interactive picture book

The Red Book by Beck and Matt Stanton

/ zackids / Leave a comment

Beck and Matt Stanton are creators of books that drive kids crazy.  Their previous picture books, This is a Ball and Did You Take the B from my _ook? have been hits with kids, even if they do make them go a little crazy.  Their latest picture book is The Red Book and it is absolutely hilarious!  It is my favourite book to read aloud at the moment.

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Even before you open the book you know that it is going to be funny just by reading the instructions for grown-ups on the back:

For the Grown-Ups:

Okay, Big Wig.
We have a challenge for you.

It’s your job to convince the nearest kid that everything in this book is actually red.

And we mean everything.

It will not be easy! They will try to persuade you that things are not as red as you say, but you will stay strong!

And the kids will love it!

The Red Book is fantastic, interactive picture book that will both infuriate kids and have them rolling on the floor laughing.  I’ve been reading this book to the Year 1 and 2 kids at my school over the last couple of days and they absolutely love it!  As soon as you show them the cover and read the title they start arguing with you and yelling ‘No!’ because the cover of the book is purple (or so they keep telling you).

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The first page gets the kids on board with you, making sure that they agree about the colours on the page.  When you turn the page though you tell them that they are all wrong and that everything is red. It’s your job to try and convince the kids that everything in the book is red, but they won’t have a bar of it, because they can see that Fergus the Frog and Rose the Penguin aren’t red.  The kids get more and more frustrated and you (as the reader) eventually snap and tell them that you’re the grown-up and what you say goes.  By the end of the book though you will convince them that this book is red.

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The text is perfect for this interactive book and really gets everyone involved in the story.  The kids can’t help but join in and argue with you because what you are saying is so silly. If you’ve got kids who loved The Book with No Pictures (who doesn’t love that book!) or Do Not Open This Book then they’ll love this one. The illustrations are simple but bold and really stand out on the plain white background.

Get The Red Book for your home or school library now and drive your kids crazy!

Picture Book Nook: Open Very Carefully by Nicola O’Byrne and Nick Bromley

/ zackids / 4 Comments

I love picture books that are interactive.  I’m not talking about book apps, but physical books that ask the reader or the audience to do something.  Not only are they fun for the audience, they’re also incredibly fun for the reader.  Some of my favourite interactive picture books are the cat books by Viviane Schwarz (There Are Cats in This Book, There Are No Cats in This Book), that involve you blowing on the page to dry them off and throw balls of wool at them.  I’ve just discovered a new favourite interactive picture book, called Open Very Carefully by Nicola O’Byrne and Nick Bromley.  

The book starts off with the story of The Ugly Duckling, but something shows up in the story that shouldn’t be there – a really big, scary CROCODILE!  It seems that this crocodile likes to eat letters, words and even whole sentences, but you’ve got to stop him before he eats the whole book.  You try rocking the book backwards and forwards to make him go to sleep, and you try shaking the book to make him fall out.  Will it work or will he eat the whole book?

Open Very Carefully will have adults and children in hysterics!  Part of the humour of the book is in the way that you read it, putting the emphasis in the right place, and part of it is in the hilarious illustrations.  At the beginning of the book the crocodile is looking very happy with himself, but that changes quite quickly when he discovers that he is wearing a very unflattering outfit.  From the very first page children are engaged in the story and they’ll want to help you get rid of the crocodile.  The interactive parts of the book are especially great for sharing one-on-one as these parts make children feel like they are important to the outcome of the story.  The design of the book is wonderful too, especially the final pages and the back cover, which offers one final surprise for readers.

I will be reading Open Very Carefully again and again to preschoolers and school groups in my library.  I’ll have to try and read it without laughing myself though.