With Fathers' Day just around the corner, I was really pleased to be given the chance to review one of the "My Dad" range of photo reading books from Love2Read. They're a brilliant idea and would make a fabulous Fathers' Day present that dads will be proud to read with their kids at bedtime and that kids will cherish as a special keepsake. We already have a "My Family" book (reviewed here) and the kids still love looking at it.
In the past, photo albums were things that kids were not allowed to flick through on their own because they risked damaging the irreplaceable photos or getting fingerprint smudges all over them. These days, most photos end up stored on hard drives or CDs where kids can't access them at all. So creating a special photo book that kids can look at whenever they want to is already a great idea.
But Love2Read books go one step further. They were created by mum-of-3 and teacher (that could be me !) Caroline Edwards when her own children were learning to read and they're really well thought out as an educational tool. Reminiscent of the "Peter and Jane" Ladybird books I took my first stumbling reading steps with as a child, they take simple phrases and repeat the structures and key words over and over to help kids recognise and memorise them. There's a handy "Can you read the words?" practise page at the end to see if they've picked up the key words - and believe me, they will very quickly !
It's really simple to create your book. The easiest way is to create a folder somewhere on your desktop then trawl through your digital photos to find the ten you want to use. The first four that you put in the book will be the four that magically become the cover so make sure you select wisely (I made sure there was one with each member of the family so nobody feels left out !). It takes just a couple of minutes to upload the photos to the book, then you can move them slightly if necessary, change the colours of the borders and add the text, remembering to keep it simple. In our book, I put things like "Our dad loves puppies", "Our dad loves stinky camels", "Our dad at the pool", "Our dad at the park" and - the one guaranteed to get him smiling from ear to ear - "Our dad is the best !" I just know he's going to love reading this one to them !
There are a wide range of choices available so that you can perfectly tailor it to your needs : My Dad, Our Dad, My Daddy, Our Papa, ... whatever you call him, you're bound to find it there. Other members of the family are also available and if you want something that isn't on the list, you can put in a special request and they may add it to the selection.
The book is glossy with high quality images and kids will love reading it over and over and over again, even when they've progressed way beyond reading the words on the page because they are so excited about seeing people they know in their own special book. Getting kids interested in books is always worthwhile and this is a great way to win over even the most reluctant of readers.
star rating : 5/5
RRP : £14.99 & £2 P&P
for more information : http://www.love2read.co.uk/
Please note : last orders for Father's day : 13/06/2011
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