Might just convince a mucky toddler that washing their face is actually quite fun (In The Night Garden - Time To Wash Faces Book)

Member Name: karalouk

Product:	In The Night Garden - Time To Wash Faces Book
Date:	08/08/09 (86 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good story, fab pictures, lovely colours, durable, part of a set, might encourage face washing

Disadvantages: It will be lost on those who don't watch 'In The Night Garden'

Unless you have been living in a shell for the last few years you'll know that 'In The Night Garden' is one of the countrys biggest childrens (mainly pre-schoolers) programmes right now. The shows main characters consist of Upsy Daisy, Igglepiggle, Makka Pakka and The Tombliboos.

Makka Pakka is a strange looking little character. He is brown, fuzzy, chubby, has dark circles around his eyes and 3 cone like objects on his head. Sounds quite creepy but he isn't! Makka Pakka lives in a cave and his favourite thing is his Og Pog, which is a scooter full of cleaning essentials - soap, sponge and dryer (otherwise known as an Uff Uff)... and a trumpet! Makka Pakka just loves cleaning.

My daughter owns a book called 'Time to wash faces!' which is a book all about Makka Pakka.

Most people don't realise but the book is actually part of a 4 book set. The other 3 books are about the other 'In The Night Garden' characters and are called 'All aboard the Ninky Nonk!', 'Ooh, pretty flower!' and 'The happy waving game!'. The Makka Pakka book is the third in the set and the reason I know this is because there is a number three on the edge of the book.

The book is a good size (not too big, not too small) and is about half an inch thick. It is a hardback which means it's very durable - our copy is over a year old and looks brand new. It is also easily wiped clean. The cover is very bright, glossy and eyecatching. There is a picture of Makka Pakka in the Night Garden with a sponge in his hand and his Og Pog in the background, which covers the whole front cover.

The book has 16 pages and starts on the very first page. The pages are quite thick and are easy for little fingers to turn, aswell as being quite durable.

Each page has a different colour (blue, lime green, darker green, orange, purple, and red) which is not only very nice to look at but can aid children in learning their colours. On one page is writing (with silhoettes of characters in the background) and on the other page are big, glossy scenes and characters from 'In The Night Garden'. The pictures are exactly as they appear on tv and are great to look at.

The book contains lots of quotes from the programme, such as 'Hum dum, agga pang!' which 'In The Night Garden' fans will love as it will be familar to them and they can even join in with it even if they can't read the words.

The book has short and simple story to it. It starts with Makka Pakka venturing into the Night Garden with his Og Pog (complete with soap and sponge) when he bumps into Igglepiggle. He gives Igglepiggles face a wash and makes it nice and clean. Upsy Daisy comes along to see what a good job Makka Pakka has done of cleaning Igglepiggles face and gets her face washed too. Makka Pakka then comes across The Tombliboos and washes all three of their faces. He then goes home and has one more thing to clean, but what is it? well Makka Pakkas face of course! The books ends with everybody looking very happy to have their faces washed by Makka Pakka.

Overall I think this is a lovely little book with a cute story about friendship and how washing your face can be very fun. This may just be enough to encourage a child that can't stand getting their face wet that washing their face is a very good thing to do "because Makka Pakka and everybody in the Night Garden love to wash faces". The pictures and colours are great, aswell as the length of the book - long enough to have a story but short enough to hold a young childs attention until the end.

It can also work out handy for grandparents that have no idea about 'In The Night Garden' too! Is there anything worse than an uneducated 'In The Night Garden' grandparent? Certainly not!

The only downsides to this book is that it wont really appeal to children who don't watch 'In The Night Garden' because the characters and references will seem abit confusing. It goes without saying that this book probably won't appeal to older children either.

The RRP of this book is £3.99 but you might be able to get it cheaper if you shop around or buy the book with the rest of the set.

Summary: Book number 3 in the set (of 4).