Children's Book Review : Ping & Pong Splash - Amy Trevaskus

Twitter is a brilliant place if you like reading because it's swarming with book publishers, reviewers and authors, including Amy Trevaskus, author of the Ping and Pong children's books, who you can follow @Amytrevaskus. I was lucky enough to be sent Ping and Pong : Splash to review with the kids.

If, like me, you had never heard of Ping and Pong before, let me introduce them. According to their very own website : "Ping and Pong are the friends that every child deserves, they take imagination and the importance of learning and turn it into a fun adventure. Ping and Pong feature in a range of books that will grow with your child. Whether your child is two or twelve they will love the stories written just for them (we are sure you will become quite fond of them too!)"

Well, I have to admit, I was slightly sceptical about a book appealing to kids from ages 2-12, but with three of my own, aged 20 months, 6 and 9, it would be simple to find out.

First up was Pierre who loved it, even if he was looking at the pictures upside down !

He even abandoned his biscuit and decided to give it a little nibble too (and it survived, which is quite impressive !). At this point, I rescued the book for some proper reviewing with his big sisters.

Now usually, I do a joint storytime and read the same book to both girls at the same time, but this time, they were both involved in different activities and headed over for a cuddle and a chat at different times. 9-year-old Sophie was therefore the first mini-reviewer. She loved reading the story with me doing different voices for the dialogue parts, so we had a great giggle together.

A little while later, Juliette wandered over, so I sat her down on my lap and started reading to her. She listened intently, giggling when Pong was naughty, splashing in the puddle or hanging off the swing like a loony ! She also kept pointing out things in the pictures that caught her attention, like Pong being a boy but having pink boots (they're red on the cover but do look pink inside the book !) and Ping's hair sticking up in the air.

The story itself is very simple - they go for a walk in the park, feed the ducks and splash in the puddles - but the detailed illustrations (by Alison Heath) and lovely interplay between the characters - boisterous, mischievous Pong and quiet, sensitive Ping - is what really brings the book to life. I thought the girls would laugh or make a comment about the idea of little people living in a clock but they seemed to take this in their stride, maybe because they thought Pong looked like he should be in Big Cook Little Cook !

This book didn't seem particularly educational (apart from learning that some children like quieter, calmer play than others) but others in the series talk about growing vegetables, recycling, cooking or a trip to the zoo.

I'll definitely be looking out for further adventures of Ping and Pong to see what else they get up to.

star rating : 4.5/5

RRP : £6.99

for more information : http://pingandpongbooks.webs.com/apps/webstore/

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Picture Book Picnic Blog Tour - Children's Book Review : Lost in the Toy Museum

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Children's Book review : Jack & Boo's Bucket of Treasures - Philip Bell