Usborne - August 2014

I'm really fortunate to have recently been sent some beautiful books by Usborne to review with Daniel.

The books we were sent were as below....

Daniel isn't really the target age for these books, but given that he already really engages with books that are targeted at an older age than him I thought we would see how he got on.

He really enjoyed the Teddy bears sticker books - we talked a lot about the bears and which colours they wore and the sorts of things they were packing in their school bags. I really liked how there was a sticker page corresponding to each page in the book, so we didn't have to hunt around for the relevant stickers.

Daniel really engaged with this, and we sat for a good hour sticking the stickers in and talking about the clothes the bears were wearing. I had at first thought he might tire of it quickly as the activities to me seemed a bit repetitive (ie: dressing the bears in coat, t shirt, shorts, shoes etc) but he really engaged with it and has been asking for the sticker bears book ever since! I have added another in the teddy bears range to his birthday wish list such was his enjoyment!

The other two books have been less of a hit with Daniel, but that said he has taken an interest at looking through the pictures.

The Sun and the Wind is part of the young readers series and I can see how a child learning to read would find this a good book. The pages are wonderfully illustrated and the words simple enough for early readers to build their confidence. It is a book that I will certainly use more with Daniel over the next year as we look towards word recognition. It is gently repetitive which I liked too.

Daniel has sat and looked through this book on his own, and we have read it a few times too, I think I will use this as a bed time book with him over the coming months. The illustrations are very beautiful in this book and I love the simple re-telling of Aesop's Fable - I will be tempted to look for other similar books for Daniel and Emma in the future.

The final book we were sent to review was In Egyptian times. I was quite surprised how Daniel took to this one. I have to admit my heart sank a little when I saw this one in the package; I really thought I would struggle to engage him in it. There are some bits that are just not engaging to him at the moment but he was surprisingly taken with this book in general. I think the illustrations have really drawn him in and he has sat and listened to me read it a few times. I like how, for older children, there are loads of things that can be done with this book to extend learning and lots of talking points to explore. I think this is one we will use in the years to come as Daniel learns about history.

***Please note I was sent a copy of each of these books free in return for a fair and honest review. All images, words and opinions are my own. Please be aware that this review contains affiliate link***