Touch And Feel This Curly's Tail (Curly's Friends - Phil Roxbee Cox)

Member Name: belfin

Product:	Curly's Friends - Phil Roxbee Cox
Date:	31/07/06 (132 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fantastic illustrations, simple story

Disadvantages: none

This is the second book in this series that I have reviewed so some of the details will be the same in both reviews.

***Background***

Curly's Friends is just one of the Usborne Touchy-Feely Farmyard Tales and is specifically designed to give children a chance to experiences different textures that they might come across on a daily basis. There are 3 different books in this series and they are written by Phil Roxbee Cox and illustrated by Stephen Cartwright.

Usborne books specialise in books for children and as with their other books that have been illustrated by Stephen Cartwright there is the added fun for children to find a little yellow duck on each page. The books in this series are board books and they are ideal for the youngest of children because they can be wiped clean and don't have easily damaged pages.

***The Story***

Curly is the pig on the farm and is out looking in the farmyard for all his friends.

On each page he sees a little bit of an animal and he is asked, "Who's that, Curly?" When the page is turned the whole animal is revealed and their name is told to us.

Along the way we meet Daisy the Cow, Pippin the Pony and Rusty the Dog. Each of them has an area that gives your child a chance for a touchy-feely moment. They can touch Daisy soft velvety nose, Pippin's string like tail and Rusty's fluffy ears, as well as Curly himself who has padded furry ears on the cover of the book and a soft curly tail inside.

At the end, Curly is confused by an animal, which he has never seen before, until it is pointed out that he is looking at his own reflection in a shiny bucket. The shiny mirrored surface gives a perfect opportunity for your own child to look in and see themselves too.

***The Touchy-Feely Bits***

I love books that give something extra and this one does that by encouraging children to feel different textures. I especially love the idea of the shiny bucket, as all little ones seem to love looking at their reflections and find the experience a little bit magical.

***The Ducks***

The ducks as set out in different hiding places on each of the pages. You can find them behind a wall, an oil drum or behind the various animals that we see along the way. They are slightly easier to spy in this book than in some of the more advanced Usborne books as there are less background details in this simple book. There are also several butterflies and a cute little mouse that appear too.

***The Illustrations***

The illustrations in this book were drawn by Stephen Cartwright, who unfortunately died in 2004 at the age of 56 and in that time he illustrated over 150 books in his career with Usborne books. Children seem to love to find his trademark, a small hidden duck in each of the pages on his books.

The pictures in this book are simply done with very plain backgrounds but because the main drawings are so colourful and clearly drawn there seems no need for elaborate padding going on. The point of this book is to attract a child to the touchy bits.

***My Thoughts***

After getting Rusty's Bone from the library a few months ago, my son was delighted when he spotted this one and instantly recognised it as one of the farmyard tales. He was even more delighted that it was a touchy-feely book and that Rusty made an appearance in this one too.

I love the way the characters in the original Farmyard Tales series have been brought to a younger audience in this touchy-feely book. This gives them a real chance to grow up with familiar characters as their reading experiences develop and they move on to more advanced books.

Curly is a lovable character and I am a bit of a collector of pigs so this piglet is a firm favourite with me as I remember him from a book of Farmyard Tales that I bought for my daughter when she was little. That was a long time ago now but the impression stayed as he is drawn with such a cute look on his face that it's difficult to forget him.

I like the repetition in this book, as it helps young readers start to recognise words or at least remember them along the way. My son knew all the dialogue in this one after only a few times of it being read to him which is great as he has started pointing to words as he says them and although I know he isn't reading them yet, he is starting to recognise what spaces between words mean and what sounds the first letter of words make.

This board book is definitely one to be recommended for any toddler who likes something a bit different in a book.

***Other Touchy-Feely Farmyard Tales***

Woolly's Walk
Rusty's Bone

***Other Info***

The price on the back of the book is £4.99 but you can get it for £3.99 from WH Smith. You can get free postage on this if you collect it from a local branch if you order it online.

ISBN No. 0746070853

Summary: Good touchy feely book