Book for toddlers, about diggers, no-brainer really! (Dig, Dig, Digging - Margaret Mayo)

Member Name: azana

Product:	Dig, Dig, Digging - Margaret Mayo
Date:	23/06/09 (79 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lovely book

Disadvantages: none

"Dig, Dig, Digging", as the title would suggest, is a book for young children based around the toddler favourite, the digger, as pictured on the front cover but featuring a number of other working vehicules.

I have previously written about another book in this series of three by Margaret Mayo, "Choo Choo, Clickety Clack", if you have read that book and enjoyed or then you are bound to enjoy this book to and find it instantly familiar, but this book is very enjoyable in its own right too.

The book features bright and attractive illustrations by Alex Aycliffe showing the vehicles featured in the book in a work setting with plenty of scope for discussion with the child being read to, there is lots happening in the background and the scenes featured are the kind that fascinate a toddler. If you have a toddler you will know that watching diggers, buses or trains is a continual source of fascination for them, if you don't you will just have to take my word for it - this book really does appeal to the very youngest of readers.

The double page at the start has a picture of all the means of transport that feature in the book; diggers, fire engines, tractors, rubbish trucks, cranes, , road rollers, rescue helicopters, bulldozers, lorries and dump trucks.

Each vehicle has its own double page and there are four lines of writing on each page. In this book the refrain through the book is "they can work all day", which children soon join in with. Each part follows the same pattern of language, eg "rubbish trucks are good at gobble, gobble, gobbling, Crunching messy rubbish bags, squeezing and squashing, Busy, busy rubbish-eaters, always gobbling; They can work all day".

I like the fact that the language is quite varied and find that the repetition appeals to children. I also like the fact that the book is about something real - no talking trains here. This book is also about the perfect length for its target audience, 0-5 I would say.

Books which feature an ending where the main character is sleepy or tired are always good for bedtime in my opinion - I love "Miffy" books for this - and this book ends with the engines resting all night after their busy day, a gentle invitation to the very young to do the same I feel!

My children both love this book - I suspect it is aimed at boys, some of whom in my experience are a little digger obsessed, but I think it could be enjoyed by all children. My only criticism would be that the style of text used, whilst visually appealing and eye-catching as it is printed on the page in non-straight lines, is a bit difficult for new readers.

Overall this is a lovely book that is bound to appeal and would make a lovely present. We have the paperback version which will set you back £4.99 (currently slightly cheaper at Amazon), but also available in board book format too and would make a lovely present. A good book, highly recommended!

Product details from Amazon:

Paperback: 32 pages
Publisher: Orchard; New Ed edition (25 April 2002)
Language English
ISBN-10: 1841210803
ISBN-13: 978-1841210803
Product Dimensions: 27 x 24.6 x 0.6 cm

Summary: another book we enjoy here