Tiger Tales

I have mixed feelings about this book. The tracing and interactive flaps are engaging, and I haven't seen anything like it in other books. The finger tracing reminds me of some of the early Montessori letter recognition before a child could hold a pencil to help learn the shape of letters. That said, I have several criticisms as well.

1. The images are not in line with teaching phonics and beginning sounds. Please ensure the child has a good grasp of beginning sounds before this. For show more instance, I is for Ice cream, and O is for Orange.

2. The tracing is only for the capital letters, and then the letter of the object is also capitalized, which is not the correct case for a sentence and not what a child would see most often when reading.

I'd probably use this book for the tracing aspect or an educational activity when on the go. Still, it should be something other than the primary or even secondary way to teach letters.

Recommended age: 4-6 years

Writing style: This book has a lot of new vocabulary, but it's easy to guess because there is a single picture on each page. Each page goes like this: "N is for Nest" (lifts flap) "and nut."

Lexile score: AD30L
Decoding difficulty: 3/5
Vocabulary difficulty: 4/5
Sentences difficulty: 1/5
Patterns difficulty: 1/5

Illustration style: Cartoon-y illustrations. Most of the animals have giant smiles that you wouldn't see on the actual animals, as do the sun and moon.

Reality-based: Not really, but it does use familiar objects and animals. show less

This delightful, innovative book offers an engaging new way for children to discover and learn basic concepts of the alphabet. Children can practice by running their finger along large, grooved letters, children can explore each shape. Colorful lift the flaps on every sturdy page further reinforce easy learning. Each board page features a capital letter that a child can trace with their finger, a flap to lift to find a surprise, and bright illustrations. The bright and graphic illustrations show more include cuddly animals and familiar objects. Also, included are helpful hints on how to extend the fun with guessing games, writing exercises, and more. There are two association words/illustrations for each letter, with one being hidden under a flap/door so it's very engaging! show less

This British collection of nursery rhymes has cute illustrations, but doesn't quite make the grade.

The nursery rhymes included are a mixed bag, from "Old MacDonald had a farm", "Five little monkeys", and "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary" to rhymes that aren't well-known in the states or have fallen out of use, like "Three blind mice", "Goosey Goosey Gander", and "See-Saw, Margery Daw".

There are slight change to some, but not all, of the rhymes. Only the first verse of "Mary had a little lamb" is show more included, and in "Goosey Goosey Gander" the narrator leads the old man down the stairs, instead of throwing him. But the blind mice still get their tails cut off, the baby falls from its cradle, and the old man in "It's raining, it's pouring" bumps his head.

Delahaye is a print and clothing designer, and it certainly shows in the gentle pastels used throughout the book. Smiling animals, some anthropomorphic, some not, adorn the pages in soft blues, greens, browns, and grays. The farmer's wife, a grey kitten, appears to have dropped a plastic knife and given up on the idea of cutting off the blind mice's tails, and most of the rhymes show the animals playing together, rather than actually illustrated the actions described.

The book is a tall rectangle, about 9x6 inches. Like most of Tiger Tales' board books it's heavy on the cute illustrations, but light on the sturdy binding. The pages have a good, thick, cardboard feel but the binding doesn't feel like it will stand up to multiple uses.

Verdict: If you are looking to add more nursery rhyme board books this is an acceptable purchase, but it doesn't particularly stand out from the crowd.

ISBN: 9781680105254; Published 9-1-17 by Tiger Tales; Borrowed from another library in my consortium show less

Mostly familiar nursery rhymes, many with a night or sleeping theme, with "dinosaur" or "roar" or "stomp" swapped in here or there. Pictures are cute. Kiddo likes it from time to time although sometimes we read only half of it in a nighttime sitting.