So Many Choices, So Little Time! (You Choose! - Pippa Goodhart)

Member Name: wendybull

Product:	You Choose! - Pippa Goodhart
Date:	30/07/07 (141 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Really raises communication levels

Disadvantages: Absolutely nothing.

This fantastic children’s book was included in the Treasure Chest from Bookstart – the free book pack given to pre-schooler’s under the Government’s new initiative.

It has quickly become a much loved and much read bedtime book and this is because of the easy and imaginative way in which it involves your children in a conversation they really enjoy.

The basis of the book is giving the child hundreds of choices on each page. For instance on the very first page the text at the top asks you “If you could go anywhere, where would you go?” The pictures then take up the entire double page spread from corner to corner and depict many different places to visit. Each section blends into the next, resembling a kind of map with volcanoes giving way to mountains and then beaches. A large sea with an island in the middle and a built up city panning out to smaller villages and log cabins in the forests. There is so much to take in that quite often things are missed on the first or even second and third read and this gives new avenues of conversation each time the book is read.

As you turn the page you are asked to choose who would be your family and friends, with pictures of a vast array of people, including Father Christmas! As you go through there are many pages of choices from clothes to wear and places to live, down to jobs and hobbies, pets and food. In fact quite often myself and my daughter get so caught up in the fantastic choices we can make through this book that bedtime is often extended to be able to finish every page.

This has to be our favourite non-story book for bedtime, simply because of the quantity of ideas it brings forth for us to talk about. I was very surprised at how much my daughter enjoys making up a fantasy life, following the choices through the book. For instance she always chooses the large pink castle as her home and every choice she makes after this seems to be intertwined with this choice of residence. I love letting her imagination run wild and having unicorns as pets and seeing what job she would like to do.

One of my favourite pages is the food page, where you can choose exactly what you would like to eat. The pictures are excellent and in very large quantity, with a good mixture of healthy and un-healthy foods. My daughter has been learning about healthy food at pre-school and it is rewarding to watch as she chooses to eat healthy things like vegetables and roast chicken, over the cakes and sweets that are also shown.

But the most rewarding thing for me is the conversations we can have together at this peaceful time of day. She is happy to discuss the reasons for choosing various items in the book and I find the discussions are much lengthier and thought out, with the help of the pictures and alternatives, then if we had just been chatting in the car for instance. There are no limits with this book and I believe there is something for everyone within the picture choices of this great book. It is not geared towards girls or boys in particular and both can enjoy the choices they can make in their fantasy lives, although my three year old daughter seems to enjoy it a lot more than my six year old son, however I really do believe it is an excellent tool for helping you communicate with your children at bedtime, or any time of day, as the choices they are presented with are limitless, fun and practical as well as fictitious.

This is a highly recommended child’s book that will give you both hours of stimulation, and as the parent, it will not bore you silly after the second read.

Summary: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED