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Dear Zoo Noisy Book - Rod Campbell
by KLockwood75
Dear Zoo has been a favourite in this house for a few years now. My son had the classic hardback version of the book, with its simple story and flaps to lift which we always enjoyed reading together. My daughter was given the Dear Zoo Noisy Book last year and this is now a firm favourite for story time. She does tend to go through phases ... of preferring a certain book and this is one that has been the book of the moment several times now.
*The Classic Story*
In case you are unfamiliar with this modern classic for toddlers, Rod Campbell's book tells a very simple tale. A child (non gender specific - always a positive thing in my opinion!) writes to the zoo asking them to send them a pet. The first box that comes back is an enormous red crate - on lifting the flap, you discover that the zoo has sent an elephant. Of course, an elephant is 'too big' so they send it back. The story continues in the same vein with a succession of animal containers arriving, each containing a different animal. There is the giraffe ('too tall'), the lion ('too fierce'), the camel ('too grumpy'), the monkey ('too naughty') to name just a few. Eventually, the zoo gets it right and sends a puppy which is 'perfect'. The simple language of the book, the brightly coloured animal pictures and the flaps make this story instantly appealing to it's toddler target market. There is everything that my two year old likes in a book - an element of predictably in the consistent pattern of the language, an element of suprise when lifting the flaps (although by the 100th reading I'm not convinced that even a toddler is suprised at what they find behind the flaps) and a happy ending.
*The Noisy Additions*
What distinguishes this version of Dear Zoo from the other versions is the addition of an sound pad on the right hand side of the book. This sound pad is the same height as the book and features pictures of each animal with a speaker at the bottom. As you read the story, your child can find the animal picture, press it and it will make the noise of the animal. Great for adding another interactive feature and for encouraging the recognition of animal noises, not so great when you are reading the story and listening to the sound effects for the 10th time in one morning. The noises themselves are pretty good in my opinion - the elephant trumpets, the giraffe munches leaves, the lion roars, the camel grumbles, the monkey chatters. I find it entertaining to encourage my daughter to imitate the noises as we go along - she does a fantastic lion roar and monkey noise, her camel grumble requires a bit more work. In addition to the noise panel, this book also has a question section at the back with questions like 'which animal came in this crate' or 'what noise does this animal make?' - very simple, but again good for making the book into a bit more of a learning experience for the slightly older toddler.
*Cost*
Dear Zoo Noisy Book has an RRP of £12.99, which I think is a bit expensive, but is currently available for a slightly more reasonable £9.09 on Amazon.
*Would I Recommend It?*
Yes, I would definitely recommend this book. As previously mentioned, the original Dear Zoo is one of the enduring favourites in this house and the noisy version does genuinely seem to enhance the reading experience for my two year old. I do feel that Dear Zoo is a lovely book in its own right and doesn't 'need' the added sound effects, but anything that encourages children to sit down and enjoy books is never going to be a negative in my house. I also feel that it is the kind of book that makes a good gift - the story is appealing, the language is simple and the sound pad is entertaining. It is also ideal for young readers with its large clear text and repetitive language, although my son knows the book so well that he doesn't actually need to look at the words. The only minor niggle is that because toddlers are so fond of repetition, you do end up listening to the animal noises over and over and over again, but to be honest, it is a perfect book to sit down with, cuddle up and enjoy together.
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Little Princess: I Want My Potty - Tony Ross
by emmad5689
My daughters like to watch Milkshake on channel 5 on a morning and through this they have started watching the programme "Little Princess", my youngest daughter is 2 and I have been trying to get her to use the potty to no avail so we borrowed this book from the library to read to her.
The book is a square board ... book about 8 inches square and shows the Princess from the show on the front cover sat on her potty, the authors name (Tony Ross) is written in black above the picture and the title of the book is written in bigger writing underneath the picture. On the back of the book it has a RRP of £4.99 which seems a decent price to me.
The book starts with the Little Princess deciding that wearing nappies is "Yuuech" and deciding that there must be some better way, the Queen introduces her to the potty. The Little princess decided that the potty was worse at first but the Queen made her sit on the potty much to her dismay. The Little Princess would play with her potty instead of using it and do things such as putting the potty on her head and tying herself to it to jump around on the potty and she discovers that she loved her potty. Everyone was very happy with the princess for enjoying her potty but she still had not used it, one day the princess is playing at the top of the castle when she needs a wee, the Maid runs for her potty along with the King and the General but by the time they get the potty to the princess she has had an accident on the floor which is how the book ends.
The pictures in the book are exactly like on the TV programme which is great as Emily sits and names all the people in the book. The books pictures are a little duller than normal childrens books which is a shame and would have been nicer is they were brighter. Emily has no intention of using her potty and this book has not made any difference and she laughs at the end when the Princess wees on the floor which I think may give her the wrong idea so I was glad when the book went back to the library and we didn't have to read it anymore.
The book is quite amusing but I wouldn't read it to a child who is potty training at the time as it may just give the wrong idea, my daughter enjoyed the book so I would rate it 4 stars as I feel the pictures in the book could be a bit nicer.
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Let's Get Ready for School - Roger Priddy
by claireylulu
Being able to write is something a lot of us take for granted in life. But can you remember back to the day when you first began learning to write and the difficulties you found with it. If you think about it, a small child as young as four has a lot to grasp in their first years of school. My eldest son is nearly five now and is in ... foundation at his local school the challenge of writing began in nursery though. I have always been a fan of trying to help your child at home and not rely on purely the teachers to teach our children. From as young as three I bought fun yet educational games and fun books to do with my son. Last year for my son's fourth birthday a family member bought him the Roger Priddy wipe clean 'Let's get ready for school'. I had previously bought books from this range so knew what to expect from it.
The Roger Priddy wipe clean ranges are fantastic books for your children to use. We already had the lowercase alphabet and the numbers one before my son received this one. The let's get ready for school in my eyes is an over view of all the things your child will be expected to learn quickly at school if not already know before they start school. The book is of large size measuring roughly 25cms by 27cms. It comes spiral bound which I find handy as the pages lay nicely on a flat surface and if you have a son like my youngest you can fold the pages back so they don't lose concentration on the next page! As mentioned it is a wipe clean book which means your child can do it over and over again to keep practising their skills. The book does come with a wipe clean pen but to be honest like with the other two books we have from this range it is rubbish and only lasts a couple of times. We have a pack of non-permanent thin markers which we purchased from our local supermarket and they do the job. A little tip if you do forget to wipe it clean after your child has used it simpley use a little bit of your kitchen surface spray and it wipes of with ease.
This book covers numbers, letters, sorting, colours, spelling and shape so there is plenty to take in. As my son had previously done the letters and numbers books he didn't get phased by all this. As there is so much in one book the topics can't be explored deeply and are kinder brushed over but never the less the activities are good.
The first page is about pen control which is essential to be able to write. We are trying this with my youngest son who is three and a half at the moment. There are certain dotted patterns for your child to draw over and follow, like a basic straight line, a zigzag line etc. This might seem simple but it is quite a task for a young child to have such control of their pen. The majority of the book is about tracing things like shapes, letters and number which are all essential things your child needs to learn. But there are also some fun sorting games too. Like sorting the odd one out of objects in a row. Your child has to circle the one they think doesn't fit. For example there are four items of fruit in a row plus a teddy bear they have to work out that is odd. It is all about logic thinking something my eldest has always been fantastic at where as my youngest struggles with this concept. Colours are something I am tackling with my youngest and there is a fun exercise in this book of matching the coloured crayon to the block of colour this has really helped my son. My eldest on the other end is learning to write these words on the opposite side of the book. My eldest son's writing is great now and has learnt how to form letters really well so it is more about recognising how their spelt for him.
On first receiving this book a year ago now quite a few of the tasks in this book were difficult for him. But this didn't put him off trying. He loved the idea he could have a go and rub it out if it went wrong. Even though he enjoyed the previous two books we bought for him in this range he really enjoyed this one much more. There is variety in this book for your child as like I side it covers a lot so they are less likely to become complacent with it. A year on and tracing the letters and words and doing the activities is easy for him. But there are a couple of activities which we have begun to tackle now which are a bit more of a challenge for him. One is missing letters. My son is now learning to read and write words by himself so this activity is great for him. They have to fill in the missing letters to complete the words. There is a picture of an item and the word underneath with a letter missing. The first line of objects have the first letter missing, the second line has the last letter missing, the third has the middle letter and the last line has the first two letters missing. They are all very well known and simple items like a car, rabbit, clock, tractor etc. My son is finding this a challenge and it is testing him.
The book is recommended for ages four plus but I would say it wouldn't hurt for a three year old to begin doing some of the activities with you. It is all dependent on the child as they develop differently. I can easily say that as my eldest is well away with his school work and hitting the so called targets where as my youngest has problems with his speech and his development is around six months behind. I think these kinds of books are excellent as they can be used again and again and as the tasks are varied you will find the book will last your child for some time if bought early on. The pages are lovely and bright and full of fun pictures so your child is bound to like it. Some of the tracing of words are quite small so it will take time and this book is certainly one to take some time over.
This particular book was bought for my son but the Roger Priddy wipe clean range can be purchased online. Amazon currently has this book for sale for £4.79. I find this excellent value and would highly recommend my son loves it.
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