I'm delighted to have become one of "Roger's Bloggers" over at Priddy Books. Our first parcel of books has arrived and they have real wow-factor, both for the kids and the mums and dads. The first title that we received is Smart Kids Animal A-Z. As the title suggests, it contains an animal alphabet with one animal per page and per letter.
Nothing amazing about the concept but just look at 9-year-old Sophie's grin as she shows you one of the double pages. Each large page (317mm x 250mm - that's about A4 size but horizontal) contains an absolutely stunning close-up photo of an animal on high quality glossy paper. Any one of them would make a fabulous poster - although that's a statement that had the girls squealing and hiding the book, saying "Noooo don't you dare rip out pages, it's too good as a book" !
The brightly coloured, highly detailed photos are intriguing and fascinating as a picture book for young children who can't read yet. I wandered into the bedroom and discovered 6-year-old Juliette and 2-year-old Pierre absolutely enthralled and sharing the book together (even though they can only read about twenty words between them !). To find a book with that much appeal is priceless. As I discreetly watched, they went through, page by page, from cover to cover, spending quite some time on each double page - I've never seen Pierre so interested in a book before !
But for slightly older children who can read, or for little learners who still like to be read to, each page contains a variety of easily digestible, fun facts about each animal, its habitat, diet, habits, etc. Even as a grown up, I enjoyed reading it and looking at the pictures and I even learnt a few things myself.
I love the way the book presents some well-loved classics (koala, tiger, panda, rhinoceros) and mixes them up with some lesser-known, unusual creatures ( umbrella bird, x-ray fish, dugong, quetzal). The final double page offers a glossary of more complex words that will be a valuable help for school project work or just for enlarging your child's vocabulary.
It's highly educational, makes fascinating reading but above all, will have you coming back to look at the stunning photography over and over again, like a kids' version of a coffee table book (which, funnily enough, is where it is at the moment because I was looking at it again after putting the kids to bed !).
I was highly impressed by the book itself but also by the price - given the quality, I was expecting it to cost much more than the £7.99 price tag.
star rating : 5/5
RRP : £7.99
for more information : http://www.priddybooks.com/book.aspx?id=6624
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A great review of a lovely-sounding book. Thanks
ReplyDeletethis would be perfect, my son is animal mad and my daughter is learning her letters so great for our house!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely perfect for both of them then ! :)
ReplyDeleteWe love books here, lovely review. Another one to keep an eye out for.
ReplyDeleteI really like the sound of this book, both my kids are absolutely crazy about animals so would definitelylove this
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds fab, the photos look great, will definitely look out for this book for my 2 year old, she loves animals!
ReplyDelete