Hey Y’all!
So, like I promised (to myself) I’ll be doing a book reviewing activity to keep me engaged with this blogging and to my writing, I have come up with my first book review for you.
Known as the best-selling book even after 35 years of publishing the first copy, this book has sold over 2 million copies worldwide. I got this cute little ‘board book’ today after having to wait for a month of ordering it (almost forgot I ordered it 😛 )
Did you read ‘board book’ above? You read it right. It’s a cute little board book, alright!! – for “babies and toddlers”. And the book is….
Rod Campbell’s much celebrated “Dear Zoo” lift-the-flap book.
I was super excited reading about its popularity with kids when I was ordering the book for mine. I couldn’t imagine how any book can keep a kid, as young to be called ‘baby’ or ‘toddler’, engaged while getting him to experience the feel of what the story has to offer.
To be honest, I was a tad bit disappointed with the size of the package when I went to take the delivery from the courier service. I was somehow imagining a bigger book to be delivered. But all disappointment turned to excitement in a jiffy when I opened the book.
Lesson Learnt: “Small does not necessarily mean less”.
This book proved once again that all good things come in small packages and I can go on and on about the goodness of this small package. Jumping there right away!
I purchased this book for my kid in the hope that he too will fall in love with book reading as much as I did. To do a mandatory check of the book before I introduce it to him and more so to check the lift-the-flap feature of the book, I opened it. You see, as a child I never read any lift-the-flap book and haven’t seen anyone till this one.
I was blown away by the simplicity of the book. It looks fresh. It is tough too! (because it’s a board book). It has simple repetitive sentences to keep the child connected to the context and story. Kids love predictability. You know how it goes – making the same silly noise again and again, repeating the same goofy facial expressions over and over and they go laughing like crazy (my one does that and goes really red and bright 😀 )
Now coming to the story, it is too simple and cool to even think. A kid writes a letter to the zoo requesting for a pet. They send him a pack of animals from the zoo in various containers one by one and they in-turn get sent back by the kid as they don’t tick his criteria of a pet for one reason or the other.
*why don’t I come up with such simple stories?! why do I tend to create complex and boring plots??! middle of the story, I’ll be like – ya, whatever. let’s play something.*
The much bigger value the book offers is: Curiosity. The animals that are sent to the kid are hidden and are shown just enough to build the excitement and also to give us a scope for a guessing game. They get completely visible only when the flap is lifted.
The illustrations are too good, bright and alluring. I tried one flap and loved what I saw. I didn’t open all of them as I want my kid to do that by himself tonight (keeps him engaged for one mealtime at least).
So does the kid get what he imagines to be his perfect pet? and what it is? You should read it with your kid if you haven’t already (I’ll know it tonight).
I loved the look, touch and feel of the book. Loved the story too. Gives a huge scope for plays around the story or to actually enact them. (as many did with hand puppets and surprise-surprise games. I’m going to try that, totally!)
Leave a comment on how you liked the book if you have read. Or on the review. Also, on any other book you suggest for babies or books in general?!
Ta-ta until next review or blog!!
Clueless Journey 