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Felicity Wishes Summer Album - Emma Thomson
by kingfisher111
I have been scrapbooking for a few years now and my nearly seven year old daughter loves creating her own scrapbooks too. Therefore I al always on the lookout for interesting scrapbooks for her. I came across the Felicity Wishes Summer Album on The Book People website and I thought this would be ideal as it would combine her love of ... reading and one of her favourite characters with her love of scrapbooking. It is also ideal for getting ready to go on holiday as it provides all sorts of activities that your little girl can do in advance.
The cover is very bright and attractive and is what I would term a padded hardback. This makes it feel quite sturdy which is good as it is likely to get a lot of use. There's also a postcard on the back cover explaining what the book is all about.
The book contains two stories - Summer Sunshine and Fairy Friends - about Felicity and these are interspersed with lots of activities as Felicity prepares to go on her holidays, These activities tend to work in parallel with one page showing what Felicity does and on the opposite page there being the same layout for your child to fill in similar information. For example at the start of the book there is a 'This book belongs to page...' Felicity has filled in her information with name, address, photo and holiday destination and now my daughter has done the same with her information. There follows a holiday countdown, again with Felicity's already filled in which gives some examples. There are then 'Travel Buddies' where you can write about who you are going on holiday with. There's also a checklist to complete too. So as you can see there are lots of different activities to take part in before even going on holiday.
These ideas are followed by some ideas for some Fairy Travel games - these are some great ideas too and will probably keep all of the family entertained on long journeys.
Throughout the book there are a wealth of fabulous activities and ones that will definitely help your little girl organise her holiday ideas. There are lots of pages purely for photographs at the back and also some lined pages for them to write about all their summer memories.
I think that this book is brilliantly thought out. I bought it for my daughter to save all her South Africa holiday memories from earlier this year. However, I do wish that I had bought it in advance of the holiday, because, although she has enjoyed it, she would have got even more out of it for the build up and for when she was actually away. Also, had we taken the book with us, we could have read the lovely stories whilst we were there. It also feels quite sturdy and the pages are good quality so it should be quite long lasting.
The book has a RRP of £7.99 but it is currently available on Amazon for only £5.81 (June 2010) and I bought it from The Book People for only £3.99.
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This Is My Dinosaur - Sam Taplin
by jo1976
Both I and my two year old son love reading books from the Usborne range and their 'noisy touchy-feely' range is amongst their best series so far. We picked up 'This is my Dinosaur' from our local library, having previously borrowed and thoroughly enjoyed 'This is my Digger' from the same series.
The book is a solid, sturdy ... hardback which combines the attraction of 'touchy feely' patches on each page with a single button which makes a satisfying dinosaur 'roar' when pressed at the end of each double page spread. Interactive books such as these are great for toddlers and really encourages them to enjoy reading and to take an active interest in the process. I particularly like this story because, not only does it offer stimulation and excitement in the form of the patches and sound effects, the language and theme of the story itself is a pleasure to read. This is the sort of simple story that would be an enjoyable read even without the interactive elements.
The dinosaur at the centre of the story is a rather fetching, friendly looking purple triceratops (according to my seven year old son who willingly volunteered to read this fun book to his little brother!) The opening pages tell us that this dinosaur 'scares away other dinosaurs' but is not all bad as he also '...tickles his friends!' The story is beautifully and colourfully illustrated on each page with one main shot featuring a particular tactile patch (such as long horns, a smooth tail or lumpy bumpy skin) and a couple of smaller pictures showing the dinosaur going about his business.
My seven year old was a little put out by the book's description of the dinosaur having a 'curved beak' and I suppose it does seem a strange feature to associate with a dinosaur (although I'm not sure how else they would describe it!) Anyway, I'd imagine the target audience would be aged somewhere between one and three years old and they will be far too busy enjoying the various patches to feel and rub and looking forward to pressing that tempting green button at the end of each two page spread to care!
Much as this book is beautifully and cleverly illustrated and the rhythm and content of the story is great to read aloud, the book's biggest attraction is the sound as each section ends with the same phrase '..and he says... roar!', providing the cue for the little reader to press the button and hear the roaring dinosaur. The button is chunky and very easy to press so this book is ideally suited for very young readers. The noise is not too loud or irritating - no matter how many times it may be pressed by an over-eager toddler!
I would thoroughly recommend this book and, indeed, the rest of the series as it is just so well thought out and would make a great addition to any pre-schooler's home library. Unfortunately, the batteries that operate the sound effect aren't replaceable which does shorten the life span of the book, making it poorer value for money than other noisy children's books on the market. Despite that, ours is a library copy and has been taken home by many children and the sound effect is still going strong, so the battery provided seems to have quite a reasonable life span. Having said that, this book has the added attraction of a decent 'story' as well as touchy feely patches so it could continue to be loved even after the dinosaur loses its roar (although it would probably lose some of its magic if that was the case!)
ISBN: 978-0746097915
RRP: £8.99
New and used copies currently available on Amazon from £3.48 (plus p&p.)
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The Original Peter Rabbit Baby Book: My First Year - Judy Taylor
by etherealD
We were given this before the birth of my son, and I was overjoyed to receive it! It is a beautiful book with a padded cover and ribbon placemark and has lots of gorgeous Peter Rabbit illustrations. It comes in unisex colours of white and yellows, so would be suitable for both flavours!
I thought it made a lovely keepsake of ... the first year, and some of the titles brought me to tears as I waited for our much longed for baby. In particular, the "me in the baby bath" and "me in my pajamas" sections were so exciting and touching, to imagine my real, own baby doing these things!!
It has lots of spaces for photos and for written information underneath. It starts with pages for- About My Parents and Waiting For Me to record your thoughts and feelings, then moves onto My Arrival and Birth Story and the first few days. A particularly interesting page to look back on is the one that records how often they woke up the first night home!
You then take prints of their hands and feet at two weeks (no paint provided, you do this yourself) talk about their name and their family, then it goes on to record the stages of development such as moving, talking and eating. You have pages towards the end for every 3 months, then you take another print of their hands and feet at one year old- it is amazing to see the difference! Finally you record your feelings at the end of the year and there is also a pocket to keep scan pictures in.
I thought this was a great gift and I really enjoyed filling it in (When I had time!) it will be a lovely thing to look back on over the years, and although I think it will interest me more than my son, he will probably enjoy hearing about the activities and milestones of his first year as he grows up.
Highly recommended!
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