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Usbourne Cloth Books: Frog - Fiona Watt
by karlsm93
I recently attended our school fair and managed to pick up a couple of things for my daughter, including this cloth book 'Frog' by Usbourne, which I paid 30p for but I think can retail new at £6.99, although I have a feeling mine may have been a slightly earlier edition as the new edition is smaller from what I see online. ...
This cloth book has been written by Fiona Watt and illustrated by Rachel Wells, the two names behind the very baby friendly Usbourne 'That's not my' books. This was one of the reasons I bought the book, as I recognised those two names, I am fond of Usbourne books and I liked the fact that it was very colourful and could be thrown in my daughter's changing bag or kept in the car easily as it is obviously quite a flexible book being a cloth book.
This book follows Bob the Frog as he goes in search of his friend Fifi the frog. With each double page, you can follow the trail that Bob takes as he jumps along. On each page there is some basic text, just long enough to keep a younger baby's attention. Bob jumps along a log, past some rabbit holes, round a duck's nest until he gets to the lily pad, where children can lift the flap and see the two frogs meet. Babies can also press the squeaky noise at the back of the book when the frogs meet. As well as the colourful pictures, a lot of the illustrations include things for babies to feel and touch, including fluffy bunny ears, flapping birds wings, a soft duck.
My daughter was just turning 10 months old when I bought this book, and to be honest, I think she was nearly a little old for it, even though I am sure it has been designed for babies up to a year. For this reason, she does show some enjoyment of the book, in particular she loves the rabbit pages and the floppy ears that she can move, but she will reach quicker for other books more than this one, and I do think it is probably down to her age. If I had had this book when she was around the 6 months mark, with all the bright colours etc I think she would have enjoyed it better then.
All in all, this is a bright colourful cloth book that has a nice story along with the touch and feel elements of the book to keep baby entertained and interacting, however, I think this book is aimed better at babies around the 6 months mark, who are attracted by the bright colours, whereas my 10 month old seems to follow the story more and more in a book. A lovely cloth book for younger babies!
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Playtime With Humphrey
by Wee_Jackie_163
When my young nephew was born nearly two years ago, I bought a large selection of books and toys for the newest addition to our family. Within the selection of books was a little 'mini-book' called 'Playtime with Humphrey' which is from the 'Humphrey's Corner' brand of toys and books which feature the very cute baby elephant called, ... funnily enough, Humphrey.
I believe that there is a longer version of the book available which is called 'Humphrey's Playtime', but the version I am reviewing here is the smaller version which has only ten pages and is therefore ideal for little tots.
The outer cover of the book is a pale yellow colour and it is slightly padded which I found really made it easy for my little nephew to grip the book by himself at reading time. Furthermore, the pages themselves are made of a sort of heavy card, and this allowed his chubby little fingers to grasp the pages and turn them by himself for a very young age. This was something that he could not manage with other books that had actual 'paper' type pages, so I thought the style and design of the book was really ideal for little ones to negotiate by themselves. Also, the 'card' like pages are obviously more difficult to rip than paper pages which is an important point when it comes to books for little ones in my opinion... Many books belonging to my nephew have suffered a casualty here and there as the result of him being too heavy-handed!
The story is a very simple one as you would expect from such a beginners' book such as this one. The story is basically concerning Humphrey the elephant and the selection of toys he chooses to play with on this particular day. We see a lovely illustration of an assortment of Humphrey's toys which include a caterpillar and some wooden bricks, as well as 'Choo the Train'... This illustration is a particular favourite of my nephew's and he often used to open the book to the page showing the toys.
The remainder of the story shows us all of the things Humphrey does with his toys, such as building a house out of his wooden bricks for 'Mop' (his little stuffed toy), as well as having a go and trying 'his best at doing the jigsaw.' The last pages of the book inform us that mum has called Humphrey to come and have his tea, and he puts all of his toys away in the toy box until tomorrow.
All of the illustrations in this little book are really gorgeous and are in my opinion, what makes the book as special as it is. The colours used are mostly pastel shades and it gives a lovely gentle background for our story to take place. There is nothing garish or over-powering about the book, or its cover and this adds a special sort of 'cuteness' to the storybook when we are reading it.
The story itself is obviously very simple and well, a bit boring if I am being honest. To be fair though, the book is aimed at a very young audience, and it is not the worst one that I have come across in my time. I feel that most books in this genre have very simple, basic storylines so I do not think it is fair to deduct any points for the product's scoring for this, as it is easy to understand and is perfect for its target audience.
The 'Playtime with Humphrey' book was by no means one of my nephew's favourites I have to admit, and he has outgrown it now that he is a bit older in favour of alternatives with a bit more 'bite' to their stories or plots. That said, my sister has kept it on his book shelf as it is such an attractive-looking little book, and the little one has not discarded it altogether as yet.
I was quite delighted to discover this little book for sale in my local branch of 'Poundland' recently, and have bought two copies for two of my friends who will have their own little bundles later in the year, as I feel it is really a lovely book for a new baby gift, although this is probably down to the gorgeous illustrations and outer cover of the book, rather than the storyline itself.
I paid £3.00 for the little book from a local independent book shop at the time, but I believe it is available online at www.tesco.com, as well as from www.amazon.co.uk. Alternatively, if you have a branch of 'Poundland' near to you, it might be worth checking in-store in your local branch as I have seen two alternative 'Humphrey' books available on sale here recently.
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Star Crazy Me - Jean Ure
by zoe_page_1
This book is about Carmen, but to understand her you first need to know about her family. There's her mother, who is quite laid back when it comes to all things school, but rather obsessed with looks (despite being the kind of person to drive everywhere, and get winded walking up a flight of stairs). There's her Nan, who used to live ... with them and always encouraged Carmen's talent, perhaps to an embarrassing extent. Still, it's good to have support. And there's her father, who we don't know much about. But then, neither does Carmen.
As for the girl herself, well she's reasonably happy in school with good friends Josh and Indy around her, and she has big dreams for her big voice. Unfortunately, some of the other girls at school also think she has a big bottom and belly to match. And, well, you know how mean teenage girls can be. One comment throws Carmen over the edge and out of the school gates. Will she ever be able to return? Will she have the nerve to take part in the talent contest, which started all this fuss? Will her mother finally be able to see beyond the aesthetic, and be proud of her beautiful, talented daughter within?
Jean Ure writes solidly entertaining children's books that have stood the test of time (in other words...I was reading her earlier work a good 20 years ago). This title is no exception, with a perfect mix of teen angst, school issues and family drama. Carmen's voice is authentic without being over the top with teen lingo or txt spk - she's simply a nice, normal girl trying to do well in the world despite the concerted efforts of those school bullies, and a loving though distracted mother.
Being famous is all the rage these days - I saw a frightful study recently about the jobs children aspire to, and reality TV star and pop star were both on there. What makes this book so special is that Carmen is passionate about singing because, and here's a novel idea, she likes to sing. She does it for herself, not for anyone else, and doesn't go round trying to get noticed, nor does she toot her own horn about her talents. Beautifully unabashed, she doesn't even realise quite how good she is. It's really rather refreshing.
The body issues ('voice for the record shop, body for radio' springs to mind) are touched on but not to an obsessive degree. We don't have any hint of dieting or unhealthy habits thrown in as Carmen is not all that unhappy being a little bit bigger than some of the other girls in Year 8, until said girls start with the catty comments that is. The moral of the story, loosely that it's what inside that counts, is not a bad one for a tween book and comes across clearly, and I'm very glad the story didn't go down the common ugly duckling becoming a swan route because that just negates all the talk about looks not being important. Carmen may be transformed by the final chapter, but her BMI hasn't changed a fraction.
Recommended for the divas and ordinary girls out there, who could use a nice, normal role model.
This review first appeared on The Bookbag. Published 3 years ago, this book is now easy to find used and cheap.
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