Books from the Basement

Welcome to Children's Corner book reviews from 4MBS Classic Radio FM in Brisbane. Here you will find short annotations of the children's books reviewed by Kerry Neary in Children's Corner on 4MBS, together with the details you need to find them at your favourite bookstore. Any prices shown are the publisher's Australian recommended price and may vary depending on where you shop. You are welcome to use these reviews for newsletters and the like with appropriate acknowledgement.

Jan 2, 2017


< Alphaprints Words
Alphaprints Numbers >

Jo Ryan, Natalie Munday and Amy Oliver
Priddy Books (PanMacmillan)
< 9781783410842
978178341083 >
$7.99

 
Alphaprints ABC
 
Sarah Powell
Priddy Books (PanMacmillan)
9781849159425
$9.99

 

In the early months, books need to be chunky to hold and safe – no sharp edges or corners – as well as brightly coloured, with high contrast, bold images and simple design. Alphaprints, a newly released range of concept books on traditional themes, meets these requirements ideally. Some books, for the earliest of readers, have single words as the text, to identify the pictures above them; two examples are Words and Numbers. For older children, books have more words, like ABC with a simple rhyming text that links the images. As a quirky point of tactile interest each image is built around embossed fingerprints. The pictures are completed using recognisable everyday items, like leaves for horse ears, pipe cleaners for jellyfish tentacles and carrots for rhinoceros horns. Adults need to share these books with the very young with drama and flair, modelling the kind of enthusiasm that shows reading to be fun!
Posted by at