I "inherited" this book from my sister who had left it attached to a buggy that she was lending us. The book is a fabric book whose cover and spine can be opened out to form the shape of the main character "Beatrice the Butterfly". The cover has a velour type fabric and the internal pages are plain fabric. The pages are padded and my son could easily turn them and grasp them at 3 months old (although his intention wasn't to read the book so much as put it in his mouth). On a similar line, my son has found the ends of the spine fit in his mouth very nicely to suck on! The book has a velcro strap to fit it to buggies or car seats. I have found that though this is good for storage, it isn't so good in practice as the strap is quite short and the baby can't play well with the book while it is attached.

The story of the book contains a lot of repetition which I think are always good in children's books - it helps with memory and spotting patterns and can make them feel involved when they are older. The cover and first page have a small round mirror on them - this is a feature which should be enjoyed by younger babies who often enjoy looking at faces. On the second page the character has crinkly wings that can be grabbed. Throughout the rest of the story the characters on a page are hidden and "discovered" by completing an activity. This is similar to the game "peekaboo" which is often enjoyed from 4 months of age onwards. Two of the characters are hidden beneath crinkly flaps, one beneath a padded flap - giving the baby a couple of textures to experience. Another character is hidden inside a pocket, requiring the baby to use a different skill to find the character and the character is attached by a ribbon to ensure he doesn't get lost.

The book is suitable from birth and is an own-brand BabiesRUs product, available in their stores and on their website. The product sells for £7.99.

My son is now 5 months old and this is consistently his favourite book. It is one of the few items I can let him play with without needing additional support and he really enjoys turning the pages and lifting the flaps.