eye muscles and brains to work together—all while doing something they love.

How do I read Moimoi—Look at Me!?

You should read Moimoi in whatever way your baby enjoys best! But here’s a tip: Moimoi’s playful, spiral shape was inspired by the bouba/kiki effect, or the idea that the sounds that make up a word offer clues about its characteristics or shape across many languages. To get the most benefit, Dr. Hiraki recommends you pronounce “moimoi” as the Baby Lab did: to rhyme with “koi” or “soy.”

Moimoi are incredibly popular in Japan.

Moimoi is a pop cultural phenomenon in Japan, with more than 500,000 books sold in the series. So popular and beloved are the characters that Sanrio recently collaborated on a line of merchandise, including plushies, phone cases, and shopping bags. For now, we’ll have to look enviously across the Pacific at those adorable plushies, but Moimoi—Look at Me! has arrived and is available now everywhere books are sold!