Too lazy to fly! (The Very Lazy Ladybird - Isobel Finn)

Member Name: Hannah0802

Product:	The Very Lazy Ladybird - Isobel Finn
Date:	03/06/09 (137 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good story, colourful, cd included

Disadvantages: Dubious font usage

This book came in a set of five similar books which I bought for my little girl for her birthday. I was drawn to these books as for only £9 I received five books which all came in a nice plastic carry case.

Each book has a sturdy cardboard sleeve and the pages are quite thick too which is ideal for a toddlers hands. The books measure around ten inches by 8 inches so are nice and big which make them much easier for a toddler to handle.

The Very Lazy Ladybird is written by Isobel Finn and Jack Tickle and published by Little Tiger Press.

The book tells the story of a very lazy ladybird. She likes to sleep all day and all night but she really wants to fly but because she is so lazy she doesn't know how to or even wants to.

In order to try and move her way around she tries to hitch a lift on a variety of different animals. As you turn each page you are shown a new animal and how she tries to catch a lift with them but for a variety of reasons she doesn't stay on each animal very long. The way the book is written encourages you to make animal noises and also to talk about the different traits each of the animal has. For example, the kangaroo likes to jump.

The book is around twenty pages long so an ideal length for a toddler at bedtime. It keeps my daughter interested right through to the end.

We have read this book more times than I care to count and I know it word for word as does my little girl. She nevers bores of the story and now she knows it off by heart we can read it together with my finger tracing the words so she is able to see what the words she says look like in writing.

The text is typed in two different fonts. The main story is written in a simple more standard font so my little girl is able to clearly identify the letters as they are the same as she is used to seeing at pre school. However, the part which talks about the animal is written in a more "trendy" bold font and some letters do not look as my daughter would know them. for example a "g" looks like a "q".

I think this is the only downside to the book. Although it has no impact on my little girl at all as she is only 4 so oblivious to this but I don't think this font was the best one to use when the book is clearly aimed at children who are at the stage where they are learning letters and to spell.

The book is extremely colourful. Every page is coloured and there is no white at all. The colours are all bright and vibrant and gives the book a really cheerful feel. The animation is very good and the pictures are obviously the animals they are meant to be depicting.

A real plus point of this series of books is that each comes with a CD. The CD contains two readings of the book. One with just the story and the second with alerts to tell your child when to turn the book so that they can read along with the narrator.

The readings are done by Doon Mackichan and Jamie Theakston and both of them have very clear reading voices and also both read in a style that captures your child.

I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone with a pre school age child.

Summary: A lovely book for bedtime.