Jazz it Up! (Jazzy in the Jungle - Lucy Cousins)

Member Name: tb4ms

Product:	Jazzy in the Jungle - Lucy Cousins
Date:	24/10/07 (87 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A great hide and seek book, a lift-the-flap adventure for children.

Disadvantages: None - just watch that little hands don't rip the flaps in their excitement.

Lucy Cousins is perhaps most well-known for her Maisy series of books, some of which I have written reviews about.
She has however written and illustrated some other great children's picture books and this one is no exception, it's superb!!
Her books engage babies, toddler and pre-schoolers with their bold illustrations and colours.
She has produced picture books, sticker books, cloth books, board books, pull-the-tab and lift-the-flap books and three-dimensional books.

~ Jazzy in the Jungle ~

This book has a very simple story line. Mama JoJo and Baby Jazzy are playing hide and seek in the jungle and the Mum asks: " Where are you Jazzy?"

As each flap is lifted a variety of unusual animals reply "Not here" and a few suggest alternative places to look.

Here are some of the animals in the book:
Anteater, Snake, Hummingbird, Leopard, Gorilla, Crocodile, Baboon and so on.............
Finally Mama JoJo finds her baby.

~ Illustrations and Format ~

In true Lucy Cousins style, the outlines are in thick black pen and coloured in so that the animals and the undergrowth of the jungle scenes really stand out!

Not surprisingly, since it is set in the jungle the background is dark green and the drawings are very simple and bold.

Although an extremely simple story line, the illustrations really make this book come to life and children love the anticipation and expectation of what is behind each flap.

This is a lift-the-flap book with a difference. It isn't a bog standard, 'open the door' flap scenario. The flaps are of different sizes so that you can actually see some of the next page thereby adding to the intrigue and expectation.

Some of the flaps are like picture frames, highlighting some of the next page with a large cut out piece in the centre and there is the odd small circle cut out of some of the pages so that a beady eye can be seen peeping through!

~ Educational Value ~

- It is a fantastic resource for introducing children to more unusual jungle animals.
- It is great for developing fine motor skills by turning the 'flap-like' pages while hunting for Jazzy.
- It encourages children to actively participate in the story through the repetitive text of "Not here".
- It's also good for emergent readers as the text is very simple.

This is a great book for any child from the age of 18 months upwards, just take care that the pages aren't ripped in their excitement to look under them!

~ Price ~

The book that I have is larger than average, approx 33cm x 23cm.
My hardback ISBN: 0-7445-9250-X was £12.99 but it's woth checking out amazon who have used and new ones from £2.23 and paperbacks from only 93p.

This really is a great book for young children, lots of detail to hold their interest and something for them to join in with.

Summary: A great children's book, full of colour and intrigue.