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Join the Circus - Josh Selig
by mummy2harry The Wonder Pets are the current bane of my existence. Their annoying 10 minute long bouts of singing at least 3 times a day on my television literally do my head in, but for some reason my 3 year old adores them. And I mean big-style. He's got books, puzzles and even cuddly Ming-Ming and Linny toys to take to bed with him. For some ... reason unknown to myself, I decided it would be a good idea to get him a few Wonder Pets books as well, as if nearly an hour of the stuff wasn't enough, we could then have it at bedtime too... oh the JOY! As it turns out, he adores the book so it's worth it but it does mean I have to sing... The Wonder Pets are the latest American phenomenon to cross the pond over to the UK and seem to be steadily rising popularity amongst toddlers across the land. They are 3 classroom pets, Linny the Guinea Pig, Ming Ming Duckling and Turtle Tuck who double up as Wonder Pets who rescue animals in trouble. All of this is set to music so they sing almost everything that comes out of their mouths, but it's so catchy your child will memorise the songs in around 3 episodes and then sing them ALL. DAY. LONG. On repeat. Anyway, lots of merchandise is now available, and books is one of them. This book is called 'Wonder Pets Join The Circus' and is based on an extended episode of the same name. The book follows the format of the show - the characters spotting the train out of the classroom windown, leaving in the "Circus Boat" to go to the circus, rescuing the lioncub and then becoming circus acts themselves. Obviously it's a lot more edited than the TV episode, but the idea is the same and children will see the similarities and associate the two things. My first complaint about this book is the quality of the pages. It's actually an American publication so isn't the same quality of children's book I have come to expect from British books. The pages are quite thin and cheap feeling, and the cover isn't particularly thick either. However, the images used are great quality with lots of bright colour and they look like they are screen grabs from the TV show hence the clarity and photographic quality of them. The text used is quite small for a child's book so this is definitely one that will have to be read to your child by a grown-up. Also, they do tend to use black text on some dark backgrounds which can make reading the words sometimes a struggle unless you're in bright light which is a bit silly really... they could have used more white text to ease this problem. Anyway, the book progresses at a good pace, with the main 3 characters seen on every page and just enough text to hold the story together, usually 2 lines a page. There are some songs from the show in there which are in italics hinting you have to sing them which Harry and I do together. Harry has started to notice that bits of the story are slightly different to the one he watches on television but I just tell him they had to make it a bit shorter. This is a common occurence when publishers adapt television episodes into books, they have to change the story slightly to make it an acceptable length for a child's book. It doesn't bother me at all, but for on the ball children it may annoy them that small things have changed. For the money though, I can highly recommend this sweet little story to any fans of the Wonder Pets, and there are a good few more choices online too if you like this book. This book is a bargain at £2.40 delivered on Amazon, so they will make great stocking fillers for Christmas, which is what I am intending to do with the other books currently available. They are due to be publishers by British publishers early next year, but Harry won't want to wait that long! ISBN: 978-1416975816. 24 pages. Thank you for reading! Read the complete review |
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Dora's Camping Trip - Wendy Wax
by i_am_joy My two year old granddaughter likes Dora the Explorer (note there I said LIKES as she certainly isn't the biggest fan of the cute little Spaniard) but rather than buying her Dora toys I will occasionally buy her a book featuring the character as frankly I find the Dora range of toys rather unappealing. Dora's Camping Trip is a ... book I picked up at a car boot sale recently and I must say it has had a mixed reception. The plot is simple, in the style of the television programme Dora needs to meet her family for a camping trip - only of course it's not that straightforward and there are a few obstacles to overcome before she gets there. The book starts off with Dora and her friendly little monkey, Boots, packing for their trip and it's on this first page that my irritation with the book begins. Now, on the show youngsters are encouraged to learn basic Spanish words which is brilliant as Dora and her friends will speak the word in both Spanish and English. However, in this book some words are printed in Spanish only with no English translation which defeats the object a little in my opinion. For example, within the first paragraph Dora tells us she is going camping and needs to meet 'Mami, Papi and Abuela' - now, whereas I know these words myself the average toddler isn't likely to and while Mami and Papi at least look familiar, Abuela means Grandmother and without the translation it would not necessarily be obvious what the word is. To be fair most of the words do have a translation, but those few which don't really spoil the book for me - even if my granddaughter doesn't seem to mind too much! The story basically revolves around Dora's adventures on her way to her family's campsite and involves her consulting the Map, answering a riddle posed by the Grumpy Old Troll, canoeing across Turtle Lake - and of course stopping Swiper the naughty fox from stealing their tent poles. It's all very boring actually, and I am a big lover of children's books so it seems rather odd to have to write that. The pages are colourful in Dora's Camping Trip and definitely will appeal to any Dora fans out there, but really once you've seen the pictures and read the story once then there is very little to make a young child return to the book. Yes, I agree that it's not made for people of my advancing age but at the other end of the scale my granddaughter is just two (the optimum age for being a Dora fan) and even she has to fight back the yawns when this book is being read to her. Dora's Camping Trip is nicely illustration, personally I am not fond of the style of animation used in the Dora and Diego programmes but as still pictures it works very well indeed with the illustrators being able to show the facial expressions of the characters and the scenery in a colourful and fun way. The problem in my opinion is that Dora the Explorer is such an involving television programme that it doesn't make the transition into print very well. The text is written in the way that Dora would say it while narrating her programme and while this is a good thing in many other toddler books, it does make it rather hard going for the adult reading the book as my granddaughter cannot understand why Nanny can't speak in the same voice as Dora! The book itself is 24 pages long with thick board pages and a slightly padded cover, this is ideal for little ones as it keeps the book in tip top condition no matter how rough they are with it. The pages are all very tight to the spine of the book and again this is a good thing when it comes to books for children of such a young age. There is quite a lot of text on each page so perhaps the book isn't as good for children who are beginning to read alone as it could be, and again the Spanish words would look a little strange to them if they don't have at least basic knowledge of the language already. You can buy a copy of Dora's Camping Trip for £4.99 on www.amazon.co.uk which is a reasonable price for such a well made book, although personally I would really only recommend it for those of you who have diehard Dora fans at home. Read the complete review |
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Opposites Race - Irene Kilpatrick
by i_am_joy When my dear friend came to England from New York on a flying visit last month she came bearing gifts for my granddaughters', as usual. She knew exactly what to buy the twelve and ten year olds as she knows them very well but the toddler is a complete mystery to her, character merchandise in the US is even bigger business than here in ... the UK so she emailed me a few days before her trip asking me to send a list of all my little granddaughter's favourite characters in order for her to choose some appropriate presents. One brand I have had some trouble sourcing is The Backyardigans, a television programme shown throughout the day on Nick Jnr which features a group of cuddly little cartoon friends who use their imagination to create adventures and excitement. My granddaughter has always liked the programme and has become increasingly enamoured with the antics of Pablo, Uniqua, Tyrone, Austin and Tasha but has just a solitary soft toy based on one of the characters so I asked Jean to look out for something to do with them if possible. Yet again she came up trumps and amongst other items (too many items I told her!) was a book called 'Opposites Race' which is an educational book for very young children featuring the wonderfully cute Backyardigans. Opposites Race is a very well made 26 page board book with a slightly padded glossy cover, it looks absolutely fantastic being brightly coloured and featuring four of the Backyardigans having a race in a picture which wraps around from the front cover to the back. The book appealed instantly to my granddaughter who sat and studied the cover for ten minutes before even opening it's pages. This is a very straight forward book for your little one. It starts with Uniqua setting the scene; she points at a crudely drawn map and tells everyone else "Okay, racers! It's time to race. Ready, set, go!" and the Opposites Race begins! Each page then features a set of opposites which relate to the story, one word is on the left hand page along with an picture to illustrate the point and then it's opposite word is matched with another picture on the right hand page. I like the way the author and illustrator have cleverly made each set of opposites directly fit in with the race theme, for example the first double page shows Tasha skiing down a mountain with the word 'SLOW' and Pablo on a snow buggy which has the word 'FAST'. The entire book goes on like this with the scene changing every couple of pages to prevent the young reader becoming bored of seeing such similar pictures on each page, every setting for the Backyardigans is wonderfully brightly coloured and the characters always look so cheerful that this book really does bring a smile to my face so I can well understand why my granddaughter loves it so much. I was a little concerned when I first looked at the book that my granddaughter wouldn't appreciate the fact that there is no text in the book other than the opposite words but I needn't have worried as I quickly saw that the story actually speaks for itself completely so the adult reader can embroider it as much or as little as they like. I've stuck to the 'racing to the moon' story which is the direction in which the illustrations take us, but I literally shook with laughter listening to a far more outlandish story that my ten year old granddaughter related to her little sister. The little one's reaction to Opposites Race has been excellent, she absolutely adores the book - although as a real little bookworm she has many, many books that she absolutely adores but this one has sparked her interest greatly which is probably due to the fact that she has so few Backyardigans items in her toy box. At just turned two she's perhaps a little young to really comprehend the whole opposites thing but by reading the book with her and emphasising the words I think eventually it will help her to understand the concept. Having said that, just yesterday she was strolling up the garden with the book in her hand and she shouted 'slow, Nanny' then she started running and squealing 'fast, fast' so it looks like some of the opposite words are sinking in. My friend knows all about my Dooyoo scribblings so wasn't in the slightest offended when I asked how much the book had cost, she paid $5.99 for it from www.amazon.com - and strangely it has now appeared on our very own UK Amazon site priced at £4.99. I swear it wasn't there last month when I asked my friend for Backyardigans stuff as I scoured the site in May while buying for my granddaughter's birthday which was in early June - but now they seem to be stocking quite a decent range of the characters so it looks like her luck might be in! Read the complete review |
Simon Spotlight Entertainment Junior Book |
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1 review Genre: Junior Books / Author: Josh Selig, Melanie Pal / Paperback / Reading Level: Ages 4-8 / 24 Pages / Book is published 2008-12-23 by Simon Spotlight |
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1 review Genre: Junior Books / Author: Wendy Wax, A&J Studios / Edition: Brdbk / Board book / Reading Level: Ages 4-8 / 26 Pages / Book is published 2007-05-08 by Simon Spotlight Entertainment |
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1 review Genre: Junior Books / Author: Irene Kilpatrick / Edition: Brdbk / Board book / Reading Level: Baby-Preschool / 26 Pages / Book is published 2008-03-04 by Simon Spotlight Entertainment |
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2 reviews Genre: Junior Books / Author: Lauryn Silverhardt / Edition: Brdbk / Board book / Reading Level: Baby-Preschool / 12 Pages / Book is published 2003-02 by Simon Spotlight |
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Genre: Junior Books / Author: Cathy East Dubowski / Mass Market Paperback / Reading Level: Young Adult / 128 Pages / Book is published 2001-08 by Simon Spotlight Entertainment |
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