Toby has just celebrated his 2nd Birthday, and in order to monitor a child's development, he had to see the Health Visitor, for a 2yr check. Whilst he was there he was given a bag, which is similar to some book bags which children use in schools.

This bag is given in association with 'Bookstart,' and is used to encourage children and parents to read, and most importantly look at books together, encouraging and developing language skills.

In Toby's bag he had 2 books, of which, one of them I am reviewing here.

How do you feel? By Mandy Stanley is a medium sized board book, which if you couldn't guess from the title is about feelings!

Each single page features an animal, which has been asked the question: How do you feel?

So you understand how the story goes this is the first 2 pages:

How do you feel, rabbit?
I feel hip-hop hungry!

How do you feel, crocodile?
I feel snip-snap happy!

Each page has a bright colourful picture which is trying to portray the feelings of the animals; therefore the rabbit is jumping whilst nibbling at a carrot.

The story follows the feelings of 10 different animals, until it asks the penguin how it feels. This character is featured over 3 pages and I'm not going to tell you what happens as that would spoil the story. On the very last pages you are asked 'How do you feel? At which point this is a great opportunity for you to discuss with your child how they are feeling, using the book if needed.

This is a lovely story, with lots of opportunities for the children to learn, not only can they learn feelings, but there are animals they may not have come across before, including a tortoise, owl and peacock. We went to see some animals on Toby's birthday and when we came across an owl, I used the words from the story to help him associate the two animals being the same.

When I have read the book to Toby, I always try to express the feeling in the way I speak, for example, when the bear is sad, I speak lower and slower. This will help the children with their feelings and expression.

The background of each page is a different colour, so the children can learn these. As the main question is repeated throughout the book, this will encourage children to pick up the words and start saying them themselves, which will develop their reading and language skills.

I love this book and I have a feeling Toby does too!! He has asked me to read it so many times, and I'm not bored of reading it yet! As the pages are thick board, Toby always turns them over, sometimes a little faster than I would like, but we'll get there with that one.

Although we received this book free, It retails for £5.99, you can buy it from places like Amazon for £4.79 or try on the marketplace for less.

There are two other books in this series, called What do you say? And What do you do? I will definitely be looking out for them, as they are so useful in developing a child's language skills.

ISBN: 0007779666

Published by Harper Collins www.harpercollinschildrensbooks.co.uk

Bookstart www.booktrust.org.uk or www.booktrusted.com


Nicola xx 24/04/08