Helping baby learn about the world around her (Who's in the Garden? - Naomi Russell)

Member Name: i_am_joy

Product:	Who's in the Garden? - Naomi Russell
Date:	21/08/08 (101 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautiful drawings of garden scenes, playing 'Boo!' with my granddaughter, lovely animals and birds

Disadvantages: The pages are quite thin and liable to be torn, the flaps do not look terribly well attached

Who's In The Garden? by Naomi Russell is a lovely lift the flap book which my 14 month old granddaughter loves now but it took some coaxing for her to really become interested in it.

The book is themed around the garden and on each page is a flap for my granddaughter to lift so she can see who is hiding behind it. She's seen it so often now that she must know who is hiding where but she always giggles and gets excited when she uncovers the animal, bird or insect!

The text in the book is simple and asks who it is that is doing what around the garden, I usually add a lot more when reading it to my granddaughter as at her age it's not really necessary to stick to the script but an older child would be able to follow this text with no problem.

The book as a whole I think would probably appeal more to an older child than my granddaughter, she enjoys lifting the flap but doesn't really understand that they're hiding without me prompting her and saying 'boo'. A child who is learning to read would still enjoy the lift the flap aspect of Who's In The Garden? and would also be able to read a lot of the words themselves, perhaps with a little help.

It's one of those kind of plotless books anyway so a child with a good imagination could construct their own story using the pictures as a guide. My granddaughter is a little young for this and she genuinely takes pleasure in simply lifting the flaps but I've seen her nine year old sister flipping through the book and it's obvious that she enjoys it for different reasons.

The colours in the book don't appeal too much to my granddaughter I don't think. They're bright and summery colours, perfect for garden pictures, but they're a bit too 'pastel' for young babies. Bright, simple primary colours interest my granddaughter like all babies and these are altogether too detailed and arty to appeal to her. I feel awful saying that because they really are beautifully drawn garden scenes and again this is why I think this book would better suit a child older than my granddaughter.

Another problem for me is that the pages are made of thick paper and so are the flaps. This means that I feel I'm constantly watching my granddaughter when she uses the book herself because I have a funny feeling that these flaps are not going to be attached to the pages for much longer. It doesn't feel very strongly constructed at all and a baby of my granddaughters age is bound to rip either a flap or a whole page from the book however careful you are.

I think my granddaughter is just at the wrong stage of development to appreciate Who's In The Garden? yet but she's happy enough seeing who's behind each flap so I think this book was worth the 49p I paid for it at a local Summer Fete. Amazon are selling it from £1.50 and it's worth this to for a slightly older child, if you're thinking of buying it for a baby or toddler then I'd honestly look for something a bit more colourful instead.

Summary: This is a lovely book for a child of any age, although younger babies may not show too much interest